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)
1 comment:
These were great and I loved reading them all! How wonderful that Preston is bilingual! Did he already know French or did he learn once he got there??
Emily Perkins
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