Thursday, December 2, 2010

Parisian Eyeware

I think it was about 2 weeks into our arrival in France that Keo started having some trouble with his eye. Oh, to top it all off, right... So somewhere in the middle of our house hunting escapade we made a visit to the doctor who then referred us to the eye doctor the same day and after a few very quick exams and in a very brisk manner she said "here is his prescription, he has a stigma, he needs eye glasses at once" I was so sad, just sitting there with Keo on my lap I wanted to say " what? really? glasses? Now???" So, today Keo is to wear some glasses until he grows out of his stigma she said, and he needs to have some visits to another eye doctor for some eye exercises (12 sessions). We went to pick out two pairs of glasses, one for school -- and one for Paris! That was fun. He choose the above for school, a nice brown pair, very Harry Potter and then he choose a bright RED pair to wear with his spiky hair for when buying crepes in Paris!  Oh La La!
 And so, today things are feeling pretty normal again. We are pretty much settled in and the boys have their wake up at 6:30am routing, school/home/goutez (chocolate pastry/bread and salted butter/hot chocolate eating time) then homework, bath and dinner time... - all the things I so longed for not so very long ago right...right...right.
School is underway, I have my very first parent teacher conference tomorrow at my request. Since I can never pass those tall iron gates to speak with teachers I have absolutely no clue what is going on in Kenji's school since the day he started...And when I ask Kenji " How are things going, do I have to sign something? What about homework - are you doing it all? How do I know your doing ok in class?" He just glances at me, rolling his eyes while quickly walking ahead of me on our way home for school and calls back "It's called responsibility mom..." and then of course Keo runs ahead and says "yeah, mom, Responsibility."
Tall thick iron gates. Oh, if your late...Those large iron doors shut loudly at 8:30am and if you don't make it in your in trouble! You have to use the intercom and wait wait wait till someone answers:
"Yesss"
"Yes, hello, would you please let me in"
"Your LATE"
"Yes, yes I know"
"Your name..."
"Rollin, .. Kenji Rollin..."
after a good few seconds...
"(sign) Come in. BEEEEEEP" - iron doors open.
Who is this person behind that intercom that makes us feel so small when I press that button? This voice, sizing you up from behind a speaker. Why don't they just say come in? Or better...."Hi :) Good morning, come in :)" What can this person with that voice look like?. spending their morning saying "Your late!" and then there is that brief moment when you don't know if they're going to say "come in" - like, what else are they going to say? Go home?
A picture of our walk to and from school.
Kenji making some friends on one of the first days of school..
Some time with Papa:
This week has been another long week with a lot of progress. JM went in for a minor pre-transplant operation. He was in for about 5 days. This was all after our very fun weekend in Paris. On Saturday night we went to the famous Moulin Rouge, had a great time, and then on Sunday night I was dropping JM off for his hospital stay and heading home with the boys to Fontainebleau. This was my first week home alone in our new home. It was a little bit lonely in the new place, but kids lunch time pick-ups kept me busy, still unpacking, still trying to get internet, still reminding myself whatever I unpack has to be packed up. JM is home tonight and resting.
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I'm including a picture of the newest addition to my husband. It's a new option that makes him stronger, brighter and happier! 

Hmm..what is that? Jm says this little contraption is a testimony of his love for electronics. He sent a message to work saying "This is how close electronics is to my heart :)"

7 comments:

Michelle said...

I love how you get to keep your X rays in France!!!
Glad it went well, will call you soon for another chat. Love you all xxx

John said...

I'm really glad to hear that things are settling into a routine for you. The walk to school looks beautiful!

Do most of Kenji's school-mates speak English too? Are they mostly from English speaking countries or France?

I wonder what they would find if they X-rayed me?!

Any idea when JM is scheduled for his big operation?

WInter has finally arrived at Blacksburg. No snow yet, but cold and blowy. Didn't you get some snow already?

Sashi & Simbad are both doing well, but I don't think that either of them are fans of the cold weather.

Thanks for all the wonderful updates and pictures. I be the place will be beautiful when decked out for Christmas!

John

Anonymous said...

When do we get to see Keo's red Paris glasses?

Unknown said...

Is that a gallon jar of nutella?!?

Gisa and JM said...

Hi John, the walk to Kenji's school is beautiful...really amazing, the entire town is just breathtaking. If you get a chance to come visit while we are here please do!!! Andrea and you would love it I promise. Paris is something else all together, but Fontainebleau has a very special magic!!
Keni is in a mixed class of german students, and english students, they all speak french, english and their native language.Kenji is trying to keep up with the french, all the classes are conducted in french, and then he has one english grammar class.
JM is due for his operation anytime now. prob. Jan or Feb. but we are not certain exactly when, depends on lots of things.
WE got snow here and france freaked out! they don't know how to handle snow at all so big problems on the road. lucky we are tucked away in our little village nice and cozy and close to all we need :)
Sashi never liked the snow, and Simbad had a cat door but her prefers sleeping on top of the warm dryer or in the kids beds.
we miss you all. miss sashi,and i try not to think of her too much, makes me too sad :(
Hope your all well. im sure sashi is growing some too.
how is your mom?
xoxogisa

Gisa and JM said...

Geckoshannon - Ill post a pic of Keo's RED Paris glasses! They are very bright and just RED compared to his brown scholarly pair. He uses them a lot now. Today Keo announced he wanted to be a FRENCH teacher :)

Gisa and JM said...

Amy- IM bringing you home a huge gallon tub of Nutella, probably not full but isn't it great just to have???? Can you belive how huge that is ? they are everywhere. those small things we get at kroger are a joke compared to what they have here. We have a good half gallon stock on hand at all times :)That and Cracottes, something Kenji will tell you all about.