So, while living in France for a year may seem like a vacation, real life kicks in after a while, involving all the routine daily activities, particularly when you have children.
So, what does a average day/week look like for us.
The girls go to a public French school where the normal schedule is 8:30-11:30, break for lunch and back to school 1:30-3:45. Wednesday they are only in school in the morning.
Most days we are up at 7, mom makes breakfast while everyone wakes and gets dressed. We tend to eat similarly to what we did in the States, eggs, cereal, hot cereal, pancakes, waffles.
We leave around 8 to park at Larry's school. The traffic at the girls' school is often crazy, even more so if the weather is bad or cold and they are also currently repairing the road in front of their school, which involves one way traffic, parking spots filled with equipment and other misc. It's just a 5 minute walk to from Larry's school. There are no buses to take students, so parents either walk or drive them. (There are some buses for the middle/upper schools as there are fewer buildings so the kids have to travel farther)
I spend my mornings in several ways, exercise usually at least 4 mornings a week, the other morning being a grocery run to the neighboring town. There is also normal household chores, laundry(we have to spread out loads since we have a drying rack that can only realistically hold 1 large load), cleaning, dishes, which are a never-ending chore. We do not have a dishwasher and we really only have enough dishes for one meal, unless you use bowls instead of plates for one meal then maybe you can get away with two meals. Right now another chore is taking care of the fire, ashes, and bringing in firewood.
Most days Larry starts class at 9:00 and goes till 12:30, he packs or eats lunch at his school and then has afternoon class from around 1:30-4:30. If he doesn't have other work we meet him after I pick up the girls, but often he has fgroup work and stays later. He may get a ride home, or give us a call to pick him up.
The girls break for lunch at 11:30. We have decided that a break for lunch at home is good for the girls. Since school is all in French it gives their brains a break from all the language, plus lunches are a bit expensive to our standards, about 4,40€ per girl, which would be about $10 total per day.
I drop the girls off at 1:30 for afternoon class, and then I sometimes head to Larry's school to spend some time focusing on language learning. I may also try to do some reading, or if I am home prep dinner. I also try to fit in at least a 30 minute focus on French, using internet websites or videos, occasionally some audio podcasts on iTunes. It's a slow acquisition for sure.
We pick up the girls at 3:45 on most days, except Monday when Maria stays later for some tutoring with her teacher to improve her French and we pick her up at 4:30. Anna just stays late that day, which both girls can do any of the other days, Tues., Thurs. or Fri. without charge. If they stay later, after 4:30 then there is a charge like aftercare(mainly for working parents), there is also a before school care for parents who have to leave early for work.
Our evening are a whirlwind of homework, dinner prep, and bedtime. Larry is the homework expert this year since it's all in French. I can jump in if needed, but it will certainly take me longer and the dictionary will be used more than once!
Most weeks seem to fly by. We find ourselves asking, "It's Friday already?" We try to be intentional to enjoy our weekends, but with the increase of Larry's workload and the decrease in temperature we find ourselves being a bit of homebodies. We have jumped into a hiking club with a local group, next weekend will be our second trip assuming the weather proves nice enough to go. Sunday nights we also attend an International English church in Aix en Provence called ICCP. We have really felt at home and made quite a few friends. We even went on a retreat with fellow church members. I attend a weekly Bible study and the girls are part of the children's choir. It really is a friendly congregation.
So you see our lives don't look all that different apart from the language change.
