Long time, no blog... what gives?

Hard to say where the time goes lately. Not too long ago, it seemed like I could while away the hours, alone in my room, blogging to my heart's content. Not much to talk about other than my introspective flights of fancy, but it was quiet.

Things have changed.

Ceil and the kids are great -- the effects of jet lag have subsided, so now we're casting about for other explanations of the craziness our kids treat us to each day. In the mornings, Lee and Ceil usually accompany me to breakfast and bid me good-bye by 7:30a. Miles arises at a more gentlemanly hour... as in "whenever the gentleman damn well pleases."

On most days, there is a morning outing, a lunch outing and an afternoon outing. According to the minutes of the Erickson Family Grievance Committee, two thirds of the participants on these outings describe the extent of travel by foot to be "ungodly", "inhumane", and "this sucks."

I strive to be home by 6:30p or so. On most nights, Lee runs into my arms, squealing "Daddy!" On other nights, Lee runs into my arms, crying "Mommy's so mean!" In both cases, there follows thirty minutes of debriefing on the days events and a discussion of where to eat the evening meal. We head out the door by 7:15p ("do we have to walk?! Daddy, can I have a piggy-back? Let's go to wherever is closest....")

Last week we had a great dinner at La Guillotin with our friend Eric VanAvery -- he joined our team recently, though his luggage has had second thoughts and pursued a career with British Airways at Heathrow Airport.

On Friday last, we met up with Dan Freeman and his wife and three kids. Dan leads one of the other "seat supplier support teams". The kids enjoyed one another’s company very much, and it was great to hear about Dan's trials and tribulations where he is working. One visual image to share: Dan and I go to the same gym-- we're each well over six foot and one-hundred and eighty five pounds... well over. Any way, when the time comes to collect the bill after dinner, we agreed to split the tab, and the two of us walked from the patio into the restaurant to find the waiter. The look on the maitre-de's face was priceless -- 600 lbs of corn-fed American beef, looming in his doorway, come to force our weird credit cards with the magnetic stripes upon him. Truly, he "turned a whiter shade of pale."

An update on the school, the house and the car
After visiting half a dozen different places, and thanks to the tireless efforts of Anne Marie Cruzet, we’ve finally settled on a place to rent for the remainder of our stay. Rather than rent a house in-town, within walking distance of school (and which we would need to furnish), we’ve decided to rent a gîte, or vacation home, on the outskirts of Chateauroux. Like many gîtes, this is a good sized house which situated along-side a positively enormous house – e.g. a castle or chateau. In our case, the chateau in question was once a hunting lodge for the local royal personage, and perhaps the house we’re renting was used by the chambermaids… six bedrooms, a large kitchen, fireplaces, and acres and acres of farm-land on all sides.

Late last week we learned that the school we had hoped to send the kids to was not interested in accepting them – understandable, perhaps. I can imagine that a kid who understands nary a word of French could be a distraction or disruption to a class.

We fretted about this over the weekend, but as with so many other things, it’s all working out for the best. Anne Marie has spoken to the director of the school her daughter attends and found a place for Miles – this is a very progressive school with an excellent reputation – and it promotes a “European classroom”, welcoming non-French-speakers from all over.

This leaves Lee out in the cold, a bit, but the French public schools are obliged to accept any student who applies, and Anne Marie contacted the ecole closest to the school Miles will attend. They said they would be happy to have Lee, but suggested we check out another place, not far away, which specializes in teaching French to young non-natives. Still more to be learned in the coming days, but we’re feeling optimistic again.

By the way, if you’re the praying type, please say a prayer of gratitude for Anne Marie and Jerome Cruzet, on our behalf. They have worked tirelessly to help us find a place to live, and a school for the kids. I cannot imagine how this all would have happened were it not for their unrelenting support.

And so, it seems that before school begins next Monday (mon Dieu), we will have set up housekeeping in Arcton, France and Ceil will be driving the kids into Chateauroux for school each morning. Which brings us to the question of a car for Ceil. We could rent one, but that's pretty spendy, so my next big adventure will be leasing a car in France. (Which, by the way, was the working title for an attraction Disney considered for inclusion in Epcot Center some years ago.)

More to follow. Stay tuned.