So much to say, so little time

So, I just found this post I didn't post in the fall. Maybe it will spur me on to do a few more...

We have had a busy few months. Paul had a trip to Alaska while Isabelle and I did the road home to Nova Scotia on our own. We had about a month visiting cousins, grandparents, a few friends and managed to get 3 nights at Milford House. There are just some things I need and those nights at Milford were a priority!

Now we are almost a month into a new school year - second grade (memories of Tower Road School and Miss Durling fill my head). Isabelle has all new teachers and a lite more emphasis on French language (60/40 rather than 50/50). I just hope I can keep keeping up with her! A big thing for this year is the second through fifth graders go to camp each September - this year they went to Camp Greenville which is right on the north caolina border. She left last Monday morning and arrived back on Wednesday afternoon in a heap of exhaustion. I think it took most of the week and weekend to recover but since I was in Milwaukee Paul had to bear the brunt of it.

I had another weekend of judging this time in Milwaukee - no I didn't see the Fonz but I did see some fine exhibits. Unfortunately, like a lot of my stamp weekends, I didn't get to see a lot the downtown but enough to know I should go back.  
Meanwhile, Isabelle is busy with art and tennis lessons and she is also trying to swim twice a week - yes, after her success this summer, she has decided to try the year-round swimming thing.

So, that is a little update on life here in SC.

So Proud of Our Swimmer

Tonight we are so proud of Isabelle. She swam in her first swim meet - 25m backstroke. I will admit that I was a nervous wreck - it might as well have been me swimming for the somersaults my stomach was doing. I just wanted her to do her best, build up her confidence and, of course, have fun.

So for those of you who haven't seen Paul's blog - you can read his side of the story complete with pictures and video.

There is a Downside

Well, part of the reason I haven't been posting is that we are busy. Busy with our day-to-day life, busy with adventures (geo-caching - a great way to get Isabelle out for a hike!), busy with friends and family. I guess you could say we have settled into the expat life. And we are loving it! Mostly.

Today, we had to say good-bye. Now, we did this before - at the end of the school year last year when a few of the families returned to France including one of Isabelle's classmates - not a week goes by without Isabelle talking about Albane and her family.

But this time is a little harder. No, a lot harder. Almost 3 years ago, Paul and Isabelle went for one their first swims at our neighbourhood pool - I took Maggie up for a walk. While I was watching Isabelle swim I could hear a woman speaking French with her children - I wanted Paul to introduce himself but that is not his style. Luckily, she heard Paul speaking French to Isabelle and spoke to him (because that is just the way she is) and that is how we met Radia, Sarah, Rassim and Karim.

Since then Radia has been a friend, a translator, a carpool partner and a guide to the ways of Isabelle's school. Her daughter, Sarah, is a year ahead of Isabelle so whenever I had questions about, well, anything - Radia was my source. When I went away for stamp shows, Radia picked Isabelle up from school and kept her until Paul got home from work. I think my experience here would have been very different without Radia. I will miss her every day and I can never thank her enough for all that she has done for us.

The thing is that while she is all those things to me - she is also those things to many people in the French and Muslim communities here. She is an amazing cook, baker and cake decorator with a wonderful blog about her cooking. Last year, she made a couscous for the graduation at Isabelle's school for EVERYONE in the school. She is an organizer - school events, community events - even a wonderful surprise going away party for her own daughter!

Isabelle will miss Sarah and Rassim terribly - she is used to seeing them almost every day. And I will miss them too - they both crack me up plus since Isabelle is an only child they give her a taste of siblings - oh, the bickering in the car sometimes.

As my mother says: nothing is ever simple so when Radia and the kids were supposed to leave yesterday (a long story) - I managed to get this great picture with Isabelle and Sarah and Sarah's best friend Emma. Hopefully we will get a another one just like it someday but until then it will be facebook, skype and e-mail. Thank you for everything Radia!

Too Late

When I arrived at HGS in the fall of 1986, I was ill prepared. After drifting through public school for 9 years, I decided I wanted to go to private school. Before HGS, I liked history, geography and English; I struggled in French and Latin and was baffled by math and the sciences. Perhaps I was not the best candidate for HGS but I knew HGS was where I needed to be. Luckily, I found myself in a legendary class – some familiar faces, others new. It was the class of ‘3:15’, Strat-o-matic Hockey, the hockey pool and where almost everyone had a nickname ending in –er.

I had exceptional teachers including Mrs. Aterman who, in one fell swoop, both terrified and enthralled me. She did not ask when things happened but why they happened and the consequences – that was a change from public school. She challenged me and I desperately wanted to do well in her class. But I didn’t and by the end of grade 10, Mrs. Aterman said HGS was not the place for me. Well, as another teacher pointed out - I made decisions for myself and I didn’t always make choices that were easy on me - so I stayed.

I continued to just get by for the next two years but (most) every assignment improved. And when I didn't succeed, I learned more about what was expected of me. She spent months years teaching me how to properly research and write a paper. So, in my first year of university when I missed deadlines and exams due to illness my grades did not suffer. I owe this to Mrs. Aterman and her determination to teach me to write a proper thesis statement, to follow through on that statement and to ensure that what I wrote was I meant (DNSWYM – anyone?).

Somehow, she was convinced (along with the art teacher) to accompany our class to Europe in Grade 12 – that must have been JG’s doing! And what better first introduction to Paris, Munich and Florence than with an art teacher and a history teacher – I know I thought, at the time, that if I saw another church I was going to die - but we had fun!

When I read Mrs. Aterman's obituary last week, I finally understood why she pushed me so hard - it is a wonder she didn't just wallop me - she should have! I am proud to have been one of her “heathen lot”. I am sorry I never had the chance to thank her properly.

Julie & Peace

Tonight when Isabelle was colouring she said “Mummy, I’m going to colour this peace sign purple.” I said OK. Then, I asked how she knew it was a peace sign – she said Julie told her about peace signs. Julie babysat Isabelle last year but she is studying in France now – one of the few downsides to the school, the graduating students have to be a long way from their families to continue their education. I think Isabelle misses seeing her around the school – remember when you were little and one of the ‘big’ kids actually spoke to you – it was pretty cool, right?

Anyway, Paul pipes up that Dar Williams sings an appropriate song (well, not all of it!). So here it is, and maybe Julie will see it and think of Isabelle. Hmmm, maybe Isabelle should draw a picture to send to Julie – remember when you were at college and got real mail – that was pretty cool too!

Isabelle’s Birthday Cake

Hard to believe I have a 6 year old! And there is no doubt – she has had 5 celebrations this year – two in Nova Scotia before her birthday, one at school on her birthday, one at home on her birthday and today a joint party with her classmate Dorian at our pool. Unfortunately, Paul missed every one – but don’t feel too sorry for him, check out his latest blog entry!

Anyway, channelling Tante Rhea and with A LOT of help from Google and Radia I made the cake for today. I wanted to make something appropriate for both a boy and a girl and to tie in the pool party was also a goal. So, here it is – thanks to Radia also for taking pictures of the making of the cake.

 

2 – 9 x13 chocolate cake (Radia says not chocolate cake, it is so hard to frost with white icing. She was right!

Cut out a chunk out of the top cake

 

Line the hole with a thin layer of fondant.

 

Prepare two boxes of blue Jell-O with half the water.

Ice the top and sides of the cake or start to make such a mess of it that Radia does it for you! THANK YOU RADIA, you are a lifesaver!

 

Pour Jell-O into the hole. I used less than half.

 

So, do you see it now?

 

And on to the fun part.

In retrospect, I wouldn’t do the fondant/Jell-O part the day before.

 

The cake decorated – the lane dividers didn't really work – they rolled around too much (I needed a Paul solution.)

  

You can see where the fondant dissolved overnight – I don't think the kids noticed though!

 

Dorian was quite anxious to get to the cake part – I hope he liked it.

 

The birthday girl and boy – Valerie (Dorian's mother) got this great picture of them blowing out the candles.

Addendum to the Mice

I mentioned in my post that it was cold when Dawn visited and that she had taken some pictures to illustrate how cold it was. She was kind enough to forward a few to me so here is the fountain at the Westin Poinsett Hotel in downtown Greenville. The first picture was taken about a week before the others.