Well, we survived our first birthday party in France!
It was a blisteringly hot day and we were very concerned that the kids would all get collapse under the heat, so we erected the gazebo and the parasol on the field to provide some shade. We filled the cool bag up 
with lots of bottles of cold water and planned games that were not too energetic.
Yes, thats right, games. I know Molly was 11 and, had she been in England, the idea of organising party games would have been laughed at. But here it’s the done thing, and how nice it is too. There’s none of the competition that there was in England about who can provide the most spectacular party, with the most incredible activities and the most wonderful party bags. Here there is just the child, their friends and some good old fashioned games. Throw in a bit of cake and brioche to keep their energy levels up and you’re good to go.
So we got sorted out for some of our favourite old party games, including:
- Drawing a person by folding the paper into 4, someone draws the head, then passes it on to the next person to draw the body…and so on
- The balloon race - stand in a line and pass the balloon alternately over your head & between your legs. First team to go through the line 5 times wins
- Carry a penny between your knees and try to drop it in a bowl. First team to get all their pennies in the bowl wins
- Spoon & string - tie a spoon to a length of string. The first person passes the spoon down inside their clothes, then the next passes it up inside theirs, then the next one down and so on. First team to get the spoon all the way through wins. Then another race to see who can pull the string back again the fastest.
- The chocolate game - roll a die, if you get a 6 you have to put on a hat, scarf and gloves and start eating a big bar of chocolate with a knife and fork. Meanwhile the die is still being passed round so if someone else gets a 6 they immediately take over. Much fun with this one as everyone is desperate to start eating the chocolate so, when they get a 6 they jump up and start donning the gear, only to have to give it up before they start eating as the next person has rolled a 6!
We also came up with a little anglo-french game which involved the kids being given an english word, then having to go find all the letters, which were hanging from the trees in the garden, to spell the same word in french. This worked well until we found that the wind had blown some letters away, and we had spelt one of the french words wrong. But hey ho, it kept them amused for a while!
In between games they were all content to eat, drink and jump on the trampoline. It was so hot that they didn’t really want to charge about too much, which was nice, as neither did we.
Molly really impressed us with her spoken french. We haven’t really heard her speak very much french, so it was lovely to hear her explaining the rules of the games to her friends in a super french accent. Very impressive and quite reassuring - we were beginning to think that she was having difficulties with it, but clearly not.
If there was one problem then I think it was that the party was a fraction too long. If it had been half an hour shorter I think it would have been perfect. We just felt it took a bit of a dip at the mid-point, although that may well have been due to the heat.
After everyone had left, our friends took pity on us once again and invited us for drinks, eats and a dip in their pool. A very welcome end to a great day.
Aujourd’hui est le 11ème anniversaire de Molly. Elle a beaucoup de très beaux cadeaux et nous avons un bon repas d’anniversaire ce soir.
Demain nous fêtons son anniversaire. Le premier depuis notre arrivée en France. On espère que tout le monde va bien s’amuser et que nous comprendrons tout le monde!
Au moins le temps est toujours aussi beau et ils pourront jouer dehors s’ils le veulent.
*UPDATED*
Merci Sylvie de corriger mon français terrible!
Just a quick update to say that our excellent Kermesse last weekend made it into the “local ” paper Ouest-France. You can see their report and photo (Molly just sneaks in on the left) here:
[Ouest France: Du grand jeu pour «Terre d'enjeux» - Foussais-Payré]
Yesterday saw the delivery of the weekly bundle of publicity leaflets. Most people have a little sign on their postboxes saying “pas de pub” - no junk mail essentially, but as certain members of the family like their shopping (and here’s a clue…it’s not me! 
) we allow them to be delivered.
Now, normally they are just the usual Hyper U, E Leclerc brochures, with various other random things stuffed inbetween. But this week they were accompanied by the Foussais-Payre bulletin - a kind of village magazine that comes out every 3 months or so (i think). It describes what has been going on in the village, the different comings and goings on the coouncil etc. All the usual stuff.
But what delighted us, and especially Lisa, was that on the page describing the events that had taken place at St Antoine, was this little piece:
How nice that the school are enjoying Lisa’s Monday afternoon visits. I know she looks forward to it as that’s just what she loves doing.
So to continue the tale of our hectic weekend, on Sunday we had the Kermesse for Molly & Joe’s school, St Antoine. A Kermesse is basically an end-of-term summer fair, although, unlike the ones we used to have in England, this one seemed to be more focussed on the community coming together and the children entertaining them, rather than bombarding us with a-hundred-and-one stalls selling corn dolls and peg-bags. Thank goodness!
We arrived way too early, of course. One day we will get it right and arrive with everyone else…. It was another beautiful day, which was fortunate as the night before we had had the most enormous thunderstorm. It had apparently been rumbling around for a while, but when it landed on top of our house at 3am I thought the roof was going to cave in. Thankfully we survived the onslaught and the morning was fresher, but still nice and warm.
The lunch was served in the Salle Polyvalente near the church and the Hotel de Ville. We queued for our meal and spotted our dear old neighbours at a table. It was so nice to see them there and most unexpected - we have never seen them anywhere other than round the houses.
The meal was great value - €10 got us a a large punnet of moules, and one full of gorgeous chips (you can’t beat deep-fried chips…), as well as a slice of bread, some cheese, a big slice of tarte aux pommes and a glass of rosé . The moules were the best we had tasted and the adults polished them all off. The kids filled up mainly on chips, as they do, so I ended up finishing their moules off, but nothing went to waste. They had clearly over-catered as well as they were coming round offering second-helpings to anyone who wanted them. By the end of the meal, topped off with a coffee, we were all pretty well stuffed and ready for a siesta!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/qPhWnZC0iM8]Sadly a siesta was not on the menu as the kids had all headed off to the school to prepare for the “Spectacle“. When they returned they all looked so sweet dressed in their costumes. The school takes children from as young as 3, so there were all ages there, right up to Molly, who will be 11 this week (although she is in a year below her age in order to catch up on her french). Each class did a number of songs and dances on the theme of the environment. It was a wonderful show and, once again, we were so proud to see our two taking full part in it. Joe even had to say a line of a poem on his own and I’m sure no-one would have known he wasn’t french just by listening to him. Interestingly, Molly looked really pretty in her “designer” dress made from recycled tin cans!
httpv://www.youtube.com/v/mERVvXhyCC0
After the show, the stalls were opened and it was time to spend money :) It was a good arrangement whereby the children could buy tickets on a piece of string and would trade the tickets for turns on the different stalls. There was a bouncy-castle, a football shoot-out, a fishing lucky dip, a wheel of fortune and a cake stall. Of course this was supplemented by a well-frequented bar as well… We had turns on pretty much everything, winning various hats, t-shirts and other random prizes. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and as usual the atmosphere was so relaxed and friendly.
After a while it was time to draw the raffle. We had our eye on the gas barbecue - ours is still at my parents’ house as we didn’t have room to bring it when we moved over. If we could win one here it would save them having to bring it in the car next time they drove over. But sadly it was not to be. At school the next day they dished out the “lesser” prizes and we won a bowl and some salad servers - a nice accompaniment to a barbecue…if we had one.
The night was going to continue for a long time to come, but our gang were again getting a little restless by now, having spent all their money and bounced themselves silly, so we headed home.
It had been a really wonderful weekend and we really got the feeling that we were part of a great community, something we have never truly felt before. Here’s to many more weekends like this!
