Ouvrez La Voie

Hi! We made it! We are just about a month in and have done all the important things: set up our apartment, gotten library cards and pool passes, learned how and where to grocery shop after eating mostly pasta for a week, watched the World Cup Rock Climbing competition, scoped out all the bulletin boards and pamphlets around town for kids’ events, visited the girls’ new school, figured out train and bus schedules, and got to know the French emergency medical system! After a week of exploratory adventures and cultural acclimatization, Dominik got an acute case of appendicitis and had to go by ambulance to a hospital down the valley to have an emergency appendectomy! He was able to make it through his hospital stay with enough French to understand that the doctors recommended no exercise for way too long, yikes! Before the surgery, the surgeon told him, “Pas de sport pour un mois!” After surgery, Dominik talked the doctors down to 20 days. He’s doing well now, mostly complying with doctor’s orders and walking slowly on the few flat (or flat-ish) paths in the Alps until he’s cleared to go back up hills.

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A few days ago we took the train about 45 minutes to the beautiful mountain town of St. Gervais les Bains. We hiked up a steep hill (against doctor’s orders) and then hopped on a gondola to get to the finish line of Stage 15 of the Tour de France. We inched our way in to the front row and by the end we were all pounding on the barriers and screaming with the hundreds of people around us as the cyclists went by. A few of them popped some wheelies as they cruised to the finish line. Impressive after cycling for five hours in intense sun and heat!

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The girls are settling in to their new rhythms and lifestyle. They each have said “Bonjour” to kids on the playground and are gradually expanding to asking their names, etc. Kamila likes to tap teenagers on the shoulder on the train and say Bonjour to them. My (Anne’s) French is at the level of a 2 year old so I usually talk to the children at the playground so the girls can see me fumbling along. A big success was one evening when the girls made a friend at the playground without using much language except for play! They had a blast playing together and mimicked each other’s play all evening. The girls love walking everywhere (we have no car) and know their way to the playground, pool, bakery, and library. They also love taking trains and never get on one without their pack of Uno cards.