School cantine menu

Each time I ask the boys what they have for lunch, they usually say they don't know meaning they forgot, or very vague replies like 'meat, vegetables'. On rare occasions, I will get answers like tomatoes, potatoes, yoghurt etc.

The weekly lunch menu is put up on the notice board outside the school. I looked at it diligently in the beginning but as time passed, I did not bother as the menu was not always up to date.

Recently, I went into the village's website and saw the school lunch menu for the whole year. I downloaded the excel file and was delighted to see what the boys would be eating for the coming weeks.

An example of last week's lunch menu. Everyone in the school is serve the same food. In the boys' class, before lunch, the teacher would go through the menu with the students. As with french meal, there is always a starter, a main with side, a milk product and a dessert.

There were days when A1 asked me why there was no starter for dinner. I told him that I was cooking chinese. :D

If you like to have some ideas on french cusine, look up the receipes on the lists below. Upon request, I can even send you the excel file.

MENU	Semaine du 6 au 10 janvier 2014
LUNDI	MARDI	JEUDI	VENDREDI
Velouté potiron	Tomates sance thon	Carottes râpées	Betteraves vinaigrette
Rôti de Dinde	Cassoulet (saucisse et	Poêlée de colin filet	Paupiette au veau
sauce suprême	saucisson)	doré au beurre	jus à l'ail
Petits pois lardons	Haricots blancs	Purée de brocolis	Frites
volaille champignons		pomme de terre
Yaourt sucré	Spécialité fromagère	Suisse arôme	Camembert
Fruit frais de saison	Spécialité pomme fraise	Galette des rois	Fruit frais de saison

Language updates and giraffe mask

A1 speaks mostly to me in english while A2 tends to speak french all the time.

A1 is more in tune to languages. When he heard the chinese new year songs I put in the car, he asked if the CD came from Singapore. I told him he was right. He replied because the songs were in chinese. He associated chinese with Singapore since Ah Ma lives in Singapore and speaks Chinese.

A2 saw my mother on Skype yesterday and shouted 'Bonne année'. I told him Ah Ma did not understand french and taught the boys to wish my mother happy new year in chinese.

This morning when I woke A2 up, he told me he did not want to go to school and a lot of other stuff all in french. I asked him 'You know, why you always speak to me in french? Mama does not understand.'. He replied me in english 'I don't know (how to say).' Sigh. He understands perfectly english and is not motivated to speak it.

For the show the boys performed during the chinese lesson, they were supposed to introduce themselves. Just three simple sentences in chinese. 'Hello everyone', 'My name is ....', 'I am ..... years old'.

A1 practiced often in the car ride while A2 refused to say anything. On that actual day, I was thinking that he would be mute like a few of his classmates. But no, A2 managed to introduce himself without flaw. This boy is an actor. He even gave a bow when he said 大家好. Funny.

So as mentioned before, this was the giraffe mask A1 and I made togather. He wore this happily during his chinese performance.

Unexpected trip to Singapore

Happy new year my friends. I had wanted to write earlier but unexpected things happened between Christmas and New year. Life's routine can abruptly be interrupted by nature's call.

On Christmas day, I received a message that my dear grandmother who had been sick since a few years passed away peacefully in the morning. I booked a flight on 27 Dec and then spent a week in Singapore with my family. It was the shortest trip ever in Singapore.

For the first time in 10 years, I did new year's countdown with my family in Singapore; without Seb. First time without the children as well. I am thankful to my husband who stayed at home to take care of the two boys. It was school vacation and with the lousy wet weather, the boys stayed at home most of the time. Seb was a tired man when I returned.

It was a good break for me as I got to catch up with a few close friends and stayed out late drinking coffee during the last three days. Without the kids, I had no curfew. I did not announce my return to friends as I did not want friends with children to feel obliged to meet me during this festive season.

It was hard to leave my family in France when I took the plane alone at CDG airport. And it was hard to leave my family and friends in Singapore when I boarded the plane at Changi airport. I wish things could be easier. When will tele-transporting be ready?

As we enter into the second week of 2014, I want good health for everyone I know.