After a long summer of changes and wandering, after a couple of weeks of house hunting, exploration and acclimation to our new environment, the next big new thing was to get everyone in their own schedule.
We chose to register the kids to the Lycée Français François Mittérand, aka the French School, for various reasons. The main one was to limit the changes for both kids, by placing them together in the same structure, and by continuing with the same curriculum and language Noam had in Beijing at the Lycée there. Despite some irritants in Beijing, mainly linked to the personality or attitude of certain people in the administration, we, as parents, were quite happy to see the pedagogical approach followed by the French system. The approach, while starting really early with young kids, is gradually introducing them to notions of writing, spelling, mathematics and other life and social skills that makes them love school.
So a few days after our arrival, we went to the school to introduce ourselves to the administration and get the kids to foresee the place where they would spend a large portion of their week. We were very warmly welcomed by the secretary, it was a very pleasant introduction. During that time, the kids explored the little playground next to their classrooms and were excited about the idea of starting soon in the same school.
Frequented by 300 students of all grades, the structure in Brasilia is very small by comparison to Beijing where there were 400 pupils only in maternelle. This situation is explained by the size of the city (1/8 of Beijing), and the Brazilian capital being mainly an administrative centre (rather than an industrial or commercial one) with an expatriate crowd mainly composed of corps diplomatic, and very few international private businesses.
The school facilities are somewhat outdated. For kids Noam and Emmanuel's age, it might not be a problem to have outdated computer or chemistry labs or inadequate sport facilities. But from our first glance, older kids might need something more elaborate. And the administration knows it. Similarly to Beijing, the Brasilia institution is also in the process of building new facilities, in the suburb of Lago Sul, conveniently where we are looking for a house.
So today, the four of us drove to the school, in the education sector of the city, and walked in, holding the hands of our little one. They were excited, yet anxious a bit. Dropping both kids in their respective classes went relatively smoothly, even if Emmanuel had initially imagined I would spend the morning with him and consequently shed some tears.
They were ecstatic when I picked them up at twelve thirty. I was just unable to catch them together on photo to immortalize that day!
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