So I haven’t had a blog entry since November 2009…over 19 months. Nothing since we moved from Switzerland to France! I apologize to my 8 loyal followers…I am sure you have been waiting for this moment. I have plenty of excuses. 2010 was pretty much a blur – lots of changesfor everyone in the house. I figured we were moving from one suburb of a major city (Basel, CH) to another suburb of the same city. Just hopping over the border to France – no big deal. I was very wrong. It is a different world in Muespach. For that reason I have renamed the blog – I now call it ‘our alsatian
adventure’. The link will remain swiss family c – changing that would seem to cause some trouble. And of course I am still heavily influenced by Switzerland – it is only a few minutes down the road. So I guess technicall swiss family c is not dead.
First it took us about 3 months to get the Internet up and going after we moved into the house – that is my main excuse. We were told it wasn’t possible. Then all of the sudden it was possible. That just about sums up the past 15 months. Just when you think something won’t work – everything all of the sudden comes together at the last minute. The right paper arrives in the mail. The administrative person (for some unknown reason) says ‘oui’ after many repeated ‘nons’.
Starting in November 2009 there was plenty of unpacking and all the house related fixing etc. Pretty much standard for any move. There was also plenty of administrative stuff – visas, cars, work permits, medical exams, driver’s licenses, etc… Each requiring loads of paperwork in triplicate
delivered to the correct office (some as close as the local mayor – others 2 hours away in Strasbourg), at the correct time, to a specific person.
I have perfected the art of dealing with the French administration. Here is how it works: Go first on a reconnaissance mission – get the checklist of what is needed. Come back a second time with everything on the list (plus copies) and extra papers that might be of use (marriage certificate, birth certificate, 8th grade French test…). At this point the administrator can tell you what you are missing and you will be all set for the third visit. Simple. Then that administrator goes on strike and the new administrator can’t find your file.
Of course I have also been busy trying to study the French language – not an easy thing. The above-mentioned administrators also require the French language. In Switzerland I was able to get by with very basic German – most Swiss are modest about their English skills but we know the truth – they are all fluent. Not so here in the Alsace where the second language of choice is German (so that everyone has the chance to earn a Swiss salary). That being said – there are many people in the Alsace who speak some English but the majority will expect us to speak French. So I have dusted off the brain and startedstudying again – after a 20+ year break.
Then on top of all the administrative and language issues we made the (insert adjective) decision to put the kids into the local French school. That’s right – we took two kids who had been educated in English (but spent most of their lives a German speaking country) and threw them into a situation where everyone spoke French – and only French. Neither child has a background in French at all. They both walked into school the first day with ‘bonjour’ and ‘merci’. This of course was a challenge for everyone – I was the voice of the family as the administrators and teachers at the school will only to speak to us only in French. At this point Aimee decided it was time to start
learning a bit of the language to keep up.
The school transition took up about 110 percent of our time during the final third of 2010… but since Aimee was transitioning at work she was able to spend much of the latter of 2010 at home.
But – as is usual for us – we weren’t satisfied with all of these challenges. Our wonderful neighbors insisted that we use their builder to start our ‘guest house project’ that was slated for 2011 or 2012. Again – all the planning, administration, communication, etc.. took time away from my
precious blog.
Truth be told – it was a very eventful year and the blog would have been a great record of the events. Some funny – some frustrating.
All of our administrative issues, plus putting the kids into the village school along with tackling the building project has forced us into meeting many of the locals and our neighbors. We are finally on the mayor’s good side. He is one of our greatest allies in the village. He is fluent in English and
always willing to help. He loves America and everything American. Needless to say he was happy to welcome the first American family to town. On the down side he does occasionally scold us for our ‘over-Americanness’ and likes to quote Bobby McFarren….
Our neighbors to the east have been wonderful – providing us with a builder and designer for our garage conversion. They are a Swiss Italian/Swiss German family with grown children and half a dozen Chihuahuas and Papillons. In one household they have native (by birth) speakers of Greek,
German, Italian, Spanish, and English. I have no idea how this is possible but
it is in fact true.
Our neighbors to the west have been a help too. They are a German/Swiss German family with
one daughter - very quiet people who are amateur farmers. We have had some good contact with them. I try to talk with them when they are out tending the vines or the fruit trees… Unfortunately our neighbors to the east donot get along with the neighbors to the west. We didn’t realize that we would end up being neutral party wedged between two Swiss families.
We have met some other interesting folks around town and in the area – such as the owner of the local restaurant who has taken a liking to Fiona, the local doctor who got married in Las Vegas, the mayor’s assistant who also runs the post office, the mayor’s other assistant who has a penchant for
pink sweaters, our friendly gardener who has saved our yard, our builder who made a garage into a house all on his own, our somewhat unglued cleaning lady, our slick insurance agent… plus all of the kids’ teachers/tutors.
So you missed 2010…and about half of 2011. Now that the kids are settled into school and phase one of home renovations is complete I am committing to putting up a post once a week. Won’t promise anything exciting but hopefully I can get the diary of our life back up and running.
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