La Rentrée must be French for Labor Day (updated)

While today is Labor Day in the U.S., France celebrates labor on May 1st. For us today it's "La Grand Rentrée," the big return to home, work, and school. (Betsy's been at work, of course, but leaves tonight for two weeks in Japan.) Today Carter and Calvin made another school transition, after finishing up at summer camps last Friday. In preparation, we took it pretty easy over the weekend, only going out for errands and marketing, plus on Saturday a picnic hosted by the teens from Carter's school, and on Sunday a dim sum lunch with our new friends David & Melissa.

Since Betsy isn't leaving for Japan until later, we got to start the first day of school all together. (Check out the pics.) Calvin started first, at the usual 8:30am start time. His new school is about a 5-minute walk for us, between the apartment and Carter's school. (See him in a movie.) The place was crazy with kids and parents. (Brief rant: the French, or at least preschool-parent French, have NOT figured out how to wait in line or that if they don't let you OUT of a crowded room, they can't get IN!) The directrice, Mme Monzat, greeted everyone at the main door and told us that Calvin's class was upstairs, and that his teachers speak english. Very thoughtful. We found the room without problem, and met Mmes Marianne and Marie-Pascal (I think). Calvin headed in to play and when we left him he seemed chipper and curious, though a bit subdued amidst all the chaos.

Carter's school staggers the start times by grade to avoid all the chaos, so he wasn't due until 10. That gave us time to stop at a café, read with him a bit, and talk about "quoi de neuf" (what's new). We also said hi to Lisa and River at the bike shop, and got to his school just before 10. The scene at the front gates was, again, chaos, with a couple hundred parents and kids all milling about. The directrice, Mme Lascar, started calling out names, and everyone smashed against the fence and hushed their kids trying to hear. Thankfully, Carter wasn't in the first class - not because it's taught by his teacher from last year, Mme Autenheimer, but because we couldn't hear half the names. He was in the second set of kids called, to be taught by Mme ... no idea, didn't catch her name. Oh well, he'll know by the end of the day! Betsy walked with him to the front door, through which no parent can ever pass. We waved goodbye and he headed in.

I'm sure some of you have already had your rentrée, but we hope they all go well and please know that we're thinking of you. I'll be single-dad for the next two weeks, so I'm eager to make good on all those long-deferred catchups by phone call, email, and video chat.

P.S. Thanks to my friend Kevin, I was able to update the movie of the grand spectacle from last month so the water cannon is right side up. Check it out, and thanks Kevin!