From Devin-Yesterday's elections in France

It’s Sunday, May 22^nd. Everyone in France has known for months that this is election day. The French vote every 5 years for their President. This time around, there were 10 candidates. Here are their posters that were put up on a special board they mounted for this purpose right in our square next to where they hold the weekly farmer's market and next to where voting takes place: (notice sarkozy's poster third to left was ripped early on.)

The precincts are open from 8AM to 6PM throughout the country. Overseas territories such as the Ile of Réunion or New Caledonia cast their votes one day before. The dépouillement or counting of the votes takes place at precisely 6:01 once the polls have closed. In our village, the town’s multipurpose room was the voting center. I was told to wander over to the center and check out how the vote counting takes place, so I did.

I entered and found many familiar faces. Eight tables had been set up at which 4 people were seated. At each table, there was at least 1 city council member. The 2-3 others appeared to be volunteers. Around each table were 15 or so bystanders. In the corner of the room was an easel with some figures. Each hour during the day, it had been recorded which percentage of the town had cast their vote. By 2pm more than 60% had voted. We have a population of 2200. 

Here is what I observed:

Person #1 would remove the ballot from the envelope and pass it to Person #2. He would then pronounce the last name, e.g., Sarkozy or LePen. The next two persons would each tally that result. All of this took place under the watch of the bystanders. The ballots were placed in 10 different stacks. As I roamed among the eight tables, I got a pretty good feel for who was leading. The two tally sheets were quite easy to read as well and served as a more accurate read for curious ones such as myself. To my surprise, Marine LePen, who took over her father’s position and who represents the extreme right, had quite a few votes. I overheard chatter that the youth had cast their vote for her.

Once all the votes had been counted, we were asked to leave the room. Through the glass door, I then saw the city council members and volunteers wink at each other, give each other a high five and then toss all of the tallies in the waste paper basket. They then turned on the television to hear the official results which, by law, can not be broadcast before 8pm.

Results: Hollande 28%, Sarkozy 25%, and LePen 20%.

French elections almost always take place in two parts. This was called the first round. Those two who amass the most votes, go at it again in 2 weeks.

I was obviously joking above when I said that the tallies were tossed in the garbage but it does make you wonder. I left the precinct at 7:30pm and results were still being counted. By 8pm, the winners and losers were being announced on national televison.

Hollande, who will most certainly win the second round, will need to run a marathon for the next five years less one kneecap. The Socialist will be inheriting a rotten economy and regularly meeting with his constituents who continue to believe that they should be able to retire at 60, receive welfare until one finds work or indefinitely, recieve all kinds of other services for free and of course that they shoudl be able to strike anytime, why, because it’s fun!

Guest Blogger-Irene Shackelford (Lara's mother)

Sorry for the long delay in blogging. Here's an entry from my mother chronicling their recent visit-during the cold/lonely weeks of record lows in late January/early February. Now that they are gone, the weather climbed up to the 70's! Despite the cold, we had a great time and all 4 of us miss them being here with us!! Meanwhile, Devin and I owe you all some stories of the last few months --we've been doing weekly visits of the region each Wednesday when the kids are out of school and are really enjoying our last 2 months before our return to Berkeley. Stay tuned!! Lara

A winter trip to Aniane France by Irene:

We arrived in Montpelier, on time, in spite of a harrowing race to make the flight, only to discover our bags didn’t make it.  Off to baggage claim and a quick look around for Lara who was picking us up.  No Lara and limited English speaking representatives in baggage claim.  Oh well, we tried describing the bags and then Lara, with Anais on her hip clapping her hands and Sebastien running with a huge smile, came towards us.  Well, who cares about bags, seeing the kids was good enough.  Lara took care of the details, bags would be delivered tomorrow and off we went to their house.  With two car seats and our carryon luggage it was a good thing we didn’t have all the bags.

Aniane hadn’t changed much since our trip in fall 2010.  Just a new playground for the children and no leaves on the trees.  A rather barren looking village after all the foliage on those beautiful plane trees, yet it allowed for expanded vistas and of course fitting for a winter day.

Lara had been talking about all the changes she wanted to make and wow she did accomplish a lot; of course we all know the muscle behind the changes.  Devin had painted, made cabinets, tiled counters

and implemented a multitude of things that made the house even more comfortable.  Lara’s great and evolving design eye had made each room a very pleasant, individual creation that also functioned well.  Their latest purchase that was another of their incredible finds on Craig’s list was a dishwasher.  I am always amazed at their tenacity in finding deals on the internet. 

I was curious about school life in France so the next day I walked with them to school.  Now it’s cold in the south of France in the winter, so there we were bundling up children and Nana, burr, but I had my down coat, my gloves so I was prepared but little ones don’t like gloves, hats.  We trudged off, dropping Anais off first, where she cheerfully kissed us goodbye, then over to Sebastien’s school where we waited in line for the school to open. (here's a similar pic but it's from another day, pretend you don't see the starbucks cup)

 There were an equal number of dads and moms (and or nannies) taking their children into the classrooms to be greeted by the teacher.  Pacifiers are dropped off also for the afternoon nap. Children 3 and older have the option of coming home for the French two hour noon meal or remaining at school for the noon meal.  Sebastien comes home, then returns for his afternoon nap, snack and playing outside.  We then pick him up at 5 p.m.   That means we were walking to the school and back 4 times.  Add that to the daily trek to get bread at 7 in the morning, the walks for meal items at the butcher or grocer, then the play time at the park for Anais and or Sebastien and you can see why the French are thin.  Although, the women my age were not thin, but matronly looking.  All the young women, moms, were thin and it’s not from the gym.  All the walking, hanging out the clothes, apparently dryers are not used as much as dishwashers, and climbing the steps in the houses make for efficient bodies.  The Aniane house has 4 levels.

Immediately Lara and Devin immersed us in village life.  Gus & I experienced a French stretch and exercise class that was challenging, gesturing and following by example is universal.  We met the Brits who live in Aniane at a dinner party, the local artisans and also the various neighbors and friends who have been so gracious.  There is a lot of eating and socializing in village life.  Here's a typical shot after dinner in their salon:

We also enjoyed long walks in the countryside, outings to nearby towns, stores and farmer’s markets.

Once we were over our jet lag we prepared to go to Barcelona. We took, first, a bus from Gignac, the nearby town,

to the train station in Montpelier, then the train to Barcelona, the city we have planned to visit for many years - I'm enchanted with the work by Gaudi.  We felt very European taking public transportation; it was a very pleasant trip even though it snowed in Spain!  There we were in the South of France and Spain and it's the coldest they have had, unusually cold we were told, after a very balmy December and beginning of January.  I think I'm bad luck.  Same thing happened when I went to Seattle.

Our trip was lovely even if we had to wear overcoats, gloves and hats. There is value in traveling in the off season, no crowds, museums and restaurants were not crowded, the people we met were locals, not tourists, and last minute flights in winter are cheap!

Two of the highlights of the trip was going to the sagrada familia (church built by Gaudi)

and to Casa Mila, the largest house built by Gaudi. There we met an interesting and respected contemporary artist from Barcelona, Perejaume, who was exhibiting his work.  And it was amazing work, dating back to 1990 in many different media revolving around the idea of excess.  We met a visiting professor from South Korea who was more of an art student than I and she kindly explained some of the art. The artist was hanging out, talking, the friendly, Spanish way!

The food in Barcelona is as wonderful as they write about, the seafood was amazing, along with the ambiance of the restaurants.  There is a vibe there that is enchanting, we said we liked Barcelona better than Venice, except of course for the art of Venice, nothing beats that.  Having said that, the contemporary scene in Barcelona is very hip and compelling.

We visited Sete, the nearby port that is the home of oysters. 

We also visited and liked Montpellier. Montpellier is a very hip, high tech, university city with wonderful winding streets, lovely shops, one of my favorite tea shops - Palais de Tea - was there, friendly French (yes, they are helpful and nice when we try to make ourselves understood) and the most wonderful toy and game shop we have ever seen.  It was a fantasy land of beautiful things to bring the child out of the adult and make children's eyes sparkle.

Of course experiencing the slower European way of life such as all stores closing at noon, the long meals, the incredible politeness, and the kissing, on my gosh, in the south it's three kisses, always,  on first greeting, and leaving, even if only for a few minutes, is always a highlight of visiting France.  The people who had us over for meals were so very nice, but we have to remember to slow down because eating is a very long and multicourse event.

The grandchildren were the highlight of course which is how we feel when we see any of our grandchildren.  We hadn't seen Sebastien and Anais since the end of summer so we saw a big change in them. They are doing well, as are their parents.  Life is good for them.

We had a wonderful trip and recommend it to you all!

Update about the kids from Lara

The kids

Well it has been interesting to watch the kids adapt to the French school, kids, language, way of life.

Anais (20 months when we arrived and now 2)

Regarding school, Anais is in a daycare pre-school 2 mornings/week the same one Sebastien attended last year. It was the her first school in her life so it took her 5 or 6 visits to not cry when we left (which was just a show-she always stopped right after we left of course) But soon enough she was walking in there like she owned the place and enjoying the different activities (such as playing with large buckets of rice on a large tarp, pretend cooking, taste-testing different flavors, bicycle and jungle gym, etc)

When we arrived she understood everything we said but words back to us were nouns/subjects only. Now she has started adding verbs and mostly in French for verbs! She loves to name things that she knows. And now she thinks its normal to give every object 2 names- one English and one French. One thing I love is when she comes home from school, she knows I’m going to ask her ‘how was school, who did you play with’ so before I have a chance to ask, each time she comes home she looks at me and says “Keyris!” and “Luna”, which I came to learn are 2 other kids in her class. I like that she knows the other kids, there was a time I thought she wasn’t social. In fact she seems very social, she often points at our friends who come over and asks “what’s that” because she wants to know their names.

Sebastien 3.9 when we arrived, now almost 4

Sebastien on the other hand adapted to school as if he had been there before. He was excited to go and never asked to stay home. In the first month of school, he had a permanent sub, a man named Michel. He liked this teacher very much and would was very happy to see him each morning. Then the regular teacher Pauline returned and when I asked him, Sebastien said he liked her better.

The kids have a lot of attention, there are 2 teachers to 12 kids. In general, teachers are very well qualified with a lot of knowledge about child development. They do the usual art work of various scribbles in various media, activities to practice making straight lines, putting sticker ‘spots’ onto images of lady bugs. On the back of these masterpieces the teacher writes what development stage this activity is targetting. Something that is very interesting about French culture is how everyone agrees to be on the same system of organization. It can be annoying when you don’t know the rules, but if you do, it’s all very predictable. So each period of school (between the vacations) the work is collected and collated into a little notebook for the parents to keep. So far we’ve experienced fall break and Winter break, I assume we will have a couple spring breaks before we leave. The last day of each period, feels like the last day of school before summer back home. Everyone is excited, even the parents. In my exercise classes, people say ‘bon vacance’ before the break and we don’t meet until the kids go back to school. It is annoying to stop exercising just because of the kids schedule but that is how it works. 10 weeks on, 2 weeks off or so throughout the year.

Sebastien started out in September understanding most of what the kids and teachers were saying in French but answering back in broken French with English mixed in. Little by little, especially each time he played in the cul de sac outside with the neighborhood kids, he incorporated more French in his speaking, including words we don’t like. He started copying his favorite friend’s sassy attitude too. "Oui maman" with a sassy tone, like a teenager! Is this happening to you parents already back home at this age?? What’s with the attitude at 3.5??

Now 4 months later, he is finally using verbs. He still speaks a lot of English with us especially me but now instead of English words peppering his French, French words are peppering his English. I thought it was interesting when he started putting French verbs in English sentences. (what are you mang-ing?) Right now he is getting prepositions all mixed up in both languages. Like saying “attend pour moi” in French (that’s an extra ‘for’ he doesn’t need to say which shows he was trying to use the English contstruction for that phrase) or “Anais is being mean at me,” which shows he’s using the French construction in his English. I wonder if this is the next section that will straighten out in the coming months.  We will see.

French ways:

It turns out that our village had the most births per capita over any other town in all of France. When Devin and I picked this place because we wanted the opposite of our old region, somewhere with more kids to play with, we had no idea about this statistic. It is probably like living outside of Berkeley in more suburban towns where most households have kids. We know a lot of families and through the school whom we see in the streets on our daily trek back and forth to school (9 to school, 12 back for lunch, 2 back for nap, 5 for pick-up) Once we know someone through a mutual acquaintance, we are able to have conversations with other parents. there's an American mother I've learned of from the chicken merchant at the Thursday market and I'm hoping to meet her one day. In general, kids and parenting seems to be about the same. There are cultural differences and my kids are always the louder ones playing on the slide the "wrong" way but in general kids and parenting seem universal. I personally miss Totland and being able to show up at the park any day any time and finding other kids to play with with other parents to talk to and trade parenting tips.

Playing together

Just last month or so, Sebastien and Anais have started to play together. This is a big help because Sebastien is one of those kids that needs constant companionship. Now Anais plays with him and they’re starting to invent different games together. This makes it a lot easier at dinner making time. Also, it makes me very happy to witness their lifelong friendship begin.

What they are into

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Sebastien got a skateboard, 10 hotwheels from the movie Cars, and batman pajamas. Anais got a dollhouse, a bicycle and a dolly in a stroller. Then for Anais’ bday, she got a CD player made for kids that she can work. All these things made them really smile (except the dollhouse. In fact that toy is more for me. I play with it more than anyone ;) Sebastien wants to practice his skateboard all the time. And Anais is really into the scooter that our neighbor loaned us. They are also doing drawing, building towers with the blocks and they love to help me cook and bake. They are really helpful in the kitchen and they helped me bake all those Xmas cookies I made this year!

Sleeping

My parents snicker when I tell them that Anais doesn't sleep. Apparently she got this from me and I too never gave my poor parents a break. Sebastien sleeps a lot and falls asleep easily. We have started putting them in the same room so they are used to it before we get back to our 2 bedroom house in Berkeley. This is not working very well, they keep each other up by cracking up over nothing. Anais is usually the instigator....

Here are some photos of our darlings.

We miss all our darlings back home too. What are you and they all doing these days????

Anais loves to try new challenges, explore, wander off... Here's her tricycle in October:

Sweeping the cul de sac in September (and playing with the kitty that sleeps behind there)

Trying the neighbor's bike at the fair in the village

She found a kitty! (Oct)

She likes to try all foods. This is pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

She LOVES her brother "nya-nya" (next to his reward chart which doesn't work anymore)

weekly visit to the donkeys that live down the way just outside the village

Kitty kat cake for her b-day

Sebastien was very focused on learning how to ride this bike (sept)

His favorite friend Louis on our way to school (Oct)

He was/is also very focused on learning to play soccer as well as his friend Louis

his favorite friend from school Basile

 Uncle Joel (neighbor and anais' godfather)

Neighborhood kids from cul de sac in Sept. They played together every day when it was still warm and light out!

Sebastien misses everyone in Berkeley including his bud Sacha. Such a cute pic from before we left, I couldn't resist...