Learning New Things

Hi Everyone:

Yesterday, at school I lost my last wiggly tooth and now I've got a mission completed (four out of four wiggly teeth). But the problem is that yesterday when my tooth fell out I gave it to my mom, and she put it in her pants and eventually put it in the laundry and lost it. I guess I'll just have to write a note to the Tooth Fairy this time explaining what happened.

Let's move on to something else!

A few days ago I learned how to ride a bike without any training wheels, and now I ride all over the village. I also have been roller skating and skate boarding and scootering. Today I had an accident and hit my head and my thumb and my knee.

We've been hiking in the vineyards around the hills of the village. We discovered a very old cherry tree in the middle of the vineyards. My dad thinks it's over a hundred year's old. It's covered with delicious cherries! We stop there and pick and eat all the cherries we want and sometimes we go to the tree twice a day. There are lots of fields of poppies here that you would love and all kinds of other plants, but you have pretty flowers in Iowa, too.

Last weekend we went to the mountains around Carcassonne and met a family that my dad knows. They live in a place called La Muse Inn in a really pretty village. They've got twins named Seamus and Fien who are six years old and are nice and polite -- I just adore them. And funny, too. They always make up stuff that's really funny and they have great imaginations and they are the only two boys I know who like to pick flowers. And they're not rough like some boys I know!

That's all for now!

Au Revoir, a bientot, bon soir, love,
Shoshie

My Share of Accidents

Hi Guys,

A few days ago I went to a carnival that is held every year in Ceyras. It's the town festival and it's a lot of fun. there was a parade that you could join in except that it was a long walk around the whole town so I decided not to do it. People wore costumes and my classlates were there and some of my friends were on floats dressed in Disco clothes from the 70's!

I've been having a lot of fun, but I've had my share of accidents, too. We live in a really old house with stone steps and my little sister once fell down the entire flight of stone stairs. She was okay, but busted her lip. The other day, a few days after the carnival, it was my turn. I slipped as I was going down the stairs and landed really hard on my back. My dad was there to carry me to the bedroom and it was really painful but luckily I'm okay. Today, I had an even bigger scare. Down by the river at my friends' garden, my friend Pierre started teasing me and tried to pull me into the water and I let go and fell onto a plant that stung a lot when I touched it. It had a really red root and it scared me. My hand hurt a lot on my thumb and pointer finger so I ran home crying and washed it with soap and water and put bandaids on it. Bandaids make most things feel better to me.

Today, we went to the market in Gignac and I went to the playground. We bought four kinds of olives: Provencale, one with fennel, and I don't know the rest. They're all good but my favorite is Provencale. We also bought a lot of strawberries and we bought sausage and bread and we were supposed to get some chicken from our chicken guy but he wasn't there.

Today, I also went to recycling and I saw SNAILS!!! They were out of their shells and three were sticking on a box and two were crossing the road by my feet. They'e gross but my mom and dad actually eat them. Can you believe that? They're like the people in Paris!

Tomorrow, we're going to a flea market and then to Sete afterewards. Sete is a beach town. We're doing both things with our friends Lu and her son, Noah who you've heard about in most of my stories. Here in Ceyras we play a lot of marbles, and I bought a lot of marbles at that flea market last time. Okay, I've got to move it, move it! To bed. Dad is going to read me my new book, Rebecca and Ana.

So good night et bon soir et au revoir!

Shoshie

The Holiday Week

Hi Guys,

You know, in America they call this April Fool's Day, but here in France they call it April Fish Day. Guess why? Because they draw a fish on a piece of paper, cut it out, and then they put some tape on it and stick it on the back of something they know. You have to be sneaky and not make a sound. Today, I stuck one on my mom, but it didn't really work because I told her the joke and so she was waiting for me to stick it on her back. I can't keep a secret sometimes!

Last night, Dad and I finished a really big book, a really famous, old one called A WRINKLE IN TIME. I loved it! Not all of you, but some of you might know that I have an American Girl doll (thanks to my very best friend, Harper), named Rebecca and it comes with a book also called Rebecca. She's a Jewish girl from New York in 1914 and she has a cousin in Russia who's sick. Her name is Anna. When my Dad goes tomorrow to America, he's going to pick up the next book called Rebecca and Anna because the story keeps on going. That's the same with A WRINKLE IN TIME. The story is told over a lot of books.

Tomorrow is a carnival. It's sort of like Halloween but different. It's the Halloween for French people. It's when you dress up at 2 for our village and you go around the village for a parade. On Sunday, with my friend Noah (you've heard about him in several stories), I will go with him in his garden for an Easter egg hunt.

Last weekend, we drove to Pamplona, Spain to see our friends Esther, Antonio, Fatima, Juan, and their new baby, Diego. We first met them in Iowa City a couple of years ago before Diego was born. Don't think that Diego is the cartoon Diego from Dora the Explorer because he's just a regular baby, and not a cartoon. Anyway, we had a really good time in Pamplona, which is an old city with a wall around it and it's where they run with bulls in the street and then afterwards they kill them (which I don't like). We went to a restaurant on the last night and after dinner I went on a spinning chair in the playground and it wouldn't stop and I got really dizzy. We also went to a famous church, but I didn't really care so much about the church. I liked the walls which I climbed on and I played tag there with Juan and Fatima. Even though we couldn't understand each other, we still knew how to play! Diego was such a cute baby, I almost felt like he was my baby brother. I kept making him laugh. He's the cutest baby besides my sister Naomi. P.S. Naomi isn't a baby anymore.

See you later guys. I'll communicate with you again when my Dad comes back again from America!

Adios et Au revoir! Bonsoir, too!

Shoshie

Double Tooth Loss

Hi Everybody:

I'm sorry I haven;t been in touch for a long time . . . again. I've just been doing too much stuff.

Yesterday, I lost a tooth and a few day's before I lost another. Now I've got two more teeth that are wiggling! After my tooth came out, I lost it yesterday and so the Tooth Fairy didn't show up. But I found it luckily so I think tonight she'll come. Today, I made a friend named Mathilde who is my classmate. I've been making a lot of friends and my French is working out pretty good!

Tomorrow, we're going to Spain to visit our friends Antonio and Esther and their children, Fatima, Juan, and their new baby. We met them in Iowa City a couple of years ago when they were visiting for a few months. Some of you might remember them.

While Daddy was gone in Hong Kong, I went to Montpellier with Mom and Naomi and we went to the market and I bought a sweatshirt and a New York shirt, so now I have two New York shirts, one from my Dad that he bought in New York and one from my mom who bought it Montpellier. It says something weird at the bottom of the shirt: "My coffee cup contains . . ."

After we went to the market we went to our favorite kebob place and had lunch and then I went on the carousel at the Place de la Comedie. I've wanted to go on that carousel since we arrived in Montpellier. And I finally got to go!

It's getting warmer finally and flowers are starting to bloom. There are a lot of yellow trees everywhere and cherry trees.

Okay, that's all for now. See you next time.

Love,
Shoshie
xoxoxox

The Playground and the River

Hi again:

Today was a really fun day. We went back to St. Guilhem le Desert with our friends Natasha and Laura this morning before they headed for Barcelona (in Spain) and this time I finally had the chance to go to the playground in St. Guilhem. Last week, my parents wouldn’t let me and we were all really cranky, especially me. But this week Daddy stayed with me and Naomi in the playground while Mommy and Natasha and Laura hiked around and did boring grownup stuff. I had lots of fun. We went on the swings and I played house with Naomi and pretended there was a war between Spain and France and we were on the train and I was trying to get Naomi on the train because they could shoot her (I was the mom and she was the kid). There was a wooden train in the playground and I kept climbing on top of the roof. We have pictures, but we can’t download them right now from my dad’s Iphone for some reason.

Now I’m going to tell you about a walk I did today with Noah, my friend, to the river (and my dad and Mom and Naomi were along, too, and his mother). We walked through the countryside until we reached the river. Noah and I were faster than the others and we hid in the weeds and I surprised my Dad after he was calling for me (and he was right in front of me). My dad and Noah skipped stones but I didn’t because I’m horrible at it. I just throw it and it drowns. I dug a hole instead and then I made my holes into a small pond. And we made a bridge. There were hundreds of starlings in the trees and they were making a lot of noise and flew right over my head. There are a lot of hunters around and we saw a lot of shotgun shells on the ground. In the summer we are going swimming at that spot in the river and we’re going to have a picnic, too. It’s really beautiful there, even with the shotgun shells. By the way, I don’t hunters because they kill animals and I want to be an animal rescuer when I’m older.

On the way back, I was climbing a stone wall with Noah to get to the other side and I scratched my tummy really bad and it was bleeding. It still hurts now at night. It’s a bit bumpy. And Naomi was running along the path and fell face forward in the mud. My mom had to give her a shower and take off her muddy clothes when we got back. LOL!

I went to Noah’s house and had crepes with Nutella that his mom made.

That’s all for tonight. See you soon. Au revoir (I like using French words in my blog).

Shoshie

Catching up

Bonjour Mes Amis,

I’m sorry about not being in touch for a while, but I just couldn’t do it because my Dad said I couldn’t do it because he had a lot of work. But now I’m back.

There’s so much that’s been happening that it’s hard to decide what to talk about first.

Last Sunday, I went to a place call St. Guilhelm. It was a very quiet town. I saw a backyard with lots of bunnies and chickens. And I drank from some water fountains that were portable (my Dad says, “potable”). Today I went to Montpellier and we went to a big market and I got some new skinny, tall pretty black leather boots. I also got a blue set of gloves, hat, and scarf. And we got a really really big kebob. Then we drove home and I saw a rainbow, two rainbows precisely and we saw a very pretty, not faintful light rainbow.

A few days before that I needed my doll back because I let somebody borrow it. I made up a song about it in French so that I could remember the words for how to ask for it back. My Dad and I sang it to the tune of a French song that we used to sing back home called “Sur le Pont D’Avignon” or “On the Bridge of D’Avignon.” The new words went

“Je voudrais ma poupee, sil vous plait, sil vous plait.”

Instead of

“Sur le pont D’Avignon l’on y danse, l’on y danse”

That helped me remember what to say and I got my doll back.

Tonight we have visitors sleeping over, Natasha and Laura. I only met Natasha when I was two and never met Laura. We had pizza together and Natasha let us have some homemade cookies.

I’m in my pajamas now and I’m going to go to sleep.

Au revior!

The Strike

The other day I convinced my Dad to let me bring my scooter to school with me even though he’d have to bring it back. On the way to school it was a bit rocky for me on my scooter. I was mostly left behind and I kept yelling, “Dad! Wait up!” There wasn’t much traffic on the road like there usually is – moms and dads dropping their kids off at school. But that morning we saw no one until we reached school and then we spotted my friend Noah and his mother. My dad talked to his mother and we discovered there was a strike that day. I didn’t know what a strike was. A strike is when you don’t have any work. And the teachers had a strike that day. There was still some daycare that day at school but we decided to go home. On the walk back my dad was happy that he didn’t have to carry the scooter home. We stopped at the Boulangerie to pick up some bread and I found a dollar in front of the store. Can you believe it was a dollar? Not a euro. The dollar was crumpled up and dirty and taped together. My dad thought it was probably someone’s lucky dollar and had dropped from their wallet. Now it’s lucky for me.

Yesterday at school my hand was bleeding from my watch. It had three bumps, two next to the bleeding spot and one somewhere else. I also bumped into my classmate. My chin hurt for a while. I also got a scratch on my hand. But on the good side, I got a piggy back ride from Noah at school.

I had to go to the doctor the other day because I needed a checkup to be allowed to go to school. I went to see Dr. Angus, who is from England and lives in a village near us called Nebien. When we were looking for the place the day before, we got lost and climbed up a really narrow street with no way to turn around and my dad almost drove the car down some stairs! Dr. Angus was nice. He made me say “aaah.” He checked in my ears. And that was it.

We also went to the market on Wednesday morning in Gignac. There’s no school on Wednesday but you can go on field trips. But that day I still didn’t have my checkup and other stuff I needed. At the market, we bought some clams. I washed their shells and played with them

I’m going to show you a picture of our house on the corner of Rue de L'Abreauvoir and Rue de La Barriere. It’s on the corner and has its shutters open. Also, there’s a picture of me in front of my door and one of me and my lucky dollar. And one of some cheese at the market that my dad took. But just so you know, I don't like most cheese, except on pizza and a few other kinds. France has a lot of cheese.

A bientot!

Starting my Life in France

Bonjour Mes Amis!

C'est moi encore! Shoshie!

Do you remember what I said I would write about next time? Going to Carcassonne, going to school, and having a playdate (though I didn't really tell you about that one). I'm going to start with school even though that's the last thing I did because I'm so excited about it.

At first, I was really nervous. I thought people might tease me and talk about me . . . in French. Mommy and Daddy and Naomi walked me to school. Naomi brought Aracella, my specialist toy, my special blankie, and a knight's helmet. I'll tell you about the helmet later. When we got to school the principal was there to meet me, Madame Helene. A friend of ours was there, too. Her name is Diedre and she translates for the United Nations, but today she was just translating for me. When I went into the classroom, everybody stared at me. They all said "Hello, my name is. . . WHATEVER" in English. And they made space for me on the bench. When Circle Time was done they gave me a desk. When it was work time they let me read a book. Then they taught me how to write my name in cursive -- but it didn't really work out. When it was science time we put sugar in hot water but I don't know why.

The kid named Pauline who sat next to me was my best friend in class. But I have another best friend. His name is Noah and he's my neighbor, sort of. He's also 7 and he is the grandson of Diedre, the woman who translates for the U.N. The other day we had a playdate at Noah's house. He doesn't know a lot of English but he knows more English than I know French. He has a big dog named Misha (which means Teddy Bear in Russian). He has a really fluffy coat. Noah hugs Misha a lot. He also plays with Misha's nostrils. He pretends Misha's nostrils are a cannon and then they shoot him down. We watched a movie, Indiana Jones, but I didn't like it because it was too scary. So we stopped and we watched Looney Tunes cartoons in French! He also used my lap as a cushion and when Diedre came into the room he said, "Nice cushion!" in English. He wanted to wrestle me a lot, but I kissed him to defend myself and he didn't like that. It's my secret weapon. So you boys better watch out!

On Sunday, we went to Carcassonne which is a town where there is a HUGE castle. We took the scenic route to Carcassone. It was very tiring because it went through so many mountains and the road curved this way and that. I was whining to get to Carcassonne in a hurry because I wanted to get back in time for my playdate with Noah. We passed a lot of vineyards and I told my mom and dad that I thought France should be known for its vineyards!

The castle was very big and it had a moat filled with grass. I wasn't sure how the grass had got there. There was a carousel in the front of the castle. I really wanted to go on it but it was closed. A woman at the ticket place told me to put on my coat because it was windy up in the castle and it was a cold day. I didn't want to, but I put it on.

Some of the parts of the castle were scary becuase it was dark and there were monsters called Gargoyles around the castle. My dad said they were supposed to keep away bad spirits (and also used as gutters) but they looked like bad spirits themselves.

I climbed a lot of stairs and I could see for miles around . . . I mean kilometres because we're in France. I saw pretty houses from one of the windows. They were very old and the roofs were made of tile. One room had pieces of statues and a bunch of faces. I counted 9 faces and then I counted three more. There were also stone cannonballs. One big thing I saw I asked my dad if it was a dragon's tooth. Another one looked like a dragon's tooth, too. They were about a foot long. There were also grave stones with old fashioned crosses and the grave of a knight that looked like he was sleeping.

The best thing was when we left the castle, my dad bought me a new knight's armor and sword. I loved the shield and sword but the helmet was too small for me so I gave it to Naomi and she brought it to school the next day.

But the coolest thing I saw at the castle was ancient writing. You don't get to see that every day!

Au revoir mes amis!

Shoshie

Ooh La La!

Dear Friends,

I have been having lots of fun in France. Let me tell the story of when my trip first began. When we came to Paris, my Dad and I traveled together. Naomi and Mom had arrived the day before we did. It took a bit of a long time to find my mom. Afterwards, we rented a car and drove out of Paris towards Montpellier (where we are going to be living --- in Ceyras, actually, a small village West of Montpellier), but we had a hard time getting out of Paris. I was sleeping though, so I didn't mind.

The first night I was very homesick. I really missed you guys.

The day we arrived, my dad was very tired from me (he says he wasn't tired from me, but that's his version). That night I was crying in my bed so he came over to comfort me. We stayed that night, all four of us, in the Continental Hotel in a little town a couple of hours South of Paris called Veirzon. The next morning I had a dawn snack instead of a midnight snack. We had to get up early, but it turned out we left late because my dad locked his car keys in the car! We had to break the window to get the keys because no one could open the car, not even a tow truck guy or a car dealer. We had to put plastic over the broken window and then we drove much later than we wanted over the mountains, which were covered with snow, and we arrived in Montpellier that evening and then drove to Ceyras, our little village.

The house we're staying in is a really nice house. You think upstairs is creepy but it's actually very pretty. There's even another upstairs with two beds in it (my dad says that means it has three floors). My dad and my mom moved me and Naomi downstairs because it was very cold in our room. I had to sleep on the couch!

But I like the place a lot and now I really like France.

Here are some of the things I like about France:

1. There's hardly any snow.

2. Tomorrow I'm going to have a play date with Noah, a French kid.

3. In the Spring, I'll be able to go to the beach.

4. There's lots of playgrounds nearby.

5. There was a really nice party at the City Hall yesterday.

Let me tell you about it. The party was for newcomers to the village like us. I met the mayor and I met Noah's grandmother and grandfather. I played with a new friend, a girl who was three. She was going to go to school, too. I'm going to school on Monday. Noiw let's go back to the list of my likes:

6. Tomorrow, I'm going to see an old Castle in Carcassonne.

7. Since we bought new car seats for Naomi and me, I have the boxes they came in to put my toys in.

8. It can be really warm in France in the Winter time.

9. I get to watch movies instead of TV.

10. Last but not least, I'm going to school.

Today, we went to a French market in the town of Gignac and it was really fun because I got to go to a playground.

I'll tell you about my visit to Carcassonne maybe and also going to school.

Au revoir,
Shoshie