Day 94

Je m'appelle Lee Harvey.  Je suis Americain.

In what can only be described as the magic bullet of pigeon shit, I took one to the dome this morning on my walk to school.  I took this as an omen for the day.  I don't know how it happened, but with the precision of a skilled surgeon, a pigeon saw fit to crap in my ear.  Fortunately, my earbud took the brunt of the abuse.  Now, I have had some recent criticism of my musical tastes, but this is ridiculous.  How exactly the fecal matter hit my inner ear and no other spot on my body I haven't sorted out, but that was the story of my day.  Upon arrival at my French lesson, I had to pause for a moment before entering the classroom as there were a number of new faces I had not seen before.  As it turns out, there is a very large group of students here for the summer from a University I have never heard of, somewhere in Georgia.  Suddenly, the class that had but one silly American is now full of them.  It was soon apparent that while I had been accepted into the fold of the multinationals in class, this new batch of Americans didn't quite suit the rest of my classmates.

I took this as a compliment as I do my best to be a good ambassador for the stars and stripes and take the fact that most don't believe me to be a "typical" american as a point of pride.  I think the judgment of my classmates is a bit rash, but in someway justified.  The American lot is young and full of piss and vinegar.  The problem is the remainder of the class is a little closer to my age.  I am the eldest, but they have all been around this wild world for awhile and have sorted themselves out so to speak.  These new pups have a way of rubbing you the wrong way and seem at first glance to be somewhat disrespectful.  One girl in particular is actually quite unpleasant and I myself don't care for her.  That is saying something, because I am a jovial sort that loves damned near everyone.

Soon enough, class was over and I was back in the heat of the sun for my usual mad dash back to the elementary school to pick up the youngest of my brood.  Even though I was tired and sweaty, I took great pleasure in the enormous running hug that my youngest always gives me when he sees me cross the threshold of the door.  It is always one of the brightest spots in my day and I hope that he appreciates the time with me as much as I enjoy the time with him.  We have a bit of a walk to our usual parking spot and it is a nice time to chat about how his day at school and he now takes great pleasure in asking me about mine.  We spent the afternoon in the usual manner until it was time to pick up the eldest.  Once the eldest had been sorted, we were off to the Police station for a bit of paperwork.  On my own with two children and a meager command of the language, I was certain that this was going to be a painful process.

This couldn't have been further from the truth.  We needed one of our immigration forms from the Police station so I can return to the Prefecture tomorrow to complete the paperwork for the eldest's trip to Pays de Gaulle.  The folks at the police station were very nice and fortunately between their bit of English and my bit of French, we had things worked out inside of 5 minutes.  The children doing their part as well, by standing quite respectfully and patiently waiting for Dad to conduct his business.  In all, a very pleasant day despite word from home that a Tornado had wiped out a number of residents in a town very close to the one in which I grew up.  I received many concerned emails, but fortunately I do not have kin in the area and even if I did, a fair number of them have made the trip into Paris to come and visit, so would have been far away from the calamity.  I do feel for those that have suffered loss in this tragedy and my prayers are with their families tonight.  Until we speak again tomorrow . . . goodnight.