LSD--Our First Few Days in France

I miss Devin and Sebastien terribly  but I am kind of proud to be on my own the first few days since Devin always handles everything and I'm trying to prove to myself I can keep us alive in a foreign country too… I even start handling school business, thinking I”ll really surprise Devin. I go to visit Sebastien’s school to see what we should expect and then I will tell him and prepare him. He has been going to school in English but here the kids and teacher will speak only in French. He needs to be able to tell the teacher he has to go to the bathroom or he wants something, I think to myself. And he has to be able to say hi to the kids in French. How is he going to make friends, I worry. I have to teach him to say “Hi my name is Sebastien, what’s your name?” (my little MO back in the day) The school door is locked so I go to an open window where I hear ladies gossipping-it must be their breakroom. They let me in and tell me to wait for the principal, on a chair they put outside her door. i try to keep Anais from disorganizing all the books because French children are always so well behaved. When she comes out I recognize her as we had met the year prior. She is like 20 and speaks with a heavy local accent. I ask my questions and she takes me to Sebastien’s classroom where I meet the teacher and his assistant. They are both very nice and answer my questions about what Sebastien will be doing. I ask what he should call them and he is supposed to say Michel or Maitre (teacher). This I explain to Sebastien and by the weekend he can answer enthusiastically what his teachers’ name is. He grows to love this teacher and lights up when we mention his name!

Monday arrives and we are up early to get him off to school. Still jetlagged he is difficult to rouse. But we make it and rush out the door. Unsure what the formal French put their kids in for school, we insist Sebastien wears a shirt with buttons. (It turns out they wear t shirts and shorts) He proudly wears his ‘packpack’ and we’re off. Granted in our rush we’ve forgotten to wash the milk off his face or have him go potty but we’re off!!

At school we wait for them to open the doors with all the other parents outside. I recognize a kid from his school the year before and point him out to Sebastien. Our neighbor also arrives and the boys are happy to see each other. I’m relieved because of my big fear he’ll have no friends. (How one learns about oneself when raising children…) You wait in line to go into the school when it opens and a woman is there to watch people enter and exit. Then you wait in line at your kids’ classroom so that each kid enters class one at a time and greets the teacher’s assistant and hands his notebook through which the teacher communicates with the students. I love this part of France-the one with the annoying rules for everything. It is orderly and the kids and adults always know what to expect.