Bluebird's Nest

For the third year in a row, the teenager made it to the concours d’art oratoire! Felicitations JJ! It was a nice change as we left the wee babe at home with Mamu this year. We missed her but it was a nice opportunity to focus on just JJ.

The Competition was stiff this year in the Francophone 8 category. Last year we almost knew that she had killed it. This year we were a lot more uncertain.

And it wasn’t because she was worse. Oh no. This year everyone brought their game! And our suspicions were validated. She didn’t place. But that’s ok because you can’t win them all. And we got to watch the Francophone 9′s as well so that helped to see what kind of game she’s going to need to bring next year.

I asked her if she is planning on doing it next year and I got a resounding “yes!” So she’s not discouraged which is exactly what I had hoped.

And of course we’re very proud of our (not so) little girl. Great work and bon courage sweet pea. Xox

As I wrote about in this post, the tweenager made it to the provincial level for competing in the Concours d’art oratoire on Saturday.

We had a huge day. We awoke at 5:10am and were out the door by 6. Onto the 7am we went and hit the buffet. Delish! Thanks mom for springing for this. Off the ferry and first stop was the new Ikea. It looks way more massive than the original Ikea but once you get inside, it’s really just a maze isn’t it? I’m going to write about my trip as it definitely wasn’t as stellar as I had expected but I’m not going to taint this blog post with my unhappiness.

After that visit, we were off to SFU at the campus in Surrey. I adore this campus. The architecture, the mall underneath the university, the ambiance… it’s wonderful.

Cool lost and found!

SFU architecture

SFU architecture

We had a couple of hours to kill so we grabbed a drink and the tweenager and my hubby hit the mall while myself, the wee babe and my mom hung around in the main area.

The wee babe had had a nap on the way to Ikea but it was really only a half hour so she was a bit owly but FULL of steam. She didn’t stop moving except to eat and sleep. Seriously.

Getting ready for opening ceremonies

The opening ceremonies started at 1:30pm and then we were released to our rooms. One of the students that competed with the tweenager was there last year too. We all took a seat (except for the wee babe and my hubby who was pushing her around in the stroller trying to get her to fall asleep so he could bring her into the room and watch the tween’s speech).

My big girl was #5. After 2 people had gone, my hubby returned with a sleeping baby. As the competitors went up one by one, I couldn’t help feeling a little more and more nervous for my tween. Eventually, it was her turn. She killed it! All the practice, blood, sweat and tears paid off. There was only one moment where she forgot where she was in the speech but other than that, it was perfectly presented. Nice and slow, a beautiful accent and confidently delivered.

The competitors

Shortly after that, it was finished and not a moment too soon. The wee babe promptly woke up the exact moment we were released from the room.

Then we had an hour to wait and figure out amongst the other presenters if our girl had a fighting chance at winning. We were sure that she would place within the top 3 and even confident that she could bring us back the gold medal.

Waiting...

Around 4:10 the start the awards ceremonies commenced. First grade 6 (luckily we didn’t have long to wait to find out!). Then grade 7. 3rd place went to Ryan on “Is there life out there with us in the solar system?” The anticipation builds. 2nd place goes to Alexander on “The Northern Gateway Project”. We begin to squirm… is it going to be her? And then “First place goes to ‘the tweenager’ for “Mon adventure en Suisse”"!! Yaaa whooooo!!!! Up she goes to receive her medal, get a photo and receive her envelope filled with $50!!

First place winner in 7th grade francophone category!

And so that’s it. She’s done it! We’re over the moon with pride, she’s smiling from ear to ear and all that work, and dedication has paid off big time!

Once it’s over, we head back to the ferry and catch the 7pm home. It’s been a looooong day, but so so so worth every minute of it. We celebrate as best as we can on the ferry, congratulating over and over again. We’re all so incredibly proud of our little girl.

I look forward to what next year has to hold.

Good job my tweenager.

Proud girl!

The tween after delivering her speech on water bottles in Vancouver last year.

Last year around this time, my tweenager competed in the concours d’art oratoire. I wrote about this and about being proud of my little girl. She did her speech on water bottles and how terrible they are for the environment. Since then, I have been very aware about our consumption of plastic water bottles and always trying to use reusable ones. Thanks for opening my eyes up to this, JJ.

This year, she wrote her (almost 5 minute) speech on Switzerland: the mountains, the schooling, and the food. It was kind of a given that she would do this since she just experienced 5 months there first hand so what better thing to talk about. Her speech is wonderfully written and you can tell it come from the heart.

So this is how the concours works:

1. Write speech and practice speech until you know it without cards and can deliver it soley by memory.
2. Deliver speech to your classroom of students. Compete against those in your category (the concours is split into Francophone and French as a second language. The tweenager is Francophone since she has a native French speaker in the house and she speaks French in the family. Last year, she was the only one in her grade that was competing in the Francophone category. This year, there was one other in her class.)
3. Find out what you received as a mark. Based on this mark, it is determined whether you move onto the next round which is competing at the school level. (This year her and the other Francophone student both moved onto the school level and competed against each other again.)
4. Deliver speech to judges, parents, and students in all 3 grade levels at the school level.
5. Find out if you came in first. She did!! Congratulations!! Woot woot!! We just found this out yesterday so we’re really very excited.
6. Deliver speech to judges, parents and students in your grade level but from across the province in VANCOUVER at SFU in Surrey on May 5th.
7. Win.

But really you don’t need to win because you’ve already won in my heart honey. Just seeing you moving through each level, practicing, getting better and better, hearing you’re beautiful French, seeing your confidence, and going on this journey with you, is all I’ll ever need.

So so so proud of you hun. You’re amazing.

I attended my first English speaking mom and babe group yesterday. I had such a great time meeting other moms!

I walked down to the church where it was held. Only about a 10 minute walk, where I was warmly welcomed by the woman who runs the show.

Upon entering, I scoped the scene. There were craft tables and the stations on the floor where the littler ones could play. I put the wee babe down so she could cruise through the toys.

The place began to fill up with moms (and one dad) and kids ranging from 8 months (that was us, we were the youngest) to 5 years. The wee babe happily played with the toys and even when a boy yanked out the toy she was playing with, she didn’t cry. Not yet at least. Guess that comes later.

I eagerly chatted with the other moms. I hoped that I didn’t appear too desperate for a friend.

There were some commonalities among the woman:

• Either them or the husbands worked for Nestle (not all mind you, just the majority).
• A lot of them have been here for 6 years.
• A lot of them had a British accent. (With the exception of 2 Americans, a woman from Dubai, a woman from South Africa and an Ozzie)
• A lot of them couldn’t speak French but were in classes.
• The ones that had school age children as well, weren’t going to the local French school (like the tweenager) but were going to an International school for English speaking children.
• All of them were permanently here (I was the only temporary one).

I got a chance to meet and chat with probably 10 out of the 12ish parents there. I found myself asking everyone the same questions. How long have you been here? Do you speak French? Who are your children? What brought you here? Where do you live?

The Ozzie I met fascinated me though. I think it was maybe because my best friend has 5 kids and this woman has 5 kids and she packed up ship and moved here permanently. Never to return to Australia again (unless it’s for a holiday.) Her husband owns his own software business. I asked her if it was hard and expensive to bring everything over here. She said it was but that everyone in her family was much happier in Switzerland than in Australia. I guess here they have a bigger yard and house and the school is much better.

Something else that really struck me was that all the families just packed up where they were living and took off to Switzerland to live forever. I mean it’s not completely out of left field but they all had done this coupled with the fact that none of them know French, that must have been really challenging for them. They all did seem like strong women though so I guess it makes sense. Still, I found myself admiring them for being so brave.

Some other things that were mentioned on more than one occasion:

• you can get by here without knowing French (except for the doctor’s office),
• it seems to be a lot safer place for kids to grow up,
• and the general consensus was that it was a great place for the kids to grow up.

Everyone was really nice. I wished that we had name tags though as I’m never going to remember everyone’s names!! I wished that I could have made a connection right away so that maybe I was meeting someone for a coffee/play date this week or even just a walk around the neighbourhood but I guess it was a bit early. Again, desperation is not what I was going for.

All in all I had a great time and can’t wait to go back next Wednesday.

I’m in Valbella in the Swiss German speaking part of Switzerland. I’m going to blog tomorrow about our out trip but today I wanted to talk about two things. Swiss weddings and the Swiss languages.

First up, the weddings. I consider myself a bit of an expert at Swiss wedding since I’ve had one here. But for those of you who aren’t familiar with them, I’ll give you a little insight as we just attended another one for my hubby’s best friends last weekend at the Beau Rivage Palace in Ouchy. It was uber cool.

A few things to note about weddings in Switzerland. There are 4 events (unlike the standard 2 in Canada). You have your civil wedding which is the wedding where usually only your family and your temoines (maid of honor and best man – these are the only two people you have working for you) are invited to at the city hall. This is the actual bonified, we have our paper and we are married wedding. It consists of a suit for the man and a simple white dress for the woman.

Then either the same day or some days later, there is the big party day. This starts with a wedding usually in a church. But not any ordinary church. We’re talking a church that is a few hundreds of years old and is usually amongst vineyards tucked away in a cobblestone village.

Then we would go for photos and meet up with everyone a few hours later, the Swiss (and the French (as I’ve been to 3 French weddings (I think I’ve actually been to more weddings in Europe than I have in Canada now))) have something that is called “the aperitif”. This is where you and all the people who came to the wedding, go elsewhere to some other location and have drinks and wonderful little dainty appetizers. You mingle and chat for a couple of hours and then you move onto the reception (as we like to call it in Canada. Dinner is what they call it here).

But wait, not everyone goes to the reception. Some people aren’t invited (which for me seems strange but from talking with some people, it’s normal). Anyway, at the wedding we were at on the weekend, there was a SECOND aperitif, with more food and drinks. Talk about fancy. This was located at the same place as the reception.

The reception works much the same way as a Canadian reception where you can either do a sit down dinner or buffet. We did a buffet style but our friends did a sit down. But the biggest difference is that we plow through our meals and speeches and cake whereas the Swiss take their time. And I mean take their time. Dinner starts around 8:00pm. No kidding. And then it ends around 12am. Our friend’s dinner had a little salad, then a speech. Followed by a wonderful risotto/shrimp dish and then another speech. Then the mail course (divine by the way) and then some animations they call them. This is little movies or games that the couple play. Then desert and some more games, then the cutting of the cake and whewf! It’s time for dancing. You’re good and liquored by then since the booze is non-stop and all free usually so dancing is not out of the question.

Dancing lasts until around 4am. Let me say that again. Dancing lasts until around 4am. At our wedding, I think it was 5. It’s literally insane. I’m surprised I’m not asleep under a table at that point. Although I did see one of the guests at last weekends wedding, running through the sprinklers at the end of the night. (Nice Yann!)

The whole night was spectacular. You really couldn’t have asked for more. Oh and in two more weekends from now, we get to do it all over again for another friends wedding although from what I understand, it’s not going to be quite so posh. Heaven help me.

I think I googled Swiss weddings when I was trying to figure out what are the traditions of them were for my wedding, and I couldn’t find much to report so I hope this helps all those out there looking for some advice on what exactly happens during such an event.

Thanks Jule and Steph for such and amazing time. I think I can safely say, everyone had a GREAT time (except for maybe a certain vegetarian)!

Now onto the Swiss languages. There are four official Swiss languages here. French, German, Italian and Romanch. English is not an official language although a lot of people speak it here fluently. French is obvious as there is a French speaking part of Switzerland. I always get confused with German and Swiss German. What the hell is the difference?? But from what I’ve been told, Swiss German is only a spoken language like gangsta speak I can only assume. I kid. So some people speak both German and Swiss German but it’s not interchangeable.

There is a beautiful little spot in the south of Switzerland really close to Italy that speaks Italian. It’s wonderful. So that makes sense too. And then there’s Romanch which is a fading dialect that only a handful of people speak.

Ok, so get this. Switzerland is the size of Vancouver Island. Say what?!? You’ve got four official languages wrapped within 25 and 2 half provinces (huh? I just asked my hubby how many provinces there were and that is what he told me so go figure.) with several different accents in a country that takes 4 hours to drive across. I JUST drove across Canada and there is no way I can even compare that. Crazy insane.

So back to my train of thought. For the past 2+ weeks I’ve been here, I’ve been rocking French. Ok, so maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but I’m getting better and people don’t laugh as much at me as they used to.

We drive 1.5 hours and now we’re in the German speaking part. I can’t even say please and thank you or hello anymore. WTF? Seriously? This seems a little ridiculous and now I’m getting even more frustrated as I can’t read a menu, a road sign (speaking of road sign I had a little laugh today as I saw a sign that said “ausfarht”. No really? Ass fart? Gotta love German.) the toilette, etc… you get the idea. I’ve gone from 80% capable to 0 in about 1.5 hours. I can’t even speak French in this German speaking part of Switzerland. I find myself saying “merci” and then “thank you” and finally wrapping up with “danka”. Shit. I’m all discombobulated. People pass me on the path while we’re high up in the mountains and I can’t even say hello so I just look at them and smile. Ugh.

My tweenager even asked today if there was another language she could learn in school if she wanted to. Might as well since Canada is the second biggest country in all of the world and we only have two official languages that only about 5% of the population can speak both of the fluently.

I say, rock it while you’re here girl.

It’s been a full week now that we’ve been here and we’re settling in quite well.

Yesterday, we ventured into France with the hubby’s parents to check out the Mont Blanc. We took a gondola over to a glacier and we were able to walk inside. It’s not too often you can walk into a glacier and I told the tweenager that she would need to be sure to blog about it. What an experience.

It was pretty neat. Ice caverns acting as tunnels. There was even a St. Bernard inside that you could have your picture taken with for 6 Euros. Poor doggy. The most interesting (and sad) part for me was they had placed markers on the side of the rocks stating where the glacier was 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. It sure has receded quickly over the years. Every year they need to build new caves as the glacier moves so quickly. We could hear rocks tumbling as the ice melted. I think my hubby said it moves 90 meters a year. That’s insane.

We walked down the 400 steps to get into the glacier then back up and back into the crowded gondola. Oh I forgot, we took a really cool train to get to the top of the middle mountain. So Swiss and so pretty.

I told my hubby today that I really like his country. It’s so beautiful. I think I fall in love with it just a little bit more every time I come here.

I also spent some time a few days ago with the belle soeur and the tweenager swimming in Lake Leman. It’s her private swimming place kind of. So cute. I almost thought it was someone’s private property and we might be trespassing but there was a garbage, a change area, a shower and a toilet. The water in Lake Leman is so beautiful and refreshing. I feel like I’m in a little piece of paradise here.

It’s hard to explain but the vineyards etched against the blue mountains with the Swiss architecture is beyond picturesque. I can’t wait to see what happens in fall and winter.

One thing that I’ve grown to liking is the meals here. I never thought I’d be saying that. I remember the first time I came here 6 years ago. I spoke next to no French, I barely knew anyone and everything was strange to me. The thing I disliked the most was the meals. Not because of the food. Oh no. It was because the meals were so drawn out and long. Ever meal started with a salad, then the meal, then the bread and cheese, and then fruit and a little coffee. Talking, talking, talking in French. Of course I had no idea what anyone was saying and the hubby would translate (poorly) I wouldn’t get any jokes and it was just a huge clusterf*&k for me. I hated it. It would have been better if I had brought a book or magazine to read. Although I guess that would have been really rude. But now! Oh now it’s wonderful! I can understand about 80% of the conversation. What I don’t understand, it’s much easier for the hubby AND the tweenager to translate and the food… the glorious food! For some reason, the food before seemed so foreign to me. Now I embrace it and look forward to it. (I don’t think I will ever be able to eat a fish with its face on though, that’s a little too much for me. I also don’t think I will ever get used to the water with bubbles either.) I love the fresh salad and fresh dressing, the unique meals and the cheese. Oh that cheese! Let’s not forget the bread and wine. And I would be so lucky to end off with a little coffee. I’m in heaven.

I need to make some friends though. The landscape, meals and warm temperature are only going to get me by for a while until I feel like I need more adult friendly conversation. And maybe my belle soeur isn’t going to want to hang out with me all the time The hubby is doing well with spending time with me, but I know he longs to see his friends he hasn’t seen in a while. And I feel for the tweenager. But it won’t be long until she is at school and meeting all sorts of new people.

Enough of that talk, we’re planning a trip to the Gewürztraminer area of France for a night. Just a small road trip. We might do a couple of others as well but I think we’re all a bit burnt out from traveling in a car for the time being. It’s nice to be planted in one place after such a huge trip across Canada. Oh, and the gas here is sooooo expensive. I think it works out to $1.70 per litre. It cost us $85 the other day to fill up. It’s going to be a relief when we move to the other apartment that we won’t have a car. Although, that will come with it’s own set of problems I’m sure.

We did a little photo shoot this morning with the wee babe when she was eating her carrots. I hope you enjoy.

Wee babe Update:

• She’s eating carrots, bananas and yams. Next up: apples and squash.
• She’s pulled herself up to a standing position a few times now. Wow, do I ever get nervous when she does this as she is so wibbly wobbly I can just see her tumbling over onto her head. Oh mon dieu.

I’m going to start out with an update on the wee babe.

Wee babe update:

• She’s officially crawling. She’s actually moving in a forward motion with both her hands and feet. It’s really cute. Before I know it I’m going to have to be fencing her off.
• She’s also pushing herself into a sitting position.
• She’s loving her index and middle finger on her right hand to suck. She uses these to soothe herself a lot. It also helps her to go to sleep sometimes.
• She just cut her 6^th tooth! Feels like she’s been teething for half her life now…

At the dinner we had at my in-laws house, there were many presents from them, my belle soeur, relatives and friends that were given to us, the tweenager and the wee babe. The wee babe is now dressed from head to toe. There aren’t enough days in the week to wear everything once. She has more outfits than all of us put together I think (ok, maybe not me LOL!).

A moment of reflection:

I’m feeling really good about being back here. Since this is my fourth trip here, life is beginning to feel really familiar now. I remember how things work differently here and I can actually speak better French than I ever have. (OK, I didn’t say perfect by any means. Just better.)

Although, last night we went to one of my hubby’s friend’s houses and it was like a blast from the past when all the friends showed up. Talking too quickly with too much slang. I couldn’t keep up. It’s times like that that I wonder what they think of me, this mute foreigner who’s 6-7 years older than all of them. My internal dialogue takes over.

I’m sure I’ll improve. I was happy to have 30+ minutes with our hostess to catch up on the wee babe, her upcoming wedding and her new condo. She speaks great English and with my broken French it was a wonderful conversation. We figured out that we’ve spent four 1^st of August’s together. I’d say that it’s now a full fledged tradition.

A funny foreigner story:

My Swiss mister had left for the stag so it was just me and the girls who were left to do the first shopping trip. To be honest with you, I was kind of excited to be driving by myself and figuring out the shopping by myself without the assistance of the hubby.

We started the morning off right with a brunch at the mister’s parent’s house in the pergola. This was really welcome as we had no food in the house (yet) and I love eating outside in the company of his mom and dad and sister.

After that it was time to get on the road. The tweenager was so much help. We both successfully (after one wrong roundabout exit) got to the shopping centre. Then we were faced with the shopping cart that you need to insert a coin into to free it from the other cart ahead of it. Cue looming music. Since I only had a bank card and no actual cash we took the elevator up to see if we could find an ATM.

We walked around the mall for a bit, me trying to summon up the courage to ask someone for directions to the machine, if there even was one. Finally, I stopped a man and asked if he spoke English (yeah I know, chicken right?) he did and he instructed us one floor below. Then again I asked another man (this time in French) to the nearest ATM. Ok. Mission accomplished. I had the $50 Swiss franc in my hand. Alas, you can not stuff that into the cart so I needed to get change.

Over to another shop to try my hand at more French (getting more confident now) and I then had the 2 francs in my hand for the carte. A half hour after we arrived at the mall, I finally had the carte in hand. Now I just needed to make it through the grocery store.

The grocery store was fairly uneventful save for every single item in the store is in different packaging than what you’re used to and written in a different language (thankfully I brought my human translator with me). Oh, and it was also slightly embarrassing when I didn’t realized that I needed to get on the other side of the cart when going through the checkout so the cashier needed to help me.

Then the drive home. Wow, can I just take a moment to let you know how much my tweenager is growing up? She did about 80% of the navigating that was needed to get us out of our wrong turn. We drove around the little village of Bussigny for about 10 minutes before deciding that we needed help and that we were just going to go back to the hubby’s parent’s house to get a chauffeur back. We came back out to the main road and at the next set of lights I recognized the gas station where we normally turn. After that, the tweenager navigated us through the little streets and walla! We were back home.

I have a feeling I just made a memory

Tomorrow I’m going to have the tweenager on as a guest blogger on my site, giving us some of her thoughts on our cross Canada trip. I’m looking forward to that!!

We left the AIRBNB this morning and I was a little sad. It was such a nice all to our selves place. But the stairs were pretty scary.

It only took us about 2 and a half hours to get to Quebec City. And it was hot again. Sorry Victoria but the weather here on other side of Canada is dreamy to uncomfortably hot. It’s the type of weather where you NEED a shower at the end of every day.

Anyway, Quebec City is very European in its look and feel. The architecture is old. Like way older than Victoria. I think I would have been a little more wowed by it if I hadn’t been to Europe and Switzerland so many times. (I’m not bragging, just telling it like it is. After all, I’m married to a Swiss man remember?) It was still very impressive and definitely felt like a different country altogether. Everyone was speaking French.

My first impressions of Quebec City weren’t really amazing unfortunately. There was the sweet smell of piss where we had lunch on the lawn. The wild aroma of weed on and the drunk/druggy half awake/asleep on the side of the road in the main tourist spot. Thank god the architecture was amazing or I would have regretted stopping.

We headed up the funicular first so we could get a good view of the city. Stopped for lunch by Chateau de Frontinac where we ate our pre-made sandwiches. Then just walked around the city. If you can believe it, the other totally random thing was that a Metallica concert was playing that night so there were people drinking in the streets and lots of rockers wearing heavy metal t-shirts. Kinda strange.

That was about it for Quebec City. We were there for only a couple of hours but we felt like it was enough. It’s a beautiful city. Very charming.

The heat was really beating us down (33 degrees) and with all the people we made a bee line outta there and headed to Riviere de Loup.

I think the lack of sleep from the last two nights (the bed was tooo hard), coupled with the heat and the walking, oh and lets not forget the living out of a car for the last two and a half weeks, made me really sleepy for the drive, and I was driving. My hubby and I played 20 questions (I sucked but it helped to keep me focused). When we were getting closer we typed in accommodation and a Beluga Hotel came up. Since we sang a few rounds of it today we thought maybe it was a sign.

So we took the side road to Riviere de Loup and man-o-man am I ever glad we did. I think this is our first taste of east coast living. Beautiful little sea side/St. Laurent cottages built on quaintly tree lined roads. Picture perfect. My hubby was going crazy. He even got the notion in his head that we might be able to do a BnB if we found something perfect. And did we ever.

Two bedrooms with a welcome drink, a night cap liqueur, a gourmet breakfast (I’ll let you know how it is tomorrow) seemed to be worth the $115 we paid. The only catch is that the tweenager is in her own bedroom in the basement sharing the space with another family. She was ok with it though.

According to our budget, that’s it for hotel/bnb/AIRBNB type dwellings for us. We’ve got to camp and or find some friends to crash at. Thankfully we have 2 more nights at friends of the family in Fredricton and then we’ll be camping the rest. Oh we have a night crossing on the Ferry to Newfoundland and already paid for our last night in St. John’s at a motel.

We headed off into town to get some grub. Since this will be the last meal I take in Quebec, it had to be a serving of poutine. And again, it was not any better than something I would eat in Victoria. But I understand that I totally missed out when I was in Montreal as evidentally, there is a place that serves 50 different types of poutine! Doh!! I’m so pissed I missed that!!! I guess there will have to be a next time.

We came back to the BnB, watched the sunset over the St. Lawrence, all had showers and then relaxed in the living room reading Anne of Green Gables. We’re desperately trying to get through it before we get to PEI in around 3-4 days.

Sleeping: BnB: $115
Items lost: I lost my favourite flip flop while we hiked/walked up Mont Royal. I have since bought a new pair of Crocks but it’s not the same
Wee babe disposition: Hot in the Ergo but other than than, stellar.
Weather: 32 degrees. Smokin’ hot.
Stress level: Tired.

It was a hot humid morning waking up in an unknown apartment in Geneva with my boyfriend. Let me be clear, the apartment was known to him but not to me.

We were heading over via EasyJet to the South of France to attend his cousin’s wedding that morning.

After boarding the plane it dawned on me that this would be the first time I would be meeting his family. And not just his parents and sister. His ENTIRE French family. I began to shake a little.

My French was appalling, I’d had little to no sleep and I’d just been through the time change ringer so my senses were all a tizzy. Oh and did I mention it was hot?

I expressed my uncomfortableness to him and he said not to worry. All I need to know is that in France they kiss on the cheek. Oh and they do this in Switzerland too but instead of the standard 2 kisses that the French give it’s 3 for Swiss people so his Swiss family will greet me with 3.

Huh? Are people going to be flying flags so I know if they are French or Swiss? What if Germans come? Or Italians? My heart began to race.

The questions came pouring out.

“Could you demonstrate how I should be doing this? Do we start on the left or right? What if we both go left and then we kiss on the mouth!??! Do we actually land our lips on their cheek or is it more of an air-kiss-cheek-bump? Do we grasp each others arms so we don’t fall into one another? Do I make a kissy sound? What about my breath? Does it stink? And my makeup? What if I accidentally get lipstick on someone? Should I wipe it off? What about sweat? Did I mention it’s hot out? Do the guys kiss each other? And if a French person and a Swiss person kiss, how many kisses do they give? What about germs? If someone has a cold do they not kiss? We don’t hug when we have colds. Is this whole kissing thing optional like when you can tell that someone isn’t really a hugger? NO?”

I wasn’t sure I was up to the task. Could we go back to the unknown apartment? Not only am I meeting his family for the first time but now this whole kissing thing is happening. It gave a new meaning to “all up in your face”.

Did I mention that they do this upon greeting and departing? Has anyone ever heard of a hug sufficing?

The plane landed and we were greeted by a couple of people in his family. I got to practice. It went not too poorly.

We arrived at the wedding. Smiles, kisses, some awkward cheek smashing, (hey, I’m new at this!) but I got through all 45+ family members. If you do the math, let’s say there’s 40 French people and 5 Swiss people so that’s 40 X 2 and 5 X 3 which equals 95 kisses I donned out. And then I got to do it all over again when we left.

I wonder if people in Europe actually account for the added time it takes to greet people for events like this cuz let me tell you, hugging is much more time efficient

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This post was prepared in response to a RemembeRED prompt for the Red Dress Club. This week’s prompt was about affection. We asked you to write how the show of affection played a part in your memory.

My husband’s worried about me. Or maybe he’s more worried for me.

Yesterday we went for a walk after dinner. The sun was shining, birds chirping, my spirits were high, I was excited about life and what the future holds. Picture it: I was jumping up and down, running up a hill that usually winds me (Ok, a bit of an exaggeration but you get the picture). My tweenager was trying to change the topic (as she’s a little nervous about it all) but I kept right on vibrating with joy (in hopes that a little of it rubs off on her).

Earlier on, my hubby had me read an email that was written in French. Usually, I have a few hiccups through out the emails of words I don’t understand but this one was littered with them. The email was written very formally (from what I could tell) so I didn’t get a lot of it. I think this is where his patience grew thin and his worry began.

Then when we were on the walk, my daughter said something in French (and to be honest I wasn’t even listening to her, like I said, I was EXCITED and couldn’t get my head out of our trip), so being lazy I asked her to repeat what she said in English. Big mistake. My hubby jumped on it and I guess it appeared to him that I could speak about as much French as Kermit the Frog.

He told me that he wants me to be able to partake in conversations over there, that if he was me he would be studying, learning and practicing. He’s worried. He doesn’t understand why I don’t listen to French radio, watch French TV or why I fall asleep in French movies. Ok, let me be clear. I fall asleep in any kind of movie. IMAX movies, the Littlest Mermaid, Pirates of the Caribbean… You name it, I’ve only seen half of it.

Also, by the time we turn on the TV, it’s already time to turn off my brain at night and not time to watch TV where I actually have to pay attention! Come on give me a break! My man is a night owl and I pack it in at 9:30pm!

So why am I telling you this. I write to assure me, myself and I not to let his worrying affect you, I mean me.

I am going to Switzerland with the mentality that this is going to be an adventure. An experience. I don’t want to control anything (can you imagine!!). I want to just experience it.

Yeah, for sure, I might be in the dark during lunches, dinners, breakfasts, movies, walks, hikes, etc… but I know that. It’s not like I haven’t been there before. This will be my 4th time. One of my daughters is fluent and dear husband, so are you. So you both will help me. And I will try, and I will have no choice but to learn. I will get frustrated. I will feel alone. I will survive. I know all of this.

Oh and I heard somewhere that if you live in a place for 6 months or more then it’s perfect for picking up the language. I can’t remember who told me this… It couldn’t possibly be my Swiss husband could it?

And lastly, I speak French. I speak it with him, with my tweenager, with my wee babe, on Skype with my in-laws, my sister-in-law, and I write to his mother in French – I understand about 65-70% of what is being said. I’m not totally brain-dead when it comes to French. But if the expectation is there that I be fluent before I even arrive – think again. I could see being proficient at it after 5 months though, non?

Somewhere inside of me there is a peace this time with French. If you knew me before, there used to be a panic.

I think maybe it has something to do with the fact that I will be living there. It’s not a vacation where we’re packing in visiting every single relative and friend since he was but a wee lad. This time we’re going to be visiting but we will have our own space to retreat to. This time I will have many days where I will be with the wee babe during the day and not the rest of my family and I’ll have to fend for myself.

So I’m not going with any expectations. I want to just experience it all. This is an adventure for me.

This time it will be different.

Worry not my dear loving husband.

I’m not.