Andy Smallman

Up until just a minute ago I felt like my adjustment to Seattle had been much better than I expected it would be in terms of missing Nantes, Yes, I’ve been sad and all of that, but that has all been tempered with being home. What tipped the scales is a link to a webpage that Melinda’s sister’s husband (Greg) sent me as I sat down to write tonight’s entry.

While this won’t mean much to most of you, click here. That’s a circulation map for the Nantes public transportation system. it includes live cams. And that’s what did me in, clicking on a couple of the live cams. They are marked on the map with eyes (yes, that’s an eye inside each blue square). To look at the two that got me, find the letter “I” in the center at the top of the map. Double click on the eye just below it. That will give you a view of Morhonniere/Petit Port. In the center of that picture is a crosswalk I would use on many of my jogs. The eyeball just below that one on the map is Michelet, the stop we used to get to Ella’s school.

I miss Nantes.

Today’s photo represents something that may be contributing to my feeling of homesickness. In downtown Seattle is the Boulangerie Nantaise, a French bakery started by a man from Nantes. Melinda and I went there this morning and bought two pain au chocolats and two baguettes. According to Romain, the pain au chocolat was very good. But the baguette? Even I could tell it was nothing like those we got in France.

The unpacking and resettling continue. And by unpacking I now mean finding spots in our house for the things we brought back from France. Case in point, the map featured in today’s photo. That’s the Nantes public transportation map, the Tan. Melinda and I used it just about every day while in Nantes. In fact, so important was it to us that we asked to be given a large poster size version of the map, as opposed to having just the fold-out pocket map sizes. We were pleased when one was given to us, and put it up in our house. This is that very map.

So while Melinda busied herself pressure-washing everything from our patio to the backyard furniture to the neighbor’s cat, I put up the Nantes public transportation map in our upstairs sitting room. Now I’ll know which bus to take to get from Commerce to Orvault, mighty important while in Seattle.

Some other highlights of the day include taking Romain to Value Village, a Seattle thrift store. That didn’t turn out to be as exciting as it could have been, but on the ride home I pointed out a gun shop. With whispers of Charleton Heston in my head, I took Romain inside, my first time inside a gun shop myself. I won’t bore you with the rest of the details, the enthusiasm of the clerk to show guns to a Frenchman, the ease with which one could buy an assault rifle, that sort of thing.

At last, some serious culture shock. Or was it just plain old everyday shock…

Melinda, Ella & I took Romain out tonight for Mexican food in Ballard (the name of the place, I can’t remember, but it’s that authentic Mexican place just off of Market). Chloe was babysitting Bess so missed out. No worries there, however, given she and Romain just reconnected and are about to head out with a group of Chloe’s friends.

We were told it would be at least 30 minutes until our table was ready so I took Romain on a little tour of the neighborhood. We were both excited to go into Bop Street Records, an amazingly huge record store with a tremendous amount of old vinyl. I didn’t know Romain would be so interested. His eyes bugged out, in fact, and just about popped out when he found a stack of Edith Piaf records. He told me he hopes to get a turntable for his 19th birthday and proceeded to buy one of the records he found (see photo).

At the register, I told the clerk that Romain had come all the way to the United States from France in search of Edith Piaf records. He knocked $2 off the price.

Back at home tonight I showed Romain my turntable, whereupon we played his Edith Piaf record, specifically her song “Non, je ne regrette rien.”

Everyone, this is Bess. Bess, meet everyone.

Bess and family (father Malcolm, mother Lara, sister Mae) swung by tonight to say hi and welcome us back to Seattle. The good friends that they are, we were very pleased to see them. You should all be aware that Chloe and Bess have a very special relationship, one built since Bess was a very small girl (she’s much bigger now – more on that subject in a second). Chloe became Bess’s regular babysitter throughout high school.

Bess started piano lessons a couple of months ago and offered to play for us on my great grandfather’s piano. As you can see, Bess has also lost some teeth, six of them. We heard the stories of how each was detached from the inside of her mouth. I think she should write a book.

Now on the subject of growth… It was wonderful to see Bess and Mae (and, okay, Lara & Malcolm, too) because they have changed so much since we last saw them, well over a year ago. You see, Melinda and I were driving through a north Seattle neighborhood earlier this evening and it looked exactly the same, even though we hadn’t seen it in well over a year, either. It was like we had driven through it last week.

So seeing that Bess and Mae had grown so much helped us know we were gone for a long time. In other words, we really did spend 13 months in France. Thanks, Bess!

Today’s post is much less about our adjustment back to Seattle and more about introducing Romain to several Seattle landmarks. Let’s see how many you can identify in this picture.

Try to find:
– the Space Needle
– the Seattle skyline
– Lake Union
– a sailboat
– I-5
– a cheeseburger from Dick’s Drive-in
– an attractive Frenchmen (not technically a Seattle landmark but it should be)
– blue sky (oh, technically that’s not a Seattle landmark, either)
– two American girls

For extra credit, identify the location of today’s photo. Double bonus points if you are able to do this and do not live or have not lived in Seattle.

Now on the subject of re-adjusting, is a cheeseburger from Dick’s part of that process? For you Seattleites, consider that to be an essay question opportunity.

I used this title back on April 11 when our friend Dana came to visit us in Nantes. Seeing as I had lunch with her today and we hadn’t seen her since April, the title seemed apt again.

To put things in further perspective, Dana is the PSCS board president and there is a school board meeting tonight (in fact, Melinda & I are about to leave for it). Dana had contacted me a couple of weeks ago to suggest that we meet in advance of the meeting, always a good idea for the school director and board president to do. We met at one of my favorite restaurants, Chaco Canyon Organic Café, a healthy walk from our house and across the street from where PSCS used to be. I had us pose in front of the community bricks that decorate one wall, pointing at the one that represents the school.

In terms of adjusting, jet lag continues to grab hold of me. Today it was at 4am, the time I awoke and then could not get back to sleep. I finally got up at 5 and completed some house and school-related work. Also taking place today was Romain’s first “economics-related” meeting. He met University of Washington finance professor Jon Karpoff, a good friend (and treasurer of the PSCS board!). Chloe tagged along, too. Not only did Jon treat the two to an Indian food lunch, he showed them around new Paccar Hall on campus where his office is located and offered to provide Romain a more extensive campus tour later this month.

Nice.

At one point today I said to Melinda something to the effect of, “Exactly one week ago we were watching an episode of “Freaks & Geeks” in our house in France with Bernard & Christine.” It was a fun recollection, and Melinda noted I had said something similar while watching the program a week ago, that in exactly a week we’d be at work.

So, yes, we’re back at work. It was easy to imagine that we had been at school just last month. In fact, I commented to Steve, a co-worker, that I could be convinced that it was late June, 2010 and we were wrapping up the school year with the teaching staff. This seems to be the biggest part of my adjustment, recognizing that a whole year has past without me present. Well that and the whole jet lag thing.

The other insight I had into being back at work was just how many nitty-gritty details there are to being an educator. When present every day you are able to manage them. Having so many of them shared in a short time is a little difficult.

Steve snapped today’s photo at 4pm, just as we were all leaving. I hope my French readers take note of the Picard bag I’m holding. By the way, Steve used my French cellphone (now working solely as a camera) to take the picture. The time on it said 1:06am. Yes, the time in France.