Every year in late January, Clermont-Ferrand is the host of the Festival du International Court Metrage which is an international short film festival. All over the city, venues show 2 hour sessions of short films (30 minutes or less) from all over the world. I was able to attend 2 of the sessions. The first one I attended was right next door to our apartment at the university. I went with the Chit chat group one morning while the children were in school. As a group, we had coffee first and then walked to the theatre. When we arrived, there was a long line to enter the theater and across the street, police had gathered in preparation for les greves.
I will take a minute now to try to explain "Les Greves". Les Greves is French for the strikes. Strikes are quite common all over France, including Clermont. They are usually well organized and have lots of participants. Honestly, I don't always understand why people strike here, but I know that they happen often, at least 2-3 times per month. Les Greves are when unions get together and protest certain conditions or policies. They are mostly peaceful demonstrations with signs, bullhorns, noisemakers and lots of people. Often if one group strikes, other unions will strike as well in support. The first time I saw the strikes was in October when the farmers were on strike. They brought cows, tractors and pickup trucks to the city and the bus and tram drivers were on strike to support them, making it difficult for people to get around the city. Anyway, this time the public university students were on strike against new policies put in place by French President Sarkozy. They put up lovely pictures depicting him as a criminal.
Back to the short film festival. We saw several International Films. Some were in English with French subtitles, some were in French and some were in other languges with French subtitles. They were actually pretty good and understanding the storylines was not very difficult. In fact, I had more trouble understanding the British English slang! I did better reading the French subtitles on that film. A few nights later, Preston and I went to see films from or about the continent of Africa . They were also very good. Other sessions were just for children and teens. Maya and Daniele both had fieldtrips to the festival. For 2 weeks, the entire city was full of people from all over the world presenting and watching the films. Well, the Court Metrage has inspired me to make a short film of my own entitled, "Only in Italy!!!" This past week we went to Italy for part of winter break. That is the setting for my first short film.
Enjoy!!!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I can't believe it has been 6 months!
One year ago this month, we told our children that we had accepted an opportunity for Preston to work in Clermont-Ferrand, France. The following are pictures from that breakfast.
The only reason why Daniele is not in the pictures is because she took them. We shared the news with her about 2 weeks earlier. And since she is such a caring big sister and budding photographer, she wanted to capture their raw emotions in pictures.
After months of preparation and anticipation, on August 19, 2008 we arrived in France with great expectation of our new way of life. Well, 6 months later, we have learned a lot about life in France. There is a difference between our Fantasy of what life here would be like, the Reality that we have experienced and the Dreams Come True . Here are our top 10...
#10
Fantasy: We already own the perfect dog! Prince is a French Poodle!
Reality: In France, what we call a Poodle is a called a Caniche. But in Prince's case, there is some dispute. 50% of the time someone comments on our cute Caniche and the other half of the time they say he is a lovely Bichon Frise. Given Prince's spotty past, this is no surprise! But that is another story. Let's just say they are probably all right!
Dream Come True: Either way, Prince loves France and France loves Prince! Everywhere we take him, he is very popular, especially after a haircut.
#9
Fantasy: We will learn about fine wine and cheese!
Reality: There are over 365 different varieties of cheese and approximately 11 different wine regions within France with thousands of different wines available.
Dream Come True: We know more now than we used to and we are having fun learning!
#8
Fantasy: We will learn about French food and French cooking!
Reality: I didn't like to cook before and I still don't like to cook.
Dream Come True: Preston does like to cook and has learned how to make Confit de Carnard (duck). We have purchased and used a raclette (similar to fondue) and we have tried escargot and frog legs! Of course Preston has not given up his love of BBQ!
#7
Fantasy: We will eat French bread and croissants daily!
Reality: We eat French bread daily and croissants once a week.
Dream Come True: We live less than 2 minutes walking distance from a GREAT bakery!
#6
Fantasy: We will travel every weekend to cool places in France!
Reality: We sleep in on Saturdays just like we did at home.
Dream Come True: We take advantage of the long school breaks (2wks off every 6 wks!) to visit the surrounding area and other countries like Italy and Germany. Very cool!
#5
Fantasy: My children will attend a Bilingual International School and have lots of new friends!
Reality: The younger children have made lots of new friends. There are a lot more students in the primary section of the international school than in the secondary school. In fact, there are 15 students in the international school grades 9-12 and only 5 international 11th graders. The International school is apart of a larger private French Catholic school, but Daniele doesn't have classes in French (see Fantasy #1).
Dream Come True: Daniele has emerged as a leader, helping with the student council and Variety show production. She is also more competitive academically. She will have the opportunity to attend Harvard University Model Congress in Brussels, Belgium in March with the school. And did I mention that every 6 weeks the kids get 2 weeks vacation!
#4
Fantasy: We will make lots of new French Friends!
Reality: As expats, most of our friends are expats as well.
Dream Come True: We have met people from all over the world, but it took moving to France to meet some really great South Carolinians!
#3
Fantasy: We will live in an apartment in the center of town.
Reality: Living in town is noisy, especially on weekends, and our 3rd floor apartment has no elevator.
Dream Come True: Our apartment is in a building that is probably over 100 years ago. I love the character of the building, the antique mirrors over the fireplace, the 6 in molding on the baseboards, the hardwood floors, the huge doors that open into the living room, I could go on and on. But as much as I love antiques, I love the new American kitchen!
#2
Fantasy: We will loose weight effortlessly since we are living a healthier lifestyle by walking more and not eating fastfood!
Reality: We have gained weight in pursuit of Fantasies #7, 8 and 9
! As far as the fastfood thing, did I mention we live 3 minutes walking distance from Subway? And you already know that we have McDonald's.
Dream Come True: We really do walk a lot more. I walk about an additional 40 minutes a day when I walk the children to school. Preston walks to work (about 40 min a day) We walk to the mall, French lessons, grocery store, everywhere we can.
#1
Fantasy: We will be bilingual in 6 months since we are immersed in French language.
Reality: If French is a pool of water, Daniele and I are still in the shallow end. We get about 6 hrs a week of French language class. Other than that, there are so many English speakers and French people that know a little English, we can get by. Maya is waist deep, she has about 3 classes that are completely French. Lauren and John are up to there necks in French, with half of each school day with French teachers and French as a 2nd language classes. And Preston is completely underwater. He not only works in French with his team, but he conducts workshops entirely in French.
Dream Come True: Preston really is bilingual. The rest of us are coming along. We really are understanding more and more everyday. In fact, our ability to speak and understand French helped us in Italy last week, where some people speak French as a 2nd language and not English!
The distance between our fantasy of France and the reality of life here is shortened by the unexpected blessings of our wildest Dreams Coming True!
Torino, Italy (Feb 2009)
The only reason why Daniele is not in the pictures is because she took them. We shared the news with her about 2 weeks earlier. And since she is such a caring big sister and budding photographer, she wanted to capture their raw emotions in pictures.
After months of preparation and anticipation, on August 19, 2008 we arrived in France with great expectation of our new way of life. Well, 6 months later, we have learned a lot about life in France. There is a difference between our Fantasy of what life here would be like, the Reality that we have experienced and the Dreams Come True . Here are our top 10...
#10
Fantasy: We already own the perfect dog! Prince is a French Poodle!
Reality: In France, what we call a Poodle is a called a Caniche. But in Prince's case, there is some dispute. 50% of the time someone comments on our cute Caniche and the other half of the time they say he is a lovely Bichon Frise. Given Prince's spotty past, this is no surprise! But that is another story. Let's just say they are probably all right!
Dream Come True: Either way, Prince loves France and France loves Prince! Everywhere we take him, he is very popular, especially after a haircut.
#9
Fantasy: We will learn about fine wine and cheese!
Reality: There are over 365 different varieties of cheese and approximately 11 different wine regions within France with thousands of different wines available.
Dream Come True: We know more now than we used to and we are having fun learning!
#8
Fantasy: We will learn about French food and French cooking!
Reality: I didn't like to cook before and I still don't like to cook.
Dream Come True: Preston does like to cook and has learned how to make Confit de Carnard (duck). We have purchased and used a raclette (similar to fondue) and we have tried escargot and frog legs! Of course Preston has not given up his love of BBQ!
#7
Fantasy: We will eat French bread and croissants daily!
Reality: We eat French bread daily and croissants once a week.
Dream Come True: We live less than 2 minutes walking distance from a GREAT bakery!
#6
Fantasy: We will travel every weekend to cool places in France!
Reality: We sleep in on Saturdays just like we did at home.
Dream Come True: We take advantage of the long school breaks (2wks off every 6 wks!) to visit the surrounding area and other countries like Italy and Germany. Very cool!
#5
Fantasy: My children will attend a Bilingual International School and have lots of new friends!
Reality: The younger children have made lots of new friends. There are a lot more students in the primary section of the international school than in the secondary school. In fact, there are 15 students in the international school grades 9-12 and only 5 international 11th graders. The International school is apart of a larger private French Catholic school, but Daniele doesn't have classes in French (see Fantasy #1).
Dream Come True: Daniele has emerged as a leader, helping with the student council and Variety show production. She is also more competitive academically. She will have the opportunity to attend Harvard University Model Congress in Brussels, Belgium in March with the school. And did I mention that every 6 weeks the kids get 2 weeks vacation!
#4
Fantasy: We will make lots of new French Friends!
Reality: As expats, most of our friends are expats as well.
Dream Come True: We have met people from all over the world, but it took moving to France to meet some really great South Carolinians!
#3
Fantasy: We will live in an apartment in the center of town.
Reality: Living in town is noisy, especially on weekends, and our 3rd floor apartment has no elevator.
Dream Come True: Our apartment is in a building that is probably over 100 years ago. I love the character of the building, the antique mirrors over the fireplace, the 6 in molding on the baseboards, the hardwood floors, the huge doors that open into the living room, I could go on and on. But as much as I love antiques, I love the new American kitchen!
#2
Fantasy: We will loose weight effortlessly since we are living a healthier lifestyle by walking more and not eating fastfood!
Reality: We have gained weight in pursuit of Fantasies #7, 8 and 9
! As far as the fastfood thing, did I mention we live 3 minutes walking distance from Subway? And you already know that we have McDonald's.
Dream Come True: We really do walk a lot more. I walk about an additional 40 minutes a day when I walk the children to school. Preston walks to work (about 40 min a day) We walk to the mall, French lessons, grocery store, everywhere we can.
#1
Fantasy: We will be bilingual in 6 months since we are immersed in French language.
Reality: If French is a pool of water, Daniele and I are still in the shallow end. We get about 6 hrs a week of French language class. Other than that, there are so many English speakers and French people that know a little English, we can get by. Maya is waist deep, she has about 3 classes that are completely French. Lauren and John are up to there necks in French, with half of each school day with French teachers and French as a 2nd language classes. And Preston is completely underwater. He not only works in French with his team, but he conducts workshops entirely in French.
Dream Come True: Preston really is bilingual. The rest of us are coming along. We really are understanding more and more everyday. In fact, our ability to speak and understand French helped us in Italy last week, where some people speak French as a 2nd language and not English!
The distance between our fantasy of France and the reality of life here is shortened by the unexpected blessings of our wildest Dreams Coming True!
Torino, Italy (Feb 2009)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Skiing 101
We decided that one of the things that we wanted to try while living here in France was skiing. Many people told us about how much more affordable and accessible skiing is in this area. Although we don't get snow on a regular basis in Clermont, we are about 45 minutes from beautiful areas in higher elevations that get great snow. Before Christmas, we went to Super Besse to rent skis for the season. We went with another family from SC that moved here a few months before we did. We had to rent the skis, ski boots, batons for everyone and helmets for the kids. By the time we dragged all of the gear to our van, we were exhausted. Afterwards, the kids had a ball playing in the snow. Even the dads joined in. The moms however, found a very cozy spot in a cafe to sip cocoa and cappuccino. Now that's my idea of fun!
The weeks following the ski rentals were spent gathering the necessary gear for skiing. Thermal gloves, ski socks, long underwear, fleece jackets, ski googles, ski pants, ski jackets, snow boots. I had no intentions on any of us getting cold. After several trips to the sporting goods store, we were ready!
Our 1st time out was January 17th. Unfortunately, Lauren was sick, so Daniele stayed behind and studied while the rest of us took our 1st lessons. We signed up for group lessons that include transportation to and from the slopes and lunch. We left at 8 and returned at 7 pm. All in all the day was successful. I only fell 3 times! And once was because Preston careened into me! Preston fell more than 3 times, but he made more progress than I did. Both John and Maya did ok. Learning anything new is frustrating. The hardest part for me was getting used to walking in the ski boots. Learning to get back up after falling with the skis on wasn't easy either.
The 2nd lesson was on January 23rd. This time the entire family was able to go. Again the boots were really heavy, but getting the skis on was easier and stopping was easier too. In fact, we were able to go to more difficult runs this time, still the baby slopes, though! Again it was frustrating. We were only able to stay for the morning session this time. And that was a good thing for me. I got a little ticked off at the instructor. He was a little too busy flirting with the new student and continued to rush me, the slowest student, along. At one point, the few "les gros mots" that I know came to mind! Preston stopped translating for the instructor after one of my dirty looks. I think I scared Preston.
So far, Lauren hates it, John is the best, Maya likes it ok, Daniele wants to try again, Preston is doing ok, and I am sitting here with my knee propped up because I think I pulled a muscle. I guess I am not as young as I used to be!
2 lessons down, 4 to go!
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