EEK! - SEPTEMBER 2009

Highlights/Lowlights:
- Going to Bourg d’Oisons for the motorcross to celebrate our anniversary
- Callum struggling with the transition of being back in an all-french school
- My new job and workplace
- Colin going to Hungary to support technical training
- Exercising – my health
- 36th Coupe Icare – spectacular!

JUMPY/TOP DOWNER/FLY PIPER – these are the pigeons which used to roost across from our sunroom. They’d peer in, threatening to come inside for a visit. Now that house is torn down and Callum wonders where they’ve gone. The two fat healthy rats that used to live by our building have also deserted us because of the construction next door. Though I’m not usually enamored of rats I was sad to see them go. They were interesting to watch from two stories up. They particularly loved to dine on the flowers that grew on the vine that entwined up the wall.

SEPTEMBER 7th - TURBO SPEED ... BRING IT ON.
Everything has sped up.
I had a job interview on Callum’s first day of school.
I was hired on the spot (yesterday).
I may start training for my job tomorrow afternoon, and have my first client on Friday morning.
I may have three "missions" by next week - three sets of students... and that's the week Colin is in Hungary.
I feel like I'm riding a firecracker.

Callum’s school had the school parents' assembly and grande section orientation to goals and expectations by Callum's teacher. I spent 1.5 hours of desperately trying to understand French and realizing how ill-equipped I am for preparing my child for what is to come.
We'll just have to take it one permission slip at a time.

Monday - Callum started swimming with his class today.
They get 16 classes of swimming.
Apparently he sat near the back of the bus with a friend, so he can't be doing too badly.
What a brave little soul.

His teacher is very "structured".
The classroom is almost entirely decorated in Black and White.
That tells you a lot about him right there.
Hopefully his strength will be preparing the kids for Grade One academic expectations.
Hopefully he'll do it in a kind and sometimes inventive manner. I get the feeling he has the discipline part nailed. That may be a blessing given how many rambunctious little boys are in the class. They are, after all, born in the year of the monkey.


SEPTEMBER 9th - REFLECTIONS ON MY NEW JOB
I'm excited to be employed by ETC Group/Logos for several reasons.
a) I love to teach. I take great pleasure in assisting people in achieving their goals.
b) It works with my current time constraints (Callum's schedule) and the need for family balance.
c) I was shit scared about finding a job in France when I speak Francaise like a three year old, there are hiring freezes on and people are losing jobs.
d) Working part-time means (theoretically) I can continue with my French classes.
e) My new boss is already talking about possibilities for the future.
I will start as a teacher with specific contracts. I will teach individuals and groups (2 - 5 people) in either the Logos meeting rooms or within the corporations themselves. There is potential for more though in the next year or two, which would be perfect timing for me and my family, and as a transition into the regular work force (with networking opportunities to boot).

The ETC Group has three streams - relocation, translation and language instruction. Over the last few years the ETC Group has been acquiring businesses all over France which specialize in these areas. They started restructuring in January and are currently trying to establish consistency in quality and presentation, from marketing to proposals to execution and follow-up. Fanny is potentially interested in how I can contribute to their goals (from my resume and experience) as a full-time employee presenting workshops, coaching, developing and consolidating teaching materials, assembling best practices, team building, and other areas that require the pursuit and establishment of pedagogical excellence (when she used that pair of terms I grinned inside - I used to have "pedagogical excellence" near the top of my resume and actually had to remove it because some people who were interviewing me didn't understand it). The ETC Group vision is to provide a united front to their many international and local clients (in the fields of science and health [ie. the synchrotron; Schneider Electric; pharmaceutical companies], tourism [ski hills and outdoor equipment ie. Petzel], IT [ie. Yahoo], utilities [ie. Isere Gas and TransIsere - the bus company], etc.). It is a company in transition and that's an exciting time for me to arrive. I tend to thrive on those types of change waves. Currently though, I am strictly an English teacher.

The down side is that currently there are no best practices being discussed, team meetings, training, etc. for the language teachers. It's a very solo/fly by your pants type of job. I'm glad I've got experience with teaching/training in so many different types of environments. I'm also glad that I have friends who can offer me a few insights. I take this seriously and I'm surprised at the lack of support they offer their teachers. Consistency of product and presentation are so critical. And training is way less expensive than turnover or damage to an international reputation. I know that teaching language takes a lot of skill, experience and insight. I intend to represent the profession, ETC Group and myself with integrity, enthusiasm and results.

I am truly fortunate with both my experience and my timing. Someone is looking out for me.


CALLUM, FRIENDS and SCHOOL
I've met a few moms, but many of them don’t live downtown like we do. However, I have made connections through Callum's school, random meetings in the parks and Open House International (the organization for bringing together people from elsewhere and French people who have lived in other countries). Of the two connections through Callum's school one family moved on to the local primary school (Callum is in the Grande section, equivalent to kindergarten), but I hope to keep connecting with her anyways. The other family I’ve invited over for a playdate. What's great at this point is that we keep bumping into people that either I know or Callum know. It's becoming OUR town. And there are certainly many interesting people here.

There are many types of individuals/families who are attracted to living here (I'm talking specifically about transplanted people). There are the adventurers who are healthy of mind and body. They embrace change. There are those who are eager to leave where they were and just ended up here. There are many who found professional opportunity in Grenoble and stayed because they grew to love it. There are those who are unhealthy and here they can hide - ie. those who are estranged from their families or don't want to live by the rules of the country they were born into. Here they can lay low or be exotic or be righteous or blossom into who they were meant to be. I'm open to all, but am trying to cultivate relationships that are a mutual trade of energy/insights/etc... I don't have as much energy as I used to. I need to make sure I have enough chutzpa to keep my family on an even keel in a foreign environment.

In any case, because I cannot speak French, the % of the population that we have to choose friends from is as motley a hodge-podge as the group that was on the first boat from England to Oz. Therefore it will take time to find people who resonate - who get along with all three of us and vice versa. In the meantime, it's lonely. I can easily find people to hang out with, but not so easily find people who are ready, willing or able to "understand" me/us and incorporate the desires/delights of a 5 year old acrobat.


Regarding language acquisition, I inquired about French classes for Callum when we arrived. I wanted to help him prepare. The only thing I could find was tutoring at 40 Euros an hour. That's more than $60 Canadian! It seems that people believe kids will just get it by osmosis. I think they get it because they don't survive otherwise. Our friends' little girl, a year older than Callum, cried every day for the first 4 months. It's brutal. I ache for Callum a lot of times, and am grateful that he is social and brave. But I get very frustrated that I can't help smooth the way for him in regards to learning French. I can't even coach him or help him on the playground. Yesterday he came home with scratches all over his face - missing skin really near his eye. Callum told one story and his teacher told another. I'm not happy about this but we will prevail and I'll keep a close eye on the situation. I am hoping that the teacher will be good at preparing him for next year, while still providing the room and support for these kids to be kids. At least Callum has friends in his class, and he's not physically small(their age group is the oldest in the school, so I'm hoping there'll be less chance of bullying. Callum isn't a push-over, but some of the big kids last year were problematic).

While I'm concerned about the language issue and bullying, I do believe there are benefits to this school system. They certainly prepare the Grande section for academia, and the students are also offered a well-rounded curriculum. Callum's taking swimming classes for 16 weeks, they do gardening for six weeks in the fall and the spring, they participate in gymnastics, they attend choir on Monday mornings from January to June, they take field trips to museums and art galleries, they do visitations to homes for the aged, they have special projects on Thursday afternoons where the classes mix and each teacher provides a special theme not specifically focused on the three R's (maybe safety, special art projects, how to drive, music, animal care, etc.). And Callum doesn't have to "nap" at school anymore, which he is happy about.

Callum loves being social, so he's motivated to make friends and is well liked. But it's hard for him. He doesn't have a single English-speaking friend here that lives close by and sees on a regular basis. He's lonely even though he's intensely active and involved. This is the part of living in France that is hardest on our hearts.


HOMESICK
We're all homesick. We don't regret coming to France and there's a lot to appreciate here, but we definitely miss Canada. We miss our community of friends, family, the ocean, the ease of living in a place where we can understand the language and where service is a value many people share. I miss the writing community too. I know that when we don't live here anymore there are things we'll miss about the Isere region and Europe. I love how entwined human and natural history can be here. The Alps are amazing, we've done some great day trips, lots of hiking, attended cool festivals, and explored parts of England, Germany and Italy as well as France. The architecture is fantastic, the people are warm, and every day contains unexpected challenges and delights. It's exhausting though. It doesn't seem to get easier.

Callum is amazing. He's been hiking with us, sometimes up to 9 km in a day. There is such a plethora of places to explore around here. It will get easier for him as he learns more French. Kids gravitate towards him.

Colin has had a hard time. The French people he works with are sometimes resentful that English is the business language. As a result they ie. sometimes refuse to slow down their French or speak in English in internal meetings or in the cafeteria. He is making some good allies though and has a solid professional reputation. He went to Budapest for work one week this month and will likely be going to Spain next month. Schneider shows a lot of trust in his abilities. He's also biking back and forth to work on a path that follows the river, that helps him recalibrate and find some peace.

We're finding loads of things to do. The festivals are amazing. Two weeks ago we attended the Coupe Icare (www.coup-icare.org) which is an international festival of air (hot air balloons, paragliding, parachuting, etc.) and the next day I did a 7 hour hike over the Chartreuse mountains. I love the villages, the markets, the Alpine activities year round, the cafes, the way the French are passionate about everything and wear their hearts on their sleeves and then forgive or offer help just as fast as they can lose their tempers. They are also great rule makers and breakers, so it's fascinating to figure out how to "be" here.

As for me - I'm training for an ultra-marathon (in Holland, 200 km over 4 days) or an Olympic-length triathlon (in Annecy), working, taking French lessons and run the household. Given that even paying an electrical bill can take three times as long (because it's in French) I find life very busy. Plus there are school field trips to support, play-dates in French and Colin's family is in England and Scotland - I've spent 6 weeks up there this year. And we've had 4 sets of visitors from Canada already! I do need to get back to cultivating my writing though. I need it. I can feel it building inside me like a giggle behind a hand.

Our friends who were here a year and are going back to Victoria this week have just left our home. They came to drop off some camping books and a couple of fans. It made us feel so nostalgic to talk to them. Part of me is envious that they are returning to Victoria, to their community there, to the ocean. Colin is definitely blue.

We're starting to know more people. Yesterday around town we ran into three different families that we know. Unfortunately, if the adults speak English the kids still usually don't. Callum is still quite lonely. In the evening Callum and I were supposed to go to a play (we had free tickets). We walked and listened to thunder rumbling, and then the skies opened up on us. The lightening was flashing and the BOOM CRACK sounds following were crazy loud. It was right on top of us. The air was vibrating with electricity. Callum was mad, scared and screaming and I was soaked through in about 30 seconds (Callum had the wisdom to insist on bringing an umbrella). Callum marched home yelling, "I hate France" in beat to his footsteps. He swears he will never go outside again. I love the thunderstorms. It reminds me of prairie storms and drama in the sky when I worked in Florida and Ontario.

I'm getting better at managing our money here. It's still really challenging, but we're being quite disciplined so that we can eliminate our debt. We trying to balance out taking advantage of delicious choices for adventures here, and setting ourselves up well for the future.

Hope all is well with you.

Loads of love,

Ramona J. Bucknell