Our "1980s" theme ski race and after race party. This was one of three Utah signs that was hanging in the restaurant. Nobody knew why the Utah signs were there.
OK . . . you can all breathe a sigh of relief. Elisabeth finally earned the right to use a “stylo plume” (fountain pen). You cannot imagine her thrill. BRAVO! She confided in me later that she had been secretly carrying one of Scottie’s old stylo plumes in her pencil case since February – just waiting for the day when she could take the pen out of hiding and use it officially. She was afraid that she would “get screamed at” by the teacher if she was caught with a stylo plume without proper jurisdiction. I said to Elisabeth that surely the teacher would not “scream” and in fact – she probably never screams. Mary then replies: “No Mommy . . .the teachers do scream . . . really . . . .all the time.” Scottie agrees with Mary and Elisabeth and also says that it is not uncommon for some ski coaches to yell and really lay into the kids for misbehaving or not putting in their best effort.
The McNally family from SLC and the Denious family from CT visited us in early March. The kids were thrilled to see their friends/schoolmates Daniel and Patrick. Patrick went to school with Jimmy and Daniel went with Mary . . . just like old times. The kids toured the McNally’s around Annecy – just like locals – making sure to point out and visit the “best” ice cream stands and creperies in town. We had great spring skiing at Grand Bornand. A highlight of the trip, was skiing the Vallee Blanche in Chamonix with a group that included me, Alex, Scottie, Dave and Nancy McNally, and Katie and Eliza Denious. Pete Denious accompanied us as far as the top of the tram station. Skiing the Vallee Blanche is an all day event. The run is 24 km from beginning to end. While the skiing is not difficult – getting there is tricky. We hired a guide and then had to be roped in as we walked from the top of the Aguille de Midi tram to where we could actually ski. The walk was definitely the most difficult part. Once we got to safe skiing ground – the terrain was moderate/easy. The scenery is spectacular and we lucked out with beautiful weather.
The younger kids (5 in number) went skiing with someone named “Gail” at a ski area called Brevant. Alex had spoken with “Gail” on the phone and for some reason concluded that “Gail” was a woman in her mid-sixties. As we headed off to the Vallee Blanche, he warned the younger kids that “Gail” was an older women and might not want to ski very fast. However, the groups discovered an athletic looking guy with “cool” ski equipment who approached them and said: “Hello, I am Gael. Who is ready to ski fast with me today?” We were shocked as we had been waiting for a 60 year old woman. Where Alex came up with his interpretation, who knows? The kids were delighted. There was a minor glitch however, when Patrick fell and hurt his back. I think the Europeans may becoming as litigious as the Americans because although Patrick was fine, his fall earned him a helicopter ride off the mountain to the local hospital. When Dave and Nancy collected Patrick from the hospital, they were told that the bill was something like 53 euros (about $70) which was a shock because they expected at least 5,300 euros! What a difference from American healthcare costs.
We also treated ourselves to a fancy French dinner with the McNallys. We had heard about a nice restaurant near Annecy, so we finally decided to try it . . .not really understanding what we were getting into. We started at 8 pm and found ourselves leaving at 1 am!! Of course, I cannot describe how delicious and beautifully presented the food was. There were about 14 small courses. The service was exquisitely choreographed. The 5 hours flew by.
Spring weather arrived in Annecy in March, and we continued to ski and the kids ski program continued through March and into the first half of April. (The last race for the girls was scheduled for April 15th!). Mary had an exciting day of skiing on March 17th. Maybe the luck of the Irish was with her. She won a race called the “Conseil General” of the Rhone Alpes region. This race, as it turned out, included about 1200 (no joke) boys and girls, ages 7, 8, 9, and 10 from all ski racing regions of France (not including the Pyrenees), and some kids from Switzerland. There were 250 girls in Mary’s category and she finished #1!! The ski team was thrilled as nobody from our club had won this particular race in many years. Our neighbor (and tutor) Monique, and Mary’s teacher at school told us that Mary’s photo was in local newspapers, so that evening we rushed out to buy several copies.
Jimmy had 350 boys in his age group – while he had a very respectable finish in the top 1/3 of his group – this left him in about 120th position, which as you can imagine was not very appealing to him. The race was extremely well organized and finished in a timely fashion despite the hellish line for the poma lifts with 1200 racers PLUS parents. Really – lift lines here n France– even with a normal number of skiers- are unorganized and people push, fight and step all over others skis to get to the front. [Joe Koletsky would go NUTS to see such disarray . . . I can just picture him trying to organize the lift lines here in France.] It was a very fun, festive day, with many racers and spectators, a great lunch and speeches from heads of the various departments in France.
Alex and I had second opportunity to prove ourselves on the ski slopes. Once again, there was and adult “fun” race – that we got roped into doing. This time – it was in fact, fun. The race was held at night (not necessarily the fun part). People who lived on the east side of Lake Annecy competed against those who lived on the west side, and of course the normal men/women categories. The race had an “80s” theme, so people were dressed in “80s” attire, and it really was quite funny with lots of jeans and gaitors and one piece suits. I just wore more normal ski clothes, which as it turns out – believe it or not – are green pants and a pink jacket. So – sadly for me – wearing my every day clothes, I fit in perfectly to the 80s theme.
The race was followed by a Savoyard dinner and dancing (almost all American music was played, by the way). I will have to mention that I was the winner of the overall women’s title and came home with a bag full of goodies including a stapler and a facial. Alex, had misunderstood the announcer and thought that I won my award for travelling the farthest – all the way from Salt Lake City – to compete in the race. I took much convincing by me (and others) for Alex to fully understand my talent. The real laugh was that everyone gave a speech when they accepted their awards. I tried to smile and take my goods and run. The thought of giving a speech in French made me want to die. However, I was forced to speak, over a microphone, to a group of about 150. Grace au vin chaud, my speech went over well. I told the group “thank you very much, I am delighted to be invited tonight, and that I would like to thank my all of my sponsors, my agent, my coaches, my ski technicians, and my mother.”
People often ask me – “So, do your kids speak French now?” “Are they fluent?” [In fact, the kids sometimes ask me if they are fluent.] When we arrived in France everyone said “Oh the kids will be fluent by Christmas. No problem.” However, it was a bit discouraging because Christmas came and no one was close to being fluent. But, the kids all continue to make progress and teachers and coaches and other parents say that they all speak quite well. So – my answer is now: yes, they all speak French. They are all doing well in French school. (In fact, Scottie told us the other day that during French class, one poor girl who he finds a bit annoying, was trying to copy off of Scottie’s paper! We laughed.). While they are not fluent, they all understand well (but not perfectly), they can express themselves well (although their sentences are typically more simple and less fluid than what they would say or how they would speak in English), and they can not say EXACTLY what they would say if they were speaking English. Our French friends who read this blog will have to give me an honest assessment, and I will pass on their honest opinion.
I have been asked many questions about daily life . . .grocery stores . . . haircuts . . . electricians . . . Basic daily chores are less challenging as the year progresses. Amittedly, we did struggle was when our lights in the main room of the house stopped working. We lived with minimal lighting like that for a while because 1)we couldn’t find an electrician and 2) we feared calling the electrician, and trying to explain our problem. However, we persevered and now have normal lighting. Everyone has managed to get haircuts – several times. Jimmy and Scottie who are used to Dollar Cuts in Salt Lake City were shocked to have their hair WASHED. In fact, it was so shocking that Jimmy, who does not enjoy showering, burst into tears as the woman tried to wash his hair. She could not understand what the problem was. The boys now venture into town on their own to get haircuts as they say they can explain what they need better than I can.
Monique our neighbor and an ex-teacher still dutifully helps with homework, complete with her intermittently “normal” raised voice to help “focus” her students. Mary and Elisabeth still get tutored in French two times a week with Sandrine, whom they love. Alex is less enthralled with Sandrine because she has called him Alan all year.
The weather is getting warmer, boats are more frequently on the lake, Annecy has been decorated with spring flowers along the canals, and we have resumed biking to school. Elisabeth did not take anybody out on the ski slopes this month (although there are rumors, which are difficult to refute given her track record, that she cut off Patrick and thus caused the helicopter evacuation) – thus we consider March to be a good month.
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