When the days are warm we head to the playground after school. Every parent, or whoever picks up the little toddler from school, has the same idea. Our favorite playground is enclosed with a short fence, there are two gates, and it has three large areas to play and four small areas. I just mean there are seven playground things for kids to be on. There are green metal benches all around the fence, for parents to sit on and a few trees around.

French children usually dress impeccably. And by that I mean if you can imagine what French children dress like based on a movie or book you saw or read, you will probably be correct. They all wear scarves, Mary Jane shoes or what I call a loafer, shirts on hot days, skirts with a shirt and sweater, sometimes a hat, and they are set free in the playground to do whatever they wish.

JW pushing his friend

The slides have that soft playground padding surrounding them, while the slide/climbing set for the big kids has rocks underneath. Not hurt you rocks, but small gravel, sufficient for padding and for the little ones to throw happily in the air.

Parents will gather on the benches and visit, I think they are gossiping but the French speak fast and in groups like this more than one is speaking, and I listen slowly. I just like to imagine they are, and not in a malicious way, but just visiting excitedly. On occasion a child will run to someone, to complain, to ask something, to get a snack.

The fence feels secure. My son knows not to leave it and he will usually find someone he knows to play with, though on a school day the playground is full of children from another nearby school, not his. The kids chase each other until it’s time to leave, they play touché (which is basically tag), they take turns following each other down the slide.

Older kids are outside the gate usually playing soccer, but occasionally riding a scooter. The entire park takes up the space of a city block so there is a very large gazebo, more benches, and a merry go round in the same space, all of that outside of the fence of the playground. The park is named after the U.S. President Wilson and there is a memorial for the Second Infantry Division.

I finally had the chance to listen to the Americans In Paris episode for This American Life. I was waiting for my husband to be around so we could listen together, because the beginning was so great. David Sedaris is the main interview for the show and he starts by saying they (he and Ira Glass) are at the Louvre, and he’s never been inside. I really wanted my husband to hear this because though, yes, we have been to the Louvre, I so wasn’t interested in going when we went last fall. Am I interested in art – sure, some of it, but the Louvre is just massive, and always crowded, and there was even a time (not that long ago) that they shut down in protest of the pickpockets in the area. And my husband wanted us to go? Um, okay I guess.

So we went. And it was super hot and the weak air conditioning did nothing to help that. At one point we found a vent and the five of us fought to stand over it to have a brief moment of relief.

The baby will always win.

And the crowds – yuck. I don’t have a lot of issues with crowds, but if it is a case of do or do without, I’ll take without. I’d rather go to a specific place for a specific reason than wonder around a crowded area.

Oh and the Mona Lisa – tiny.

Tiny and in a protective case (totally understandable and I think for theft/destructive reasons more than anything else if I remember right) and roped off, with people seriously shoving you to get to the front of the line to hold their camera up for a picture. Unless you are handicapped, they did let someone in a wheelchair go beyond the rope to look, which I really appreciated. But I was elbowed and shoved and in general on high anxiety alert because I was like okay I’m done, this is ridiculous. Oh and check out the expression on some faces.

Do you see the awe and wonder and amazement at seeing this piece of art? No? Yeah, me either. Okay maybe in Chris.

We did get a couple of audio guides, but didn’t use them well, they were mostly for JW to have something to listen to and play with because we knew he wouldn’t be engaged.

My experience here has been fairly normal. The lack of language is of course a barrier, or it was, but now I understand enough to cobble the context together. I still struggle with how to respond, but I’m practicing every day. What David did during his time in Paris sounded familiar though, going to the same store over and over because they are nice, and being annoyed (I think it was annoyance) at the person selling the newspaper not recognizing him. There are a few people that recognize us, and I am surprised every time. But do we go back to that sandwich shop – yes we do!

We did go to the Musee d’Orsay and that was such a better experience for us. We loved that place. It also helps to have a plan and not try to see *everything* in one day or one trip. The museums are just too large for that.

When it came time to finding a school for the kids, we were lucky to turn to the same couple that helped us find a place to live. And this was after, once again, I couldn’t find much online. You can find the basics of what a French education is – kids can start school at 2 years old in some places! Two! As long as they are potty trained. And it’s not daycare with singing the alphabet song once in a while, it’s legit school with finger painting and singing and naps after lunch. Okay, is that legit school? 🙂 And so we arrived not thinking that our youngest would actually attend, but not knowing where the older kids would go.

Our friend called two primary schools for us, as well as the secondary school for our oldest. One primary school was full and not accepting more students, but the other had openings. The other school is the one both of our sons attended last year, it is a private school that is for ages 2 up through the equivalent of fifth grade. After meeting with the director and filling out a bunch of paperwork, the kids started school about two months after school in the US started. No one other than a few teachers speak English at the primary school, but we figured after some time it would be easier for the kids. And it’s true, all three of the kids are – well, I consider them fluent. Sure their vocabulary can always be added to, but they are speaking very well.

The secondary school we were led to is also a private school, but it’s an international school. This means that a lot of students attending speak English, okay maybe not “a lot” but if they are in the international section at school then yeah, they do. This just means our oldest took a little longer to be able to speak the language as well as the youngest kids.

The school year schedule here is pretty awesome. There are two week breaks about every six weeks. This means school runs through June, to the very beginning of July actually, but we love it. It didn’t take long to get used to those breaks. The first school break last year had the kids staying up really late and sleeping in really late and it just threw everyone off for the first week, but after that they were fine. Some families go visit their relatives during the breaks, but we have yet to go anywhere.

I’m happy with the education the kids are getting here. Our youngest writes letters the way the French do so we work on that, and sometimes the older kids will come home and say they are studying something they learned at a different school, but we just keep plugging along. Oh, and despite the schools both being private schools they are no where near the cost that private schools are in the US. The primary school is only 225 euros a year (about $280, as of today). The school the older kids attend this year is around 1400 euros a year (about $1750), and only because they are in the international section. The regular school is around 500 a year (about $625), the international section an additional 900 (about $1125), with discounts for multiple kids. We also have to pay for various things such as the school trips, lockers, the school offers insurance, books they are reading for class, and of course school supplies (school supplies deserve their own post, they are long and complicated).

There will be a DODEA person you can talk to for the region you’ll be in, but if no one has been stationed in that town or if they didn’t have kids, you might not have help picking a school. They will recommend schools that others previously attended, which can be nice and make your decision easier.

One year down, one year to go!

We have lived in a great apartment, with extremely close access to the tramway system, walkable to so much, close to grocery stores and the kids schools, for one reason – because someone else helped us find it. It’s another thing we had to have help with, and we had to trust someone else. Finding housing overseas, at least in France, is so different compared to the US! When we previously moved it was easy to find a place to live – get online! Get online and do a search on a few main websites, ask your friends and support system on facebook, and you can find a new home.

But overseas – you need to walk around and look at pictures hung up in windows at the real estate offices, and be sure you are looking at the right side so you don’t look at the houses for sale (unless that’s what you want of course). This is such a big change from what were used to. When you are a military family, you don’t have a lot of control over things. You don’t get to pick the town you live in, you don’t get to decide to stay in the same school until your kids graduate high school, you don’t get to not move. Okay, you – the family, the kids – can do all of those things, but the active duty military person – they go where they are told to go. And with that lack of control, I take what I can get! I plan and prepare for our moves, I find places to live and schools for the kids. So giving it up when it came to France was just what I had to do.

And it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It was enough for me to have to move (again) and say bye to our family and friends, moving overseas was emotionally exhausting. Giving up what I had to give up wasn’t as nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I embraced the adventure.

So we had a friend look for three or four bedroom apartments for us. I was really hopeful for a four so I could have a space to sew. I’ve always had a space, a make it work space, but I was nervous because everyone says how small European/French apartments are. But when you look for a four bedroom, you find the larger apartments and we lucked out! We found four places to see, but only three were available within the day or two that it took us to make appointments, and of those three only our apartment interested us. One was really dark and when you looked out the windows you just looked at other apartments or a tiny street. This apartment is full of light, has so much space, and though it isn’t technically a four bedroom there is a large space for me to sew. I have a sewing room.

The military and finding a house not on base or not with the embassy overseas is a different thing, you have to follow various rules. You may have to make changes to the house, and even if it feels annoying and stressful, just give up and embrace the adventure. Get the keys to your place and when your kids are in school, go sit on the hard wood floors and be happy that you are not stuck in a hotel room for that much longer. It’s just one more thing we have to do when we trust others, know that they will help us find the best place to live. I have come to love this apartment, with the black out the light blinds and the loud parties that start on Thursday nights, and the tram right out the front door. I recently had a feeling about not liking that the apartment isn’t as decorated as I would like and I am looking forward to the next year and to what I can do to make our second year here even better.