Trip to Paris/Settling in Bazemont

So last time I left off with the minor bumps along the way on my journey to Paris. As the 30th is generally the day when EVERYONE returns from vacation in France, I decided that for my train to Paris I should buy a couple days in advance. Unfortunately, a couple days turned out to not be enough, as all 16 trains to Paris Est train station were full when I went to buy the ticket. So I took the next best option (which more or less sucked) in which I went to Marne-la-Vallée (Disneyland Paris!) by train and then had to take the RER from Marne la Vallée to Paris Est. At least, this was the plan. However, upon checking my least often checked e-mail address the morning of my departure, I found out that my host mother had lost our communications through e-mail and so was not sure what time or even what day I was arriving! Naturally, this made me a little nervous, but there was nothing I could really do at the moment, so I decided to wait until I got to Paris to figure out the arrangements. Upon my arrival in Marne-la-Vallée, I attempted to call my host family, but each attempt was unsuccessful, so I decided to leave a message and take the RER to a convenient location in Paris and try again. I went to the Gare de Lyon (train station) in essentially the middle of Paris to try and call again. Fortunately, I was successful this time. As everyone was returning from vacation, traffic was awful, so we decided to meet in St Germain en laye (where I will be taking my french courses), which was another hour on the RER. When we did finally meet up in St Germain I was definitely relieved and a bit tired from the minor stresses of the day.

The nice thing was that when we arrived back at the house, the rest of the family was just leaving a birthday party of a relative just south of Paris, so I had some time to arrange my things and take a shower before they arrived. At first, the kids were naturally a little shy and I was already tired from my travels, so it was a little difficult to connect. Another adjustment for me was listening to and speaking French all day. Of course, this is a pleasant adjustment in general, but it is amazing at first how much energy it takes!! Fortunately, I am used to it now, so it's not a problem at all.

The first few days in Bazemont, the children and I took a bicycling tour of the area (essentially seeing where the younger one, Jorge, goes to school, the church, the countryside a little bit), went to the pool, the cinema, and played a little tennis. All of this was of course also a little tiring, but it was a good period of adjustment and getting to know the kids a little better. I've been to a couple social events already with the family (a birthday party and a soirée with all the parents of schoolchildren), so I know some people in the village now and everyone seems very nice. These interactions are also nice because they afford some intellectually stimulating conversation and discussion of the differences in our respective societies, etc. In fact, every day is a learning experience, whether it's a cultural lesson or an insight into the workings of French families, I really enjoy these little pleasures. It's also a lot of fun to live in this little village because you can do things like walk by a berry bush and pick as many blackberries as you want and eat them on the spot. These are the treasures of a small village life in France. I feel now like I'm just trying to get this entry over with, so I think I'll stop writing for now, but will return soon with a typical day in the life of Regan in Bazemont, as well as a tale of a Sunday in Paris! Until then...