La Rentree!

I can almost taste it! I can definitely smell it! It's the moment we've all been waiting for! Drum roll, please... La Rentree! Loose translation: The end of summer vacation and the beginning of the new school year! We went to our welcome picnics on saturday and, mercifully, Lili found a friend. A very sweet girl from NYC, they will be in the same class and they have a lot in common. Not the least of which is that they are both desperate for some new friends, so they are pretty happy to have found each other. She will also only be here for the year so that will save us some tears in the future. Noa met a new friend at her picnic, who she ended the day with by wrestling to the ground and lying on top of him in the middle of the Champs de Mars. Ahh, Paree! We also visited the schools, which both seem very nice if not a little pretentious (and when I say a little, I don't actually mean a little). And schools are very strict in france. On friday we are expected to bring our children to the door, kiss them goodbye and send them on their way. None of this mamby-pamby take your kids inside, get them acclimated to the class and the teacher, then say you're going to quickly buy some gum and come back 6 hours later. Nope. The parents are never to go in the school unless specifically invited for an event. Drop off and pick up are outside the front door. School is from 8:45 to 4:15. Voila. I'm just happy that they each have at least one friend who will be in class with them and at this point all I can do is pray for an easy rentree.