Ca Va Venir

   Our social life in France has been interesting. It probably seems like we are always partying as many of these blog posts have photos of us in the dark, around our table under the tree, strewn with platters of food and bottles. Yes, we have spent alot of time out there and the guests are largely from our "commune" where other visitors rent houses or live peacefully in the provincial countryside-like us, but for the long run.
   As you know, we came to this area with contacts and many of them have been kind enough to invite us over and we have actually made a few friends on our own. Most of them speak some English though. That certainly doesn't help our language skills, but it is comforting and EASY.
   Today, I facilitated a play date for my kids with some classmates after school. The mother is lovely and I look forward to getting to know her, but during the play date, she was preoccupied with something else, hence, I found myself alone with my kiddos plus 3 French children. The games are cache-cache (hide and seek) and touche-touche(tag)-Pretty universal games. But when I do not understand and ask the kids to talk slowly, they just speak louder....
   Nonetheless, it was great fun and I was happy to see 2 out of my 3 kids interacting, absorbing and slowly learning French. THe third kid is homeschooling, preteen and finding social outlets for her is very difficult. Once again, as for all of us, the language barrier is really hard, but for a girl being homeschooled that really needs some peers, it is debilitating. It would seem that young people in France tend to go home after school and study! The few young teens that I have met speak decent English. They start them young and by the time they are 12 or so, they can speak well enough to communicate. But, they seem quite inaccessible to us. I learned a new phrase and use is frequently- Ca va venir- translating- it will come.....

Heat of the Day in Entrecasteaux

Residential Passageways of Entrecasteaux

Playdate in the Chateau Garden