November Happenings

It’s hard to believe but it’s already been three months since we arrived in France.  Of course in some ways it feels like it’s been longer and in other ways it’s gone by really fast.  This last month I spent most of my days working on my first eBook, which I’m really excited is finally finished and ready for the public.   I recruited most of Marc’s time to help me with this project and as always he proved to be an incredible help.  The girls are doing better and better at school.  Both of their French continues to improve and they continue to make more friends.  At this point I think Lola’s French is even better than mine.  I’ll do another post soon giving you more details about school and how the girls are feeling about it.

This month we enjoyed celebrating my niece’s 17^th birthday and my own.  I'm not sure if all of France celebrates birthdays in this fashion but in Marc's family whenever someone has a birthday we host everyone at the birthday person's house with a feast, generally on the Sunday closest to the birthday.  My sister-in-law totally outdid herself for my niece's birthday.  

The incredible centerpiece my sister-in-law put together!!

Celebrating Margeaux!  It was the first time we were all together; Marc's parents, Valerie's parents,  Valerie's grandma, Valerie's brother's family, and us!!

Our lunch: lobster with ratatouille, rice, and arugula.  So good.  

Margeaux picked out the menu; pretty sophisticated I thought for a teenager.

The dessert spread.  Unreal!

Me and the birthday girl.

For my birthday we hosted everyone at our house and I was so caught up in the lunch that I forgot to take pictures of it.  Not nearly as fancy as my niece's party but delicious nonetheless.  

We had mussels with french fries, salad, cheese and bread, and this seriously amazing dark chocolate cake.  I honestly have never tasted anything like it before.  It's appropriately called "Bitter".

We had our first visitor from home, my dear friend Sarah, and enjoyed showing her the local sights.  We went to Annecy, Evian, Yvoire, Thonon, and Morzine.  We packed in as much as possible into just 4 days.  We had a lot of fun and it was a nice break from work.

As a side note, while we were in Annecy I had to complete the final steps to confirm my Visa.  Apparently everything we had gone through with the Consulate back home wasn't enough to secure my Visa once we were here.  Within three months of my arrival I had to complete Phase 2 (of course nobody told us there would be a Phase 2).  I had to get a chest x-ray to show that I didn't have TB, had to have a medical exam by one of the appointed government doctors, fill out more paperwork, and pay another 250 euros!!  Thankfully the girls didn't have to do this as well.  Although they claim this is it and I won't have to do anything else while I'm here, a part of me doesn't believe it.  We'll see.

On our way up to Morzine we stopped in Montrion to take a walk around the lake.  It was breath-taking but really cold.  At one point I had to leave everyone else behind to get back to the car as I literally could no longer feel my toes.  I'm seriously not acclimated to the climate here yet.

We also had our first snow in Anthy at the beginning of November.  That was the first time the girls ever saw falling snow.  They woke up and ran outside, so excited.  Of course it didn't last very long.  The mountains though saw quite a bit more and it did stick around.

We also celebrated the equivalent of Veteran’s Day here.  They recognize it as a national holiday as well but take it to a whole other level.  November 11^th is the day the treaty was signed ending World War 1.  At the exact hour the treaty was signed, 11:30am, all the church bells across France ring to signify its significance.  From 11-11:30 each town holds its own celebration in front of the church or the Marie (the city hall) remembering the war and all the fallen soldiers.  In Anthy, they had kids from the local school read off all the names and ages of each of the soldiers from Anthy that died during the war.  They also read several letters recovered from the soldiers.  It was quite an event. 

We did not celebrate Thanksgiving here.  It was just another Thursday with the girls at school all day and Marc and I working.  In French fashion I made a quiche that night.  :)

Winter is here.  It’s much colder than what I’m used to in California.  I’ve had to upgrade my winter wardrobe, thankfully with my birthday money I was able to do just that.  Looking forward to Christmas in France and very likely a snowy holiday.  Hope you all are enjoying your holidays back home.  More updates to come.