La Jeune Fille: Kangaroo Island Gets Real

Well, I told you I had some pictures for you.

Kangaroo Island is renowned for its wildlife. Unfortunately, quite a lot of it is on the side of the road in the form of roadkill. Here in Aus we are pretty used to that sort of thing and any drive in the country around sunset is fraught with the stress of keeping your eyes peeled for wandering kangaroos and wombats darting across the road out of nowhere. La JF was slightly more disturbed by the routine sight of bodies by the roadside so we thought we had better let her see some animals that were living and breathing.



We headed out to a well known tourist spot called 'Paul's Place'. I had heard about it through a UK friend who had visited back in 2004 but had never been there myself. By all accounts it was a pretty 'up close and personal' experience with native wildlife and when we mentioned it to the locals they raised their eyebrows and pursed their lips. 'Not for everybody' was the general consensus.

La Jeune Fille was either going to love it or hate it!

As we walked in through the first gate, we were met by these little guys.

La JF was captivated.


The proprietor, Paul, was however pretty 'in your face'. The first thing he did was suss out his audience, pick a likely 'victim' and place a wallaby in her arms!


This was followed fairly quickly by dropping the same wallaby onto the laps of our three.


Now had she been asked, I am pretty sure La Jeune Fille would have politely declined the invitation to have a wallaby on her lap! But as it was, she seemed to quite enjoy the experience.


She was less impressed with the alpaca, sheep and goats however who, once we were given buckets of food to distribute, got pretty pushy indeed.


The next enclosure followed this pattern. I've got to admit, I don't like emus (pronounced eem-yous) close up. They are nasty, stupid birds who think nothing of running into the side of your car for no apparent reason; and being surrounded by a bunch of them looking for food was slightly intimidating. The BA and the Small Boy didn't seem to mind being surrounded by birds.


Although La JF's body language left us in no doubt as to her feelings.


I think visitors like this just stick out like sore thumbs to Paul though. He picked on her again.


The emu egg was a little more acceptable but imagine my surprise when she took this next encounter with such good humour!

That's a fresh water crayfish known as a marron. Not to be outdone I had a hold.

And then the Small Boy got in on the act. Check out the BA in the background though!

Funnily enough, this was the one thing she would NOT do.
"I don't do crustaceans," was her comment.

She does do baby possums though!

And snakes.
In fact we all did snakes and La JF was ok with it, which shouldn't have surprised me given her fondness for horror movies.


The koalas were a little more intimidating; after all, they have claws!
This one made the mistake of grabbing La JF's hair but after a little adjustment she coped with him quite well too.


The BA is an old koala holder from way back.


But the thing the BA did, which really impressed me, was this!


Did I mention I hate emus?

We're all ok with birds though.


Except La JF of course. This one really freaked her out!


Nothing that a baby kangaroo (joey) couldn't cure however!


And I've got to finish off with the bearded dragon and the hopping mouse.


So all in all a pretty successful visit! But the day wasn't over yet!!!!!

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La Jeune Fille : The Kangaroo Island Episode

We have lately pointed out to Small Boy, that every photo we have of him consists of his making a stupid face. We comment on how this will make him feel in years to come. He is unmoved.
I digress.
When I left you we were on the ferry to KI and La JF was asleep.


That's our car in the depths of the ferry.



Stellar shot of the Small Boy who was at least awake and enjoying the ride!

On the first afternoon we forced La JF to attend a picnic on the Chapman River, one of Himself's fave places on the island. The BA gets creative with her photography.

Can you see what they are looking at? It is moi being silly and running in pseudo slow motion along the banks of the river. Here are the gang after we'd packed up the picnic and were about to set off for a walk to the beach. That must be why La JF is looking cheerful.


This is either the BA or I getting artsy with the beautiful, stark trees at the picnic spot. Lately she has taken to picking up my camera and snapping away. Not a bad thing I guess.


La JF making the hike to the beach. Note how her shoes are totally designed for bush/beachwalking.


But Oh lala! When she reached the beach...the excitement...the delight.....finally we had done something right!


Next we were off to the Cape Willoughby lighthouse.


I love these spectacular plants. I think they're called 'Red Hot Pokers'.

Well, at least someone was excited by the occasion.

We walked through the lighthouse museum at the Cape, where a very excited and possibly slightly Aspergersy lighthouse keeper, with a broad Scottish accent and a whiff of whisky about him, tried to engage La JF in talk of Frech 'phare'. I could have told him not to bother.

Then we made her climb these stairs to get to the highest point on the island where you get this view.



(You'll guess this one is an old one from the ages of BA and Small Boy. Mind you, his face pulling is still the same)


I think she's seen enough views. Not even the rainbow could cheer her up.
So it was back to the lovely hotel where we were staying in two self contained villas in a kind of jungle setting. The BA and La JF had one to themselves whilst Himself and I were billeted with the Small Boy. I passed the girls 'dorm' at one point to see the two of them snuggled up under a quilt on the pull out sofa bed, watching the big, flatscreen TV and eating crisps.

"Tu va bien?" I enquired.
"Oui," she grinned, "Tres bien!!"

If only we had known that was all she wanted :-D
More tomorrow!

The Flaming Sword On The Dance Floor Of Life: or Keep Your Eye on the Teen In The Tutu.

I'm not sure quite where to start this post. It comes from a conversation I had with the BA when things were at their lowest French ebb.

I know the teen years are the 'mating' years. We all know that. Being a teen is all about trying to find your place in the world and part of that involves exploring the people with whom you will share that world. I don't know about you but in my experience as a teen girl there are phases that you go through.

There are the physical changes. They can be daunting enough. At this time your eyes are on all the other girls: Am I the same as everyone else? Am I deformed???? Am I better than everyone else? What are my chances in the upcoming mating dance of life? What is my equipment like? Does ANYONE ELSE FEEL LIKE I DO???????? At this time, boys are interesting but they are aliens and it's your girlfriends that you look to, to help you carve out your place and define yourself as a woman. This is definitely where the BA is at the moment.

Once you are secure in your social circle, in your body and, to a degree, in your emotional development, the mating dance begins. Your girlfriends fall by the wayside as the important 'survival of the species' process takes place. Who will make the best mate? Whose genes are strongest? Who will be a reliable protector, provider and procreator? Once the animal instinct hormones calm down a bit there is also room for questions like: will he play board games with me? does he hog the remote control? and does his conversation extend past 'who will coach The Power next week'?

We all know that young girls will be obsessed with boys, music, fashion and socialising. It is part of growing up. It is normal, and its intensity ebbs and wanes around the ages of 13-16; however what I think is important for any young person is that they also maintain an interest in the outside world. What was their passion before the hormones began to roar? What are their natural interests? What are the things that make them who they are? In the end, if the only thing you are is' successful at the mating dance', by the time your peer group begins to move out of that phase you will be left with inappropriate skills and a sense of inadequacy as your equipment also starts to fail you.

Where am I going with all this? Well, the thing we couldn't find about La Jeune Fille was any sense of passion or involvement in anything outside the teen obsessions. Even her interest in surfing did not go as far as wanting to hire a wetsuit and dive into the freezing cold Southern Ocean. Sure, she likes sharks, but we had to convince her that a trip to the Shark Museum was worthwhile (and, typically, when we got there it had been shut for three years!). I am sure that she probably does have some interests that are hers but at the moment they are swamped by the teen experience. She mentioned tennis, but didn't want to play; she went for a run once but didn't want me to sign her into the gym; she was NOT interested in church and youth group although we hauled her along once to watch the BA play drums in a morning service; she liked movies but only horror movies and only if they had French language options! She expressed an interest in the World Cup but, during the match, spent the whole time surfing facebook on her phone. She did show a great deal of interest in shopping however.

As a parent of a teen, and one who is right on the verge of moving from girlfriend focus to mapping out the steps of the Sexual Gavotte, I think my role is to help her keep the whole person intact. It is too easy to allow our children to go completely down the path of teen obsessions. Meeting friends for shopping expeditions, downloading music or organising playlists on the ipod can take up inordinate amounts of time. Our job is to ensure they still attend training sessions for a beloved sport, they still practice the instrument they loved as a younger person, they still get out to educational and beautiful parts of the world and experience them with their senses, they still try new things, interact with real people and they still pass exams!

It's too easy for parents to say 'oh well, they're teenagers, this lifestyle is to be expected' and to drop the responsibility we have to keep them in touch with their roots. As I keep saying to Himself when he drops the Small Boy off at the skate park for a 4 hour stint.....children were not meant to bring themselves up you know.

La Jeune Fille: Chapitre Un (The Tough Part)

So, I gotta tell you about our Jeune Fille and how the whole 3 week exchange thing went down.
First, here's the makeover I did on Small Boy's bedroom.
Despite the passive aggressive resistance, I actually think he quite likes it.


Here's the girls from the BA's school waiting anxiously at the airport before the Frog contingent arrived. Most of these girls will be going back to France in the Christmas holidays this year.


Everything was good for the first week, although getting up in the morning was not her strong suite and her English was seriously worse than my French!!!!
We had been given a list of instructions and advice as 'host' parents and one of the things we had been told was to expect homesickness. We were also advised to give them access to the net to email home etc but not to allow them to spend too much time on the computer. Well, when our JF arrived, she came with her own iphone. Himself naturally hooked her up to our wireless network. Mistake number 1. She proceeded to spend inordinate amounts of time on facebook on her iphone and of course we had no control over that whatsoever!


Towards the end of the week I felt we were losing touch with her but we cheerfully hauled her off to a family Quiz night with a group of friends (including a friend of ours who is French) thinking it would be a cultural experience, a way to connect and a bit of fun all round.
Oh dear.
Firstly, Himself, the notorious games hater did not really want to go.He had loads of work to do and was late in. I suggested he didn't come and he nearly took me up on it, but Small Boy wanted to go and so he came. When we got there, late as usual, it turned out the table bookings had been mucked up and there wasn't enough room on our table. This put Himself in an even worse mood. So, when my dear, but incredibly tactless (well, she is French), friend announced in French to La JF, not to get too excited about our impending trip to Kangaroo Island because it was boring and the food was rubbish, Himself just about exploded. La JF was witness to himself telling our friend to stick it where the sun don't shine and storming out. I'm not sure she really understood what it was all about but it had to be a bit uncomfortable for her.
Well, from there it went from bad to worse.

She spent a huge amount of time in her room. She didn't even attempt to speak to us in English. She wouldn't get up in the morning. She cut classes. She looked bored at everything we suggested. Poor old BA and I were stressed to the max. We were desperately trying to figure out where we were going wrong and coming up with ideas to try and engage her, to no avail."I don't think she thinks I'm cool enough," my beloved BA bemoaned.
"Sweetheart, we are what we are and we have no reason to be ashamed of that," was all I could offer as comfort. Pretty cold comfort for a 15 year old.
From what we could ascertain, La Jeune Fille had five main interests: surfing, sharks, boys, shopping and parties. Unfortunately, in southern Australia in the winter you only surf if you are really keen.; seeing a shark is usually a bad thing; the BA goes to an all girls school and, at 15, parties are something you have on your birthday!! I don't think we were what she had in mind when she embarked upon her visit..

Towards the middle of the second week, she emerged from her sulk long enough to type a request to attend two parties into the google translator. It was the first time I had seen her looking animated in days but as I made inquiries it became evident that the parties coincided with the weekend we had booked to go to Kangaroo Island. :-( Her face fell like a ton of lead. Quelle dilemma!!!!! I was really looking forward to our trip to the island and the last thing I wanted to take with us was a sulky teenager who wanted to be somewhere else!!!!

I will spare you the agonising and arguing that ensued. Himself figured that was the death knell on an already fated trip and wanted to call the whole thing off; but eventually I convinced him to try and delay our departure until the Saturday morning so she could go to the Friday party. Fortunately our friends on the island were kind enough to reschedule us. Then there was the problem of the BA. She had been invited to the party too, in a 'token' way which left her feeling very uncomfortable. She didn't know any of the other people going and didn't really want to attend. Thankfully, one of our fave bands, British India, was playing at The Gov on the same night so I organised to drop La JF at the party, take the BA and her friend to the gig and pick up La JF on the way home.

The following morning, whilst all these compromises and alternate arrangements were still being confirmed, La JF woke up with severe period pain. She moaned and groaned and sniffled all the way into school and I glanced sideways at the BA, rolled my eyes and mouthed 'Her misery is complete'. I escorted her to the Nurse's Station and interpreted for her as they applied heat bags and then left her curled up under 2 quilts listening to her ipod.

That night when I picked her up, she was the most cheerful and communicative she had ever been. She asked lots of questions about the BA and her social life and I used my high school French to explain that the BA did not go to clubs or have parties with her friends as she was only 15 and still a bit young. As we were chatting a huge lightbulb exploded over my head. I think our JF had been pre-menstrual! Imagine having PMT in a strange country with a strange family and very poor grasp of the language! Explained a lot.


When Friday came and we were set to drop her off at 'the party', she had a little panic attack and wanted to come with us to the gig!!! She didn't want to go inside until her (better English speaking) friend arrived and we ended up coaxing her out of the car and introducing her to the charming and caring mother of the house so we could get to the gig on time! Funny!

La Jeune Fille, in a rare smiling moment, briefly stops looking at her own facebook page long enough to look at....the BA's facebook page.

Speaking of the gig, here's a few shots.

This is not La Jeune Fille. And this is not British India.

Still, it's a better photo than the ones I DID get of British India ....

Hmmmmmmmm.

Aaaaaaanyway, things were still a bit marginal when we embarked on our trip to Kangaroo Island the following morning. We had to prise her out of bed and, despite the morning being so beautiful you could have framed it, she slept the whole way in the car and most of the way on the ferry.

And if you want to know how it went down on the island...stop by tomorrow! :-D