Snow

On tuesday evening, it snowed heavily and Paris and its surrounding area were paralysed. Roads were blocked as snow piled up. Cars were stuck and snow trucks could not pass to clear the snow. An estimated 1800 drivers spent their night in their cars on the road. A neighbour who worked 15km took 4 hours to reach home. I could imagine her stress as I had a minor experience too.

A1 was sick on tuesday and I brought him to the doctor. On the way to the pharmacy, cars were driving at 30km/h and we saw some cars skidding on the slippery icy road. A bus stopped and could not move and I was just a few cars behind. We waited for 10mins before some kind souls helped direct traffic as it was a single lane road. During that time, I thought I had to park my car by the side and walked 3km home with my sick boy.

After getting the medication, under the heavy snow, I drove slowly back home. From the town to my village, there was a long line of cars. We were driving at 10mk/h by then. 

On Wednesday, A1 stayed at home while I brought A2 to school. A1's teacher was there but not A2's. His teacher could not make it to school. So I brought A2 back home and the boys played in the snow.

In the afternoon, I borrowed a snow shovel from a neighbour and cleared my driveway. I was told that temperature would stay at zero for the next few days and if the driveway was not cleared of snow, I would not be able to drive out the car.  I don't intend to use the car this week as all activities are cancelled.

This morning, A1 went to school as usual while A2 still did not have class. He stayed with 6 other kids doing coloring activities and playing games. Parents who could not go to work kept their kids at home. I had to pour hot water over our front gate as it was frozen and would not open. As the canteen was closed because the caterer could not deliver lunch, the boys came home for lunch. Secondary school kids did not have school as there was no bus service.

The sun came out and the garden shed looked like a mountain chalet.  

We are not going to ski this year yet the boys had a chance to put on their ski suits and shoes. They had fun sledging down the slope in the park.

Seb was lucky to escape this as he is in Italy since Tuesday. He will return tomorrow night and I hope he can come home easily as snow is expected.

When I sent photos to my friends in Singapore with the caption "Paris and its suburbs are paralysed", one replied "it's more like paradise." Yes, paradise for the kids. For us adults, this is not much fun because this weather is rare and we are not equipped.

A walk in the winter wonderland

When the sun finally came out on Thurs on that ski week, I joined a guided walking tour in the forest. We put on our snow shoes called raquettes in french. Raquettes mean rackets. It is having plastic rackets with metal grips underneath tied to our shoes. In this way, we could "easily" walk on the soft snow. We do have walking sticks to make the walk easier.

Still, I was sweating after walking up a gentle slope. Most of us in the group started to unzip our jackets by then. The forest was silent and it was beautiful. The guide showed us animals' traces. Sometimes, he would go off trail and we would be walking in almost knee deep of snow. It was fun.

Our ski resort was opposite right at the top of the mountain.

The walk was a physical workout. Just that few hours made me exhausted yet the scenary made it all worth well. I am amazed with my boys who skiied the whole day and yet in the evening, were still full of energy.

And I made a friend. Her daughter is studying in Singapore and she is going to visit her in April. She did not expect to meet a Singaporean in this part of France.We exchanged numbers and I promised to send her tips about her up coming trip. Singaporeans are not aplenty but we are everywhere.

First ski trip

For the first week of school holidays, I took the boys to ski with our friends. Seb had to go USA for a work trip so he could not join us. We took trains to Aime La Plagne and the boys were excited to take a TGV train for the first time.

The week we were there, it was snowing everyday. We had sun only on the last two days. The boys had never ski. After a week's lesson, they can ski well. They were in the Flocon class but with different monitors. The monitors were friendly and amazing with kids. A2 kept talking about his monitor, Stephen. I think he was his idol. 

Other than ski, the boys sledged down the snowy slopes.

With their monitors, the boys progressed fast and tried out different trails. They were very happy and A1 eagerly showed me on the map where they had skiied. I was impressed.

On the last day, they had tests before getting their Flocon badge. Both of them made it. Below was a game of cat and mouse and A1 was the mouse. The person behind had to try to catch him.

Come snow or sun, the boys skiied. For me, I lazed around and chatted with my friend who did not ski too. On sunny days, I took out the camera and snapped away. Here was A2 in blue starting his lesson after lunch.

We stayed at Aime 2000. It was really convenient as the ESF ski school was in the same building. The boys put on their skis and could ski from the door steps.

A1 did not want to go home at the end. As our friends came by car, we left them earlier to catch the train. The journey back was a pain as there was a problem on the tracks. We had to take a coach to reach another train station and this delay made us missed our TGV at Lyon. We took a later TGV train and reached home at midnight.

Overall, this ski trip was really fun for the boys. They are sportive and learnt to ski in no time at all. A1 asked why I didn't ski. I told him I started late and did not enjoy it. He could not understand that. Well, I replied, "do you see any snow in Singapore?"

Cold new year

2016 ended on a cold note. It did not snow but it frosted. The temperature for the past few days was a few degrees below zero. 

We went out to the forest to walk the dog as usual but other than that, we kept warm at home. 

On new year's eve, we invited two families to celebrate with us. They are my neighbours and did not have to worry about drink and drive. They walked home at 1.30am.

The kids stayed up until the guests were gone. The next day, A1 woke up at 9am. That is the latest he can sleep. 

A start of a new year. Hoping this year to be good to everyone in terms of health, family and work. You and me included.

Frozen webs here and there. Just lovely. This was on the wood shed.

The forest turned white.

The boys using their bicycles to break the ice.

Kapla fun that reached the sky.
When it fell, it made loud noise.

Handsome warming up. He enjoyed his forest run even in this cold.