The strike really stroke me this morning. 2h15 to get to the office compared to the usual 30 mins! What a record!
Today, they prolonged the strike. Not quite as pervasive as yesterday, but since people were anticipating that things were to get back to normal, everyone went out in the morning rush hours. The result was a catastroph. I had never seen so many cars in the street in front of our place before. People went to different directions, left, right, straight.... Chaos. Some were anxiously waiting for the bus who never arrived because of the jam. I could see the tense on everyone's face.
Me, I was determined to go to the office by Velib' this morning. No bikes left at the station near my place. I ran to the next station nearby. Nothing. The third one, zero! No, not really zero. There were 3 or 5 bikes in each of those stations, but they were all out of services. Flat tyre, broken chains, etc. Hhmmm... even Velib' employees were at the strike too.
So, I kept on heading east hoping to get a bike in the next station. No result. Went down to metro. 8-minute waiting time. Then the next one would be in 31 minutes! Needless to say, the platform was packed, packed, packed! I decided to get out and wait for a bus. Ten minutes passed. I could see my bus in the distance, without any sign of moving closer. The traffic was really bad. So, I kept on walking until the next bus stop (still hoping for a bike). Finally, I got on the bus until I realized it was a bad idea, as the bus was moving too slowly. There was no way I would reach the office in time for my 10 o'clock meeting. I got off at the next stop and took another bus to the different direction, which is my home direction! "Yes, I am coming back. This is not worth all the effort. Better work from home again."
Reached home. Drank a glass a water. Dita mentioned tram might lightly interrupted. Well, that was the only transport means I had not tried. Walked 10 minutes to the tram station down south. Look what I saw on the way... rows of bikes at the Velib' station near the tram station! Anyway, I was too late for a bike now. Besides, my tram was approaching. I was relieved! Finally... I reached the office after 2h15!
Whilst walking from the tram station to my office, I saw someone put chain lock around a Velib' bike, so nobody but him would be able to use it! Nasty....
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Nadia et Le Bebe Nageur
It has been a few weeks since Nadia restarted her swimming class. Restarted... because she had taken baby swimming lessons in Oz before when she was still 6-month-old.
Now, we have a new routine every Sunday morning. We intentionally chose Sunday class, so we can go to the pool together. Also, Dita and I can take turn swimming with Nadia. The pool is in Porte d'Orleans area, not very far from my office. It is a small pool, special for baby swimming classes and not open for public. There are about 10 toddlers in our class. Mostly French.
Taking Nadia for a swim is always a fun experience. She is always excited and not afraid of waters. She was so used to waters back when we were still in Oz. Then there was a period when we hardly took her to the swimming pool because of the move, etc. Before we began with this Sunday swimming class, we had taken her again to a public pool once in a while. It took her a little while before she got familiar again with the waters and the old Aussie techniques.
I am personally a little disappointed with this Sunday class. Perhaps I put my expectation a little too high. Dita and I had set our standards based on our experience in Oz. Over there, swimming lessons for babies were so much fun and well structured. Babies and parents (mostly mommies) were encouraged and praised a lot. Swimming always come along with popular kid tunes, like Humpty Dumpty, which Dita is still using it with Nadia until today. She is still using the techniques she learned from Oz.
After 4 classes, I have not yet seen any progress on the way the instructor teaches the class. All she and her assistant have done is just let the parents do whatever they want with their toddlers. The only good thing is that they provide some toys and floaters (at least they are quite well equipped). And I had asked the instructor in the beginning of her teaching plans. She said for the first few weeks she would let the kids get accustomed to the waters, before starting to teach them some techniques. Some of them kids are a little younger than Nadia and never took a lesson before. Makes sense.
But for how long? I don't have the answer yet. But last week, my doubt about their teaching ability was growing even more, after seeing her assistant teach the parents how to hold the toddlers in the waters. The technique was okay. It is just the method. This shy assistant was trying to lead the class, whilst the old teacher was trying to encourage people to sing a French song whilst swinging our babies gently! Yet, she could not pick a single song or perhaps she did not know much of the French kid songs. Until... suddenly Dita started with Fais Do-do.... and the other parents (and they are French!) follow!
Another funnny thing. Two weeks ago, the teacher asked the parents to encourage their toddlers to jump to the waters from a slider. She gathered everyone around and explained the tricks. Of course, she would start with an example. She picked a boy called Matthieu, about the same age as Nadia, who always comes only with his daddy. The teacher said, "Let's start with Matthieu. He will show you how to do it. If he can do it, there is no reason why your toddlers cannot do it." The teacher seemed to know Matthieu and his daddy pretty well. I was thinking,"Perhaps he has taken the lessons for a while." Voila, everyone was eagerly watching Matthieu in action. One second, two seconds, five seconds... he did not move from the slider despite of her daddy's encouraging words. Instead, he reached out to him, did not dare to jump off. It wasn't a proud moment for the teacher, let alone the daddy. Poor Matthieu. The role model failed. Then came Nadia. She crawled up the slider and... wooossshh!!! She jumped to the waters in no time! Everyone clapped. Ever since, the teacher has picked Nadia to lead the way and Dita and I are being the proud parents. Ahahaha....
Now, we have a new routine every Sunday morning. We intentionally chose Sunday class, so we can go to the pool together. Also, Dita and I can take turn swimming with Nadia. The pool is in Porte d'Orleans area, not very far from my office. It is a small pool, special for baby swimming classes and not open for public. There are about 10 toddlers in our class. Mostly French.
Taking Nadia for a swim is always a fun experience. She is always excited and not afraid of waters. She was so used to waters back when we were still in Oz. Then there was a period when we hardly took her to the swimming pool because of the move, etc. Before we began with this Sunday swimming class, we had taken her again to a public pool once in a while. It took her a little while before she got familiar again with the waters and the old Aussie techniques.
I am personally a little disappointed with this Sunday class. Perhaps I put my expectation a little too high. Dita and I had set our standards based on our experience in Oz. Over there, swimming lessons for babies were so much fun and well structured. Babies and parents (mostly mommies) were encouraged and praised a lot. Swimming always come along with popular kid tunes, like Humpty Dumpty, which Dita is still using it with Nadia until today. She is still using the techniques she learned from Oz.
After 4 classes, I have not yet seen any progress on the way the instructor teaches the class. All she and her assistant have done is just let the parents do whatever they want with their toddlers. The only good thing is that they provide some toys and floaters (at least they are quite well equipped). And I had asked the instructor in the beginning of her teaching plans. She said for the first few weeks she would let the kids get accustomed to the waters, before starting to teach them some techniques. Some of them kids are a little younger than Nadia and never took a lesson before. Makes sense.
But for how long? I don't have the answer yet. But last week, my doubt about their teaching ability was growing even more, after seeing her assistant teach the parents how to hold the toddlers in the waters. The technique was okay. It is just the method. This shy assistant was trying to lead the class, whilst the old teacher was trying to encourage people to sing a French song whilst swinging our babies gently! Yet, she could not pick a single song or perhaps she did not know much of the French kid songs. Until... suddenly Dita started with Fais Do-do.... and the other parents (and they are French!) follow!
Another funnny thing. Two weeks ago, the teacher asked the parents to encourage their toddlers to jump to the waters from a slider. She gathered everyone around and explained the tricks. Of course, she would start with an example. She picked a boy called Matthieu, about the same age as Nadia, who always comes only with his daddy. The teacher said, "Let's start with Matthieu. He will show you how to do it. If he can do it, there is no reason why your toddlers cannot do it." The teacher seemed to know Matthieu and his daddy pretty well. I was thinking,"Perhaps he has taken the lessons for a while." Voila, everyone was eagerly watching Matthieu in action. One second, two seconds, five seconds... he did not move from the slider despite of her daddy's encouraging words. Instead, he reached out to him, did not dare to jump off. It wasn't a proud moment for the teacher, let alone the daddy. Poor Matthieu. The role model failed. Then came Nadia. She crawled up the slider and... wooossshh!!! She jumped to the waters in no time! Everyone clapped. Ever since, the teacher has picked Nadia to lead the way and Dita and I are being the proud parents. Ahahaha....
Nadia and Potty Training
It's about time for a potty training. Dita had uncontinuously tried it on Nadia several time before, without any satisfying results. This time, she is more determined than ever to give Nadia a toilet training.
The result of the first day today was pretty good. Dita uses a very encouraging method by giving one sticker to Nadia for every successful pee or poop. Today's result: 3 stickers! Two for pees and one for kaka (poop). What an achievement to start with! More importantly, we feel Nadia is big enough to digest the process and to say it when she feels like doing it, of course, before it really comes out.
The only disappointment of the day was when she was peeing on the couch. Ahh! We think she was just being lazy to move, whilst her favorite Les Petits Einsteins was on the tv. Never mind. Slowly but sure, we are getting there! Bravo, ma petite! Bravo, ma femme!
The result of the first day today was pretty good. Dita uses a very encouraging method by giving one sticker to Nadia for every successful pee or poop. Today's result: 3 stickers! Two for pees and one for kaka (poop). What an achievement to start with! More importantly, we feel Nadia is big enough to digest the process and to say it when she feels like doing it, of course, before it really comes out.
The only disappointment of the day was when she was peeing on the couch. Ahh! We think she was just being lazy to move, whilst her favorite Les Petits Einsteins was on the tv. Never mind. Slowly but sure, we are getting there! Bravo, ma petite! Bravo, ma femme!
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