Yesterday my 10 year old son, Matthew, said to me, "Mum, I actually can't remember what it was like when I couldn't understand what anyone was saying, you know, when we first arrived in France. It all sounds really normal to me now."
He is now in his last year at ecole elementaire (primary school, 6-11 years old) and next year will be starting college (12-15 I think). It's interesting that none of our three children are pining for the fjords and valleys and rivers and mountains of New Zealand now: they are well and truly immersed into their French lives, and facing stuff like any other 10, 8 and 6 year old would.
I'll gradually add more stories about moving to France, dipping our feet into experiences, and finding out how to live here and enjoy it (not hard once you know how, but it can make you a bit wobbly when you don't know the language and every outing feels like a major challenge!), and what it does to your children when you put them into French schools with only a oui and a non to their names.
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