Good News

After too much bad news (both with Jonah's dismal school experience and from the US), today was a day of good news for us.

Ella got off to school okay (they had a substitute teacher today, but it didn't seem to faze her too much), and then Abe and I (with Jonah in tow because we couldn't bear to bring him back to that school) set off for our mandatory physical examination, the final hurdle standing between us and cartes de sejour (actually, the final hurdle involves, ironically, going to a tobacco shop to buy stamps which indicate that we have paid our medical tax. But, we've found that when paying money is involved things typically go quite smoothly, so we don't expect much problem there). The medical visit was like a carefully choreographed dance. We arrived at 9 and worked our way through a series of doctors who checked, in turn, our vision, our blood pressure, our chest x-ray, our medical history, etc. They were very impressed by our lungs, which have been relatively untouched by either first- or second-hand smoke. We left by 10:00 with certificates of good health in hand (to be exchanged at a later date for a carte de sejour at the local Prefecture de Police), and a copy of our chest x-ray for a souvenir.

This victory fueled us for our next challenge - which was to find a different child care arrangement for Jonah. We went first to a Montessori preschool (about 20 minutes walk from our home), which to our surprise said they had a spot for Jonah 3 days a week. They were, in fact, still painting and setting up a classroom that would open later this week and which would be his class. We asked her to save the spot for us and said we would return later with the necessary paperwork (for once, French paperwork was to our advantage, because it bought us a little bit of time to check out one more place).

Although we might easily have sworn off Jewish schools forever given our experience at Ozar HaTorah, there was one more option we wanted to check out. It is a crèche (day care) rather than a school, per se, and it is nominally Jewish. The major downside to this school (The Crèche Israelite of Montmartre) is that it is, obviously, in Montmartre (you can see Sacre Coeur from the street in front). Montmartre is an amazing neighborhood, about 25 minutes from our house by Metro. But it's a challenging neighborhood to navigate, particularly with a stroller. The streets are like a real life version of the children's game Chutes and Ladders, with long windy hills and even longer steep flights of steps. We decided to go on foot (so we could find a boulangerie along the way for a snack) and unfortunately arrived right around lunch time when the director (Madame Katz) was unavailable. They told us to come back after 4:30.

In the afternoon, we picked up Ella at school. She had another great day, made a French speaking friend (Sophie), and they sang a song which apparently features a little boy who pees on a cat (I think it's likely that something got lost in translation). We returned to Montmatre (on a route that involves only a minimal amount of steps) and found Madame Katz. We told her we were here to enquire about a spot for Jonah. "I'm sorry, enrollments are finished. There are no more places," she said, but she paused, inviting a response from us (Impossible rarely means impossible here). We launched into our story. We told her he had started at another school, but it was awful and the kids cried from morning to evening. Jonah was looking his cutest and most charming, and Mme Katz was beginning to waver. "What school was it?" she asked. We told her Ozar Hatorah, she shook her head and groaned in disbelief. She got back out her class list and counted the children again. She clearly was not going to allow this sweet child to go back to Ozar HaTorah. After a bit more hesitating and negotiating, she called the teacher from the 2 year old group. In a blur of French we clearly made out the word "Adorable." She took our name, told us we had a spot if we wanted it, and sent us to the 2 year old room to see if we liked it. We liked it very much. It is in a very cool modern building, lots of natural light, attractive toys, happy children playing with attentive teachers. We chatted with Veronique (the lead teacher) for a while about her teaching philosophy, the magic of Paris, and so on, while both Ella and Jonah made themselves at home trying out the toys. After a few minutes we were sold, challenging commute and all. The school is nominally Jewish - they don't serve pork, they are closed on Yom Kippur, the majority (although not all) of the kids are Jewish. We felt right at home. Jonah will start in a few days, maybe Monday. I am confident he will love it.

On the way home, we stopped at Hippopotamus for dinner. This is a family-oriented chain in France, serving burgers, salads, etc. Ella has been noticing it since we arrived (they give out balloons, have pictures of ice cream on the menu boards out front, etc.), and has been very eager to go. She was not disappointed. The kids left happy and full, with balloon in hand, and fell asleep almost the moment their heads hit the pillow.