Today is Julian's first full day of school including lunch at "la cantine". Consequently, I accomplished a great deal since I didn't have to rush back from something to pick him up at noon! I hope that he isn't too exhausted from his big day but he was fine this morning when I said goodbye and I think he is taking things in stride. I set off to the Prefecture to apply for the carte de sejour, the residency card one has to have if you come to stay here from outside of the EU. Luckily, it went smoothly and I had everything they needed so, knock on wood, that is in process without complications! I got to explre the city on foot a lot afterwards and finally stumbled upon the Place du Marché in the center of town where they have the city's main open air fruit/vegetable/fish market. On Wednesdays and Saturdays it is bigger but there is a smaller version all the other days of the week. I didn't buy anything today but I think I'll go back with the kids tomorrow morning and shop. They have the most beautiful strawberries here and I am dying to get some. I haven't seen anything resembling the huge pale american variety one usually finds inthe supermarkets back home- here they are all small and a totally bright succulent red. They have tons of beautiful grapes as well but, contrary to the states, most of them have seeds! I am already frustrated again by the difficulty of being vegetarian here, the same as when i was in Paris. You really can't even get a salad in a restaurant that doesn't come with ham or chicken on it. Only the pastries are meat-free and I try to restrain from indulging in them too often! I must say that the french are obsessed with their yogurt and cheese and we are enjoying that. We love "fromage blanc" which is sort of like yogurt but we can't figure out exactly what makes it different- it's a bit thicker or something. I am really missing cooking our staple mexican meal of bean burritos with homemade guacamole! Black beans and pinto beans don't seem to exist here and it is not easy to find tortillas. Hopefully the one grocery store I haven't been to yet will have some hidden treasures......Obviously I am not someone who has come to France because I am in love with the cuisine.

Here is a little bit about school here for the kids: Their schools are a half block from our apartment which is amazing, and they both start at 9 AM. The morning session goes till 12, lunch and recess till 2 and the afternoon session until 5. So the period from 12-2 is totally for eating and playing outside which means no rushed lunches like Miette had at Lenart in Chicago! For those of you reading this that didn't hear it already, their lunch is eaten at tables set with real plates, silverware and cloth napkins and they eat in courses! They have bread with every lunch, choice of milk or water and occasionally juice, and Miette was so excited the day she got salad at school! (I don't think Julian will feel the same about salad but I'm sure he will be introduced to a whole world of meat that he would obviously never have experienced at home!) Miette's school will do different sports activities around La Rochelle throughout the year and starting in December they do swimming lessons as a class during the winter months. Julian's class goes outside 3 times a day to the school courtyard/playground which is shared by the three classrooms at his "ecole maternelle".

I start my job Monday October 1. Our first day is just an introduction to what we will be doing and walking us though other practicalities related to living abroad here. If they've figured it out yet we may get our schedules but from what I've gathered it often takes them a long time to figure out what schools need us during what times and so forth so we still may have a little bit of lag time before actually entering the classrooms. I won't complain! Though I am ready to have a little more structure in the day to day, there are still plenty of things to do with my free time! It will be nice to meet the other people that are here to do the same job- so far I have met 3 of them, one australian and 2 british women. I think I may be the only american among the english speaking natives!