Things that make you go hmm....

Our digital camera is kinda of on the fritz. :-( We're looking into getting a new one, but right now pictures are kind of scattered, and left mostly to Ulysses. He's figured out some magic trick to make it work. But anyways.... We've been here for almost three months! I simply can't believe it. We haven't really suffered too much culture shock, but there have been several things that just make us scratch our heads. So, here's a look into our world.

Kitchens do not come with countertops, cabinets, or any appliances - even when renting. We were told by more than one person how lucky we were that we had some cabinets (4!). A kitchen looks very weird with just a sink in it.

It took four trips to City Hall and two to Xavier's school to get him enrolled. And that doesn't count the numerous trips to City Hall when no one was working. There are lots of those days.

When paying bills online, it takes a week to "automatically" debit the account. We're still praying we haven't been charged exuberant late fees on this month's rent.

Wine is cheaper than Pepsi. And I'm not talking about just a little bit. Wine is a fraction of the cost!

We live in a cement block - walls, floor, ceiling. It makes hanging pictures a real pain. It also made for some pretty cold nights before the radiators were turned on.

We do have "central heat", but they control when it's on. Two weeks after they turned on, they're still not real warm, but at least we can't see our breath in the apartment in the morning and our clothes are finally drying. But, we really can't complain because heating costs are included in our rent and we're told that can get pretty expensive.

We still haven't figured out what they eat. Food prices are about double what we're used to, triple for meat. But, there is a GREAT farmer's market on Saturday morning that has lots of fresh produce for cheaper than the grocery store.

No one works in the month of August. I don't know how the afford it, but this place is dead. Since the start of September, the population has probably doubled. And I'm not just talking about neighbors. Someone we met told us that she can't get chicken from her favorite stand at the market in August. The chicken man goes on vacation and his business shuts down too.

We don't have curtains yet. I can't get over the price and the concrete walls are hindering putting up rods. But, we do have black-out shades on the outside that look like metal garage doors. They roll down from the inside and block out everything. It's kinda nice except for those of us that could use a little sunlight to help get out of bed in the morning. Ulysses is looking forward to them for sleeping after his overnight shifts.

Overall, we're really enjoying our new life. I'm still having trouble adjusting to the new pace of life (slow), but I'm trying. If we haven't scared you, we'd really love to have visitors. Ezekiel asks me everyday who is coming over to play. When I tell him no one, he asks whose house we're going to. I hope you all have a great weekend planned. Hope to hear from you soon!

Field Trip - Day After

Well, as we all really expected, Xavier's field trip went great. I'm kicking myself that I did not have my camera when I picked him up. He got to ride on a charter tour bus, where his backpack and coat were stored above him. He was very excited that the bus had steps too. He got to eat a picnic lunch where he said the other kids were running around, but he stayed by his teacher. He got to "go to the circus in town and see horses and birds". Since I still can't talk to his teachers, I can't tell you any more than that. He was very excited and will still tell anyone who will listen about it today.

The other big news that we have today is our radiators have finally turned on! I never thought I'd be so excited for heat. It really hasn't been getting that cold, but living in a concrete block with no insulation has made it seem much worse than it is. That, and not having control. I like to have control. Well, that's all for now. I have a mountain of dishes to tackle. I hope you all are having a great week. I will try to post pictures this weekend.

Field Trip - Night Before

So, if any of you happen to read this today, please say a prayer for us. Xavier goes on a field trip tomorrow and I'm trying not to freak out. He's going to meet the circus performers in Geneva. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'm hoping that he will enjoy it. But, I'm having a hard time sending my baby into another country with teachers that we still can't really communicate with. I'll try to post tomorrow to let you know how it goes. But, until then, how many of you sent your three year old on his first field trip with his passport?

Daily Life

Well, I'm cooking dinner and it reminded of me of something. If anyone that is reading this has any recipes I would really appreciate them. I'm cooking from scratch without a lot of a experience and it's not going great. With the assistance of a new skillet, I can make some pretty tasty tortillas. They're not pretty, but they're edible. With that I can make some yummy enchiladas, thanks to Damaris teaching me how, but it takes at least 24 hours. With meat being roughly 3-4 times the cost as it is in the states, we're having to get kinda creative. So, if you have any recipes that have minimal ingredients and are fairly kid-friendly, please send them my way!

On a school note, Xavier and I have had a few rough days. Monday, he wanted me to come in with him, which seemed innocent enough until he started crying when I told him Ezekiel and I needed to go. Of course, that made me cry and I have enough experience that I knew this was not going to make life easy for his teacher for the next three hours. Ezekiel and I high-tailed it out of there and we all had a very miserable morning. Tuesday morning, I told Xavier at home that Ezekiel and I were just dropping him off and not going in. There were lots of tears, but I held my ground. I hope his teacher appreciated. Today, we had the same discussion at home with a few less tears. When we got to his classroom, Xavier put on a brave face and walked right in. No clinging! He turned around, gave me a big wave and went to work at the table. No tears for anyone! It was a pretty good morning.

Our friends discovered that we can ride a boat across the lake with our bus passes! So, on Xavier's day off yesterday, we took an adventure to the other side of the lake. We went to a playground where the boys were climbing several feet above my head and walked a few miles, but the boat was definitely the highlight. I didn't get very good pictures because I was too worried about safety all day, but we've got a fun day planned for visitors!

I hope you all are having a great week. We hope to hear from you soon!

On the boat in the rain. Damaris and I tried to convince the kids of another adventure, but they would have nothing of it.

The park was in a rose garden that must be beautiful in the Spring/Summer. It was pretty nice yesterday! Ruth is yelling at Xavier to come take the picture. Group pictures with these three are not easy to come by.

This is where we stopped to play (and feed Joelle). That's Ezekiel climbing across the rope bridge. The spider web is well above my head, and the bridge was well above the spider web. Xavier had to do it after Ezekiel, he couldn't be shown up by his little brother!

We ALL Survived! :-)

Well, we all made it through Xavier's first day of school. Very few tears were actually shed (all by mommy and Ezekiel). Xavier was VERY excited. He couldn't sleep last night and was up very early this morning in our bed. He never said he was nervous, but I think he might have been a little. He was very anxious to get dressed (he didn't even eat breakfast) and as soon as he did, he didn't take his backpack off until we got to school. We got to his school a little early and his teacher told us to take him to the bathroom before he could come into the classroom. He had already checked that out with daddy on Friday, so he led the way. At school, the children have to wear slippers, so he put his shoes in his backpack and put his slippers on. He jumped right in to the toys.

For the first day, they ask the parents to stay for a few minutes until the children are comfortable. I really think this is more for the parents than for the children, but I wasn't going to complain. It did however make things for Ezekiel a little more difficult. When we decided it was time for us (mommy, daddy, Ezekiel) to go, Ezekiel was not pleased. Ezekiel cheered up a little bit getting to walk home with mommy and daddy and even got to slide at a park on our way home. The reality of leaving my "baby" in a classroom with a teacher that I cannot communicate with hit me a little hard, but daddy reassured me that everything was going to be fine. There are at least two other CERN children in his class.

Daddy had to head to work, but Ezekiel and I got to spend an entire morning alone together! I think it's the first time (outside of the hospital) that we've been able to do that in two and half years! We played almost all of our games (Ezekiel rules) and then he just wanted to play with his Little People bus without big brother asking for it. We did get to enjoy some reading time too. I think we're both going to enjoy some time alone. He asked me about every 5 minutes if it was time to go pick Xavier up yet. I set the timer on my watch and we were still a few minutes early to get him.

When we got to his classroom all of the children were sitting in their seats waiting to be picked up for lunch. As Xavier and I left the classroom his teacher told me something with a smile that I'm taking to mean, "He had a great first day!" She doesn't speak any english and since I don't speak any french, that's what it's going to mean until I learn otherwise. On the walk home Xavier told me that no one spoke any english to him, and all they did was walk around. Between Ulysses and I we have figured out that they went to the gym, but not the library. There were no books today. (I saw books out on one of the tables as all the children were coming in, so he either meant no books in english or the teacher didn't read any to him.) Other than that, it seems like they just played in the classroom. I really don't know, but Xavier will probably continue to tell us more in the next couple of weeks.

We had our normal lunch and nap routine except Ezekiel was a little clingy to his big brother. Xavier took the best nap that he's had in a long time, even through two men coming and working on his window. He's one tired boy. In November, he will start going back to school for the afternoons, but since he's never been to any type of school before, the principal said we can ease him into it.

Well, that's pretty much been our day. Xavier was a little disappointed that no one was online before he went to bed to tell them about it himself, but I'm sure he still will when we talk to people this weekend. The boys are still having a hard time understanding that it's not the same time of day everywhere.

Xavier is not quite as excited about school, but he does want to go back, so I'm taking that as a good sign. There is no school for the younger children on Wednesdays, so we'll see how Thursday and Friday morning go.

Reading books with daddy to kill some time before it was actually time to go this morning. He refused to take off his backpack. He was VERY excited!

Once a scrapbooker, always a scrapbooker. I had to have this shot for his school album!

He immediately found the cars in his classroom (Ezekiel joined right in too)

He was very proud that he had completely filled it up. When he stood it up for his picture (he asked for it!), one fell off and he was trying to figure out where it went when the camera clicked.

And, for all of you that can't believe how many pictures I take, there were lots of other moms taking pictures too!