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