Post #10: Lovin' Ol' Lyon

While there are many things that we enjoy about Lyon, one of the things that is most fascinating for us is the history. Lyon is old--really old--as in, used-to-be-a-major-capitol-of-the Roman-empire old. Here are some photos of our family visiting the old Roman-Gallic amphitheater:







The story about how we got there was almost as fascinating as the ruins themselves. The background: our first week here, we met a woman and her teenage son at a church function (Karaoke night, to be precise.) They were visiting our congregation for the first time, having been invited by a neighbor. Anyway, at the end of the evening, they offered to take our entire family around Lyon the next afternoon. Even though they'd never met us before, they spent four or five hours the next day showing us some of their favorite sites around the city. I was positively blown away by their hospitality and generosity. While I don't have any sons, if I'm ever blessed with any, I hope they turn out like the young man who showed us around. At thirteen years old, he was so easy to converse with--confident, articulate, and so respectful. Certainly many of his positive traits have come from following the example of his mom.

And so, here are a few more pictures of us with our hosts. As you can see by the last photos, Talia had a great time, but she was pretty tuckered out by the end.

Post #9: Jumping off the Carousel of Life

In coming to Lyon, I must admit that I've been pleasantly surprised to discover that many of the quaint niceties that you read and hear about France actually exist. Our family has loved the outdoor markets, the bakeries on every corner, and of course, the multiplicity of carousels.

Much to our daughters' delight, there's a carousel in the park, a carousel in the old town, even a carousel in the mall. Admittedly, carousels are fun. There's something truly enchanting about the bright colors, the merry music, and of course, the thrill of spinning around and around and around.

Today, however, I've decided that while the trip has been nice, I'm jumping off the carousel of life. For the last several years, our family has been running on high speed. With Jason and I both in school full-time, holding teaching assistantships, and of course, being full-time parents, our schedules have been dizzying. In many ways, we've intentionally "escaped" to Europe in order to slow down.

Amazingly, the carousels hunted us down. Within weeks of arriving here, I was given the opportunity to take on a second job. At first, the opportunity seemed very enticing. The job was part-time and could be arranged my schedule. The company seemed nice, and the work was relevant to my professional development. Perhaps most significantly, it payed really well. Given the current state of our global economy, a little extra family income seemed like a very wise idea.

Logically speaking, it still seems like a good idea.

And yet, I turned the job down. I'm jumping off the carousel of life. Instead of working two jobs today, I spent the afternoon hiking with my family through the foothills. We savored the crisp autumn air, the golden leaves, the crumbling stone walls covered with moss, and most of all, being with each other.

Carousels are fun, but the view is much better when you take the time to stop and stand still.

Post #8: Eh Voila! Notre apartement*

* (Eh Behold! Our Apartment)

So this is how an architecture student wastes his time when he has nothing better to do. (Well, he probably had something better that he should have been doing, but alas...)

Post #7: Turtles, turtles, everywhere

Given the eight hour time difference between France and the Rocky Mountain West, the morning online broadcast of General Conference for the LDS church didn't actually begin until 6:00 this evening. Thus, we had an day free to spend together as a family. (A little side note: Talia thought she could "skype" with the General Conference speakers and kept saying "hello" to President Eyring, hoping that he would talk back to her.)

We spent our afternoon in one of our favorite Lyonnaise haunts, the Parc Tete d'Or. I suppose I shouldn't call it a "haunt" since it's probably the most popular place around. The equivalent of New York's Central Park, the park was positively buzzing with families picnicking, riding bikes, and enjoying the autumn leaves. Brooklyn was slightly chagrined that she couldn't ride the carousel, seeing as to how it was Sunday, but we still had a nice time visiting the giraffes, elephants, crocodiles, and especially the deer that will eat right out of your hand.

Here are a few pictures of Jason with the girls in the park:





And, here are a few shots of my favorite exhibit in the park, which surprisingly enough is... the turtles! They have an amazing number of Florida turtles. Who knew we'd have to cross the Atlantic to learn so much about our own indigenous species.

Post #6: Making a House a Home

In chronicling our adventures of settling into life in Lyon, I thought I'd share a list of the very first things we purchased. For the first few weeks after our arrival, it seemed like all we did was buy things. (Shocking, I know, considering my utter distaste for shopping.) As much as I prefer to stay out of stores, however, there are some essentials that you simply can't do without when setting up house.

1. Paper towels, dish soap, and most importantly, toilet paper! I actually made this first trip to the drug store while Jason was having the final inspection of the apartment. I've learned from tough experience that it's very unpleasant to be in a new home without any TP. As a first-time European resident, Jason is now learning exactly how tough recycled TP can be.

2. Camembert, grapes, yogurt, dried sausage, nutella, jam, and of course, a great big baguette. This European "picnic" fare was our staple for the first week until we got hold of a stove.

3. A washing machine. So, on our way back from the drug store on day one, I found the local laundromat and about had a heart attack when I saw how much it costs to do a load of laundry. Given the fact that our daughters are almost as messy as they are cute, it didn't take long to figure out that we were going to spend a fortune on laundry. Thus, when we found a good deal on a used washing machine at Troc (the equivalent of Goodwill), we splurged. So far it's been fabulous. I love not having to haul the laundry up and down all the stairs, and I can still feel frugal and French as I hang socks up in the bathroom to air dry.

4. Towels, pillows, hangers, pots, pans, and a two-foot high step-stool from IKEA. The step-stool was a definite "must have" for me given all of the extremely high storage space. Even the very bottom of the kitchen cupboards are above eye level!

---Pause here to talk about all of the things that we did not buy, thanks to the generosity of some extremely kind and wonderful people from our local church congregation who have lent us appliances for the year. We are so appreciative to them for lending us a fridge, oven, stove, and crib.

So here's a picture of our fridge before someone took pity on us.



And here's a picture of our new Snoopy fridge. Pretty cool, huh! (No pun intended.)



5. A butane tank. The fabulous stove unit that we were given uses gas, but our apartment only has electric. Fortunately Jason came up with a great method for transporting the butane from the gas station.



6. A toddler bed, couch, and a full-size mattress. These purchases from Troc were highly appreciated and anticipated after a week of sleeping on the floor. Here are a couple photos of the girls asleep on the carpet "bed."







7. Last but not least, a kitchen table and chairs. In many ways, I think that this kitchen table and chairs are rather symbolic of our journey to France as a young family of four. Trying to get the table and chairs home was absolutely insane, involving a tram, metro, and the purchase of a small hand truck. All the way home we couldn't help but laugh at the sight of ourselves and think "nobody in their right mind would even try this.

Well, when it comes to uprooting an entire family and carting them all to another continent, only the slightly insane would even ponder it. Yet in the end, the result seems worth it. We love our table. Ironically enough, Jason just happened to mention a few minutes ago that he would be all about repurchasing the same IKEA table when we get home. Likewise, I hope that someday when we return back to the States we will be "all about" living abroad again.

Post # 5: Crazy Cars

While many people in the US are just barely leaving work for the weekend, it's already midnight in France, so this post will be short. I thought I'd share a quick picture of our rental car: a blue Peugeot 207. Interestingly enough, you fill this little stick-shift up with diesel. Even though it got great gas mileage, we found driving in France to be quite pricey, particularly after paying all the tolls and parking. It was actually quite nice to give up owning a vehicle completely--no more wrestling the girls into their carseats!




If you must have a car in Lyon, I definitely recommend a Smart Car. It makes "parallel" parking with a stick shift infinitely easier. :)

Post #4: First Days of School

It's been an eventful week for the Wheeler family. Both Brooklyn and I had our first days of school. Monday was my first official day teaching English at the École normale supérieure in Lyon. The students are quite sharp, having passed a very competitive admissions examination, so they definitely keep me on my toes.

So here's a photo of my school:



Even more importantly, here's a photo of Brooklyn's new school:




The school is a public "ecole maternelle," or nursery school. It's located just across the parking lot from our apartment, which is wonderful because it means that Brooklyn can easily lunch with us at home. You see, preschool in France goes from 8:30 all the way until 4:30 with an optional two-hour lunch break from 11:30 to 1:30. Needless to say, we're opting to have our little girl back for those extra hours.

It's hard to describe what it feels like to send my little girl off to school for the very first time. I've had very mixed feelings and emotions about letting her go, especially for so long. In one sense I've been excited and anxious for her to have the chance to meet other kids and make new friends. In many other ways, I've been positively terrified to throw her into such an unfamiliar world without speaking any French at all.

Before coming to France, I knew that it would be difficult for me to learn French. I expected that Jason, despite his much stronger language skills, might struggle a bit too at moments. I was completely unprepared, however, for how difficult it would be for my three year-old to communicate.

Everybody talks about how young children pick up new languages effortlessly, but that's absolutely not true. As a mother, I've fought back tears watching Brooklyn, usually the social butterfly of the playground, play all alone in a corner because nobody understands her. It's broken my heart to watch her come back from Primary discouraged because she doesn't know how to say hello. I've been frustrated with adults who are astonished that she doesn't speak any French, as if she should overnight, simply because she is three.

An extremely verbal child, Brooklyn loves jabbering about the world to anyone who will listen. It's been hard to watch this ability to communicate be taken away from her in France. For a while she still chattered in English to adults and children alike, but after encountering dozens of blank stares, she now prefers to have conversations with her imaginary friends, Miriam and Leah.

And thus, sending Brooklyn off to school this morning, I felt the normal pangs of loss that parents feel when their babies grow up. Yet underlying these sighs of time gone by was a much greater fear that she would be rejected. Language acquisition by immersion may be quite effective, but it's also somewhat cruel to place someone in a position in which they can neither understand nor be understood.

So how did Brooklyn weather her first day of school?

She LOVED it. She chattered the whole way home about the scooters, the stories, the cots, and the kitchen toys. She couldn't wait to go back after lunch, and ran the whole way there. No matter what the language, Brooklyn adores school.

Kids are so courageous. If only we all had the same ability to brush off life's little blows. After school I watched Brooklyn try to engage in play with a couple of little girls. Walking up to the place where they were sitting, she rapped on an imaginary door and said, "Knock knock." The girls just stared strangely, seeing as to how French doors say "Toc toc." Brooklyn waited for a while, then finally came over to me and said with a smile, "They're not home."

Brooklyn, I am so proud of you. Just keep knocking on those doors until they come tumbling open.