The kids go to school in France

I had a dream last night that I was standing on a wall looking down at people walking on cliffs. We went to St. Malo yesterday, and that describes the setting there. Ramparts built hundreds of years ago, encircle the old town, and tower over the city to one side and the jagged ocean rocks, soft white sand, and dramatically crashing waves to the other. So, anyhoo, to my dream...as I was looking down, I saw a guy teaching his daughter to rollerblade. Then suddenly, they rolled off a cliff, into mid-air over a chasm, in slow motion, in a zen state of perfect calm and confidence, landing safely on the other side. What ensued was a rather heated, and public to-do. A town meeting was called, and about a hundred people weighed in to share their opinion on whether the guy was irresponsible or just being a good teacher. Both sides were convincing, and I sat as the observer of the meeting, understanding both sides, and harboring a smug sense that I was just glad that I wasn't in this guy's shoes. I woke up still feeilng smug and then the terrible truth hit me: "oh no! I am the guy". It was my dream after all, and, I thought, "I am the one who is sending my non french speaking kids to school in France today. That's my chasm, and that's what is before me in the morning". Then I realized that if was to learn anything from the dream it was that I needed to acheive a state of zen calm in the morning, so that we could all confidently make the big transition.

Well, we did make it to the other side, and it was almost as floatingly smooth as the parent and chlid in the dream.

Annika's teacher is the quinessential lovely, nurturing Kindergarten teacher. She took Annika's hand, and sat her down at the table as the kids moved towards her, fascinated, like she was a new toy. They circled around her, and stared while she sat coloring, and saying "bonjour" to them all. When we picked her up for lunch, we saw her playing with the kids outside, pushing them on the swings, and looking like one of the gang. The teacher said that everything went well and Annika was at ease all day. Annika said, "school is awesome".

Lauren's teacher was also fabulous. He gave us a tour of the school and Kevin and I were both extremely impressed. Kevin doesn't even understand, but the odd word in French, and he didn't even know that this guy giving us the tour was Lauren's teacher. But when I did make that clear to Kevin later, he said, "oh, then she'll be fine". And she was. First, she prayed that there would be some British kids in her school, and sure enough there is one family, and Lauren sits right next to the British boy in class, so she can ask him if she has questions (he's been here for years). And he also has an even more outgoing sister in the grade above them who came and helped Lauren at recess. Also, there is a gang of 5 girls that fawn over Lauren eager to help her out and teach her the ropes. They write out pages of helpful phrases with "Englisch" on one side and "Francais" on the other with, for example, "How age are you" in one column and "Quel age as-tu?" in the other. She said that at the first recess, about twenty kids circled around her and asked her a few questions in English before going off to play, but she said her 5 new friends stayed with her; "those 5 always stay with me", she said with relief in her voice.

Whew....we're across that one. Actually, everyone at the school has been warm, helpful, and welcoming.

Well, on a more down note, there was that small car accident in the parking lot. There's always something, n'est-ce pas. It was a short moment of stress as we were dropping Annika off after lunch. We drove by and a kid opened their car door and it smacked into our side mirror as we drove by. It made a lot of noise, but miraclously, even though the plastic casing of the mirror smashed off, it snapped back on and everyone continued on their way, sans damage (or domage).

I feel like my French is improving/coming back. Of course, I am just loving that. I need to find a language partner, so I can practice and grill them with questions (about grammar etc), and then, in return, I'll give them some English practice/lessons. I think I'll go write an ad fo rthat right now, and put it in the local Craigslist. There's also a school for the hospitality industry just down the road from our house which apparently teaches English to future waiters, hoteliers etc, so that might be a good place to look.

I guess that's all for now. Bisoux (no idea how to spell this).