On Fréjus, St-Raphaël, Ste-Maxime, St-Tropez…

 

Look at this map. Do you see St-Raphaël? Do you see Fréjus?

It’s not just a map with names. It might mean nothing to you, but to me, it’s my entire childhood, right into adulthood!! This is where we are going in exactly 9 days!!!!

**happy face**

 

And then zoom out…. and you get this:

In the foreground, the harbour, in the background the cathedral and all the intricate pedestrian streets where I have so many fond memories!

Now I thought I was excited at the idea of going!  But what I see in my children’s eyes when we start talking about the imminence of our trip is the delight of their own memories and what France means to them: the walks to the beach, Marineland, Luna Park, Mamie’s apartment and the big garden downstairs, the ice-creams, the evening outings, the plane trip (!!)…

And I’m excited at the idea of building more memories this year, with new places to enjoy. This time we’re even going to camp…

And I look at the countdown roster that they each made,

…and I know that we are ALL ready to go. Countdown 9. 8. 7. 6….

W-i-l-d!

Wild adventurous crowd, I tell you

Winter in July

                                                                            

Freezing times, falling times, quadbiking times, hiking times, picking-up-sticks times, laughing times, stuffing-our-faces-with M&Ms times, fighting-like-Ninjas times, resting times…

And these were our holidays in Klein Kariba

An (un)romantic anniversary

On Thursday we celebrated our wedding anniversary. Our anniversaries are becoming notorious for not being celebrated the ‘typical’ way (if there should be such a thing). I would assume that they should be characterized by romance, candle-lit dinner, cuddles…

However, here is how we celebrated our 10th year anniversary.

The american book version:

We are already on a family holiday in Klein Kariba. Imagine nature, horse-riding, quad-biking, warm pools, little chalets, wild animals in the bushes outside your window. What more could we want for our anniversary? An afternoon without the children maybe??!! So we left our three children with Oupa and Ouma and left the resort early afternoon. We took a little drive to a place called Carousel Casino. It’s an old Casino that was already opened long before gambling was allowed in South Africa. We first sat down at the coffee shop and enjoyed a lovely Cafe Mocha. We then tempted fate and gambled (**shocked face**) a small amount of money. After losing everything ( all our R80), we decided to go for a drive towards Pretoria to try and find a nice(r) restaurant. The sun was setting by then and the sky was stunningly orange. How romantic! We however decided to  come back to the Carousel Casino when we realised that the drive back would be too long and too dangerous at night. We gambled another small amount of money. Kchin Kchin!!!! I nearly made back everything I had lost but bitten by the bug, I carried on and lost everything (**shocked face, again**). We then went for dinner at the italian restaurant in the Carousel and enjoyed a long chat over pizzas, thinking about the few couples that had played a significant role in our marriage. God has really blessed us in our marriage in many different ways. Reflecting on these years, we really thank the Lord for bringing in the right people at the right time. We finally made our way back home and found our offspring fast asleep.

 The french movie version:

We are already in Klein Kariba. The nature reserve is absolutely beautiful and the days are lovely and warm. The nights, on the other hand, are freezing cold. I miss my fireplace!! On thursday, we celebrated our anniversary. 10 years, a roller coster of a decade together!! Now what does one do to celebrate a wedding anniversary when you are in the middle of nowhere and you don’t have enough money to spend for a night in one of those luxurious spa resorts? The closest place we could find was, wait for it, Carousel Casino! You might not know it but Carousel Casino used to be very popular, … 15 years ago when gambling was still forbidden in South Africa. Nowadays, no one drives to Carousel Casino from Pretoria to have a gambling experience. It’s deserted and only frequented by, sadly, people that should not spend any money on gambling. As we arrived, middle of the week, middle of the afternoon, it was Phillip, myself and the staff.

There is something to say about a place that looked abandoned but that still

requires a metal detector and a sign that says “Please hand in your firearm here”. We sat down at the ONLY coffee shop and had something to warm us up and help us recover from the shock of how disastrous this place was. Do you also like the pink?? We decided that we couldn’t stay there for the evening. There was one restaurant only, an italian restaurant which looked reasonable but was still closed. Before we left for greener pasture, we took our chances with the slot machines. There’s a system with a card and points to decipher. After looking like total morons in front of the machine and almost asking for help to the old lady next to us, we eventually managed to lose our whole R80 in barely 20 minutes! We then left and decided to push through to Pretoria. The sun was setting and spoiled us with a magnificent sunset like you only see in the bushvelt. But sure enough, after the sunset comes the DARK. Really really dark. There is no light on the N1, apart from the light of the other crazy drivers. Phillip – who is usually not easily scared – started to feel really uncomfortable at the idea of coming back on this road late at night. And me – who is usually easily petrified – didn’t take long to say “Turn around, we’re not going”. Turn around we did and our only option was then to try that amazing-looking italian restaurant which, sigh of relief, was opened. By then, we spent more money on tolls and parking that I ever did on any given day! We came back to the same desolated Carousel. We felt sorry-for-ourselves enough to gamble another few rands. I had an great experience with light, loud music and wheel of fortune moment and made all my money back… if only the bug had not bitten and if I had stopped playing. Sadly, I carried on and lost all my money! The restaurant was italian by name only. It is also on its way out, the manager assured us. The pizza was average but at least better that the decaf cappucino (which I can only imagine to be ‘milk without coffee’). We then headed home, relieved that we were ‘home’ safe, and almost sane.

 

The honest version:

These two versions are both true and not true. It’s all about how you experience it, I guess. For us, our anniversaries have become a bit of a joke. For the past 4 years, this celebration usually starts with a mini fight over where to go for dinner and somehow always end up with either a deserted restaurant, or a bad culinary experience. Last year we went to Simon restaurant in Constantia. Lovely place, lovely food. It was us, the bad waiter and a table of half drunk girl-night-out . The year before, in France, moroccan restaurant. Lovely setting, lovely food. The only people there. Previous year in France. Popular restaurant on the harbour shore. Fully crowded with smoking people. Average food and terrible service…

On thursday we really hit a new low. We managed to find a horrible place that was deserted AND have an unsatisfying food moment. We however let go of the fight ( we had the fight over what to do before the actual date) and took it on the comic side of life. This is the kind of memory that I will remember – and treasure – more than any good culinary moment. The Carousel Casino is a horrible place. It’s sad, semi-abandoned, kitch and feels dirty. BUT I really enjoyed my gambling experience and wished I had more money to play waste. We did have a lovely time over dinner reflecting back on these 10 years we spent together and felt so grateful for the work that the Lord has done in our marriage.  Fortunately, the way we celebrate our anniversaries is not a reflection of what our marriage is like. Pfew, that’s a relief! I’ll keep on taking bad ’7th of July’ if the Lord grants us many more happily married years.

…but, just in case he reads it, a mediterranean cruise would go down well too

 

Citrusdal

The last week end before my mum and Claude left, we went away to Citrusdal.

Here is a slide show of the week end.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The week end was mostly uneventful and was just a calm and relaxing time. Just what we all needed in the midst of a crazy term. We were fortunate to see no snakes, no spiders, no kind of big insects, not even one of those mutants enormous crickets that you find only in the countries situated below the equator… As I said uneventful! We went for one or two walks, a short visit to town, a trial at the canoe and a few bold jumps in the freezing river. The jacuzzy on the veranda was definitely a feature. It’s like taking a bath with a starry sky, deep darkness and unbelievable quietness.

The town is called Citrusdal and so unavoidably we crossed an orchard of lemon and oranges. This video clip shows a short entertainment of the week end: the cluts, the forbidding mother and the preaching husband

The French have arrived!

I’ve missed so many of what I wanted to record that a ‘life of late’ post would be taking ‘random’ to the next level. So I will concentrate on the recent, put a pin on the old and hope that I will remember that pin.

My mum and Claude’s visit is what is fresh on my mind. It’s been three busy busy weeks and I can’t believe they have  been gone for already more than a week. Where have the cowboys gone, asks Paula Cole, but I’m asking where has the time gone!!

I had asked my mum to come especially at a busy time during the year, which would seem like a strange request from an outside look but I really wanted her to experience our life au quotidien. I wanted her to see the life of my kids at school, at gym, at karate, with their play dates, during their homework, and also on the weekends.

I think my mum particularly enjoyed sharing all those precious moments that she doesn’t get to experience, not even when we go to visit in France. She would probably say that her highlight was helping Léa with her homework, listening to her read. My highlight was my mum helping Léa read her english words (my mum doesn’t really speak English – désolé m’man, ton accent anglais est médicore!). Léa is very docile and so she easily plays along, to my mum’s joy. She is also very cuddly and gives hug to whomever asks nicely – my mum and I being the ones asking often

She even was introduced to Léa’s entire classroom, with the most polite choir of ‘ Good morning M’am’ and ‘Goodbye M’am’, being looked at like a strange creature from a faraway land,   attended the Speech and Drama class, accompanied Killian on a class outing, watched him do karate, and was generously offered one of Matty’s pottery – by unprompted Matty himself!

It’s been interesting to see Killian being very gentle with my mum and Claude. He’s growing up to be a respectful little boy, even though if sometimes it is under duress. He’s not docile, no, he isn’t, he’s rather the opposite of it (what would it be???…. obstinate, stubborn, unobliging…) BUT ( and I’m quickly writing the ‘but’ here before my mum rebukes me for being negative when I speak of Killian – which I’m not, by the way! I’m very realistic – but let me not have an ADD moment!) So back to BUT, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed looking at how patient and kind he has been with my mum and Claude. He has made so much effort to try and speak french, without getting frustrated, and answering all of his grandma’s questions, even if they were sometimes the same .

And Matty, well Matty…. Matty Matty Matty. Matty is my sneaky little boy. He quiiiickly understood that having his grandma and Claude here for three weeks was a source of endless pushes on the swing and an eternal source of chocolate. He loved playing with Claude. Claude’s missing finger was also a hit, for Matty and his friend. Jethro’s face when Matty showed him the missing finger is forever engrained in my bank memory of funniest facial expressions!

I think after these holidays, my mum and Claude will need some holidays to recover though. Life is fast paced with three grandchildren, 2 schools and many extra murals. My mum felt lost in my house (not that big but bigger than what we’re used to in France), and she was breathless with the many coming and going (we leave in 10 minutes to fetch Matty – we’re back in 15 but we need to leave in 5 to take Léa to her friend – will you please help Killian with his words – if you want to cook for tonight, that’s great but you need to start now – no you don’t have time for a coffee, Léa is waiting for us at school…)

But waking up with her grandchildren, eating with them, kissing them goodnight, coloring in with them, watching videos with them is worth many ‘quicklyyyyyyy!!’, many ‘ not noooowwwww!!’ and a few ‘ you’ll drink your coffee later!!’

 

The first weekend, we went to the beach and had dinner @ Dunes, where my kids gatecrashed their first wedding

When we left, it was quite dark. That in itself was exciting enough for the kids!

We look happy in spite of the booked table that never was booked and an overcrowded restaurant because half of it was reserved for a wedding!

Les vacances…

Before I write about our first day at school, it is fitting to post some of my favourite pictures of the summer holidays.

C’est pour vous, la famille en France!!

C'est dur les vacances!

The browns and the whites!

Without the hands!!

I look cool because I AM cool!

Wild wild west, at Moyo

Hole building with Kate.

Wait for the wave, wait for it...

Overexcited friends, waiting for the wild wild horse to come!

Matt, professional wet sand surfer.

Outside the opera theater, pulling faces, bien sûr!

At the opera, no we don't have jaundice!

Peek-a-booh with Cleoné

Asceticism or Indulgence?

Two weeks and last year since I wrote anything here.  Christmas has been on most fingertips, but it left me with a dry taste in my mouth. Every year after Christmas, I have an uncomfortable feeling that it was NOT the way I wanted to celebrate. I am a christian, a born again one. One that loves Jesus 365 days a year. Not just on Christmas day.

In these days leading up to the D-day when everything has to be perfect, I look around me and  I feel strangled between 2 extremes – and neither of them are appealing to me. My few hundreds of friends on Facebook – noble intentions, bless their souls –  remind me ad nauseatum that Christmas is about Jesus, His birth, His love for us and His sacrifice, and not about fun, food, family or friends. Others – those who don’t spare much thought about Jesus any of these 365 days – are welcoming Christmas only to associate it with holidays, as well as spending money and time on themselves and sometimes even on others.

So I am left with choosing to have:

• A strictly Christian Christmas. If I don’t want to be a hypocrite, and be a witness to what I truly celebrate on the 25th, it should be radically different from what the world does. It’s difficult to explain that Christmas is only about Jesus…while I also buy gifts for everybody I share some blood with, and indulge in a feast, such as cucumber jelly or cabbage with shaved uncooked noodle sprinkled on top (real fact).
• On the other hand, if I don’t want to appear super-spiritual by going the ascetic way, I should go all out, and imitate the world , even if it is as nauseating as the elevated number of reminders of what Christmas is about on my newsfeed Facebook page. To give you an idea of what indulgence is,on the morning of the 25th, I decided to go the shops at 7am to avoid the crowd. As I arrived at the shop, I had a nightmare flashback of the day my mum, sister and I had to queue hours in advance to attend Madonna-I-throw-my-panties-to-the-audience’s concert: pushing, shoving, screaming, stepping, overtaking… and my kids were not even with me! I don’t know what was the most disturbing: the length of the queue or the fact that I was taking part in it. Leaving the shops having been robbed of my time, patience and (quite) a few hundreds rands, I wondered if the braai was really worth it!

That is what Kerry taught me about ‘being stuck between a rock and a hard place’. At least, it feels that way from my cliff up here.

So what’s the answer? Am I doomed to be hypocrite or a pagan? Or worse, a compromised being, feeling that I betrayed the one side and had been abused by the other? Is there no other way out? The answer to that bracelet WWJD would come in handy right now! Although Jesus being a baby at that time never had to face that dilemna!

I suspect – and I have a bit more than 300 days before the next debarkation of green and red happens on our shore – that there is no correct answer. Every family is different. We don’t live in a clean world with totally Christian families celebrating a totally Christian Christmas or with totally non-Christian families celebrating a totally non-Christian Christmas (talk about alliteration, apologies to my editor friend!).

2011 is for real: next Christmas won’t catch me unprepared. I don’t know yet what I will remove –  definitely less hospital – and what I will add – maybe a bigger sense of humour. As WordPress wishes its every blogger “Whether you prefer your Christmas somber and reflective (…understand the boring christian way) or festive and Santa-focused (…understand the indulgent pagan way) – or maybe a bit of both (…understand the compromised way, trying to please everyone and ending up offending everyone) … we hope that you have a good one.

… alternatively, I could skip it!

Build-A-Bear: the birth of Bella, Robin and Scaredy aka Chocolate

During these long holidays, we took the kids to the Build-A-Bear workshop. It is a shop where you make your own teddy bear from scratch. The kids get to choose the outside of the teddy. They can decide whether they want a sound inside the teddy, like a monkey sound, a laughing sound, a ‘I love you’ message. They can even record their own message. Matty chose a monkey sound – how appropriate. Lea wanted to put her own message but I drew the line just before. I didn’t feel like hearing ‘Hello mama’ 30 times a day, and neither did she! Only a recorded message from a grandma would make sense!

Once the kids decided on the sound, the first step was to go to the fluffy machine (that’s where all the fluff gets put inside). It’s a big meany machine filled with what looks like soft cotton balls. In fact, one feels like just jumping in it! Once the fluffing is done, they each get a little fabric heart that they will put inside their teddy. But before, they have to rub it all over their body, kiss it, make a wish for Teddy’s life ( I wish that teddy will make my bed for me) and make a promise to their bear (I promise I won’t leave you to spend the night outside on the wet grass). They also need to think of a name for their respective teddy: we have Scaredy (because he’s scared), Robin (for Robin Hood) and Bella (meaning beautiful)

The promise

After that, they have to air-shower and brush their bear to remove all the unnecessary fluff.

The air-shower

Then a crisis happened. Lea’s teddy bear needed an operation. Her back was opened and needed to be sowed back into shape. So off to the operation table! The ‘nurse’ told Lea to hold her bear’s hand and reassure the poor thing. I was amazed at how much into it Lea was, really caring for this bear as if it was for real!!

The concerned mum during the operation

Then it’s the most awaited stage – for the children. It’s also the cling-cling-cling (sound of money being spent!) stage for the parents: the dressing-up stage. They get to choose one outfit for their bear. These clothes cost more money than real shoes for my real children… but they are ssoooo cute! No surprise there: Lea chose a wedding dress, Killian chose a warrior outfit and Matty, being Matty, didn’t want anything because ‘his hair is his clothes’.

The dressing-up

Then, because these bears are real (yes they are, don’t you dare disagree!), they need a birth certiificate. To the computers for the Home Affairs stage!

The administrative birth

After the final solemn promise, right hand up, of looking after my bear, and always taking care of him – without forgetting the paying stage, we were eventually done! The kids were very happy and felt a great sense of responsibility. Although they look tired on this picture, be reassured, no, the Build-A-Bear workshop is not an exhausting time. tThe black rings under the eyes have more to do with the late(r) nights. Holiday mood!!!

A few weeks later, the kids still play very much with these teddies. Scaredy is not scaredy anymore (we don’t care what the birth certificate says!), he is now Chocolate because, says Matty, “He knows that I like chocolate!!!”. Bella has been put in many many many outfits, she has many friends, she’s had quite a few play dates and even went to a sow-your-own-shoes party!! Robin is a warrior that likes to play golf in between wars.

A teddy’s got to do what a teddy’s got to do!!!

Ratelfontein – Day 5 (Part2)

Well, day 5 was a long day! After we all recovered from our emotions, we went for another drive in the afternoon with Eugene as our driver. We saw some roads that only had the names of it, because they were not made to be driven on it. On those roads, you had to really hang onto anything that is grab-able if you didn’t want to fall off the wagon!

Lea managed to spot a leguan ( not sure of the spelling but I’m talking about that BIG lizard). We stopped the car and came closer to take pictures. As we did so, its neck started to swell; it’s a tactic to try and scare us. Me, in the middle of the Karoo, with my little flip-flops, scared that a snake would come and tickle my toes, I wasn’t too reassured. I tried to get closer but as I did so, the reptile started to hit its tail vehemently, again in an attempt to scare us. Well, it worked with me so I handed my camera to Ali, who, fearless, went closer and closer.

We saw some more magnificent creatures,

Killian opened the gates for us, taking his job very seriously,

And we drove towards awesome sunsets in the horizon,

And that was day 5!!! Pfew!!