La Rentrée

We'd push them back, but concerns kept drifting in.  Aoife's first day of Swiss school has been our only fixed calendar mark - our goal date for everything - and a big, fat question mark.

Yesterday was the rentrée scolaire, or the first day of school, for Geneva public schools.  The system changed this year; it is mandatory that 4 year olds attend.  Her "grade", which seems funny for pre-K, is 1P.

Oh sure, rationally, we knew she'd be fine, but the "this is going to add character" refrain was sounding less and less comforting the more we broke it down.  That morning, all four of us made our (well practiced) way through the old city to Saint Antoine.

The walk to school is really unattractive.

Downright ugly.

Like all of the transitions Tim and I have worried over for her, she was just fine and we were,
well,
fragile.

Aside from a brief morning wardrobe crisis,
it was smooth sailing.

Saint Antoine

Giving us a pep talk.

No one saw me take this many pictures.  

They even spelled her name correctly!
Each child is assigned a symbol for all of
their materials - she's got the bumble bee.

The only thing we were required to bring on the first day was...slippers.  (I had to clarify a couple of times, just to be sure.) The younger kids are to take off their shoes as soon as they arrive and deposit them in the coat room (vestiaire).  Any time they're in the classroom, they're to be slipper-shod.

Les Pantoufles

At pick-up time, we, the flock of anxious parents waiting outside, arched our necks to catch a glimpse of our own child's descent down the staircase.  Aoife exited holding a new little friend's hand and had precisely

  nothing 

to share with me about her first foray into full French language immersion and Swiss culture.  

All I know is that they had recess.