Whew! We're here...

Well, we've been here for about 10 days now, and I've completed my first week of work, and our first non jet-lagged weekend.

We're still in a bit of culture shock here.  The prices (outlandish), the fact that we're basically living in the middle of a large city, everyone is speaking French.  I speak enough French, and have a good enough accent, to make people that speak to me think that I can understand everything they're saying when that's absolutely not the case.  In general I just pick up a few words, here and there.  Bless Peter's preschool teacher, because I understand almost every single word she says in French.  It must be all the practice she has in saying things slowly and using simple words.

Working full-time is a big adjustment.  I've worked 3 days a week for 8 years now, and full-time work definitely requires me to be more efficient and directed during my time at home.

Another thing that still shocks me in walking around and taking the public transport is the amount of graffiti everywhere.  Most flat surfaces are covered in graffiti, and there doesn't seem to be any effort to paint over it at all.

The kids completed a week of public school this past week.  They started Tuesday, and then Wednesday is a day off!  (Amazing, every Wednesday is completely off).  So really only 3 days.  Also this next week is a holiday, so they'll be with Eric all week.  Peter has adjusted pretty well, he says, "It's great!" when I ask him how it is.  He's pretty positive about things in general, though.  Kenny is a little more circumspect, he says, "it's good", but then also says he's bored.  The week after next he'll start a half-time French learning program.  It sounds great, but unfortunately it's at a different school, so I'll have to help with getting the kids there and back (did I mention that they need to come home for a 2 hour lunch?).  Logistics will be pretty challenging.

We just started taking public transport this past weekend.  So far we've taken trams and buses, and every single one of them have been very punctual.  Just today we took the #8 bus out to Saleve, which is a nearby mountain, with some very impressive cliffs, just over the border in France.  We took the cable car up, with a friend from work.  It was quite foggy in the morning, but then got a lot nicer as the day went on.  We had a bit of a view just before we took the cable car down - could see the Jet d'Eau and all.  Kenny and I found some old ruined rock walls up there - would be interesting to know when they're from.