the boston trip was very fast. 3.5 days with the family in new hampshire – my brother picked us up at the airport, which was very nice. he was staying with my mother for the week that my sister was away. we got to see him for a couple of hours and the next morning he was off very early. my sister came back that evening, but we didn’t see her till the next day. i finished up a bunch of cleaning of my mother’s house, that my brother had started. it was a very short stay because wednesday we headed down to boston. we stayed with leslie and joel and s. and had a good old juicy burger at jj’s favorite burger joint. these few days were non stop eating and socializing. friday we got to visit our house. i thought it was beautiful! the tenants have added some nice things and the house looked great. we went to the attic to dig through our impossible pile of storage. we found a few things to bring back. then it was lunch, ice cream, dinner with different friends, ending with a mom/daughter joint sleepover at some other friends. then saturday we headed back to leslie and joels to repack. joel then drove us to the airport. i was surprised at how much i enjoyed being back and felt a re-connect with the town. i really liked it. i did not have the feeling i thought i would, that it was boring there. i felt at home. i think we will stay in paris for another year, but then i’d be happy to be back.
this week have been trying to take hold of my schedule. constantly thwarted. i did do some painting. working through my iris group. but i don’t seem to be able to get more than 2-3 hours a day. today jj is sick and i have been cleaning the apt for the arrival of tove. that took all morning – plus having had a bad night, got a late start.
it seems that we are leaning more and more towards staying for another year. yesterday i met an american (walking her dog in the champs de mars) who said her daughter got a wonderful education at this school. she said that right now, part of the problem is that the school system is going through a big change. president sarkozy is cutting the budget and asking the teachers to work more, and they already get such low pay, they are not happy about things. many are just sticking it out until retirement. she said many teachers are buying their own school supplies – but that happens in the states as well. but that would explain some things. according to the lecture i went to, the “renowned” french school system is failing. more and more kids are not getting an education at all. reading problems etc...
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