Today is the first day that Zhuzhu and Niuniu start their French school. We have been preparing them for this day way before we took the flight to Paris. The Daddy showed her school photos featuring colorful and spacious classrooms filled with happy schoolers doing various activities, playgrounds, running field, and even green gardens. But Zhuzhu remained unimpressed. She had not been happy because our vacation would start 3 days too early, which made her miss her yearly ballet recital.
"I want to go for my ballet recital. I am not going France with you." She cried one day after her ballet class.
Zhuzhu loves to dance on big stages. We have enrolled her in 2 different dance classes: one is Chinese Dance Academy and another is Ballet Dance School. She has gotten many opportunities to dance on big stages to show what she learned from her Chinese dance class early this year because of the Chinese New Year cerebration. However, she only has one opportunity to perform on the stage to show what she learns from the ballet class at the yearly recital event, which she has performed once at the end of last May so far. Thus, we felt quite sorry that our summer vacation plan indeed made her miss what she has been looking forward to for an entire year. We even allowed her to cry for a long time the day when we erased her name from the recital list on the wall at her ballet school.
However, things began to change when the Summer was approaching. She complained less and less and then fully stopped. In the mean time, she began to discuss with us more about Summer plans. Thanks to her K school teacher who took the opportunity to introduce her class the monuments of France in Paris, Zhuzhu became more and more anxious and excited to get on the Eiffel Tower, walk through the Arc de Triomphe, and draw a picture of the Notre Dame Cathedral...
So she did not shed a single drop of tears at the last ballet lesson at which she had to practice on the recital performance that she would miss!
We know then that she was ready to give up her beloved ballet recital for French vacation.
Although Zhuzhu and Niuniu have been going to Tavin and Leone's schools every school day ever since they arrived France, they have not had a chance to get inside their classrooms. Unlike American schools, the French ones are quite closed. Parents and siblings wait outside the main school gate (in Tavin's school) or classroom doors (Leone's school) at pick up and drop off times. Thus, Zhuzhu and Niuniu are quite curious about what their cousins are doing inside those mysterious classrooms.
Well, today is the day to find out, kiddos!
The Daddy and I got up early to get the kids ready for their big day. The school brunch director (manager) who happens to be the cousin of Fabrice received us at the door of Zhuzhu's classroom and then she took us for a tour. When we reached Niuniu's class, the teachers were ready to embrace him, so Niuniu followed his teachers reluctantly but not unwillingly to join his new classmates, while the rest of us continued our tour. At the end of our tour, the director took Zhuzhu to her classroom. She cried as if she would never see us again in her life, even though her cousin Leone was standing right in front of her!
The girl's tears at drop-off get me every single time!
Fabrice attended the same elementary school, but he cannot recognize any room, building, nor teachers. The school has been expanded, which has also been remodeled accordingly. The elementary school has 3 distinct parts for kids under 3 (toddlers), 3-5 (preschoolers), and 6-11 (grade schoolers), respectively. Although related, the 3 parts are run as independent entities, each of which has its own play yards and facilities for kids of appropriate ages. We only visited the classrooms and facilities in the preschool part, since that is where Zhuzhu and Niuniu go. The preschool part has 4 classrooms and each has about 25 kids and 2 teachers. The classrooms are bright, clean, and colorful. Each classroom has its own toilet area with 6-10 petite-sized toilets. Impressively, there is a large gym for little kids to have their PE classes. At the end of the building, there is a special room containing about 30 petite beds covered by neatly folded light colored blankets and little pillows. We are told they are for toddlers but this preschool does not h toddlers. I have not found out who are sleeping these beautiful beds. Outside the main building, there is a big yard with a large play set that has slides and climbing walls. A small room detached to the main part of the building stores the outdoor play equipment for little kids to check out their bikes without training wheels and soccers. After our visit, we followed the director to complete a formal registration, which allows Zhuzhu and Niuniu to receive a life time French student ID from the French Educational System. That means Zhuzhu and Niuniu can come back to France to enter any public schools at anytime in the future, for free!
Let me emphasize once more here, Education in France is Free. The kids can start from free public school as little as infancy! Even for the French live overseas with a foreign address!
Compared to Fraance, China as a socialist country is a sham!
After properly deposited the kids to a safe and fun place, our real summer vacation finally has begun!
Yahooooooooo!!!!!
The idea to put Zhuzhu and Niuniu to a French School is brilliant! They will learn at least French if nothing else. We, on the other hand, will enjoy our free time as adults. Now we can do whatever we want. The first choice for us is to have a run regularly. So, quickly got into our running shoes, Fabrice and I went for a run. The man led me to run through a forest and then to make a short cut through a tunnel under a highway bridge to reach the center of the town. I was surprised by how close it was from home. On the way back, we circled through his middle and high school, swimming pool, recreation center for the youth, and finally a grave yard!
It was an enjoyable and relaxed morning. I have not felt so spoiled by him for a long while - Fabrice is the one who taught me that good exercises are much better than bad sexes. No, you have not known that? Then get out more often with your lovers so you will know the power of endorphin. Indeed, running with Fabrice sends me into orgasm. I love to watch his butt moving up and down, smell his scent, and inhale the vapor of his sweat while running behind him. I love even more the stretches that he leads me to do after each run. But even knowing how much I enjoy this, the man usually would not grand me such pleasurable moments. He at best only uses me as his warning up partner and then dumps me in the middle of the run so that he can fly in the air. But today is special, we are in the town where he has many memories of his growing up to tell. So, he accompanied me all the way through his hometown in the mean time to tell me what he did at each of the places by which we just ran pass.
In the end of the day, I cannot help but thanking the French government for providing me such pleasant adult alone time during our summer vacation for free!!!!
Yay to French government!!!
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June 5, 2013. Wed.
Zhuzhu and Niuniu don't have school today. So we took them to the park where there is a huge playground to let them dissipate some of the everlasting energies. Then they feed some farm animals...
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| Niuniu and Tavin |
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| Climber in Training Zhuzhu |
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| Niuniu on a Slide |
June 6, 2013. Thu.
Kids are at school, so Fabrice and I enjoyed another morning run on the tracks around a large lake beside the house. In the afternoon, we all went to Emma's house for another aperitif where the kids played soccers at the backyard and the adults
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