F Train to Paris

In which a Jewish family from Brooklyn moves to Paris, France for two years of work, school, and adventures.

 

 

Our first year in Paris ended on August 27^th, and our second and last year began. I was aware of the anniversary, but this week feels more significant, because the boys went back to school and my second year here really began.

 

The differences between this year’s rentreé and last year’s are dramatic for all of us. (Rentreé is the French equivalent of the expression “back to school,” but it’s a noun, and it’s applied to lots of things besides school—for example, the “rentreé literaire” refers to all the new books published this season.)

 

Last year, E, (now age 5 and three quarters), was shy and clingy, hiding behind me as we waited in the lobby of his new school for his teacher to gather up her students and lead them to their classroom. I was shy, too, watching and listening to parents of returning children as they greeted each other, hyper-aware of a cluster of English-speaking moms exchanging double cheek kisses and asking “How was your summer?”

 

This year, of course, both E. and I were swept up in the reunion, right in there with the double-kissers. He hugged Sascha, his best friend, who he has not seen since the end of June. There was just a little tension, of course, as E. glanced around to make sure his friends were in his class (and ascertained that a little boy he doesn’t like was not). Along with the rest of his classmates and their parents, we climbed the stairs to the Grande Section Jaune (Kindergarten Yellow, as opposed to Kindergarten Blue) classroom. A few children were crying. E. walked into the classroom and immediately took a seat at the table, where paper and markers were ready.

 

That was Monday. J. (age 15) and R. (age 12) started school Wednesday. It was totally anticlimactic--no anxiety, no news except a few details about which kids have left, which ones are new, which teachers they have, etc. R. went to Trocadero with his friends after school to scooter and skateboard.

 

 

posted by: pariskleinmans at 15:24 | link | comments |