One week down

When I picked up Sadie the other day, I asked her if I could take her photo.  She rolled her eyes. “Really, Mom?” I felt in that moment that I had officially become my own mother.  As we all know & love, my mom, MA loves to take photos.  “Yes, really Sades.  Please?” I ask.  “Fine.”  I took this photo and we walked out of the school.“You know that isn’t Eva right?” Sadie said.  “It’s not?  Who is it?”   “I have a second friend. “ Sadie said.  I smiled.  The first week of school was truly filled with ups and downs.  This summer, Sadie and I visited with one of her French teachers, Chrissy Nichols.  She shared with us that the French teachers are stricter and punctuality was paramount. I heard her, but it wasn’t until this week at school that  really HEARD her.Wednesday morning we left our house at 7:32am and arrived at the Bus stop 2 minutes later - 4 minutes before the bus was scheduled to pick us up.  7:38 came and went.  Quicky, it was 7:42, 7:44 and by 7:48 Brewster was ashen.  I desperately flagged a cab.  The first one was not available. I tried a second and fortunately he could take us. We piled in (Brewster shouted "We are not in a cross walk" which we ignored, trying to save time) The cab zipped down the street towards school.  The French are crazy drivers. It was 7:59 when we arrived across the street from the school. I assured Brewster that he would be fine.  However, when we arrived at the gate, all the students were inside.  He darted towards his classroom and I silently wished him the best.With Brewster gone, Sadie  burst out crying from the stress (and her brother yelling at her for leaving the cab door open). I sat with Sadie on a nearby bench, took some deep breaths and gave her tons of love.  At 8:15am I walked her up to the gate and headed up the hill through Parc de la Torse which is big and beautiful  and close to their school (It also is where Sadie’s class goes for Sport.  I spotted her there on Friday!)Outside the park was a yoga studio that I saw on line.   I went in at 9am for a Vinyasa class.  Although I understood virtually nothing of what the teacher was saying in French, it sounded like a French lullaby. I loved the quiet and to be back on my mat was amazing. I followed along  with the asanas, but occasionally I opened my eyes to find everyone but me in a forward fold.   I was still standing.  I cracked myself up.  Occasionally I recognized some Sanskrit words that I knew like Utkatasana and that was cool.At the end of class I took the bus to the vieille ville (old city) and went to a café where I met Karina and Robin for an hour of French conversation.  I saw an invite at this café for Thursdays from 11:15-12:15 to speak French with a teacher and others who are learning.  10 euro included a coffee and money for the teacher.  Nervous, I was so out of my comfort zone. I realized my French vocabulary is very limited and conversation is hard.  I felt good about putting myself in an uncomfortable situation and surviving.  I was exhausted when it was over!That afternoon when we were all home, Brewster told me the story about his morning after the cab.  He went to his classroom and no one was there.  He panicked; his stomach in knots.  He approached the headmistress and asked politely where his class was.  She responded in French, “You don’t know because you are late.”  Brutal!  She asked another student to walk Brewster to the  classroom.  That student told Brewster what he had to do in order to enter the classroom.  Brewster knocked on the classroom door and said, “Bonjour Professior.  Pardon, je suis en retard.”  (Good morning, Excuse me. I am late). And at that point, the teacher can ask the student to come in, wait or leave.  In Brewster’s case, he was invited in.  He was relieved that was over.The day before, Brewster arrived at school what we thought was on time but turns out that he didn’t go in the gate quick enough to make it into the classroom before the door closed.  Since he didn’t know about knocking and what to say, he just walked in leaving the door open and sat down in his seat, head down.  The teacher came up to him and said “Do you not say good morning to your professor?  Respect!  And do you think the door will close itself?”  Ouch.The next morning, we left at 7:20am and arrived at school at 7:35am.  Brewster is determined not to be late again!I have been signing pieces of paper all week that are in French.  Every couple of days, I go to the English speaking secretary and ask what they mean.  Yesterday, I asked her about a paper that talked about lunch boxes.  The kids thought it said to put their lunch in the refrigerator when arriving to school.  So I was surprised when the secretary told me that in fact it said the lunch boxes do not go in the fridge but only the items that need to be chilled.  The don’t want the dirt from the lunch boxes in their refrigerator.I told the kids what I learned over dinner last night.  After Sadie excused herself, Brewster and I had a little 1:1 time.  He asked if he could tell me something.  “Of course”, I said.“They threw away my lunch yesterday” Brewster said.  “WHAT?”  I was stunned.  “What happened???” I asked.He explained that it was when he was running late (after the cab)  he put his whole lunch bag filled with a yogurt, hummus/pretzels, banana, and croissant in the fridge.  When he went to get it before lunch it wasn’t there.  He played it off like he forgot it.  His friend Luca joked with him and said, “You Americans are so stupid”.  Luca kindly shared a little bit of his lunch.  When the headmistress asked Brewster where his meal was, he said “Je ne sais pas” (I don’t know) which was true.  He didn't know.“Oh buddy” I was laughing but also felt like I could cry.  “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?”  He was so sweet and said “I didn’t want to as there is only so much" referring to the knocking on the door and being late.French school culture.  Wow.  I am seeing the differences.   The good news is that every day has been a little easier for the kids to understand their teachers and Sadie even has a tentative playdate on Wednesday with friend #2.And we are off again.  I asked the kids if and where they wanted to go away for an overnight on Saturday.    Brewster said Marseille.  So I booked a room in the Old City with a pool and walking distance to the beach.  We are taking the train down there and we will be celebrating their first week at school.