Fuzzy hair, Grumpy Frogs, New Friends

Internet quite fast today in our little apartment in the film school, Saskia playing outside with a resident film school nanny and some other children of the film school.  So ………

Rafa and I have had to stop our extended honeymoon and get back to work BIG TIME and reality has set in.  I dream of looking for things in boxes like a lunatic and lie awake at night trying to remember what I used to feed my children in other countries and then thinking ……… hmm yes …….. no strawberries, no tortillas, no Broccoli, no fish fingers, no sausages.  Maybe in time all these things will come through my door but right now I feel very uninspired and just keep serving up French bread pizzas and mangoes and yogurts, sneaking a bit of green veg into bolognese sauce.

My hair has always been a bit on the fluffy side but here in Cuba it is really getting silly.  Not quite sure how to handle it, so any beauty tips gratefully received.  I am thinking about just chucking some olive oil on it but its all about playing around with the hair/oil ratio and right now I am rather busy looking after 3 children and having a lot of people help me with everything, when all I want to do is help myself!  Sounds ungrateful I know, but I just want to be independent and not have to ask for things or be asked for things!

The boys first week at their new French school proved to be more eventful than I had anticipated!  Paulo and Nico are 14 months apart in age, and as all brothers, have extremely different personalities.  Check out who are we section of this blog for more descriptions of our family.  Anyway Paulo, my first born is certainly not lacking in the ambition and confidence department but little Nico my second, takes more after his mother and is brave but not always high on self esteem.

In Guatemala they both did evaluations when they started their new schools and to my relief they BOTH got put in the year above.  If they BOTH hadn’t been, it would have been difficult to accept the evaluation as Paulo would have been 2 years above his brother or they would have been in the same class and not been allowed to develop individually.  Anyway at the French school after their first day Paulo came waltzing out proudly saying he had been put up a year and had already met his new best friend Lorenzo who was inviting him round for a play date and had a swimming pool.  How the hell did that happen I thought?  The boy can hardly speak French!!  However the look on my little Nico´s face was devastating.  Paulo will always always be 2 years above me now Mummy he said.

Rafa and I were both a bit cross that this decision had been made without consulting us and had really knocked Nico’s self esteem.  Next morning Rafa went to the director’s office to explain.  However he was a bit grumpy and did not seem very keen on moving Nico as he said the class above was really full.  There was no way we could move Paulo down a class, especially as he had his new best friend.

By day 3 when nothing had happened and Nico was leaving school looking sadder and sadder every day, and nobody in the French school seemed particularly interested in resolving our problem, I had to take action.  So outside the school gate, I asked if any of the parents could help, in a little pathetic speech about my poor Nico that I don’t think half the people understood!  But anyway it must have made the school run a little bit more interesting that day and finally got the director to take us seriously.  He marched me off into his office like a naughty girl …….

One of the teachers had even said to Rafa that it was very difficult to have pupils that do not have French at home.  Why accept them in the first place you grumpy frogs? we thought.  Anyway by Thursday at school meeting with the parents they addressed all matters and Nico is now in the right class and doing really well and I think I have met two new friends.  And, my French friends I still remain a true francophile despite all this!

Katharina is an international German mother married to a Spaniard and they both speak fluent English.  Her children speak Spanish, English, German and French and she has been in Cuba 11 years.  She is calm and kind and interesting.  Also at the parents meeting I sat next to another Mum, Laura who has a girl in Nico’s new class.  She is half French, half English and married to a Cuban.  Also she is a scriptwriter working with a very well known Cuban film director and was very interested to meet Rafa and I.  Anyway they both liked the fact that Rafa and I fought so hard for little Nico so I think they will be future friends if I ever manage to get out of my house to socialise!