Bureaucrats may be nice (see my earlier post about the CASNAV,) but apparently those that put postage on papers are not in too much of a hurry. I couldn't help but thinking of my Swiss friends' great expression "Il n'y a pas de feu au lac," when A. came bounding up the steps yesterday noontime,with the official school assignment letter from the Rectorat. The postmark was the 10th, but the letter was dated the 6th. How we would have loved to get the letter before the weekend. But we didn't, and it's turned out to be a good thing, I think.
My poor son is somewhat bored out of his mind: bi-weekly karate lessons and daily museum visits keep him occupied, but he would so love to start school and make some friends! By the time last Thursday rolled around, I had begun to panic, as every other child in France had already started school, and so I had sent off a couple of emails to the couple of names that I had in an effort to find out what was happening. My response came in the form of duplicata: I received 3 envelopes each containing 3 copies of the official letter. Ah yes, bureaucracy. Why answer the phone when you can send parts of dead trees, after all? (Don't answer this question!)
To return to the story: while waiting for the letter that hadn't yet made it to our mailbox, fortune smiled on us.. We arrived at church somewhat late on Sunday morning - the bus had a detour around a road race, and what was planned to be an arrival in time for the prelude turned into banishment to the balcony. This suited us just fine, actually, as the acoustics are wonderful and children don't have to sit completely still. (In fact, there were a couple of young girls who were delighted with their freedom to leave their seats and peer through the railing at the packed church below. (Sunday school begins next week.) Next to me was a family with children roughly A's age. Being that balcony seating coupled with a boring offertory anthem equals conversation, (ahem,) I asked them where their children went to school. The details had to wait for post-prelude - a riveting Alleluia (Mozart) sung by a travelling Philippine University choir - but it turned out that my new friend is active in the parent's association for a college that began an IB program in 6eme (6th grade) 3 short years ago, and she knew that there were openings in 5eme, which is the level that A. had been placed into by the CASNAV. To make a long story short, Monday morning Bernard was on the phone, charming his way past 3 levels of secretaries, and managed to get a testing time for A. on Tuesday afternoon. (My earlier attempt to get through the screen had completely failed. Abysmally failed. Different countries, different strategies, I reassure myself. Or maybe it's just that I would be a complete flop if I had to do cold-call sales. Yeah, that's probably more likely...)
After the testing was done, A. was admitted on the spot, and we found out that the words "aucune changement," from the official letter really means, "no change unless..." The examiner, who will also be A's primary teacher, tried very hard to sell us on the program, and she succeeded. If all of A's teachers are as sweet as she is, he will have a fantastic semester. I was told that the classes are small (about 22 children as opposed to 29-30 elsewhere,) that the other boys are extremely nice, that their interests are diverse, the families are bi-(or tri-) cultural, and A. will fit in very well. The downside is, well, this is France after all, so some of the teachers say (maybe even yell) "No," but really mean "Maybe," and you just have to take a deep breath and keep going. This will be a life lesson, (getting along with people who are not so nice,) and we will have on-going conversations about this, I'm sure. Forewarned is forearmed, however, and I'm glad to have that information.
We are very excited about this school - le College Camille See. More info (in English) is here. Tomorrow we will go over to the school for the paperwork, and A.'s first day will be Monday. The schedule looks pretty heavy, although Bernard has re-assured me that French schools tend to give less homework than American schools. I hope so, otherwise there will be little sleep in our apartment for the next several weeks. Monday: 8:00- 15:30
Tuesday: 9:00-17:30
Wednesday: 9-11
Thursday: 8:00-17h30, and
Friday: 8h-17h30.
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