I think today counts as one of the worst since we've been here. The children are now on vacation for the next week and a half (the toussaint, or All Saints vacation), and, like a good city parent who lives with 4 loud children in an apartment, I had planned each day very carefully to give my children entertainment, physical activity, education, nutrition, etc. So Monday went well: the two boys were in a Judo camp from dawn till dusk where they are not able to fight (except in controlled Judo moves), since they are each other's only comfort in a foreign land. I took the two girls to the art museum where the little one lasted about an hour (a little less) so we had to stop at the 18th century, with unbelievable pictures of Adam and Eve that looked like they were taken straight out of The Watchtower or something like that. Anyway, Magdalene's eye had been red and now it became swollen almost shut, so I had to make my first hesitating foray into French medicine and got an appointment for this morning. We went, and met a very nice young doctor who prescribed her some antibiotics (and of course, the necessary painrelievers and cleaners and whatnot that French doctors are forced to prescribe to you, lest you feel that your taxes are too high and are not paying for enough medical care). That was already a breach in my neurotically careful plan, which had been to take all four kids to the swimming pool.
Well, as soon as Magda and I got home, I told the others to get ready, and not 5 minutes later, Mimi fell on a metal tube and opened her neck (I can't tell you all the things she could have hit instead of just skin, and that have been running wildly in my imagination since). So off we went, back across the tram tracks to the nice doctor's again. Mimi was crying on the way there, and in the waiting room, and when we first met the doctor (he has a beard, she hates men with beards, especially doctors). But apparently, she really has grown up and become socialized (thank you French public schools) because after a little while, seeing that the doctor was not pulling out any huge needles, she squeezed her Matthias's hand very tight (she had brought her Matthias with her for comfort) and seemed to decide that she was done crying (the crying was also making her wound bleed more profusely on her pretty white shirt). After that, she was completely quiet, and has been telling everyone since how bave (brave, but she doesn't say 'r' in French or English) she was, and how big. Anyway, he didn't sew her, he said he couldn't do it without giving her gas, and that gas was only available at the emergency room. He just taped her together and we're all hoping it sticks. Each consultation costs 22 euros (we only have emergency coverage, though I'm not sure that would have covered the emergency room), and the doctor, though embarrassed that we weren't being reimbursed, was very proud that it was so much less than in the states. And he wasn't embarrassed at all about taking the money.

Now Mimi is asleep, but otherwise, I'm treating her like a china doll, and everytime she smiles a little too wide, or cries a little too loud, I hover anxiously and tell her her booboo will come open and they'll have to sew her up. Magdalene was remarking that French people don't seem to have a very developed sense of a professional relationship. You always deal with people as if you're meeting them socially, even the doctor, or salespeople in stores, or waiters in restaurants. This is good and bad. It does make those relationships more human, and it reminds both sides of the genuine humanity of the other (people don't tend to be condescending to their waiters, for instance). On the other hand, if your doctor is in a bad mood, or if your butcher thinks you should not cook your pork with tomatoes, they will let you know very brusquely, which is a bit surprising for us.

We had a quiet weekend, no visitors, no trips, no fancy or not fancy dinners. I acquired a bike and took the two boys and the dog on a nerve racking (because so so crowded) long ride along the Erdre (speaking of which, do you remember a very early post about the three rivers of Nantes, the Erdre, the Chezine and the Sevre? Well, I've discovered two more: the Sens, and the Gesvre, both of which have paths running alongside that I've explored running. When I was a kid, I used to study the rivers of France in Geography class, which one threw itself into the sea and where, which one was an affluent of which, etc. Well, now I do it as a hobby, after complaining about it so much as a kid). We went for a very civilized walk in the Jardin des Plantes, bringing with us the inevitable gouter to eat on a parc bench. We shopped for food, both at the market and at the mega super store (a kind of costco of France, only the portions are not quite as big)... Boring. Next week, however, we are going to visit my aunt and uncle in Spain, so I promise many exciting entries then. And I promise to do a better job caring for my children so they stop getting hurt quite so much.