A Day off School

So the girls (well, two out of the three anyway) were home from school today because their teachers were 'on strike'. Not all the teachers in the school, just the ones who felt like it. ONE day before the Christmas holidays. When they're finishing for the holidays on December 16th. Which is basically only HALF the month of December. I'm really having a hard time being sympathetic to this one, or mustering up any feeling of teacher solidarity.
So poor Indie got packed off to school while Anna and Zoe danced around, singing, because they were getting the day off. And despite all my griping about how the girls never seem to be in school etc. etc. (you've heard it all before) we had a great day. It helped that it snowed ALL day, big fluffy white flakes, so we had a very cozy time making stew, baking cookies, making Christmas cards and presents for the girls' teachers, listening to Christmas carols etc. We also had a snowy walk into town for a little light Christmas shopping (Anna, at 7, has woken up to this 'gift-giving' idea and has been doing extra 'chores' in order to afford Christmas presents for all of us) and then had hot chocolate and pastries in a warm cafe. Pretty good for a day off school.

Hot chocolate, chausson aux pommes and a pain au chocolat

Then Toby and the girls played in the snow for the afternoon. Here were the results

 Rolling the snowballs for the snowman

 Building him up

Anna wanted to call him 'Frosty', and when I suggested she think of something more original, she tentatively suggested, 'Snowy?'. What can I say, she clearly has a gift.

Our chalet looked very cozy in the storm

So tomorrow is the girls' last day of school before the holidays, and Toby and I have been invited to go and share in their Christmas lunch! This is a special invitation extended only to the 'foreigners' at the school, and the idea is that we're to go in and talk about our own country's special Christmas traditions to the kids, and also speak to them in English. Now that the French government has declared English the official second language in the school system, the school is looking for ways to boost its English content outside the classroom too. They're even going to have an Anglophone 'week' in the spring! Looks like we might get invited back.

It's rather awkward trying to big up Christmas traditions unique to Canada, of course, (oh, how I envied the Finnish woman sitting next to me in the planning meeting - I think she even comes from Lapland, damn her). And even the special Quebec traditions like Reveillons, that I will try to claim for my own (although we definitely never celebrated it in my Scottish family, even if we have been known to eat tourtiere), won't sound that original or interesting to the French, but the girls and I did our best and made this poster to show off Canada and Quebec - there are lots of English words on it at least for the kids to practice. Eggnog, anyone?

Ski de Fond

So - from the first downhill ski to the first x-country ski of the season. What joy.
Although I did decide to tag along with Pete and Toby on Monday in the middle of a SNOWSTORM... what were we thinking?
We were thinking 'skiing', basically, and we went up to Argentiere for what turned out to be more of a 'snowshoe' than a ski... Tons of heavy snow had fallen, the pistes weren't tracked, and we basically trudged through the snow for more than an hour and had a scary drive home down the slick, steep mountain roads... But still, it was gorgeous to get out, and I got an inkling of how beautiful the course is going to be when the skies are clear and the pistes are groomed.

 Toby and Pete (note Toby's snazzy new 'go-faster' ski jacket, a recent anniversary gift)

 The 'non' pistes

 Setting off in style

 It was so peaceful in the woods

Snow-fogged self-portrait

Then yesterday I had my first 'skate' skiing lesson. It was here in Chamonix, and while it started off fine we did end the lesson with a kind of sleet/rain falling, but it didn't matter (weather update: it is supposed to rain all day today, but then we have three days of snow forecast... OK, you can see this weather-forecast-watching is becoming a bit of an obsession with us, and I will try not to get too boring about it, but it's hard not to get caught up in the weather worry and the constant speculation about the quantity/quality of snow... I'm not even a particularly good or dedicated skier and I'm still right in there...)
Anyway, it was great to actually learn something new - I could practically hear my synapses grinding as I tried to focus on some of the techniques our very nice instructor was showing us (lots of balancing on one ski and getting your full body over etc.) - I'm pretty sure I was sticking my tongue out in fierce concentration and had to be reminded to keep looking up because I was staring down so intently. Because I do have a little experience I'm going to move up to the 'Skate 2' class in Jan - let's hope I can keep up with those uber-fit ladies.

First Ski of the Season!

Oh, the excitement! We have had the first couple of skis of the season. Let the season begin! There were only a few lifts open, and only a few ski hills (the big opening is this coming week-end, I understand), but it didn't matter - the snow was gorgeous, as was the weather. As one friend put it, it was like spring skiing with December snow (does that mean anything to the skiers out there amongst you?). And it wasn't crowded (probably the only week-end in the year when it won't be, I understand it just goes crazy over the holidays.)
On both Saturday and Sunday we went to Les Houches, just down the valley, and it was perfect - a long way up in a very comfortable bubble car, then a little baby slope at the top with a small chairlift for Zoe, and two other chairlifts with big, wide gorgeous slopes for the other two. It felt good to get all our kit sorted out and help the girls adjust to skiing again before they start ski camp next Sunday. Indie in particular was very nervous at the start, but by the end of yesterday afternoon she was back to her old level, and even starting to ski with poles. She was the keenest by far - I'm starting to wonder if she's going to be the ski racer in the family. And Zoe is already zooming down on her own - I'd better get faster, SOON. (Booking lessons as I write this...)
It was perfect - blue skies and sunshine and very warm, but the snow was good and the views across the Alps absolutely incredible. It really was exhilarating. That big snowfall last week did the trick - and the good news is that more snow is falling as I write this! Another 30+cm today, supposedly - although everyone here is obviously so scarred from the poor season last year that no one will believe it until they see it. They were disappointed so many times before. But I'm hopeful. It looks promising! With more snow in the forecast.

 Indie on the way up

 Zoe

 Anna and Toby

 The start of the views

 Zoe, ready to go

 Toby, figuring out which way is down

 Zoe on the chairlift

 Small sampling of the views - that's the Mont Blanc in the background

Portrait by Zoe - showing the all-important hot chocolate

So a few things I've learned already...
Forget a chalet at the bottom of the mountain for pit-stops like at home - it's all about having your rests at the TOP of the mountain, with the views, so even on the small part of Les Houches that was open (we saw maybe an eighth of it) there were three restaurants/small chalets open for business. But we've already figured out that we can save hundreds (thousands?) of euros by packing our own snacks (see hot chocolate from a thermos above...). Some of the small chalets are very cute though.
Also, the French chalets have a terrible reputation for poor food and bad coffee sold at exorbitant prices (contrary to what I believed before coming here... funny the perspective from outside a country, I had totally bought into the French myth). Here, everyone wants to ski in Italy where the food and the coffee are supposed to be great. I'll happily report back.
We were also very tough on the girls about carrying their own skis and poles, putting their own helmets on,  getting up the slopes on their own etc. because we just know that they will have to be totally self-sufficient when it comes time for the lessons. The ski instructors here will definitely not be holding their hands and helping them get kitted up - I've seen enough French coaching to know that there won't be a lot of molly-coddling, and the instructor will doubtless just set off down the slope, and good luck to the kid that isn't ready or can't keep up.
And then of course there's the ski de fond (you can start to see why we had to ship so many boxes over, with all the various outdoor kit we have). I'm starting my skate skiing lessons tomorrow. Toby has already been for a few moonlight cross-country skis this week-end, and he's in heaven. He says the trails are gorgeous and absolutely perfectly groomed. Can't wait.

And still more snow...

So the snow turned out to be a substantial fall - it snowed all day yesterday, and the girls and I had a 'snow day' at home, which involved a lot of playing in the snow, coming inside, warming up, drying their stuff, and then heading back out again. There's nothing like the excitement of the first snow fall. Pete and Les made a gigantic snowman, and the girls made their own little one.

It resulted in a decent accumulation, although it did turn to rain last night, at least down here in the valley, so it's now a pretty foggy, slightly soggy, day, but the important thing is precipitation, because that means snow on the mountains. And that means skiing.

Indie also surprised me yesterday by bringing home a calendar that their school had put together as a fund-raiser - each class had read and illustrated a fable, and the best picture from each class was chosen for the calendar. And Indie's picture was chosen for March! She told me so casually I didn't believe her at first, but here she is with the prize-winning picture. Her class's fable was 'La Grenouille qui veut se faire aussi grosse que le Boeuf', and this is a picture of the arrogant frog going 'splat'. We're very proud!

Indie the artist

Snow! And other adventures

(our backyard)

Finally! This morning we woke up to snow. It's supposed to snow all day, but sadly rain is already in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon. Still, the good news in the Alps is that even if the snow melts in the valley, it's still snow higher up on the mountains, and the ski lifts open this week-end... Could we finally be seeing the start of the ski season?? We can but hope.
In other news ... the girls have only 6 days of school left until the Christmas holidays. (I don't want to talk about it...). We had fun last Saturday at an outdoor skating rink in Cluzs, which is about 1/2 an hour down the valley. It looks like a very nice little town, worth exploring, but we spent our time at the rink, and scoffed waffles with chocolate sauce on our breaks. (A boy was having his birthday party at the rink, and his birthday cake was a pile of about 30 crepes with whipped cream and chocolate sauce between every layer, and they stuck candles in it to sing happy birthday and then cut wedges out of it like cake - it looked delicious.)
Then on Sunday we went to Zermatt in Switzerland for the day to visit old friends of Toby's (he lived there for five years when he was in his late teens, early twenties). It was a two hour drive and then we parked and took a train up to the village. There are no cars in the village - only small electric buses and horse-drawn carts! The girls loved petting the horses. Another beautiful Alpine village, although with tons and tons of construction, and they are also waiting for snow...

 Zoe at the rink

 Anna overtaking

 Beautiful backdrop, as ever, even on a dull day

 Good waffles

 Appreciative Indie

 On the train up to Zermatt

 Petting the horses

 They come down the streets at a hell of speed - you'd better get out their way

It's only the fancy hotels that offer this kind of service

Then, finally, here in Chamonix they turned on the Christmas lights on Friday night and we walked down into town to ooh and aaah, and had a nice meal out at a friendly Italian place. The cost of eating out here really is prohibitive, even in the supposedly family-friendly places, so I don't think we'll be doing too much of that again, but the girls enjoyed their spaghetti bolognese, and especially the desserts!

 In front of the big tree

 The bright lights of Chamonix

Tiramisu and chocolat fondant - yum!

Freedom

So it's been quite a while since my last post, and that's because we have been the House o' Sickness for the last week. And while I know it's inevitable that with three children they will tag team the illnesses, they really timed it well this go - Zoe was sick since LAST Thursday, (with Toby away for three days, natch, in the UK) and on Tuesday, just as she was finally going back to school and I had a glimmer of hope that I was actually going to leave the chalet and do something, Indie suddenly presented with a fever, and that was that - back to more games and colouring on the couch.
So here's the shortlist of things I learned about being ill in France:
1. It seems that even if a doctor's office is closed on the week-end (when, of course, most children decide to get ill) they leave a number on their answering machine of the cell phone number of the emergency doctor on call. Who knew? Sadly, not me. What service!
2. One word: suppositories. The French really love their suppositories. When I went and begged some drugs for Indie to avoid the same late night panics we had with Zoe (she really was very sick, poor petal, with bad croup and really would have benefitted from some medical attention), the cough medicine I was prescribed came as a suppository. Now, in theory, I'm all for suppositories, for I know they are very quick and effective, but try selling that to a reluctant and stubborn 6-year-old at 2am...
3. The cost for four drug prescriptions? A measly 11 euros. I'm not even on the healthcare system here and the prescription drugs are highly subsidized. I was impressed.
So today is my first day of freedom in over a week and of course tomorrow is already the week-end. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, do these kids NEVER go to school??
On other fronts: Toby is flying home next week to become a Canadian! His swearing-in ceremony is on the 7th. We'll have to host a Canadian Coming Out party for him. There is still no snow here, much to everyone's concern and disappointment. We're going to Zermatt in Switzerland this week-end to visit old family friends of Toby's - but I don't think they've had much snow yet either. We bought the girls' ski passes for the whole season yesterday (a highly-subsidized bargain at under 100 euros for each of them, and that gives them access to every ski area in all the adjacent valleys as well) - I just hope we get to use them.
Here's a random photo of a donkey who lives in a pasture just up the road from us. One of the beauties of living here is walking five minutes down into town for the shops, restaurants, cafes etc. and the buzz of town life, and walking five minutes up for sheep, horses and donkeys in pastures and peaceful and beautiful hiking on the mountains. And they really do wear those big bells! They're not just for tourists to take home and hang on their walls!

Activities Planning - the Saga Continues

(A picture of us at the town cenotaph on Remembrance Day, waiting for the two minute silence at 11am. We were on our own, sadly, since the town's ceremony started, unbeknownst to us, at noon. So we observed the silence on our own, with a few other random Brits who clearly had made the same mistake. Oh, well. We at least had a thoughtful moment with the girls.)

So the pressure of planning the girls' activities - for the winter ski season this times - begins again. Life in a ski resort dictates that there's a lot of options, of course.There are ski clubs in Chamonix and Les Houches (the former very competitive and by invitation only I believe); there's a mini-club in Chamonix (which actually skis in Les Houches); there's 'ski samedi' which is Saturday afternoons only; there's the Sport Loisir again on Wednesday afternoons... the list goes on.

We've already missed the sign up for some, not sure when the sign up for others happen... And I was originally told that Zoe could do the 'mini-club' too, but now it seems she can't... My head is spinning.

I also don't know what level the girls are at, since they've never taken official lessons, and the French levels don't seem to match the Canadian levels anyway.  I'm sure if we were here for longer than a year it wouldn't feel quite so important to get it right first time (also keeping in mind the girls are only 7, 6 and 4, not exactly competition material yet) but we've only got the one shot...

So... drum roll please... we've plumped for 'mini-club' for Anna and Indie, which will be Saturday afternoons in addition to two weeks' of ski camp (before xmas and the feb holidays), Zoe will do 'Ski Samedi', and then they're all going to do the Sport Loisir skiing on Wed afternoons. That is the highly subsidized activities courtesy of the town - it will work about to about 4 euros per 5 hour session, per child! So the girls will be skiing at least two afternoons a week, plus hopefully skiing with us on Sundays. Plus they will do a week of skiing with their school in January, in addition to their ski camps. Skiing is taken VERY seriously here.

My ambition this year is to improve my skiing - my 'joke' of last year that I couldn't keep up with Anna and Indie anymore sadly is no longer a joke, it's the truth. (The fact that they have no fear probably has a lot to do with it). So since I'm now in danger of being overtaken by Zoe, I think I'd better up my game. (This is the problem of taking up a sport in your 20s, as opposed to when you're three...). I've found a very nice woman who gives private lessons, and I'm determined to get stronger, faster and more confident. It's also a real social handicap here not to be a good skier - there are lots of back-country ski touring outings etc. that involve off-piste skiing and hiking up glaciers and cols with 'skins' on the bottom of the skis (I bet I didn't even get that terminology right, demonstrating yet again my novice status...). Oh well, Zoe will hopefully concede to keep me company on the easy runs.

Now all we need is snow! They had a terrible season last year with very little snow, and people are already starting to mutter about how this year is going to be the same... it's been such a mild, dry autumn (I'm not exaggerating when I say we've only had three days of rain the three months we've been here) that people here are worried it's going to be the same again. And what's a ski resort without snow?? I see Montreal has already had its first snowfall - beating us to it.

In the meantime, we're still enjoying the sunshine and warm weather (in the afternoons, at least, when the sun finally hits the valley, more on valley living another time...). Here's some pictures of a recent walk to Les Praz, where poor Anna, while jumping from stump to stump across a stream, fell in and soaked herself. The result? A very fetching ensemble of fleeces to get her back to the car. She was very good humoured about it, because it was a little embarrassing.

 When things were still going well..

 The fateful slip?

 Indie made it across safely

Trendy fleece dress and skirt ensemble

Uncle Neil Comes to Visit

My brother Neil came to visit for a long w/e on his way to a conference in London, and we had a fab, fab time with him. I think we showed him a pretty good Chamonix time - we did a really long hike on Friday while the girls were in school up to Bel Lachat at over 2000m (we definitely didn't cut Neil any 'newbie' slack), then we did the market on Saturday morning, some climbing at Les Gaillands on Saturday afternoon and fit in another hike on Sunday. We also introduced him to the joys of raclette on Saturday night - and trust me, that's a meal that really sticks with you for a long time. We were extremely sorry to see him go, of course, and the girls are missing him already, he really is the best uncle in the world. Neil has confessed to relying on his lovely wife Ellen to relay the blog updates (shout out to Ellen - we missed you! Wish you could have come too) - so Ellen, tell Neil, this one's for him.

 Brother and sister

 Toby and Neil

 Lesley set a cracking pace on the hike

 Our picnic companions

View from the top

Then it was climbing at Les Gaillands - we almost had the place to ourselves, since I don't think it occurs to people to go climbing in mid-November here, despite the sunshine. The girls' weekly climbing lessons are really starting to show - Toby purposefully chose what he thought were pretty challenging routes, and the girls still managed to run up them. Good on 'em.

 Zoe climbing, skirt and all

 Anna on the rock

 Neil belaying Indie

 Indie on the way up, Anna on the way down.

 Indie at the bottom

 Refuelling

Toby and Neil even got in a few routes