Dinner parties, french lessons and playing cricket in France

16 – 22 September 2019

By the end of this week we have almost been here for a month. It’s hard to believe and time is going way too quickly. We are kind of, sort of, settling into a routine, but things are still really fluid, which is probably a good thing.

For the kids, this was their third week at school, and the level of school work is undoubtedly picking up – at least if the amount of homework is anything to go by. Friendships are starting to solidify and stabilise. After 2 weeks of flux, the school timetable has finally landed and sits proudly on the fridge, so we have a better idea of what is going on. It is starting to feel like the school has finally woken up from the long summer holidays.

For us, French lessons are now in full swing. Liz continues at Alliance Francaise, ploughing her way through the passé composé, imparfait and futur proche with a class full of Yemen’s finest. Anthony started private lessons with Nathalie this week, and has spent much of the week trying to keep up with the demanding homework schedule set by her, and completing past papers for French proficiency exams. Time consuming but worthwhile.

Ellie and Jessie have also started private French classes this week – also with Nathalie who was impressed with their level of proficiency in the language after such a short amount of time in the country… so I guess something must be working!

Gymnastics kicked off this week for the girls. 6 hours a week for Ellie, 2 hours for Jessie and 1 hour for Sena at the nearby Aix Université Club. The first couple of sessions left Ellie disappointed at the level, however on Friday she trained with the teenage group which she loved – even if she could barely walk the next day as a result of muscle soreness after such a long time off. Whilst Jessie and Sena do class, Anthony and Ellie have also started ‘cricket training’ on a nearby football pitch in preparation for next year’s season!

On Tuesday night, we were invited by our Scottish landlord to go to a friend’s house (Jean Marie and Christine) just north of Aix for dinner and to meet a family friend of theirs who has recently arrived in Aix with his Australian wife and kids. The house was beautiful, on a hill overlooking the city with incredible views. Entertainment was provided by 3 Belgian Shepherds who would literally (and obsessively) chase anything – with pine cones being a favourite. We met Giles and Phaedra (from Australia) and had a fantastic evening of great wine, incredible food (dumplings, king prawns, provencale vegetables, wonderful cheese, gelato) … and scotch. Such a privilege to get invited to occasions like this.

After the success of our first ‘gathering’ last week (and inspired by Tuesday night’s feast) this week we hosted our first ‘dinner party’ – with actual plates, cutlery and courses. Claire and Jean were our first guinea pigs, with strict instructions to provide feedback. Taking advice from a number of local friends, we served up prawn and garlic pasta, an apple tart and an array of cheeses, along with local wines (of course!). For a first attempt, it went off well, and has given us the confidence to host our first ‘party’ (sorry neighbours) in a few weeks.

On Friday night, after Jessie’s hip hop with Victoria Louise in Venelles (north of Aix), we went to dinner at Julien and Sophie’s house with another school family – Pascale and Christophe. It was a very ‘french’ evening for us and the girls which was really great and nice to meet some new people again.

On Saturday, Anthony headed an hour east of Aix to Entrecasteux to play cricket in the Entrecasteux Sevens tournament. The drive across Provence was nothing short of spectacular – past the Sainte Victoire and miles of vineyards, some still heaving with grapes to be harvested.

6 teams (basically all the teams from the south of France) of 7 playing a round-robin style tournament of 6 over a side matches. They have been doing this for 20+ years at the same ground and often have visiting teams from the UK join (including this year).

Not even the promise of showers and rain could dampen Anthony’s enthusiasm.

The site for the tournament was the beautiful Entrecasteux Cricket Club – the proud owner of one of the two astro turf cricket pitches in the south of France – nestled between forested hills, the Entrecasteux Castle and a fast flowing cascade. (Due to the number of games to be played on the day, they had also commandeered the football ground next door and laid a plastic matting pitch there too). Whilst the grounds may have looked more like fields than cricket pitches, the location was spectacular.

I think it’s fair to say that there was a large diversity of talent across the teams – from French internationals, ex first grade players from Australia and New Zealand, lots of expat Sri Lankans to local British expats who may have played once or twice in the far distant past. All playing in a field on astro turf. Cricket like you would rarely see in Australia or other cricket playing nation.

The game was 6 overs a side with only 7 fielders. 90 was a good score, anything under 40 impossible to defend. It was generally not a good day for the bowlers or for those wanting to ‘get their eye in’ first. Scores were higher on the astro turf wicket than the plastic matting, where the ball had a tendency to either roll straight along the ground or shoot sharply up to head height.

Anthony’s team (the Trevor Yeoman’s Memorial Sevens) qualified for the final against the local Entrecasteux Sevens with 3 wins from 4 matches in the round robins. We batted first in the final and put an imposing 85 on the board. The chase came down to 14 off the final over and 6 off the final ball… which was defended only by a spectacular catch on the boundary which gave us the win. Victory was sweet, as was the celebratory lukewarm Kronenburg enjoyed whilst we received our medals.

It was a great day – and hopefully one of several opportunities to play during our time here.

On Sunday we had a fairly cruisy day around the house, catching up on homework and making good on our promise to buy the girls some rollerblades – perfect for zipping around Aix (once they’ve got the hang of it at least!).

Natasha Contini – who we haven’t seen in years – happened to be in Aix on Sunday too – and it was great to be able to catch up with her and enjoy a glass of rosé before she joined us for the inaugural roller blading outing.