I asked my younger son what they had for lunch today at school. "Ummm, carrots, and that squishy thing we had that one time before, and meat. It was pretty good, yeah." My boy also came home yesterday from Kindergarten (Maternelle) bursting with the information that the twin boys in his class are not, actually, the two Luigi's - they are Léon and Louis...
My daughter wanted to do homework today. She has learned to print the letter A, and O, and M. She spells her name out loud, M-R-A-G-O.
My oldest boy talked to his best buddy in Canada tonight, via Skype. Ahhh, the love language of seven year old boys - rolling eyeballs, sticking out tongues, waggling ears, and a whole lot of giggling... I alternated between giggling madly, silently, in the background, and wanting to cry tears of sadness AND joy, because they are finally connecting face to face, after spending such time apart. My boy has found a "French I" in his class, a boy whose mannerisms are similar to those of his best, desperately missed, friend. It is a comfort for him to make these comparisons, I think, and be reminded of his friend. I wish that his friend back home had a new classmate to help ease the missing of my boy.
I am proud of my younger boy, as he tries (and succeeds) to communicate in French to the
young neighbour boy that we are talking on computer to our friends back in Canada. As I see the fierce concentration and pride on his face as he concentrates so hard on communicating in a new language, I know that we were not wrong (or negligent) to assess their skills and stengths and believe that they would not only exist, but thrive, in such a different language and culture.
Life here is good right now, even as I miss my friends, my books, my pets, and my usual everyday pattern of living back home. I remind myself that I need to become as adventurous and brave as my sons, and jump feet first into this language and culture.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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4 comments:
Sounds like things are really comming along for the kids.
For adults, it can be harder. Kids can meet friends through school...but if folks in your neck of the woods are like the ones around here, you might have to be pretty proactive to get a real adult social life started.
Have you tried inviting another "school mom" over for tea? That's usually a good move.
Like you said, you have to be adventurous and brave!!!
Best of luck!
It's been interesting, to say the least! ;) Our young neighbour's mom is American, our landlady is half-British, half-French... It seems that all the people I speak to regularly are english-speakers, that are very happy for a chance to speak english!! ;D
I know that I will eventually be able to communicate better in French, I just have to stop being so apprehensive about getting it wrong, and just start practicing!!! (I seem to do OK, though, while I'm shopping for groceries, or computer equipment, or shoes or clothes... LOL!) The children are great ambassadors, in that they have befriended the neighbourhood children, and so on, so I just need to get out while they are outside, and not enjoy my solitude quite so much. Part of this is reminding myself to come out of my own head, and play nicely with the other adults. ;p
VJS, you should know that on occaision playing nicely is called for - but mostly it is highly over-rated!!! Just think of how proud Mme. Ouellete would be to hear of what you are doing....!!! More pictures please!!!!
Yours, IJB!
Thanks Jean! And you know, just when I think it's a bit, umm, not moving forward, I manage to have a very lovely chat with the next door neighbour, exchanging pleasantries and information about our respective homes, all in French. So, my French is coming along well enough for now.
And I'll work on posting more pictures...
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