2019: a new beginning

It's been over a year since I've posted on my blog. It's not dead but maybe it should be.

This blog started as a way of venting about the French, living in France, and being an expat. It then turned into a way of documenting my kids' bilingual progress. That part, for me, was the most important part. Thanks to this blog, I'll be able to remember what my kids' first words were (without confusing them) and I'll be able to tell them what growing up bilingually was like so they can, hopefully, raise their own bilingual kids one day.

So, since I've decided this blog isn't dead, here's an update on what's happened the past year or so.

• I got a new hip. I guess my blog could have been a really good resource for anyone else suffering from hip pain, about how to navigate the medical scene in France, about osteo-arthritis, about hip resurfacing. But I missed the boat. If you do come by this blog and do want to know anything about it, I can still let you know. Or maybe I'll post about hip resurfacing another time. Goals...

• Brexit. Well that just sucks. And then the orange man sucks even more (or as my son calls him Dumb-old Trump). So yeah, you know my political views. So what ?

• Suzanne: my daughter is 12 1/2 going on 18. I didn't know that teenage eye-rolling was universal but I can confirm that it is. The mood swings are terrible and the attitude. And my daughter is still nice, which means there are lots of kids who are so much worse than this. Suzanne is fully bilingual. She's in 5e (7th grade) at the international section at a local middle school here in Lille. I HATE the French education system with a passion. All she does is work. She's at school from 8am to 5pm. And when she comes home, she has homework. Everyone I speak to says the system is not set up for kids, that kids don't get a chance to be kids, but then why doesn't the system change. It's sometimes painful for me to see how much she has to do.  At 12 1/2, Suzanne is more bilingual that I ever could have imagined. She doesn't love reading (neither did I and now I can't live without books) but she devours mangas and graphic novels. She prefers speaking and reading in English, has a perfect little American accent and her language is peppered with lovely little teenage inflections (like OMG, obvi...!). She's an avid and talented artist. She's funny and sensitive, sweet and creative, and also a pain in the butt. Suzanne has never struggled with being bilingual. She's always thought it was cool, and she's seems to be perfectly balanced in French and English. She even says she prefers English which is reflected in her choice of friends. The advantage to the international section, besides the additional English work which to be honest is still extremely French, is that she has American and British friends. That's the absolute best way to learn English. Her english is so good to begin with thanks to our regular Wednesday play dates with her first friend, Matilda who no longer lives in Lille. I couldn't be prouder of her, even if sometimes I just want to tape her mouth shut. 

• Max: my son is now 9 1/2 and in CM1 (4th grade). He's a geek and proud of it. Max is that dorky little boy who went from knowing everything about super heroes to legos and now is obsessed with Yu-Gi-Oh cards. When Max has nothing to do, besides complaining that he's bored over and over and over, he can be found building Yu-Gi-Oh holders out of cardboard boxes or building crazy lego vehicles.  Max's language is extremely precise in both French and English. The other day, he told me that he'd asked me "thrice", a word he'd leaned in a book. He continues to speak with an accent when he speaks English. It's not really a French accent but it's something. When he was little, he sounded almost German which we thought was due to over-pronunciation. Now we just attribute it to his Max-ness. Max is also in the international program at school which means he does 3 hours of English in school with other bilingual and non-bilingual kids. Unlike Suzanne, Max doesn't have a language preference. He just talks all the time to whoever will listen, in whichever language is available. Max loves reading, but is also a huge fan of audio books. He just finished listening to Harry Potter in English, but doesn't want to read the books. What was amazing though was that he was able to LISTEN in Harry Potter in ENGLISH while simultaneously READING a minecraft book in FRENCH. That just blows my mind.

So there you have it. A little intro to 2019 and hopefully a push to get my back to my blog just for myself really.