New Beginnings
Brewster sat down in the front seat of our rented Mercedes convertible yesterday and said, “Well, that was fun” in a very sarcastic tone.
Matt and I were dying to hear details about his first full day of school. “What do you mean buddy?” Matty asked.
“Well, I am in Spanish 3 being taught in French. It’s nearly impossible. I can’t tell when the teacher switches from explaining the Spanish concept in French to speaking Spanish.” Brewster has never taken a day of Spanish in his life.
We all burst out laughing. We couldn’t help it. “Oh Dude,” I said. “That is rough. “ Matt and I laughed harder and longer than Brewster. He was not kidding, school was hard. He looked like he was in pain.
Both Sadie and Brewster have the gift of Matty’s intelligence. I say it all the time. I am smart too, but in a different way. The only other person I know that read as early as Brewster and Sadie was Matt. (Another great story for another day.) All three of them learn very quickly and my kids have had a 4.0 GPA since they have been issued grades in school. Of course, I recognize their hard work at school and their accomplishments. But these first two days at their French school makes my heart swell with pride. It is another level.
Monday was day one of their school. Fortunately they start with a two hour orientation. Sadie had to be there at 9am and Brewster at 1pm. Our whole family was nervous.
Brewster slept in and Matt, Sadie & I caught the 8:17am bus. It is about a ten minute ride and a few minutes walk to their school. Sadie did not want to be late and we were trying a new bus line. There are several bus choices and we were in search for a direct route with the fewest street crossings from the bus stop to their school. I think we found it with Bus Line 4.
When we arrived at the school, all the families were outside the gate. Most children wore their school uniform (blue shirt and grey sweatshirt) but Sadie’s uniform are with a seamstress who is sewing on her patches (a service arranged by the school). Sadie wished she looked like everyone else, but there was nothing I could do about that. The uniforms won’t be ready until next week.
I tried to encourage her to smile but her nerves made it hard. I could see it in her face. Some of the kids gave each other gigantic hugs. There is nothing like being new and standing alone. We were momentarily distracted when Sadie noticed that her new heart ring fell off her finger. We looked for it in the gravel but have yet to find it. Matt is so good in those situations. Not me. I demanded sternly why she took it on and off, which is (a) not helpful and (b) kicking her when she is down. And Matt on the other hand said, “Sadie, honey, don’t think about it. We’ll find it or buy a new one.” She was comforted by him.
At 9:00am sharp, the headmistress Madame Guinde opened the gate and proceeded to shake each child and parent’s hand. When that was done, twenty minutes later, she welcomed the group in French. It was hard to hear and understand. We had no idea what she said except a few things were translated into English. I caught that the students are not to be late. She said it a few times. That’s good for me to hear because punctuality is not my strength.
The morning sun baked us. I noticed that unlike Park City, no one wore a hat. (except Matt in his fedora) Most parents were dressed to the nines. I admired the French women’s shoes, jeans, and purses. The French are so naturally stylish and beautiful. Even the men looked good. There were families from the Middle East and India as well. I couldn’t tell if anyone else was American or British; everyone around us spoke French.
Finally, the orientation ended when the headmistress called out the student’s name and they came up to meet their teacher. Sadie whispered to me, “I can’t understand any of these names.” She was right! Even when Madame Guinde called her name, it didn’t sound like her name.
So, it wasn’t surprising when we picked her up at 11am and asked her teacher’s name. She said she didn’t know. She couldn’t understand. We laughed. Crazy, right? Sadie did make one friend though. Eva. Oh, bless you Eva. Thank you for talking to Sadie on her first day. Sadie said she was hard to understand because Eva spoke really fast French. But Sadie was confident that they would be friends despite the language barrier.
The three of us took the same bus home as the morning. At one point, we realized that we didn’t know where we were anymore. It turns out that we live near a one way street, so the bus were were on was going around the old city. We jumped off and walked through the center of the city and home. No big deal, but it was a reminder that we need to pay attention at all times as to where we are and where we are going.
Brewster had just woken up and was showering when we came home. We ate lunch together although he didn’t eat much. He was anxious to go to school and get his orientation behind him. We decided that we didn’t all have to go back to school. I would escort him and Sadie and Matt would go to town to pick up a few school supplies.
The tension waiting at the bus with Brewster was intense. I was trying to make easy conversation and asked him what college football team was his favorite. He quietly answered (Stanford) and then said, “Mom, I am sorry. I can’t talk. I am just so nervous.” I wanted to pull the rip cord and bail on school all together. I wanted to make his discomfort go away. But I know the only way out is through. So we had to get on the bus and move forward. I asked him if he had ever been that nervous and he said only one other time before his football championship game. And followed up by saying, “and I threw up.” Oh boy. I was hoping he didn’t throw up. He didn’t.
We arrived on time at school and waited for the headmistress to come to the gate and open it. She again shook everyone’s hand and then we gathered around her. Brewster is part of the college. The school is split into three parts: primary, college and lycée. The college orientation was much shorter than Sadie’s. Not only were the students not to be late, but these students were not to use their phone at school. Ever.
Unlike in the primary orientation when she named each student, with the college, she simply named the grades. Brewster is in 4éme (Quatrième) and when it was called, he followed his teachers into the small classroom and that was that. I flashed him the peace sign and then he disappeared.
I left the school and went to the park to digest the day. Before long, it was 3pm and Matt met me at the school to greet Brewster.
Schedules were handed out. He was a little freaked out about the length of the day. He starts at 8am and usually ends at 5pm and possible 6pm with study hall but was very happy there was no school on Wednesdays. He will study French, English (he is excited for that one!) bilingual geography and history, Spanish, Science and he has 2 hours of Sport on Monday. There are 21 kids in his grade from all over Europe. He said he understood a lot more French than he spoke. In fact, he didn’t speak at all. But then again, he said, no one really did. I guess being 13 is not that different despite where you live.
Yesterday was their first full day and Matt’s last day in France. I took the bus with them in the morning and they were both slightly nervous, but not nearly as much as the the day before. I really wanted to take their photo. Sadie didn’t mind. Brewster did. Pretty much sums up their feelings!
Matt and I rented a car for the day and explored Provence. It was trés magnificent! The day deserves it’s own blog post so stay tuned. We picked up both kids in the car after school and loved hearing about their day. I was especially pleased when Brewster told me that this kid named Luca said to him in English right before lunch, “You eat with us.” Luca, thank you!
Here we are on Wednesday and the kids don’t have school. They were ready for a day off again. I appreciated that they could take it easy. It has been an intense couple of days.
Matt flew out early this morning, sniff, sniff. We miss him already, but all four of us are so happy that he was here to witness the first days of École Privée Val-Saint-André.
