Musée d'Emmanuel Liais

Musée Emmanuel Liais

So it's taken me a week but I finally managed to get back to the Emmanuel Liais Park and in particular, the Museum.

Leon or Arthur Seal

My original plan was to take Marc to go see the 'weird and funky animals', as Fran calls them, on Wednesday morning when Fran went off to work. This would have been ideal, but we didn't end up leaving until 11:10am and it closed for lunch at 12. It should have been a 5 minute walk, but it ended up taking almost half an hour (Marc walks so slowly!). We finally got there at 11:40, only to be told "no no, on ferme dans cinq minutes!!" (We close in 5 mins). I
tried to say, no no, 20 minutes... 12 heures but they were adamant they would be closing in 5 minutes (Typical French!).

Parrots and other tropical birds

We settled for just walking around with Marc in the first room (the one with most of the stuffed birds and animals in anyway), especially as I realised that there was a lot of it up steps and I had Aurianne asleep in the pram.

There were two stuffed seals in there. They were apparently called 'Leon and Arthur' and used to live in the park. When I told this to Marc he just looked at me blankly and said "Hmm, that's interesting. But, what is the turtle called?"

Eagles and other birds of Prey

Marc quite liked looking at the different coloured birds and shells. He's been there before, but not for a while.

The man was standing by the door shaking keys after 5 minutes, so I decided to go. Marc didn't want to leave and so I had to bribe him with playing in the park for a bit.

Anyway, as I didn't get to see it all, I went back today.

One of the biggest of the shell collection

Crystals and Rocks

I think that this whole museum (like the botanical green houses and the rest of the gardens) is just the personal collection of the former mayor of Cherbourg, M. Emmanuel Liais.

The first room also had lots of fossils, small dinosaur bones and crystals/rocks in it.

Pickled Snake, anyone?

The second room was full of 'Reptiles'. Some pretty creepy stuff in there. The third room was packed full of stuffed birds. They had lots of insects (including hundreds of butterflies) in the hallway.

Upstairs were the Native and Central America, Oceana, Asia and Egyptian rooms.

My main complaint was that the exhibits weren't very well laid out. Yes, they'd managed to at least categorise things into 'Marine Birds' or 'Reptile Eggs', but there was a lot of stuff up high, and everything was packed very close together. They needed a bigger museum really but I suppose there wasn't really room.

More snakes in jars

It also wasn't especially interactive or child-friendly. Not only because of the stuff high up, but also there wasn't any children's leaflets etc. but then, perhaps that's just France as I don't think I've seen any especially child-friendly museums here yet.

Lots of turtles and tortoises

I don't have a great deal more to say about all of this, so I'll just say the rest with pictures!

Tortoise-Alligator (it was actually labelled as this!)

A turtle with a stretched out neck. Disgusting.

Skull bones of something...

Stuffed Shark

Lots of picked fish!

Starfish and other Sea Urchins

Big starfish close-up

Butterflies. These just remind me of
Beatrix Potter's brother in the film 'Miss Potter'.
"The young, entomologist"

Very pretty butterflies.
There was a whole section of shiny blue ones,
but the photo was just full of glass reflections.

Huge Moth butterflies.
Even bigger than the one I saw in Corsica!

Upstairs in the 'around the world' rooms

A kayak from

Native and Central America 

Oceana - traditional dress

Oceania - more traditional dress

Africa - Spears

Asia 

The Statue bust of Emmanuel Liais himself

A real skull used for study

Egypt - Coins 

The Statue Bust of Madame Liais
(Emmanuel's wife)

The Cherbourg Mummy

Vers, Poux et Autres Parasites de l'Humain

Sending kids to school is just an invitation for illness to come party at your house. That plague invested centre of learning seems to harbour all that, surely in the 21st Century, we should have stamped out around the same time as Smallpox.

Ew. Yuk. Why oh why do these things exist?!

But, apparently not...

So, in the past month I've been subject to an infestation of head lice (I didn't actually get them, but the friendly warning letter that came home from Marc's school was enough to get me running through my hair with nit combs twice a day and soaking it in tea tree solution - and, no Sarah, I didn't feel the need to announce it to everyone I know).

Just the other weekend, the newest residents, namely 'worms', were casually introduced at the dinner table; 'Yeah, so Marc has worms. We've all got to take some drugs. Don't you just love kids.'

No, is the answer to that rhetorical statement. Right now, I do not. Thankfully, this common parasite has been around long enough (and in enough species) for the human race to have developed pretty effective drugs, so just one dose of it kills off any possibility of them for two weeks, when any remaining eggs apparently start hatching and it's good idea to re-dose yourself with the stuff. Just in case. I've been hoovering and washing everything in sight all week. Just found out that household detergents do nothing to the eggs though so tempted to start throwing bleach around.

Absolutely disgusting. I'm itching all over just thinking about it.

No, I'm not deluded and I knew about these before, but the reality is just something else... Working in childcare before you have your own should probably be banned as it must put so many people off! If everyone did it, I think the human race would be extinct right now.

I just can't wait to find out what's next! Fingers crossed that's not Giardia or Scabies. Half expecting him to come back with Ebola. Eurgh.

Papillion Nuit et Cartes Postales

Today not too much happened. I have managed to speak in full sentences most of the day which is a big achievement for me.

This morning I went swimming in the pool with the children and then went for a walk with Wandrille to the shop to buy postcards. I find him very funny. On the way to the shop I asked Wandrille, "Do you like... the sea, the sand, the sun, the shop, the holiday etc.?" To every question he replied, "No" and when I asked why, he just said "I like the swimming pool!" So it became a game and he thought it was hilarious! When I asked 'Do you like your friends?' he said that there was no friends so then I asked 'what about me?' and he said "Yes, mais mon ami prefere est Papa Noel!" (My best friend is Father Christmas!) 

When we went to pay for the postcards, the man at the counter said "Quatre Euros Soixante" very fast and so I wasn't sure what he had said. I just went to get out €10 but Wandrille saw that I had €5 note and said 'Non, Non' and pulled out the €5 and gave it to the man! He was very pleased with himself for helping!

When we got back I found a giant moth in the toilet. At first I thought it was not real because it was as long as my finger. It was still there this evening so I mentioned it to Helene who told me that they don't have a different word for moth and butterfly so in french it is just called a night butterfly, or 'Papillon Nuit'.

Papillion Nuit

The Moth - it was as long as the toilet roll!

Today I let the children play games on my phone again. It keeps them quiet! They were playing cut the rope (where you have a sweet attached to ropes and you have to cut the ropes to make the sweet go in the frog's mouth!) and Fruit Ninja (where you slice fruit like a ninja...) Wandrille was playing and whenever he won a level or scored lots of points he would shout "VIVE LA FRANCE!" Haha. He has also started to copy me when I speak in English and so when I ask a question in french he will now reply 'Yes, Yes, Yes' in english! It's very cute!

On the way back from the walk to the shop, I saw that our Villa has a weather vane on the roof which is the same as the Corse Flag. I have been interested in the image on the Corse Flag since I arrived so actually looked it up today! 

The Flag of Corsica

The flag depicts a black man with a white bandana - the man sometimes also has an earing in. My first impression of it was that it's a bit racist so wanted to find out about the origin. Originally the flag showed the black man (or Maure/Moor) with the Bandana over his eyes and chains around the neck but in the 18th Century, the General of the Nation, one 'Pascale di Paoli', decided that the chain should be removed and the bandana raised to signify the liberation of the Corsican nation. Very interesting.

Rambo!

This afternoon I went swimming with Wandrille again while the others went hunting in Rock Pools and then I sat in the sun. It was very nice but the Grandmother was very worried about me and came out with a hat, water and sun cream for me and moved a chair into the shade for me! She didn't believe me when I said I was ok!

The German uncle has a very big dog. It's name is Rambo and he is very old. He is struggling to keep cool and isn't allowed in any of the human areas (the house/pool) so just has to wander around outside. He keeps sitting by the fence around the pool and looking longingly at the water! I expect he's boiling with his big coat!

Hermit Crab

In the rockpools they caught a 'Bernard l'hermite' (Hermit Crab) which they brought back to the house to show everyone. The german uncle also went fishing and brought back some whelks which we had for Aperitif.

Dinner was Spaghetti Bolognase, and then Alice had made an Apple Tart Tatin for dessert. Alice, Tanguy and Alienor had all gone to a big party last night so they were were reserved at dinner and then went to bed early.

Helene spoke to me in English a little bit today. She comes out with the strangest things - I think she must read the dictionary as she was asking me what 'Statehood' was, and what '-hood' meant. I tried to explain that 'something-hood' was usually a state of being so 'statehood' would be to do with being a state but she didn't really understand. I tried explaining that it was to do with America and would only really be used in relation to America and so I didn't know much about the word but she didn't believe me because 'it is in my Oxford English Dictionary and so it is English'. I explained that just because a word is in English, does not mean it is from England.... She then wanted to know more words ending in 'hood' so I told her about 'Parenthood', 'Adulthood' and 'Childhood' - the period or state during which you are a parent/adult/child but she then asked if 'childishness' and 'childhood' was the same thing... It's very difficult to explain a lot of things as they don't really make much sense but I try! 

It's half past 10 and all of the children are awake, running around and fighting in the corridor. I refuse to go out and deal with them so their mother will just have to get up and do it! Eurgh!

Les Fourmis et Les Sables

The Ants and The Sand! They are everywhere!

Last night I slept quite well but kept waking up. There was a thunderstorm at around 4am which was very loud but I didn't get up to see if there was lightening (the shutters on the windows block out all the light so I couldn't see any without getting out of bed).

I was woken up by the children at about 9am (about the same time I woke up yesterday) but apparently today 9am was quite late... When I got up I found that everyone was out or had already had breakfast so was left to fend for myself. This wouldn't be a problem but I have no idea where things are kept! After 10 minutes of searching for bread/milk/hot chocolate powder I gave up and went to get dressed instead. I decided to just get straight into my swimming costume and stick clothes on top as yesterday I couldn't be bothered to go swimming, partly because it was raining, but mainly because I would have had to go and get changed first.

When I was dressed the children came to talk to me to tell me that it was Hillaire's 12th birthday today and that Benoit was taking them out for a drive. I then talked to Hillaire in french about Magicians and card tricks - in french. It's a good job I have google translate on my phone because we would have no way of communicating clearly otherwise!

A French Breakfast
Bread with butter and honey,
a peach, and hot chocolate in a bowl
for Petit Dejuner!

After the children had left, their grandmother (I can't remember the grandparents' or uncle's names as they are just referred to as 'grandmaman', 'grandpapa' and 'Oncle') asked if I had eaten (in french) and when I said no, she said 'But you must!' (in English!) and marched me to the kitchen to show me where the bread, milk and chocolate lived. The milk is UHT and was stored in the laundry room (or the fridge once opened), the chocolate was in a cupboard in the hall, and the bread in a tall basket on the floor in the kitchen (looks like a wash basket but thinner and taller).

Gorgeous view for breakfast!

Alienor, Tanguy and Alice decided to go to the beach and invited me to join them. They were ready to go before I had finished eating though so I said I would catch them up. When I was getting ready to leave, 'Grandmaman' wanted to make sure that I wasn't needed by Benoit or Hélène so she called Benoit on the telephone to check. I tried to explain that they had gone out and wouldn't be back until later but I don't think she understood...As we arrived at the beach by around 10:15am there weren't many people there. The sun wasn't quite so hot either so that was good, but by 11am, there were lots of clouds and it got a bit cold and windy. Tanguy said that they come to Corsica nearly every summer and that this is a very cold summer for Corse. Apparently in July it is often too hot to walk on the sand in bare feet and the sea is lukewarm! It's a shame it's not like that this year!

I had a long swim in the sea while at the beach. I'm still not a very good swimmer, but I find that I can get myself about if needed. It's much more difficult in the sea though because of the varying depth, waves and current - and all the seaweed, salt and sand! I got some seawater in my mouth at one point. It is really disgusting! When I came out all the sand just stuck to me. I remember that this is why I didn't like the beach as a child... It makes it really hard to dry off because the sand is on the towel, and on you, and then it sticks to everything. I have sand in my beach bag, in the cracks of my sunglasses, flipflops, towels, and everywhere!! I'll be washing out of my clothes until October I'm sure!

At around 12 we walked back to the house. I keep forgetting to bring some money with me and every time I walk past the shop I remember about postcards! I will try to go tomorrow I think...

For lunch today, we had salad, bread, cheese, that dried meat stuff, tomato and onions, and the leftover baked courgettes. The children had pasta, a cream cheese sauce and smoked salmon. I think I would have preferred theirs!

After lunch I really wanted a nap after all the swimming in the sea, but because I hadn't spent any time with the children in the morning I felt obliged to sit with them for a while. Wandrille had a strop because he wanted to play with my phone, and then Hermine got upset because I tidied up the Loom bands (for some reason they have all claimed a selection as their own which they hide from everyone else... I don't understand why as pooling the supply would mean there was a much better range of colours to choose from. Very odd, but perhaps we would have done the same as children at home). I am still finding it very difficult to understand what the problem is when they get upset as it often seems like it comes from nowhere. Today I learned 'quel est le problème?' which will hopefully be very useful when they have tantrums in future!

My favourite phrase is still "qu'est-ce c'est?" [kes-ker-say] - what is it? I think I must say that about 100 times a day while pointing at things or repeating a word I don't know. Today I asked the children "qu'est-ce une grenouille?" which led to lots of 'crok, crok, crok' and demonstrations of hopping all around the room. (It's a frog, in case you didn't guess!) I told them that in England, frogs say 'ribbet, ribbet', but they said that was stupid and didn't sound like a frog haha.

Hélène asked if I could 'entrust you to the children'. She wanted me to watch them while she and Benoit went for a walk and told me that they had to go outside and that 'they will had a meal before 5pm so that they were still hungry for dinner at 7pm like bread or more bread'. In english, they have an afternoon snack but she wanted them to have a snack before 5pm... I let them play on my phone some more until about 4:30pm when I got them some bread. Hermine was being a bit of a brat and kept snatching things from Wandrille and getting stroppy, shouting at me in french - I still have no idea why. When I asked her if she wanted bread she shouted 'NON! TU NE SAVEZ PAS!', and knocked the bread onto the floor. I assumed this meant that she didn't want any so gave some to the others and didn't worry about her. She came back about 10 minutes later to discover that all the bread was gone (obviously) and then started crying and screaming (they make themselves cry and go off in a huff without telling you what's wrong, it's stupid). 

After they ate, Wandrille and I went swimming in the pool. Alienor and Alice (who had been baking a cake for Hillaire's birthday) came to tell me that I had to look after Hermine too because they were going to the beach and Hillaire and Anthelme had gone with Grandmaman to the shops. I really didn't want to look after Hermine too as it's hard enough having one child talking at you in french, but to have a second that just gets angry and impatient when I don't understand... I stayed in the pool for a long time. The sun came out so I just sat on a float and sunbathed - very nice! 

When I came out, I had a shower and then it was time for dinner. As it was Hillaire's birthday, the children were allowed to join the adults for dinner which they don't usually do. For aperitif is was that soup/salad thing again (still can't remember the name!) with bread. Grandmaman told me that it was greek, not french. There was a stewed leg of lamb (I think) in red wine and onion sauce which we had with pasta. For dessert it was birthday cake. The girls had made what they called a 'Piñata' cake - just a plain sponge with chocolate icing but when Hillaire cut into it, the middle was hollow and filled with sweets.

I was really tired and just wanted to go to bed so I cleared the table, filled the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen and washed up so that I wouldn't get asked to put the children to bed and could just go to bed myself after. They were all very grateful (they told me that they had hired a chef/kitchen help for this week so that they didn't have to worry about food or washing up but she resigned at the last minute!) It didn't really work though as Hélène came to tell me that the younger children were in bed, but not asleep, and to make sure the older ones went to bed as she and Benoit were driving Alienor, Tanguy and Alice to a Party a few hours away. Tanguy would have just driven his dad''s car but last week when he did that, he returned the car with one of the rear lights completely smashed up (apparently his friend drove it into a tree or another car or something when drunk... but that's not the story the parents heard!)

There are ants everywhere too! When I was washing up, there were dishes swarming with them! It's disgusting! There are hundreds in the corridor outside my room too and last night there were several in my bed which I had to kill before I got in. After I washed up, I got a cloth and tried washing/wiping them from the floor in the corridor but they were coming out of holes in the skirting board/wall/plug holes etc. and whenever I wiped up some, within seconds the area would be swarming again! Really nasty. Anne (the aunt) says tomorrow she will find some more ant killer because they are getting too much now.

I got to try some macarons et chocolats from the Jean Luc Pelé Patisserie this evening. Anne and Grandmaman told me that he is a very famous Patisserie in France and that his sweets and cakes are very luxurious! I tried a strawberry macaron which had jam in the middle. It was very nice but so sweet I couldn't have eaten more than one!

Anne told me that she thought my french was getting quite good now. I definitely can say much more and she said I am doing much better at talking with everyone much more than I could before which is really good. I definitely am understanding more, but I still can't keep up with conversations. They all speak so fast! It's frustrating because they'll be talking about something and then all laugh and I don't always know the subject of the conversation, let alone the joke! Tanguy seems to be very good at telling jokes and stories - he gets very animated and does different voices and all sorts but I just can't understand! It's a shame because I expect it is very funny!

Time for bed now. There's lots of spiders and ants in my room but there's nothing I can do about it! 3 more days to go in Corsica...

Some pictures from my trip to the beach