will WE play in Peoria?

20 september 2007

I know that jet lag can be a horrible thing. But, really, it is just as frustrating for the hostess as it is for the guest. I canceled my French lesson for this morning… cleared my calendar to be able to go out and enjoy the day… but Debbie did not get up until 11:45. And at that she did not get up on her own.

By the time we left the house I was afraid to go too far away and potentially somehow not manage to pick Kaitlyn up from school on time. Plus, Kaitlyn had cried when she found out she wasn’t getting to spend the day with her customers. I asked her what she really wanted to do with them. Ride the bubbles. I promised we wouldn’t do that without her.

That didn’t leave a lot of options. So when in doubt… go to Carrefour.

First, we went to lunch at a place right across the street. Debbie wanted chicken. I wasn’t sure if they had it, but thought there was a decent chance. My first chance to show off my new ability to speak (or at least order in ) French. Foiled. Right after we sat down, the waitress sent over a waiter who can speak English. And it took me three tries to get someone to bring us a bottle of plain water. I am sure I was asking correctly; somehow the girl was concerned that interaction with the English speakers would spread cooties or something. I don’t know. Oh, and they didn’t have any chicken.

At the grocery store we just needed to pick up a couple of things to make dinner. (yes, chicken) I still made sure that the shopping trip included a stop at the meat counter so that I could point out the whole bunnies and the chickens with their heads on next to the pigeons. I’m sorry, but that is all still just nasty.

Debbie wanted to check out the candy aisle. I avoid buying it so that was new to me, too. She was a little disappointed that there wasn’t anything too odd… no brands of chocolate that were unique. Then she wanted to know if there are chocolate covered doughnuts here. No. Chocolate chip cookies? No. Moments later, she found boxes of ’em. It’s another thing I avoid so I’d just assumed they didn’t have any. Someone must have told me once they don’t have any.

After school Kaitlyn wanted to show off the park where she likes to play. Make that the park where she likes to ride the carousel. After one whirl around, Kaitlyn said she wanted to go on one of the surrey bikes that looks like you’re riding in a carriage behind a horse. Except she didn’t feel like pedaling. She wanted to go on the big one that Debbie and I would have to pedal while Kaitlyn sat on the horse. I could barely reach the pedals. She saw the place where we’d tried to play putt putt and told Aunt Debbie how difficult golf is.

Since Debbie slept so long because she woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat, we went to the pharmacy to buy a remedy. When I’d told her that they use a lot of homeopathic medicine she said she’d like to try that. Even though she doesn’t trust that stuff at home. Somehow, that made sense. I’d looked up how to say “sore throat” before we left the house and managed to explain that and the desire for something homeopathic to the pharmacist. She asked if Debbie wanted something you suck on, which I understood because it was the same word that Kaitlyn’s teacher uses for her giant pacifier. Back at home, Debbie logged on the computer to look up what all the stuff is in her throat medicine. It includes mercury. Then she spent hours looking up whether or not it was safe to keep taking the stuff. (She’d already sucked down two lozenges) Finally she decided she felt better enough to just not worry about it and not take anymore anyway.

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