I don't want to be French......

Just made my first foray to our new monoprix and used the livraison domicile(home delivery) for the first time.  Actually, using the delivery was the easiest part of the journey(as Julia had set up the details on Saturday).  However, i do not think I will ever adjust to the rudeness and selfishness of the French.  I lost count of the number of times that people left their carts in the middle of the aisle or walked out from an aisle without looking.  One incident was hilarious.  I turned the corner into an aiisle and a women was looking at the produce but she had taken her basket and placed it on the floor behind her, effectively blocking the entire aisle.  there was another woman pushing a cart on the other side of the aisle.  While my response would have been to say pardon and hope she would move the basket, this woman ran into the basket with her cart and moved it 20 feet down the aisle before it moved from in front of the cart.  Hilarious and very enjoyable but I hope that in my time here that I do not become such a person.  Either of them, actually. Both women displayed disgusting social mores.

I have to admit that i was french yesterday(but entirely by mistake).  I was at the outdoor market, which is very nice, even by french standards, looking at the fish and one of the workers asked me what i wanted and I requested some salmon.  Only after finishing the order and turning to walk away did I notice a que(line) at the other end of the kiosk waiting for service from the fish monger.  I felt bad and ashamed but also quite french.  But I hope to not do that again.

I attended the bloom where you're planted seminar at the american church on Monday and Tuesday this week.  I had lunch on tuesday with some very interesting women.  One of who had married a frenchmen 2 months ago and moved to Paris, giving up her career and placing her life on hold for him.  She was obviously very frustrated but our conversation moved toward the attitudes of the french and how she also hoped that she would not become french but that it was hard to be nice when the people you are being nice to are so selfish and socially unaware.  Good to know that I am not alone.

I will say that I am generalizing and should not.  When I am on the metro with Samuel in his baby bjorn I have almost always had someone offer me their seat.

Rant over.  Thanks for listening.

Molson tells us how he feels about moving.....

We went to the old apartment today to pick up the cats. We had left them at the old aprtment to aviod the stress of being in the new place while we were moving in. We also needed to move the car as Julia had signed the new lease for a parking place on Friday.

We picked up the cats. We placed Preacher in a cat carrier and carried Molson to the car. Julia was holding Molson while riding down in the lift. Unfortunately at this time Molson chose to releive his bladder. Julia was not happy. While we were driving to the new place I was holding Molson in my lap. I had my hand saound his stomach. As the car was moving I noticed some tightining in his stomach. I picked up Molson and placed him on the seat between my legs. As we noticed a very strong odor I picked up Molson and there was a solid pooh on the seat(and some on my pants). It could have been worse as the poh was solid and diarrhea. There is always a bright side. We drove the rest of the way with the windows down.

The cats were very strange in adjusting. Preacher actually spent part of the evening in our bed. Something she has never done before.

We live in Paris...

We must have been really tired. We just discovered that we have a view of the Eiffel Tower from our new apartment. If you stand in the entry way and look to the left from the window the Eiffel Tower is visible rising above the adjacent building. If you walk out our front door and walk halfway across avenue charles de gaule and stand in the dividing strip, if you look west you see the grande arch of la defense, if you look east you see the arc d'triomphe.

We occassuionally need reminders that we are actualy living in Paris.

Update and pictures to follow soon.

We are in.......

and our stuff has arrived. It took them less than 2 days to move all of our stuff in. However, they were not very organized and brought most of the boxes first with the furniture coming near the end. This meant that we could unpack boxes but had no place to put stuff. Needless to say the place is a mess but we are working our way through the problem.

Samuel is a real handful. He won't stop rolling over. Even when we are changing his diapers he is trying to roll over. We are trying to teach him how to crawl as he gets on his belly and just kicks, kicks and kicks his legs but he does not go anywhere. Hope he doesn't start to crawl soon as we have a lot of work to do to child proof this place.

Julia and I were both hurt today as I was sitting in the rocking chair in Samuel's room, holding him and Julia walked in with two of his favorite toys that she had found in the living room. As she walked towards us she held the inchworm up in the air and Samuel reached for it with both hands. He has never reached intentionally for anything before, not even us. It is good to know where we stand in our son's priorities.

That is all for now. Will hopefully be able to post pictures by this weekend. Keep those comments (that is sarcasm) coming.

Hotel Charter is now open for business. The guest room futon has received mountains(okay, 3 people) of raves for its size and comfiness(is that a word?).

TTFN.

Dave

Welcome to the grand re-opening of the Charter hotel....

It is almost time to move in.  We received the keys today.  The inspection was scheduled for 9Am and when we arrived we were met by the inspector and the owner.  A very nice man who is apparently very busy right now as he is a very high ranking government official in charge of regulating banks.  Everything that we asked them to do for the apartment has been completed with the exception of replacing the opaque window in one of the bedrooms but he said that the glass was on order and should arrive soon.

Again, the new place just feels like home.  It is smaller but much more cozy and comfortable.  we will not have any problem with storage space as we saw the cave (cellar) today and it is the biggest we have seen so far.  More than adequate space for Christmas decorations and seasonal clothes and wine.

The movers arrive tomorrow morning to pack up our air shipment and the stuff we have purchased since our arrival.  They will then move it to the new place and begin delivering our sea shipment.  They hope to finish early on Friday.

Will post pictures within the next few days as we get settled.

The hotel is officially open for business next week.  We will have our first guest this week as Julia's mum, Moya, will arrive to help us move in and spend time with Samuel so that we can deal with the movers and unpacking.

The cats should be fine as we plan on leaving them in the old apartment until the movers are finished at the new place.  We hope to have the whole family together again by Friday evening.

Phone numbers should not change. New address is:

109 Avenue Charles de Gaulle

Neuilly-sur_seine, 92200

France

It is easy to get to us from Charles de Gaulle airport or gare de nord(trains).   From either location you only have to change metro/rer once to arrive about 100 yards from our front door.

Update

We signed the lease for the new apartment last night.  We will do the walk through inspection the morning of the 30th and move in beginning on the 1st.  Our sea shipment will be delivered on the 2nd and 3rd.  Looking forward to seeing our stuff again.

Julia left for Geneva early this AM(7 AM flight) and she will not return until early evening on Wednesday.  It is her first night away from Samuel since he was born and it is my first evening alone with Samuel.  The only one that is not said or worries(so far) is Samuel.  He is our rock as nothing seems to faze him.  The other day i was carrying him and as I walked into the living room, through the double doors, he threw out his right arm and it banged against the door. He looked at me for a second, cried for about two and then he returned to normal.  We would write a book about how to raise a perfect child but we have no idea how we have been so lucky(so far!)

An interesting side note on our current apartment.  Julia received a message today from the management company and they said that they had no idea what was going on and that this was the first they had heard of any issues that we have with the apartment.  Their representative wants to visit on Thursday evening to examine our complaints.  Considering that we just signed the new lease yesterday their timing is exquisite.

We spent Saturday afternoon reconnoitering our new neighborhood.  Their is a covered market very close, with many food stalls and many small merchants such as tailors, upholsterers and small kitchen stuff.  We discovered that most of the places we will need to utilize are on the opposite side of the avenue.  Which is good as there should be less pedestrian traffic on our sidewalk but we have to cross one of the busiest streets in Europe to access the businesses.  We checked out the Monoprix (across the street) and it is a large store. It not only has food but also a large health/pharmacy and clothing for men, women and children.  We actually purchased Samuel's first pair of mittens while we were there.

Random thoughts and pictures

This is a picture of Samuel and me that Julia took on the 10th.  I will miss the days when he is no longer able to fall asleep on my chest.  There is no better feeling in the world than having your little one fall asleep on you.

It occurred to me last night that I have not been in a car since we returned from London on August 10th.   And I do not miss the experience.  I have not yet been able to get into a regular workout routine but I am still losing weight as I walk everywhere.  Even if you have to take the metro there is inevitably a walk to get to your destination from the station. 

It also helps to be carrying an extra 15 pounds(Samuel) when he is in the baby bjorn.

Went to the new apartment yesterday to measure and take pictures of light fixtures.  It will be a challenge fitting everything into our bedroom but we do have a small office/dressing room next to our bedroom that we can use for overflow.  Every time I see the new place I am more assured that we have made the right decision.  There are a few cracks in the floor but the floor is much more solid and the cracks are in such places that they can be covered by rugs.   The new place is much more intimate.  It is 37 m2 smaller than where we currently reside.  It feels more intimate every time I walk in.  It feels like home.