Butler Adventures in Provence: October 2007

Fall in Provence was a whirlwind of activities and visits with family and friends, so forgive this LONG blog entry with hopefully enough photos to keep your interest!

JULIE'S PARENTS
We celebrated the arrival of Fall with a memorable three-week visit with Julie’s parents. They arrived on the first day of school and were a tremendous help as we settled into the academic groove. From delicious meals and bedtime stories to early morning croissant runs and daily walks for Riley, Al and Patt became indispensable. We are still trying to get organized since they left! It was such a pleasure to be able to spend quality time Al, who turned 87 in June and Patt, who turned 80 in October. They have tremendous energy and are so healthy – it was truly a gift to be with them!

Patt and Al with the children in Aix-en-Provence

While the children were in school, we enjoyed several lovely day trips to St. Remy, Mausanne, Cassis and the Calanques. Al and Patt really enjoyed lunches and market shopping in Aix. Al even got in a few golf games with our Canadian friend, Phil!

Al, Patt and Julie at the Calanques

Al, Patt and Syd in Paradou

While Al and Patt were here, we enjoyed a special visit with our Belgian cousins, Luc and Jeanine Bouchier. We also visited Luc and Jeanine with the children at their summer vacation home in Eyzahut and in Belgium at a family reunion.

Julie, Shane, Syd, Mallory, Jeanine and Luc in Eyzahut, France

BELGIUM HISTORY: In 1993, Julie and Syd visited Watervliet, Belgium, birthplace of Julie’s grandmother Clara DeMeulenare (Al’s mother). Clara was 5 years old when her parents, Charles and Eugenia, immigrated to America with their four children (they later had five more children after they settled in Iowa – they were good Catholics!). Julie had a special relationship with Clara who lived to 100 years old and captivated her granddaughter with stories from "the old country."

While in Belgium in ‘93, Julie traced the family back to the 17th century and met the historian of tiny Watervliet, Joseph De Paupe. Joseph’s keen interest in Watervliet’s history and Clara’s story led him to eventually find the missing family link – Eugenia’s sister Leone’s descendants. In 2001, Julie brought her parents to Watervliet for the first international family reunion which we repeated on September 30, 2007. This time, Mallory joined us, representing the fifth generation of Eugenia and Leone!

DeBruyker Family Reunion, Watervleit, Belgium

We enjoyed several days in Ghent with cousins Luc, Jeanine, Arlette and Rene, along with Joseph and his wife, Lieve.

Nana and Mallory at the Ghent, Belgium train station

Luc, Mallory, Patt and Jeanine at our hotel in Ghent

Joseph and Lieve De Paupe sharing the history of Ghent

Julie and her dad enjoying ALL that makes Belgium so special!

Cousins Arlette, Jeanine, Luc and Rene in Ghent

Joseph and Lieve opened their home to Julie and Mallory who spent two nights with them in Watervliet. Joseph shared many historical details and drove Julie and Mallory to the area of town where Clara lived.

The church in Watervliet where Clara was baptized

The area where Clara was born and lived until her family immigrated to the U.S.

Joseph at his home in Watervliet

MALLORY

Mallory has thrived in every way in France, easily making new international friends, excelling in the language and soaking up all things French…from hair styles and clothes to French pop rock songs.

Her best pals here are Kae and Sarah. Kae is French and totally bilingual, a gorgeous and helpful friend who takes a weekly art class with Mallory. Sarah is a Bostonian, spending her second year in Provence. Sarah has been a great pal and they have enjoyed many sleepovers, study sessions and giggle-a-thons (somehow I think I am going to get a 12 year old "WHAT-ever" for that last comment!).

Mallory and Sarah

SHANE
Shane really enjoys his bilingual school and is excelling according to his teachers. He might be full of LOTS OF ENERGY at home, but he is focusing and succeeding at school.

Shane pouring wine for the Provence Marathon runners

He turned six on October 3 and had two festive French celebrations. The first was at his school. He requested a Batman cake, so I did my best….

Shane and Julie on Shane's 6th birthday

Later, he had a very active three-hour party at our tennis and swim club with all of his classmates. They played soccer, basketball and ran about like crazy!

Shane, the goalie!

Shane really enjoys France, but he still longs for friends in Washington. Growing up on a street with 6 boys the same age has always provided him with instant play dates. Tomasa had organized activities with his best friend and school classmate Collin every day for almost 5 years. That’s a special friendship that is hard to replicate. I think we had a breakthrough the other day when he said, "I really like France….I just wish it was in Washington."

He is mastering French pronunciations and constantly, politely corrects my attempts at the language. His best pals here are Thomas (Canadian), Charlie (French Canadian) and Alys (gorgeous American from Louisiana).

Charlie, Shane and Thomas

SYD AND JULIE

Syd spends his free time playing tennis, working out and advancing his French. He finds new validations for our decision to move here each day as he discovers new shops, markets and friends. He never meets a stranger and seems to be on a first name basis with most shopkeepers in town! His good humor and optimism ensure that any minor problem due to the language or culture barrier is but a minor bump in the road.

Syd and Mallory in Roussillon

I have treasured making so many international friends, especially through weekly hikes, tennis lessons and even some cooking classes.

Susie and Julie hiking in the Calanques

What a gift to learn about life in Australia, Canada, France, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Sri Lanka and Thailand to name a few. We are truly living in a melting pot and it is quite invigorating! I must admit that my biggest disappointment is not learning enough French. When English is the default language, it can be quite easy to get around without knowing more than the basic pleasantries in French. I am taking a weekly class which is not enough, so my New Year’s Resolution will include 2-3 private classes a week and several weekly meals with the family spoken only in French. Perhaps that will help Shane sit still and focus while eating!!

I have enjoyed maintaining a leadership role with St. Jude, spending this year as a consultant on several specific projects. I travelled to Amsterdam for an international conference where I met development professionals from all over the world. The potential for St. Jude abroad is tremendous and I hope to be a part of sharing the hospital’s incredible mission with the European community. I also had the pleasure of attending our 19th annual Wall Street Dinner in NYC which raised over $2.2 million for the hospital. The event was the culmination of a full year’s planning by a dynamic group of professionals I truly enjoy working with.

So, with that said, I need to sign off and get to work! Syd will write the next update about our Fall vacation in the Luberon Mountains, recent visit with his brother and pre-holiday activates in Aix. I am sure his writing will be more succinct and humorous – so don’t let my long-winded posting scare you away!!!

Au revoir!

1 - Les descendants de Tarzan etaient en vie en Provence*.

For a measly ten euros, one can attach his belt, pulley and life to a steel rope strung between trees and, in a moment of wanton disregard, swoop ("zipline") across Aix valleys and gorges to another tree outpost where disregard begins anew. All the Butlers, and Mal's Washington pal Danielle, zipped and yelled and enjoyed. Shane was the most intrepid of all, presenting to his parents one of those life moments when they realize their little sweetie is really one tough garcon (French for boy; English for Boy, son of Tarzan).

Ziplining

Zippin' and Swingin'

Mallory and her best friend, Danielle

Even Julie got into the "swing" of it!

2. A parler en Francais est bon, mais a parler en Anglais avec amies est mieux.

Once a week or so, the Butlers actually communicate with Aixois in French. Okay, so the conversation usually involves requesting a croissant and coffee, but bridging the language barrier is nonetheless satisfying. But babbling with visiting English speaking friends is an unrestrained talkathon where we lurch wildly to tell, tell, tell, and ask, ask, ask. Pity poor visiting Memphians Melanie Taylor and Kathy Deyo who found themselves resolutely braced against the Butler verbal windstorm. They were at once wonderful guests and resident psychiatrists.Conversely, pity the bewildered Daudets (descendants of the French writer Alphonse Daudet, and relatives of our dear Memphis friend John Vookles) who were subjected to Syd's broken French when we visited them in St. Remy.
But in fairness, Syd and Julie were subjected to French language school where teachers spoke and dispensed homework (devoirs) at the speed of the TGV (the French high speed train). See the picture of Syd after his first class.

Melanie, Julie and Kathy at the Calanques

Melanie, Riley and Mallory

Visit with Madam Daudet's family in St. Remy

Syd post-French class

3. Le fin d’amour et d’ete.

In New Orleans folks are fond of saying "laissez les bons temps roulez" which in French means "let the good times roll" and in New Orleans means "let's get drunk and fall down". With the start of cool weather and school in Aix, the good times may have rolled on by. Consider Shane's summer romance with the fair Lylia, a seductive older beauty (she is seven, Shane is five). With her braided locks and skin tight bathing suit, Lylia is a Bo Derek to be. Shane was making no headway against his competition, until he displayed his Disney comic book. Then for one brief and shining moment, the earth and the swimming pool moved for the star-crossed pair. Alas, what morn set a-sparkle, noon quick dried, and a lifelong romance was ended abruptly by school and the cold Mistral wind.
And summer evaporated as well, as tanned, backpack-laden etudiants shuffled back to schools and parents filled crowded parking lots. Mallory and Shane attend bilingual schools just down a country lane past an expansive field of courgettes (zucchini) and olive trees. Families from around the world leave their children and huddle in conversation with their new Dutch, German, Swedish, Belgian, Canadian, French, Norwegian and American neighbors. Carpools are arranged and homework complained about. Where are the al fresco lunches, the warm beaches, the lazy mornings? Sadly, romance and French mathematics just don't equate. Or as Woody Allen says, the lamb may lie down with the wolf, but the lamb won't get much sleep.

Shane's French fling

New French friends, Kae and Charlie

4. Nous aurons toujours Paris.

Well if Bogey can say it to Ingrid in Casablanca, why can't I use it here? Sure the joys of summer are over, but we will always have memories of seafood platters, bathtubs filled with contented kids, family hugs on mountain trails, just roasted coffee, a sun-warmed pooch and the incalculable pleasure of sharing our French home with family and friends.