Home

Very much in the first rosy-glowing stage of culture shock, where the new place is all exciting and full of wonder, promise, pastry... but I think our apartment is starting to feel a bit like home. Our new sofa will be fabulous (comfy, not squeaky or slippery, cozy...) but it's not due to arrive for another week, so in the meantime... things that are making home more homey:

 Second day of spring... tulips! They added rather a lot to my little table decorations - a lamp, butter dish, water bottle and glass. Nice bright colours, which were hard to do justice with the light distorted in the photograph. The walls are white...

Shows the lamp better. Have two of these (care of IKEA), the other on the sideboard by the fruit bowl. Photo later, once the desk has been delivered and all the laptop paraphernalia is no longer cluttering up that space.

The only open shelves in the kitchen. So, of course, none of the others are arranged particularly aesthetically. Now that I look at it, this isn't as symmetrical as I thought. Hm. But a nice mix of new things and old faves from NZ (cat mugs and the blue/white rice bowls).

Our bedroom. Again, a mix of new and old. Duvet, books, jewelry stand from home, new pillows, lamp, bed, etc. Nothing new about the clutter on the floor...  I doubt we're show-home material.

Delicious food makes any place feel good right? Thursday evening's fare: paprika chicken and lemon butter potatoes on a delish fresh salad, with goats cheese and garlicky good mushrooms. Can I get an 'oh baby'?

Internet's slowed right down so... more pictures another day. I'm off to have a nap while Louis does. Then we might venture out to find some art supplies for me and shoes for Luuk. So much for not shopping this weekend. Still, it's not furniture shopping. That is something.

Come on, get a rhythm

Starting to get into a bit of a rhythm and routine. Which I love. I just lap it up. It goes something like this...

Luuk gets up with Louis, gives him breakfast...

7am-ish. I join them, put Louis in the shower with Luuk (every other day or so), then when they're done we have breakfast.

Luuk heads off to work.

Louis has milk and plays while I have coffee and write my journal (usually interrupted)

Louis goes to bed.

I finish writing journal/drinking coffee, then jump in the shower (minus any actual jumping. The coffee is no magic potion.)

Dressed, I open blinds and let the light in, tidy up a bit, and then do my work for the day.

Housework/writing/drawing/whatever...

If Louis wakes early, I try to keep him entertained with food/toys/tv so I can keep working.

If he wakes around 11 then we go out... first stop the boulinger/pattiser for some bread, next stop the park. 

Louis plays in the playground (honestly: just the sandpit. Even the slide can't compete with getting dirty and damp) while I read and nibble on the bread.

Home for lunch. Louis cries as we leave playground but I placate him with jam sandwiches when we get home. I have yummy fresh bread with ham/salami and cheese. So very simple; so very good.

Then we either head out to do errands – shopping for groceries, usually, to be honest – or we stay home, play together... till 1.30ish. (Later if we've gone out again.)

Bed time! For both of us. Though I read a bit, or watch some tv while Louis nods off. Nothing worse than trying to sleep while I baby is doing the same in the next room. Especially when that baby occasionally starts blowing raspberries/crying/talking/whimpering... just to mess with you.

Big long nap...

If we stayed home after lunch, then we go to do errands after the nap. It is the best time of day to shop because everything is open – the poissonerie, all the traiteurs, charcuteries, boucheries, patisseries, choclateries (danger will robinson)... ah, the temptation.

Home for a little playtime/frenchFriends time then Louis has his dinner, I make our dinner and Luuk get's home.

Louis helping with the housework (watching the washing machine - reason I now love front-loaders!)

lasagne for dinner! (Was fantastic with riccotta and emmental in the white sauce, awesomely good beef mince from the boucherie on the main street, and 'epinard' - spinach - from the fruit/veg shop on the corner.

We eat dinner, Louis eats dessert then has his bottle while we do the dishes.

Louis goes to bed and we do a french lesson.

French lesson reward: dessert and an episode of Castle.

Then, if we're very good and only watched one episode of Castle, we read in bed.

Morning is totally different if we go to a coffee group, as they tend to start at 9.30am. Louis has a short little morning sleep and then I get him up and drag him off in search of wherever coffee group is hosted. Usually get home in time for lunch and napping. But the afternoon goes similarly after that. Louis tends to nap for ages because of active morning... fine by me!

Day also gets thrown off if we're expecting a delivery, like today... it's still not here. Gr. But when it arrives we will have a printer and voila! I'll be able to send off query letters and manuscripts and other important things. (Well, once we get paper and ink...)

And so it goes. I've been tired a lot – pregnancy related I'm sure, but I can think of a few other contributing factors: culture shock, language challenges, I'm walking more than I used to, and I'm not sleeping consistently well. So I'm trying to to push myself too hard. It's great getting outdoors every day and exploring this fascinating and beautiful area... as well as trying all sorts of culinary delights as a result.

Today is Art-Thursday, and I have sketched the Traiteur nearest to our apartment, where I've stopped in a couple of times – once for dinner-supplies, once for lunch (in hope of being close enough to the council buildings to access their free wifi).

The two older guys who work there are very friendly and their food - wow! I'm looking forward to being able to try the dolmades when I'm no longer pregnant. In the meantime, the fragrant potato dish, the tomatoey Bulgar wheat, the tender and tantalising chicken wings... oh yes please.

Fortunately, I am now equipped to use internet at home, though with limited data... via my shiny new cell phone. It's such a relief to be re-connected to the world. And my blog will undoubtedly get more regularly updated. I imagine it will be one of those things I try to do while Louis is awake and either playing happily by himself, or trying to coerce me into joining him (by bringing me a selection of his toys – how can you resist, mum? - or whimpering until I put him on my lap and give him attention).

Miraculously, he is currently playing happily by himself, fishing in the railing of the sliding door with his sticky little fingers. Possibly trying to get out onto the porch. That might be the closest to outdoors he gets today, if the printer doesn't show up soon.

PS. It's the first day of spring. I think, if we do get out, I may have to buy us flowers to celebrate (and I can put them in the vase Luuk got me for valentines day... now that we've eaten all the lollies.)

Several Days Later

NB: this was written on Wednesday, 22 Feb, and I only just got to a wifi spot today.

There's nothing on tv except a Doctor Who episode that isn't making any sense to me. Reading is making me feel sleepy and I already had a big sleep this morning... I have no internet, but if I write a blog post then I can just copy it on next time I connect. I was going to visit the bibliotech (library, which has free wifi! And is very close to home) when we were out earlier, but Louis was past it and I took pity. He'd been in the pushchair for too long, I guess.

Got lots done though: ticked a few more things off the shopping list (matches, lemon squeezer, serviettes), found the obstetric radiology secretary in the hospital and made an appointment, found the laboratory where I'll do my blood test on saturday, got groceries (bread, stewed apples in a big jar, lasagne pasta, and peanut butter! Score!) and had a fantastic lunch at Cafe de la Gare.

Louis had his standard home-made jam sammies, which he enjoyed with the same gusto I did my croque, which I'm sad to say I forgot to take a photo of. It's basically ham and cheese grilled on bread, but this one had roast capsicum, feta, and possibly brie grilled on top – all well cooked enough that I went right ahead, pregnant and all. Came with delish salad and these chip things – thin sliced potatoes cooked beautifully, but not really crunchy. Hard to describe but yum yum yum.

Will definitely be going back there. Louis played in the playground again – after yesterday's success I couldn't resist a return. There were a bunch of other kids there both days and he had as much fun watching them as playing.

He more-than-happily stands against the side of the sandpit and picks up handfuls of sand, dropping them into my palm... even cries a little when it's time to leave. The park is so close I can see it from the veranda.

That's the park, right there, smack bang in the middle. (Looking left from the end of our veranda.)

 Looking out from our veranda to the right.

Looking down our street. That's right - cobbles!

This really is such a great neighbourhood. The buildings and streets are so picturesque, and everything is uncannily convenient: a whole selection of patisseries, a dangerous number of choclateries, supermarkets, train station, pharmacies, banks (ours and a bunch of others), restaurants... last night, on the way back from the homewares shop, I counted 6 pizza places. Luuk passes all of them on his way home every evening. Hm...

The homewares shop – that was fun. We have this monster list of things we want/need as we're still setting up here.

Our first furniture purchases – IKEA chairs! Assembled successfully by Luuk.

Lots of our list is bigger furniture, but there were plenty of little things and we made significant process last night. Fortunately some of the big shops are open till 8 or later on a regular basis. I am reluctant to make generalisations about the french, but they do seem to keep later hours. Anyway, it meant we could go together (Luuk and me) after work. Shame the place didn't have trolleys with baby/child seats... made it a bit less fun. But we picked out some beautiful and functional things. Colour-wise, we're going for a bright light blue, a lime green, and a deep purple. Once all the packaging has gone, and the last few purchases have been made, I'll take some photos, attempting the style of a home décor magazine...

[The Daleks are about to kill everyone. Although, I suspect, if I'd watched any real amount of Dr Who before, I'd know there was nothing to worry about.]

Should probably sweep the floors but would have to tidy away the toys first and really both activities would require more energy than I have right now.

Louis enjoying the chaos.

Failed to buy meat on my mission today (the boucherie was closed after I'd been to the supermarket – it's common to close for an hour or two over lunch) so I guess we're doing vegetarian, or something with salami, for dinner. Feeling quite overwhelmed at even that prospect... and curious about the lebanese place down the way. I suppose Luuk could get pizza on the way home... Seems very lazy, but would make it more likely that we'd do a french lesson this evening.

[Or maybe there was something to worry about: only one person seemed to survive the Dalek's attack. And the doctor/companions, but they were not in imminent danger. Yet.]

Had the organised-frenchman's take-aways last night after our shopping trip. I'd stopped by the very-nearby-traiteur on the way back from my walk/wi-fi search, and picked up some of this amazing potato dish, a giant meatball each, and a cheese pastry thing. Just had to heat them up when we got home: voila!

Dinner in the comfort of your living room, ready when you are, requiring only reheating per the instructions of the traiteur. Threw a few green beans on the side so it wasn't entirely naughty. But I'll tell you, it was entirely delicieux! Luuk had picked up a bottle of wine a couple of days ago but only got a corkscrew at the homewares store, so, since we could open it, we thought we'd better have some. Perfect.

Have definitely been enjoying the food here. Mightn't have been near the eiffel tower, or even seen the arc de triumph, but I have definitely been enjoying the food. Mostly the bread, actually.

First night in new house – first time with an oven since we've got here... roast veg and baked chicken. Day-old baguette = cheesy garlic bread.

3 fromage ravioli with chicken, spinach and garlicky-good sausages, in a crème fraiche sauce.

Also enjoying our light and airy apartment.

It's gorgeous when the sun is shining in. Had to stay in most of the day on Monday cause the phone guys were coming, but Louis enjoyed lunch on the veranda, in the sun.

[Oh the poor doctor, all alone again. But someone, or quite a few people, will think of him every time they look up at the sky.]

Louis is stirring and Friends is on next. Might to a quick tidy-up before that.

Will try to get this up online soon.

PS. 1 year today since the february quake/s. It's nice, and odd, and difficult all at once, being on the other side of the world, where no one else would have even given it a thought today, but I did. A few times. I hope the anniversary passed uneventfully, but internet-less I have no clue what's going on. I suppose if anything major happened it'd be on the french news.

PPS. 2 days later I'm finally getting to post. Have to sit outside the building with the free wi-fi, which is easier when it's not raining. Louis is miraculously asleep in the pushchair, which is entirely going to bungle the routine but on the other hand INTERNET! YAY!

Chez moi

We got the key on Friday and went over all together in the evening. Luuk and I pottered around, unpacking a few of the things Luuk's colleagues organised for us, as well as our own boxes... a definite highlight for Louis...

Look who I found!

(yes, that is a giant mr. potato head... in which 4 smaller potato heads reside)

The storage space in the basement... appropriately named.

Stopped at 'Hippopotamus' restaurant and grill on the way back to Les Ulis. Very family friendly but average food. Although Luuk may have just ordered better.

Perks of Paris: the free bread at restaurants is so very very delicious.

We started bright and early on Saturday because the furniture/appliance deliveries were coming anytime from 8am. In fact, it was dark when we got home on Friday, and dark when we left on Saturday...

I kept unpacking and pottering about. Luuk built Louis' cot so that he could have his morning nap.

Louis helped. Loosely speaking.

The entrance to our building, on a cobbled street! So very cool. We actually, for real, live on a cobbled street.

The appliances arrived first but there were a couple of issues so Luuk's colleague came to help sort them out (wrong washing machine was delivered and the oven didn't have a plug on the end of the wires...) Meanwhile the furniture showed up and we watched in awe as it was assembled before our eyes. When they say 'slap-together', they mean it. But it was impressive, and actually quite sturdy looking. Well-designed perhaps.

I went for a wander down the road for an afternoon tea treat, and thank you for Luuk's colleague, and her husband whose technical skills rendered our oven usable!

That's the patisserie/boulingerie/choclatier on the right - the black shop-front.

Score. Pizza place right there. And a lebanese restaurant as well. How very convenient. All about 100 meters from our stoop.

The church and the square. Such a romantic environment.

And that is how you do an eclair. Afternoon tea of awesome.

Louis eating his lunch or afternoon tea or something... sitting on our new dining table. He well-and-truly christened it - jam and bread crumbs everywhere. Aside: the crustless bread I found at the supermarket - roaring success. He eats the lot! No more jammy crusts all over the floor.

That guy on the right built the table, sideboard, and chairs... all in just over an hour.

Louis on our new sofa, watching our new TV. He was all wrapped up, ready to go, but then we discovered another part of the process for building his chest of drawers.

The living room and patio.

Luuk screwing the draws into the runners. (Louis and his little sister's bedroom)

Our bedroom. Storage solution still in the making...

Quick trip to IKEA? Yeah, right. No such thing. But we did get that chair for Louis, and slightly different ones for us (more comfy and with black cushions.

It was a long but satisfying day. And today we move. Luuk's already gone with the first car load. I'm staying here to pack and so Louis can have a nap. Better get on with it! We have no phone or internet at the new place, so will be off the radar for a while.

Past it

How many times have I heard someone longing for the good old days, when the shops were shut on Sundays? What it actually means is a mad rush on a Saturday evening. Partly our own fault for squeezing in a trip to IKEA in between sorting out our new apartment and buying groceries... But, success at IKEA: three chairs (including a tiny one for Louis), two light shades, a gorgeous-smelling candle and a road-map  floor rug for Louis' new bedroom.

The apartment is fantastic. But I'm too tired to post pictures or write more, so will do it tomorrow. Domain matin.

And then we'll be in our new place, which doesn't have internet yet. But we'll find a wireless hotspot and I'll have a cell phone really soon. Fingers crossed. Very glad to be moving in tomorrow, to be settling down. Louis coping very well despite having his dinner at 9.30 and going to bed closer to 10. Seems to have gotten over his cold. I'm struggling to shake the cough, but otherwise feeling good. Baby kicking and all that jazz.

Hoping for a good night sleep, back-ache free. Tomorrow night we'll be in our own bed. Yay!

Today's the day...

... we get the key! In fact Luuk has already got the key, and he's probably on his 2nd or 3rd load of stuff: our boxes which we freighted over from the other side of the world, as well as all the stuff Luuk's work organised for us.

... we get an OB! I sent a couple of emails last week, to obstetricians I found recommended on 'Message' (great website for english-speaking parents/tobe in Paris). I finally got a reply and he could see us today at 10am... bit of a panic trying to get in touch with Luuk, but managed to. He picked Louis and me up and we were on time to our first obstetrics appointment. The doctor speaks great english and has a sense of humour, though I'm not sure he'll be encouraging me to use gas for pain during labour - or 'gas hilariant' as it's called here. French system is famous for going straight to the epidural... which sounds rather tempting actually, but I managed without last time, in part because of that sweet sweet gas, and in part because my active labour was short (relative, very relative... felt long).

... strawberries are on special! Small fries compared to other events, but I like sets of 3, and finding pleasure  in the small things...

 C'est bonne?

Oui, maman. Vraiment!

Mmm, afternoon tea. Balanced diet - equal parts fruit and chocolate?

Also found a new nappybagthing. I refuse to buy an actual nappy bag because they tend to be made of fabrics that make me shudder, look like saturday morning cartoons, and cost an inordinate amount of money. Really, a big bag with a few different pockets does the trick. My other one was perfect, but the handle broke recently. So... voila! The replacement:

Yes, it is very (tres!) similar but feels a bit more solid. Also has no silly tassles, and more firmly-secured straps. Bit boring and black, but goes with everything. Possibly should have forked out the extra 10E for the Italian leather one further down the mall, but then it'd last for ages and I'd have no excuse to get a new bag in a year or two. Pardon me for being a hopeless consumer.

I'm very excited about going to see our apartment later this afternoon, and starting to move in! Furniture/appliances are being delivered tomorrow and then we can stay there. It's going to feel huge after this little apartment/hotel suite we've had since we arrived in France. Louis is having a good long nap, so no hurry, but really want Luuk to come and get me so I can see it already! Will post photos later/tomorrow.

Cherry on the top: dinner out in Antony tonight! Must do our research on our new locale, after all. Essential.

banque-ing and sketching

We have a bank account! Hurrah. Steps in the right direction have been taken! Went to the first 'orange' (biggest cell network around here) shop we found after opening our banque account... but still lack one of the necessary bits/bobs to get a phone contract... no bank card yet. They're posting it to us. It'll arrive in a week.

And then I'll get a phone.

It's a good thing I'm not overly in love with gadgets and constant connection.

Louis and the lovely ladies from Luuk's work who've been helping us get all set up. At the banque.

So that's the good news. In fact, that's the fantastic news. Bank account is sorted. Yippee!

The bad news: Louis seems to have got my cold. Poor wee trooper is sneezy and snotty, and kept waking up in the night. 

So it'll be an at-home-where-it's-warm day today. I'm not ashamed to say I'll be relying on the tv for some sanity - I know, that just doesn't sound right does it? But hopefully Louis sleeps lots and I can plod on with some writing, or maybe I'll just read. I've already done my bit of something artistic for art-thursday: a sketch of how I'd like to spend my day...

And now I might just go do that.