Une de moins

Today is Clémentine's last day of school. As I'm writing this, she is having fun with her classmates. Well I guess she's right now dancing to the beat of "gusta la Gasolina", her favorite (brother-influenced) rap song and surely singing it too -- "tabalakasoniyaw" -- well that's how she manages to pronounce it. Yes, they're having a fete! We, parents, were asked to bring CD's our children love to be used at the party. I brought this CD to school, not surprisingly, almost everybody had the same! So I think this song will be played over and over again as this seems to be everybody's favorite...ah, kids.



How time flies! I can hardly believe that she already finished her first year (classe des petits) of preschool. As though it was only yesterday that we brought her home from the maternity clinic... as though it was only yesterday that I craved for a steaming, spicy shark fin soup and dined at a Vietnamese restaurant 3 hours before receiving peridural. Oh yes, as though... but it's been 4 and a half years! Time passes so fast!



She's changing at an incredibly fast rate! She speaks fluidly, has known her alphabet since she was 3 and can count to 59... ok she's still having a hard time remembering soixante (60), hehe. She's going to be in the classe des moyens next school year, and this time she's got to go 4 whole days a week as it is obligatory (she only went 4 mornings a week during her first year). Oh, that surely be quite tiring for me as I would prefer her to have lunch at home. Since I don't work (yet), I'd rather have her here for lunch and know what she eats rather than letting her eat at the canteen, having no idea whether she eats well or not. Problem is, the preschool is a kilometer away from our place and to get to and fro, is by car. Got to be there before 8:30 a.m., fetch her at 11:30 a.m., bring her back before 1:30 p.m. then finally, classes finish at 4:30 p.m. (Sorry, can't help prevent global warming!)



Let me tell you about the French education system. Ok, here, it starts early. Kids between 2 to 5 years old, go to maternelle (preschool/nursery) for 3 years -- petits, moyens, & grands sections. At the age of six, they enter elementary school (école primaire), it consists of the first 5 years of school, that is, CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, CM2. Between the ages 11 to 14 they move on to junior high which is called collège -- 6eme, 5eme, 4eme, 3eme or simply 6th, 5th, 4th and 3rd. Then the next step is the lycée (high school) which is the final step before école supérieure or université (college). Lycée starts from 2eme, 1er, to terminale. And for the last two years of lycée, students will choose their specialty (as to what their future career would be) and on which they will be tested in a week-long final exam called Baccalauréat , equivalent to Philippines' NCEE. Oh yes, 15 long years before getting to college -- and how long will that be? Well, as we all know, depending on what course you'd like to take up.

Gosh, Cléms has just started... one year down, une (année) de moins, a lot more to go...