LET IT SNOW!

OK - you HAVE to hear this about Cleveland.

It's COLD AS HELL FROZEN OVER - today it has been downhill ever since the high of 24F this morning at 6am; now it's 16F (-9C) and the wind chill makes it -1F, or -18C

AND WE LIVE HERE!

This is scary.

We had a little snow overnight and for the first time I saw snowflakes that stuck to the windshield on the drive to school; didn't melt, just froze there and you could see the 6 branches, all the little spiky things and all.

I had to do something to take my mind off the weather - I made creme brulee and we "torched" it at school (see photo of Betty doing so). I got voted BEST CLUB EVER (but that changes every day).

And here is a photo of our cat JESSIE. (Damn photos go where they want, not where I tell 'em)

So - any winter clothes you don't like - SEND'EM OVER

Françoise - 12/10/2009

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

HELLO!
Winter is on the way! It snowed 10 miles South of here... everyone says this is the mildest winter EVER, but I don't know what they mean. I bet we get dumped by next weekend. Meanwhile, we have been raking leaves (a TON of them) - you have to put them on the roadside and the city picks them up. Betty and I have been doing a ton of it. Eliott has promised to do his share... today... and it's dark in 45 minutes. He can always do it when he gets home from school, we have until Friday. We also bought our Winter Equipment - a shovel, markers for the driveway, a sack of salt, a scraper / brush, thick gloves and a huge tarp (that's to cart the leaves out to the street).

We planned to go away for Thanksgiving but it didn't quite work out, so we came back and spent a nice quiet few days at home. I hope all of you had great times with family, friends and pets... speaking of which, WE HAVE A KITTEN! She's about 5 months old and her official name is Jessie (but we might give her a French name...)

School is still fun, very busy and sometimes a little crazy... we're in our second year and have doubled in size from last year, it all takes some getting used to. We just had a Community Service Day and I got to hang out with the seniors and make meals for homeless people - mac & cheese, green bean casserole and brownies. Then after our school lunch, we took them all our left-overs too, that made a ton more (and may have been tastier too!)

Three more weeks until Winter Break and we are going back to Austin for that. Get a little tan maybe :-) and see Gilles & all our old friends (no - not that kind of OLD...).

Let us know what you're doing and what your plans are. Happy Holidays! This year let it be known I was the first to wish you all!!! GO ME!

All our love, stay in touch and stay warm!

Francoise, Eliott, Betty and Jessie

SCHOOL STARTED FOR REAL

Hello to all!

We started school "for real" yesterday, after 2 weeks of "ex-terms", or times when the students are generally out & about doing various activities. I accompanied (in the support van) a group of bikers who rode 450 miles in 8 days from Cleveland to Niagara Falls round trip! They were awesome and the trip was just amazing! During that time, Eliott & Betty stayed at the dorm and now they don't want to come home...

So, school started yesterday as far as actual classes, I just love the incredible team of people I get to work with, they are all incredibly dedicated, professional and also NICE PEOPLE!

I teach French to all the students, and I also got involved with a "Community Action Service " project as well as a business venture, tbd, probably involving either a local outlet for students' artwork or other products they make, or taking over the local food coop which is in a bad shape.

The students have a LOT of choice in how they put together their schedule - classes are offered several times and students sign up for their classes, organize themselves to get homework, lab work etc done and are responsible for figuring out what they should do and where they should be. It's all so true to the Montessori idea of education as an aid to life.

My students are really driven - one wants to own a vineyard in Perpignan (France), one wants to spend a year on a service project in Haiti, one is totally enraptured by Marie-Antoinette; these kids really put thought into what they are doing.

Eliott & Betty meanwhile are just loving it ALL. From their dorm days they have a ton of friends, today is Betty's birthday and everyone keeps giving her hugs; school is great for them too. So life is good!

Our house is quietly getting straightened out - I have neglected paperwork for so long that I am now tempted to just throw everything away, but other than that I am doing pretty well with getting organized. We are actually in a great, centrally located neighborhood, close to a great grocery store (Zagara), Whole Foods is 3 miles away, Coventry Village is walking distance for great restaurants and cool stores, and school is 2.5 miles down the hill. SO we got ourselves bikes, but I don't know how long it'll take me to get back up the hil after school carrying my MAC and all my school stuff...

I wanted to add some photos but I can't get them to add, so you'll have to imagine it all - and I'll send the photos separately.

I can't wait for news from you, your school adventures, whatever else you're up to, and photos of you.

All our love,

Francoise, Eliott & Betty

I'm done with training

Hi all blog followers!

Yesterday I took my exit interview and passed - I am now fully Montessori certified to teach at the High School!!! It was BIG WORK - intense, deep and very complex, just like our kids.

I made a lot of new friends, most of whom have gone back to their respective schools, and some who are my colleagues this year. This High School is an amazing place - check it out, you might want to send your kids here one day.

www.montessorihighschool.org

I am now getting organised for a week long IB training course in New Mexico, which I am going to treat as my vacation  (otherwise I dont get to have one) even if it's going to be work. It won't be this intense and I can just kick back and absorb (hopefully). 

I get back here on Friday 31st, close on our house on Aug 3rd and move in right after that. School starts August 10th (gulp!)

Eliott and Betty have just arrived on the Atlantic Coast for the beach leg of their vacation, after 2 weeks in the French, Swiss and Italian Alps. They had a blast and sent some photos of great hiking up in the mountains. 

Now they get to spend the next 10 days at the beach. Lucky them! They will have had a really great summer. They fly back here with Gilles on Aug 5th.

Keep in touch and let me know how your summers are going. 

Love to all,

Francoise

OUR NEW HOME

1926 Woodward Avenue -
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118

We've been BUSY!
We looked at a ton of homes, found a neighbourhood we really liked and narrowed it down to this one house on the corner of 2 quiet streets, walking distance from shops and buses, and 2.5 miles from school.

It has a basement (aka the man cave) with brick walls for sound proofing and outlets for amps etc

1st floor has hardwood floors (tho house is 89 years old) and nice sized rooms

2nd floor has 2 big bedrooms, one small room and an office space (too small for a bedroom really) 3rd floor (attic) has carpeting and a bathroom (that needs some updating but the plumbing is all there) and that will be Betty's space

So - home inspection tomorrow - move in Aug 4th...

...and now I get to have the weekend off before training starts on Monday!

And what have YOU been doing?

ARE WE THERE YET?

We arrived in Cleveland on Wednesday morning, after about 22 hours of driving, eating and other stops. We drove 1437 miles!

We are now staying at our temporary destination, where we get to enjoy not only the top floor, that we reserved and paid for, but the whole rest of the house which is currently empty. Eliott is sleeping in the "man-cave" i.e. basement, and Betty and I are on the top floor. We have found a grocery store and several coffee shops nearby, as well as a little diner that looks promising.



Today we did a little tour with our realtor, Susanne. We saw several neighbourhoods that would work. Then we went into the school for a little reality check - before I can contemplate purchasing a home I need to feel like we are going to live, work etc... here, which is not quite the case yet. I have no idea how we made it there by car; most of the time I had no clue where we were, so we just haphazardly headed in what we thought was the right direction until we came across something we recognised. It's a weird feeling - I think that several times we went very close to the school but as we couldn't see the school itself, I had no clue.



Our next stop - have you guessed - was a bookstore to get a street map!

Armed with that I felt like we could conquer the world (starting with zip code 44118).

Now we are anticipating going out to dinner with a mother and senior from school; we also met a Mexican family whose daughter Marina (16) is moving here for the High School, and I have 2 contacts from friends in Austin who know people here. We're on the way to making friends!



Please email us and let us know what you think of our blog and what you want to know about next time. I will also try to figure out how to post photos.



We miss you all!

Love,
FranEliBet

D-5: GETTING READY

School is over...
... summer begins!

And we are taking a ROAD TRIP!

Departure time is set for 0800 on Monday June 8th, when we will head out amid cries of "Remember the Alamo!"
Itinerary:
Georgetown: second breakfast
Waco - elevenses
Dallas - lunch
Texarkana - mid-afternoon snack
Little Rock - dinner (by now we're in Arkansas)
Memphis - bedtime snack and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ (In Tennessee)

Day 2:
Memphis - breakfast
Nashville - lunch
Louisville - dinner (Kentucky)
Cincinnati - ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ IN OHIO!!!

Day 3:
Cincinnati to Cleveland should take 4 hours or so, but we always take longer because of all those stops...

I have a place to stay in Cleveland close to Shaker Square, the oldest shopping district in THE NATION!
I will give you all those details in a later blog.

Love y'all,
Francoise

D-DAY - 8: BLOG CREATED

Dear Friends, curious blogger buddies and innocent bystanders,

This is where you will be able to access our ongoing saga as we trudge up towards Cleveland OH, starting Monday June 8th.

If you choose, you can follow us on our thrilling adventure, by logging onto the website we just created FOR YOUR EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT. If you beg to differ, or find us unworthy of your interest, oh well...

Not sure how frequently I will be writing as we drive up - my computer is a desktop and it will be in several pieces in my car. I do not intend to painstakingly assemble it at night before crawling into bed in a smelly motel somewhere in the suburban wasteland around Memphis or Cincinnati.

But I promise you, it will be fun (for me anyway), informative and 100% TRUE!

We hope you like it,
FranEliBet