Les Bottes/The Boots

I am sure that most anyone who knew me prior to my move to France will be shocked by what I am about to tell you....shocked. First, let me say, that I am a normal mother of 4 children, or at least as normal as one who has 4 children can be. Before we arrived in France, I dressed pretty much like all the other Moms I knew and hung out with. A lot of work-out attire and tennis shoes, with the occasional jeans and/or pants with a sweater. Whatever has happened to me? I do not claim to be "tres chic" by any stretch of the imagination, but I will say that I only wear work out clothes when I am actually working out, and lets face it, that is a pretty rare occurrence. However, my ever developing sense of fashion has manifested itself in a new and sudden interest in boots. Well, purses and wool coats too. I am not sure, if it is the fact that every woman here wears boots almost daily, or if it is that it is hard to buy clothes here if you are larger then a size 8, and everyone that knows me, knows I haven't been a size 8 since age 12, but, I will say it now, I am addicted to boots.

I know my boot addiction is shocking. You will be really shocked when you find out what now resides in my closet.

When we arrived, I had 3 pairs of boots, one brown, one black and one reddish. The black and brown boots were from Target, my US shopping mecca. The red boots I still have and they are pretty beautiful. So beautiful in fact, that I had to buy myself a purse to match...thanks Nonna. They were pretty expensive by my pre-France standards and were actually purchased at Macy's.

However, this is what I have become.........

Purchase #1......Brown boots, for walking around town in. They go with everything (except my black wool coat...I must wear my blue pea coat). These boots were more expensive then my red boots, but I wore them almost everyday last winter. Because I wore them everyday, I had to find a cordonnier, that's what they call a trained shoe repairman in France. Although for some reason, they make copies of keys as well. My brown boots have visited the repair place 3 times, but are still holding together, barely.

Purchase #2....made shortly after purchase #1. I had to have a pair of black walk around town boots....to match my grey wool coat. Unfortunately, the heel, at 3 inches, although perfect for a French women to walk around in, is too tall for me.

Leading to Purchase #3, but I did wait until after summer, a pair of low-heeled black boots. They even have a pointy toe. Of course, this lead to the purchase of a long black wool coat as I decided that my grey one is just too short to go with my pointy boots.

And then, a gift, from the Grand Canard, a pair of thigh high, black boots. I am not sure who was more excited about this purchase. When they finally arrived, I was thrilled. I put them on with black leggings and a long sweater and off we went to Toys-r-Us. I know, this is where all the fashionistas go in thigh high boots. However, this being France, I was not out of place. Unfortunately, the boots are a size too small, and I only lasted about 2 hours in them. I think though, that I could train myself to last longer if only I had the time. Still, for the occasional trip to Toys-r-Us, what could be more perfect?

So, after my closet was filled with boots of all different colors, I thought I was done, but then came the Soldes and with it purchase #4. The Soldes is the bi-annual sale that takes place across France for 2 months per year, once in the summer and again, the first week in January through the first week in February. In January, I saw one of the other Mommy's wearing the cutest pair of knee high brown boots and I just had to have them. I looked everywhere, in vain, for these boots, and finally 2days before the Soldes ended, I asked the other Mommy where she had gotten them. Apparently I was not the only one that loved her boots and had to have them. She doubted I could still find them, but, as I have giant feet, at least compared to the French, the trade off for not being able to buy clothes here, I was victorious. Well, mostly anyway, as these beautiful boots were located in a teeny tiny boutique....so teeny tiny, that I had to leave all 4 girls standing on the street while I shopped. It was also a very expensive teeny tiny boutique. Still, they were 1/2 price...my most expensive pair of boots ever, but I got them for 1/2 price.

And then finally, purchase #5....rainboots.....that's a boot right? Ordered from Target. I waited weeks for their arrival, and since they got here, it has hardly rained at all. Only twice have I been able to wear my beautiful, black and red plaid rain boots and new black trench coat. Come on rain!

And, now I think I am finished buying boots.....but, I did notice the toe of my red boots are a little last season, and what if my casual brown boots become unfixable, or I see another pair I love, or maybe if....well, you get the picture.

Our First Year....

It is definitely Fall in the South of France. The leaves are changing, the days are cooler and most important, the stands that sell ice cream in the summer are now selling crepes and chichis (deep fried donut-like pieces). Yum! Fall also means we have been in France for 1 year. So, in honor of this momentous occasion, I have compiled a list of things we have learned, things we will never get used to, and things we will really miss when we leave in 2 years.

Top things I have learned in France:

General:

1-Sidewalks are for dog poop and car parking, so watch out. As David Liebovitz writes in his book, The Sweet Life in Paris, when a French person says "I am a socialist", they mean "I do not pick up my own dog poop." So true.

2-Having your one good french phrase be "I do not speak French" saves you from many a telemarketer. However, a surprising number speak English. How is it that even the telemarketers are bilingual??

3-Even a mediocre baguette tastes amazing with butter and salami.

4-Favorite breakfast for French children...a glass of chocolate milk with a baguette for dipping. They don't eat again until lunch.

5-Favorite after school snack for the French (but don't call it a snack...the French don't snack) a third of a baguette with a large chunk of chocolate. Not all that surprisingly, my girls like it too. Nutella will do in a pinch.

6-If your child does not want to wear a coat and it is under 75 degrees, you will hear about it from every little old lady. If the temperature drops below 75, all babies will be bundled and with a knit cap. All French children will be wearing a warm coat with a scarf. My children will be wearing a cardigan. Please don't tell me they are cold. We lived in Canada for a year. That is cold.

Safety:
1-Bike helmets are not mandatory. However, if you want to ride at night, you must have a reflective vest and several lights. Seems as though the helmet should be required too. Very few children wear helmets, and the French seem a little puzzled that ours do.

2-It is perfectly acceptable to ride a bike or scooter with your child clutching you from the front or rear. If it is a bike, no one will be wearing a helmet. If it is a scooter, only the driver will be wearing one. Surprisingly, helmets are required for scooters or motorcycles, but I think that has to do with socialized medicine. I have heard that if you are injured while riding without a helmet, you will not be covered by the medical system.

3-Car Seats: Although there is a law mandating car seats they seem to be somewhat optional. I have seen many an acquaintance with their smallest children crawling on the floor of the minivan in traffic. Also, the tiny cars here do not fit a car seat so many baby seats are turned sideways. Maybe it doesn't say that the car seat actually has to be safe.

Fashion:
Yes, the French have style. They don't wear sweats or tennis shoes in public and even if they don't look what we might consider great, if they wear it with confidence, then they are fashionable. The French woman is supremely confident.

1-Wearing jeans that stop at your knees and boots that go to your knees is very chic. It must be paired with a wool, leather or fur coat that goes to mid-thigh.

2-What has happened to me? I now own 2, no 3 pairs, of black boots (dressy, casual, over the knee), 2 pairs of brown boots, and 1 pair of red boots. I also now have purses to match each set of boots and about 12 scarves. For a 4 day trip to Barcelona, I took 2 pairs of boots and 5 scarves. I also now have wool coats in blue, black and grey as well as 2 dress coast and a poncho style dress coat. I figure that I am pegged as an American everywhere I go, so I should at least be a classy one.

Things we will never get used to:

1-Everything is closed on Sunday afternoons. Most stuff never even opens. Luckily, the mini-mart down the street (where I do most of my shopping) and the market are both open Sundays, but forget about running errands at say, Ikea.

2-Carrefour, the giant Wal-Mart style grocery store, is always packed. I have been there at 8:30 on a Friday evening, and all 30 open check out lines were 6 deep. It is the same at 9am on a Wednesday or 2pm on a Thursday. It still amazes me.

3-Carrefour is self-bagging and the cashiers sit. They must have a great union. Everyone knows it is self bagging, and yet they are never ready to bag. To top it off no one (except me) ever has their Carte Bleu (the most popular debit card ever) ready for payment, nor do they have their Carte Fidelity (frequent shopper card ready).

4-How can everyone wait so patiently in all of these grocery lines, but when they get out on the street, watch out? It is like the Indy 500, motorcycles and scooters weaving in and out, horns honking. In a word, crazy.

5-How many people speak English, but are unwilling to admit it until you have completely butchered the French language. Really it is just easier to say that I don't speak much French, ask if they speak any English and go from there. They almost always fess up to speaking "a little English". It is almost always better then my "little" French.

6-Could the tequila and in turn, the margaritas be any worse? The rum is not that great either. We make do, but I sure miss a good margarita.

Things I will miss:
Sadly, most of the things I will really miss are food related, and the food hasn't changed my life or anything, although it has all been good.

1-Lardons: Small chopped up pieces of bacon that you can fry up. Perfect for eggs, salads or quiche. On the other hand, no regular bacon or turkey bacon either.

2-Wine at lunch and dinner and midmorning if you want.

3-"Junk" Food: It seems to be much less junky here. There are fewer preservatives and things just taste good. The ducklings faves? Chocolate crepes, Special K with Chocolate chunks, chocolate pretzels and well, I see a theme here. Chocolate is a big part of our lives.

4-Chocolate: Even the crappy generic stuff from Carrefour is better then most anything in the US.

5-Wednesdays off school: I thought it would be silly to have a day off in mid week, but I and the girls love it. Morning is ballet for 1 hour, and afternoon is whatever.

6-No rushing: I drive, tops, twice a week. School ends at 4:30, and that is really too late for after school activities. Snack at 5, playtime, homework, dinner at 7ish. Bed at 8. All in all pretty awesome.

7-Inexpensive wine: Anyone want the Gold Medal Bordeaux from the Paris wine show?? I can get you some for about $10 a bottle.

8-Good Rose wine: An awesome wine. Totally cheap and very much a southern French thing.

Now that I look at my list I realize we will really miss it here. And we will be leaving just when I can finally speak the language. All this work for nothing. Oh well, I am looking forward to the next 2 years and hope that we enjoy them as much as we have enjoyed the first.