Monkey!

Just now Lucas scared the bejesus out of me when he managed to climb onto a table outside in our balcony. He was standing so close to the ledge (we are on the first floor) checking out a line of ants! He is starting to mix both French and English together; sometimes he starts counting in english and then switches to french.

Lucas is fascinated with insects and dogs and cats. He's been trying to get me to carry him onto that table in our balcony because he wanted to touch the ants but even as I've refused many times he finally figured out a way to climb up the table.

Yesterday while we were at Mamy's house Lucas started digging up her garden soil. He managed to get his hands on an old ceramic cactus full of ants and he had ants EVERYWHERE (to my horror and to his delight).

My morning with VAR

Today I spent 3 hours at VAR for my bilan competencies as part of my integration into French society. The appointment was compulsory and I had to bring all my degrees and certificates for the appointed person, Virginie to look through and see what she can advise me on how to get a job in France.

I made sure that I got there 9a.m on the dot since the letter sounded so "official". I was surprised to see another "headhunter" dressed in baggy army surplus pants and a Tshirt, interviewing a candidate who was better dressed than her.

Virginie breezed in at 9.35 a.m, looking like she just dragged herself out of bed. She apologized for her lateness and said "Oh, but I am always late..." and added "I am so tired this morning". She really looked it, no make up (though she's so pretty she doesn't need it), dirty hair and she kept rubbing her eyes.

After filling up a form, she invited me into her office and fiddled with her computer - I thought she was looking for my profile but she was trying to open an internet page for music (!!!!) She then said " For this morning I think Bob Marley is very suitable" and opened a Bob Marley page with music... I think she has the best job in the France, so laid back and relaxed, starts at 9, but can come in at 930; finish at 5 sharp... no stress, no deadlines.

Anyway Virginie is so charming I think she can get away with murder just based on her charm. The 3 hours I spent there, I basically found out this:

To get a job in France, one has to be fluent in French first and foremost. It doesn't matter that you are able to speak a dozen other languages - if you cannot speak, write or read French it is almost impossible to get a job.

For a Products and Marketing job like the one I had before, Virginie basically told me it would be near impossible to garner the same ... in Tarbes. She asked if I was "mobile" i.e if I was able to go to Paris, work 3 or 4 days and then fly back to Tarbes (if the employer is flexible enough to allow me to work from home 1 or 2 days of the week!)

She has also advised me to convert my current CV to a french version and come up with a cover letter - which she will then pass on to her sister company which specialises in Executive search.

Talking to Virginie gave me a nagging headache as she would jump from one topic to another, even when we have not finished discussing the previous topic.

I did however manage to ask her about her job and found that she is fluent in Spanish, English and French which is why she is working with immigrants like me.

She advised me to go to Pole Emploi for an inscrition (i.e to sign up with the national employment agency) and then to sign up with her sister company as well as post my CV in both english and french in monster.fr

She also asked that I update her in 3 months and in 6 months for her to update her system. She then gave me a copy of my competency level which is sent to Toulouse and a signed certificate for my visa and sent me off - I was none the wiser and felt like I wasted my 3 hours today.

Lazy weekend

The days have been so sunny and warm, I haven't had much time on the computer to blog! Even yesterday, while Fred took Lucas out to Jardin Massey for a long lunch with his mom while I was indisposed at home, I stayed in bed and watched Ghosttown again and read my book AND took a nap. In between bouts of wakefulness I managed to clean the apartment, do 2 loads of laundry and mop the floors.
Lucas came home all flushed from being out in the sun, and was talking non-stop. He finally took his nap at 4 p.m yesterday while Fred took his motorbike to Val D'Azun for a ride and a visit to his friend Didier.

Lac de Payolle, Valee de Campan, Midi Pyrenees

Our week so far

Warmer days are finally here and I hope it will stay that way. In the mornings we still need a cardigan/ a jacket but nothing too heavy. Afternoons have been absolutely beautiful, temperatures peak around 23 degrees. Lucas and Fred have restarted their daily cycling schedule. I try to bring Lucas out to the playground daily as well for him to expel some of his neverending energy. These days his sleep routine has changed - Lucas now goes to bed at 9 p.m and he still wakes up at 6 but goes back to sleep after climbing onto our bed.

Last weekend, Fred had the entire weekend off for once, and we went to Lac de Payolle, 45 minutes drive from Tarbes. It was relaxing and restful for us; Fred kept Lucas busy playing soccer while I read my book in a little cafe. There were a lot of leisure fishing going on by the lake and many of the trout were caught for dinner!

We received some bad news about the hair salon venture, but as one door closes another will open up for us so we are still optimistic. Fred has decided that he will continue to be a coiffure but instead of going to Auch on Saturdays, he will be a coiffure domicile and build up his client base in and around Tarbes. We will still wait for the perfect location to come about but for now, we will live in Tarbes and will register Lucas for school here.

It has been pretty stressful for us to wait and see so its better that we know now that we will be in Tarbes for a while more.

I've started my private tuition class which seems to be more of a breakfast session with the gals. I am still unsure if the sessions are beneficial as I still do not understand how to string sentences together in the past tense/ imparfait or future without making a mistake but then its still too early to tell. Cathy, my french tutor is patient enough to correct every mistake. She speaks perfect English, so I tend to start speaking to her in English instead of french :P

On another note, I haven't slept much at all the past week. My rheumatism in my left leg is "killing"!!!! I wake up and reapply yoko yoko and try to sleep but in vain. I am not sure if its being aggravated by my allergy meds but I wake up like clockwork at 1 am. My knee is so painful, I try to "crack" the joint but can't seem to do it, so I spend the next hour or so tossing and turning. Methinks its because I didn't wear socks after giving birth to Lucas, so this could be "foong sap"... If by God's grace I have another baby I will make sure I do the full 30 day confinement with socks et al!!!! Anyone of you has a good home remedy for rheumatism please let me know!

In the past week, we have noticed that Lucas has changed a lot now that he is 2.5 years old. He is no longer playing individually in creche, he seeks out other toddlers to play with. He recognizes places when we drive - his mamy's house or his papa's office. He starts shouting when we get home as he doesn't like being home. He can pick a DVD he wants to watch and put that DVD into the player himself. Today he took out "Cars" from the DVD player and inserted "Horton hears a Who". He can take off his pants and socks without any help. He takes the shower head and showers himself and rinses shampoo from his head all by himself. He is not so clingy anymore, and there have been times when I don't hear a peep from him and I go look for him and find my darling boy in his room reading.

This week the creche was closed so I brought Lucas to my french class with me. He was so well behaved on day 1, played all by himself for an hour and a half. Today he played with Cathy's son Pierre. I also noticed that Lucas has become more sensitive now. He takes rejection a bit hard and gets really upset. He is talking non stop and his diet has improved - Lucas started eating french toast and also peanut butter. He knows when its time to sleep and he is trying to brush his teeth himself.

Our little parrot

Yesterday Lucas surprised me with "come on! let's go!" when I was taking my time, and he was dressed and ready to go :)
After waiting for a couple of minutes, he came looking for me and said" what you doing? let's go! come on!"

Now that he's started talking, he is picking up fast and chats with everyone he meets. When we were at the cafe yesterday and he wanted to leave, he said "we go" and starts to climb onto his stroller.
He also calls me from his room when he gets up every morning. I cannot describe the joy I feel everytime Lucas says "mama". And I can't seem to say no to him when he calls me "mama" and the little minx knows it!

Our fussy eater Pt2

After I blogged on how difficult it was to get Lucas to eat his veges, my aunt sent me an email and asked me to try blending the veges and adding them into his pasta sauce. Well, I tried it and Lucas ate it all up!
Today, I decided to try again with epinards hache (minced spinach). I made a creamy prawns & spinach pasta and Lucas ate the whole lot even though the pasta was green!