Tag: French Sabbatical

I brought this up at dinner the other night, suggesting that we have some sort of special celebration today since it’s Day 100 of the sabbatical. I thought we should do something metric, but couldn’t really figure out what that might mean. Initially, everyone was pretty excited by the idea of doing something special, until they all realized that we actually haven’t spent 100 days in France (yet). That’s coming up in 5 days. So perhaps I’ll have figured out what it means to do something metric by next Wednesday.

Still, for me, Day 100 is significant so I celebrated by insisting Chloe let me take a picture of her and post it to the blog. This involved me meeting her at the university at 1pm, taking her by tram to the center of town, taking her out to lunch at a reasonably nice restaurant, and then going to a very special candy store (where I took this picture). Oh, the price I pay to get one photo! Imagine. I had to spend several hours alone with Chloe (Melinda was visiting a new friend, a mom of one of Ella’s school friends, and Ella was at school). We had to actually talk to each other, laugh at each other’s silly statements, and talk about kids. You see, Chloe and I have this thing where we like to point out cute kids to each other and talk about them. And pretty much every little kid in France is cute. I mean you should hear them talk. They speak FRENCH! Here’s an example.

On top of having to spend time with Chloe, I (and the rest of Nantes) had to put up with a nearly 80 degree day today. What a crazy turn-around in the weather. It was like a reminder of summer. A nice way to celebrate.

After several days of steady rain and gray skies, the sun finally came out today. In fact, by the end of the afternoon the temperature had inched close to 75 degrees (although that expression here in the land of the Metric System must be something like “centimetered toward 25 degrees”). Melinda and I took advantage of the nice weather and the fact that the girls were both in school to go out, just the two of us. A couple of weeks ago I had purchased via Groupon Nantes a certificate for a sushi lunch. We decided today was the day to use it.

Although the service was abnormally slow, not the typical relaxed pace of a French lunch, the servers were very friendly and the food respectable. We had a nice time together. Go figure.

After lunch we spotted a nearby shop dealing in fine wines and liquor. I’d call it a liquor store but you Washingtonians will likely picture one of those brightly lit state facilities. This was nothing of the kind. Really, it felt more like something you’d find in Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter stories. The range in price was quite extreme. You could get a shot of rare whiskey for 50€, I kid you not, and certain bottles of wine for that and more. Many of the bottles were quite decorative and some had dust on them, they were so old. Melinda bought a couple of bottles of wine (for a total of less than 12€) and posed for this picture.

First, I hereby dedicate this post to my father who, along with my mother, will be arriving in Nantes in a month. In preparation for his (their) visit, I have some serious homework to complete.

My assignment is to have all things figured out by the time they get here regarding the Nantes racetrack which, if you are regular reader of my blog you will know, is just a short walk from our house. As part of my studies, I took a slight detour last Friday on my walk home after accompanying Ella to school, pausing at the entrance of the track to take this picture, this billboard having recently been placed there. So I can cross off knowing when the race season begins.

Still to complete: I don’t know what time the races start, I don’t know how much it costs to get in, I don’t even know how one places a bet here (not that betting is important to me but it is interesting to note that I have not seen anything even resembling a “tote” board). I do think I know where to buy a Racing Form, although I doubt that’s what they’re called and I’m equally doubtful I’ll even know how to read one that well. I intend to have answers to all of these questions by the end of the day next Wednesday.

Yup, I get excited by attending soccer & hockey games and horse races. There must be some other things that excite me, too. As I figure those out, I’ll let you know. Oh, there is that thing about spending time with my family…

We’ve had several days of pretty steady rain here in Nantes. Summer is definitely a thing of the past and my most recent swim in the pool seems ages ago. Given that the same system is used to heat both the pool and the house, and given that only one can be used at a time, today marks a milestone of sorts. The switches have been flipped. The pool will no longer be heated but the house will. In support of this day, before leaving our landlords had arranged for the home heating system to be serviced today. So a maintenance man arrived mid-afternoon and did whatever he needed to do. And then Melinda and I turned off the pool. It almost felt like some solemn words should be said and bagpipes should be playing.

Okay, maybe that’s a little much. But I present today’s photo of a radiator inside the house as my tribute to the change.

Later this afternoon, as Melinda and I walked to the tram we began talking about when we’ll switch back to a heated pool and an unheated house. Will it be in early May? I hope so. We continued our chat in a hip little café in the center of town while sipping our hot chocolates (chocolat chaud) under layers of clothes while looking for a place to set our dripping umbrellas. Melinda got very excited just thinking about how the house would be warm when we got back home.

Melinda and I meet with Romain over lunch on Mondays to give him some additional practice with English. Being a basketball fan and a Boston Celtics fan at that, today’s lesson surrounded the Celtics having added Shaquille O’Neal to their roster this summer. I had Romain read an article I found online. After summarizing the article he learned that it’s nicer to say “too heavy” than “too fat” when referring to a 38 year-old, 325 lb (148 kg) basketball player. Oh, another good vocabulary word from today was “lethargic.”

Melinda and I also meet with Manon on Mondays after school for an English lesson. In today’s lesson we talked about the movie “Inception” that we saw with her and her parents yesterday. Manon really, really liked the movie. In fact, she told us the movie was so good that “in the cinema you don’t know what time it is.” She left today’s lesson understanding how to use the expression “lose track of time.” She even got to practice using it in another context by reciting, “I have so much fun talking with Andy & Melinda that I lose track of time.”

Manon and Romain are quite good English speakers and Melinda & I thoroughly love spending this time with them. We give them all kinds of credit for taking time out of their busy, busy schedules to improve their English.

Oh, today’s photo is of Ella enjoying today’s “goûter.” You see, when the kids get home from school in the afternoon it is time for “le goûter” or afternoon snack. In reality, I think it’s more like an afternoon breakfast as from what I’ve come to understand it is quite often a pastry. For instance, Melinda and I provided a pain au chocolat for Manon this afternoon. But Ella doesn’t get home from school until about 6:30 on Mondays, given that she stays late for a study session with her French teacher. So her goûter was less of an afternoon breakfast and more of a pre-dinner, even though it was Eggs Benedict.

I mentioned before that stores are closed on Sundays here in Nantes. This necessitated a change in Melinda’s and my grocery shopping routine as we would typically do the bulk of our shopping in Seattle on Sundays. Truth be told, though, so many of our routines have been altered that this one hasn’t been that big. It’s just an adjustment to not be able to shop on Sundays.

But to our surprise, we learned that a unique grocery store is open for a few hours on Sunday. Why this store gets special Sunday dispensation, I don’t know. Anyway, the name of the store is Picard (yes, Star Trek fans, like Jean-Luc). What makes it unique is that all the food sold here is frozen. It’s just aisle after aisle of frozen food. Really good stuff, too, and some quite unlike you find elsewhere. Tonight, after returning from seeing the movie “Inception” with Laurent, Frédérique, Manon and Chloe, Melinda and I each had a Bento Box that we purchased at Picard this morning. It was quite good – salmon, rice & edamame (speaking of edamame, we’ve been searching for it in the local grocery stores without luck…).

I took today’s photo of Melinda inside Picard as she considered the relative merits of some desserts. Apparently, they all had merit but we came home with a flour-less chocolate cake with caramel filling.

When I was a kid and fall had begun I could hardly wait for Saturdays, specifically 5pm. As the weekend grew closer I would start calculating the number of hours until that 5pm time. Having determined that number, I would use it to calculate backwards in time to consider how long ago that number of hours felt. For instance, if it was 2pm on Thursday (which meant I was likely bored out of my mind in school), there were 51 hours until 5pm on Saturday. And 51 hours prior to that would be 11am on Tuesday (and I was probably bored out of my mind in school). How long did it feel, from 11am Tuesday until this moment, 2pm Thursday? That’s how much time I needed to endure until 5pm Saturday. Get it?

You see, 5pm on Saturday was the highlight of my week. It’s when Hockey Night in Canada aired in the Seattle market. It was my one opportunity each week to see a live NHL game. My world stopped for that 3 hour broadcast, whereupon at 8pm on Saturday the calculations in my head would start warming up again.

Imagine not just my surprise but the incredulity I experienced when I learned that Nantes has a professional ice hockey team. And today, Saturday, at 5:30pm (I can forgive the 30 minute delay) was the first game. On top of that, the arena is along Line 2 of the tram; in fact, just 4 stops from our house. Tickets are only 5€.

Nantes played Orléans. It was an absolute blast to attend the game. Chloe went with me and I think she was a bit embarrassed by how excited I was. The game was completely entertaining, despite Nantes losing to an undermanned Orléans team 4-2. The officiating was, in a word, unique. Only two on-ice officials, neither with a referee’s armband but both calling penalties. And call penalties they did. And after the Zamboni cleared the ice during both intermissions, this absolutely cute little kid couple came out and figure skated.

I know my mother, father and brothers will appreciate this link (well, my family along with every single Canadian) but I encourage anyone who wants to know a little part of my story to visit it. Perhaps it will make no sense. If so, don’t try to make any out of it. I mean, how much do you want to understand somebody who does crazy hour computations in his head and is giddy over ice hockey? To which I say, “da da da-da da, Da Da Da-Da Da, DA DA DA-DA DA Daaaa… Live on CBC, Hockey Night in Canada! Brought to you by…”

It’s been a wet, rainy day in Nantes, drizzle throughout punctuated by periods of hard rain and wind. I’ve loved every minute of it. It’s actually one of the days I dreamed of when I knew we’d be living in France for a year. Why would I imagine a dreary fall day? Because it’s just the opposite of what you typically imagine when you think of going somewhere. Days like this are stored away, kept only for residents, not shared with visitors. Getting a day like this proves to me that I actually am living in France, not just visiting.

Here’s another thing. We have a house and in front of that house is a mailbox and on that mailbox are our names. Our names. On a mailbox. In front of a house. In France. And each day this lovely gentleman with an enormous smile bicycles along our sidewalk delivering the mail. Yes, our mailman travels by bike. And with him every day is his faithful dog, an Irish Setter. Yesterday, which was a pleasant fall day, the dog trailed behind the mailman, stopping to sniff places and do typical dog things, whatever those are. The mailman just rode on ahead, confident his dog would catch up. Today, however, the dog was in the lead, seemingly wishing his human companion to hurry up. I took this picture from our window, aiming across the street. I could almost hear the dog saying, “C’mon. Do you have to stop at EVERY house? Can’t we go home? Why are we out in this rain?”

Because you are a resident. You live here. Like me.

Just before noon today Melinda and I hopped on Bus #96 and rode it as far as its route goes. Having consulted our trusty public transportation map, we picked a route that would, as I put it, take us “off the grid,” meaning the route goes beyond the coordinates provided by the map. We ended up in a cute little community/town called La Chapelle-sur-Erdre. Once there, we wandered around for a while, doing things like look in the shops that were all closed for lunch, listen to the children of a nearby school playing on the playground, and discuss where we should have lunch. We settled on L’Avanti Pizza pizzeria, which turned out to be a great choice.

Melinda ordered a salad that was unique in my salad-eating experience, in that it came with a raw egg on top. Me, I ordered the Maestro pizza which consisted of ham, mushrooms, and onions over a well-seasoned sauce and perfectly thin crust. We split a carafe of wine and then considered dessert. They had multiple choices but Melinda settled on this one, Tarte au citron meringuée (lemon tart with a merinque topping). It was exquisite.

I scanned the menu for items with “ella” in their names. Best I got was mozzarella. Speaking of Ella and food, the girl Ella is hungry and is calling me as I type. Apparently, she is more interested in having foods be in Ella than those having “ella” in them, if you know what I mean.

I’ve had this idea to start a journal entry in which I write down every food that has “ella” in its name. I haven’t started this yet, deciding instead to get you all to do it. After all, this blog is averaging 75 hits a day, some days getting over 100 (like yesterday), and many hands make light work. Yeah, I know, you might say that’s the lazy man’s approach. But I think I’ll get more entries this way and I’ll get them much faster.

To kick things off, I offer:
-Nutella
-Paella
-Chocella (it’s a kid’s chocolate-flavored breakfast cereal here in France)

Use the comments section below and start providing me some others, okay? And I’m thinking there should be a prize for the person with the most entries or the best tasting or something. My first idea for the prize is that we mention the person at the meal in which we eat their suggested entry. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much of a prize for the person who submits “filet mignonella” or whatever the winning entry might be. But don’t underestimate the value of having Melinda, Chloe, Ella and me talking about you at dinner. I mean, I know we were talking about Barrack Obama the night before he was elected president. So there you go.