First Day of School for Calvin and Max

We did it! We have officially started our 2nd school year here in France. Hard to believe that all of that time has passed so quickly. Max and Calvin had "the best first day of school ever" to quote Calvin. They were a bit nervous and growing anxious as all of the parents and children stood around the school yard waiting for the director to call each class roster out and for all of the children to line up, the parents were drinking coffee throughout, of course. But, as soon as they were each in line, they started talking to the kids around them and very, very quickly made friends and settled in. Max has 22 boys in his class and only 7 girls - he thinks that is pretty awesome. Calvin is not the tallest kid in his class for about the first time ever, but he is almost a full two years younger than some of the kids in his class since he is skipping a grade so it's pretty impressive that he's not even close to being the shortest! Calvin has one boy in his class who just moved back to France after 5 years in Germany. He was a bit nervous as well but seemed to adjust quickly. Both Max and Calvin were proud to tell me that they had already made some friends when I went to pick them up for lunch. By the end of the day, they felt totally comfortable!
I felt a bit like "Norm" walking into Cheers at the parents gathering (a bit more reserved and a bit more cheek kissing perhaps but still enthusiastic). I had no idea how many people I already knew there and how friendly every single one of them is! It was great. Sure made me feel very comfortable to have chosen this school that is right in our neighborhood. At one point, I was talking to this woman from German, another from Canada and one of my French friends. Pretty multi-cultural. At another point, I was surrounded by 4 high school English teachers who just wanted to try out their skills. Still fun for me!

I also absolutely fell in love with the fact that it took me no more than 5 minutes to walk either to or from school each time despite the pouring rain! Perfect! We did have to pre-plan for school walking by buying real raincoats for the first time since it does rain here so often.
Now, tomorrow will be Quincy and Tabitha's turn to begin....