Reconnaissance, Part 1
The logistical planning for our sabbatical began about 2 years in advance of our planned departure.
We began by reading other peoples’ blogs, A Year in Paris by Sarah Bancroft was particularly helpful. With a family of four, two daughters relatively similar ages to our own, Canadian and spending a year in Paris, her blog definitely resonated with us.
Our to-do list included sorting out a school for the girls, figuring out how to get a French bank account, and how to successfully find and rent an apartment.
We both agreed that the single most important determining factor in our happiness, or unhappiness, would be the school we chose for the girls. We definitely didn’t want an English speaking International school. What was the point of coming to live in France if we were going to surround ourselves with other North Americans? We considered public school. The girls would be young enough to absorb the language relatively quickly: Sophia would be in grade 5 and Mavis in grade 2. Living in France, they would have the right to go to a public school for free and they would definitely be immersed in local culture. However, we would not be able to register them until we had an apartment and we wouldn’t have an apartment until after schools had closed for the summer. That would mean living with uncertainty until September and, ultimately, there was no guarantee we’d get into the school closest to our apartment.
A Catholic French school seemed a good option: they require you to pay some tuition but much less than a private school and they had a reputation of being a little more accommodating than public schools. Maybe this would be a good compromise? A future colleague of Houman’s recommended their school to us so we sent an inquiry email. The response was polite but clear, “Your girls would not be considered with only beginner level French. I suggest you try some of the other big international schools, there are a good number in Paris.”
So, French Catholic private schools were off the list. We decided that a public school would be too hard on the girls and that an English International school would be a last resort.
We found two schools that were interesting to us. Both were French international bilingual schools with a special “adaption” program for non-French speaking children. The goal of the adaption program was to teach French and expose the students to French culture. At the end of one year, they should be able to hold their own in a French classroom with other French children. Voila! It was the perfect solution. The challenge though was that both schools seemed to be highly competitive and there was no guarantee at all that our girls would be accepted.
The application process required an application form detailing their extra curricular activities and their level of proficiency in language(s). They provided enough space to provide details on up to four languages. We only had English and hoped that would not put us out of the running. We needed three years of report cards, letters of recommendation from teachers, and a separate letter of recommendation for our family. One school required us to bring the girls to Paris for an interview and the other that the girls complete six hours of educational testing. We decided to apply to both. Many hours and dollars later, we shipped off our applications and made plans to visit both schools when H and I would travel to Paris in the fall.
Houman had read about getting a French bank account and how difficult it could be but he was determined. After putting out feelers to many possible banks, he successfully connected with one that would engage in a conversation about opening an account for a couple of Canadians. He started assembling documents and corresponding in French with the bank and became hopeful that he may have found a solution for what seemed to be an anxiety ridden process for many expatriates coming to France.
We considered different options for apartment hunting. We could arrive and live in an airbnb until we found something permanent. But we planned to arrive in July and had heard stories about the city shutting down in the summer. We could stay elsewhere in France and come into the city for a couple of days to apartment hunt and move to the city when the apartment was ready. Neither H or I love uncertainty and not knowing if, or when, we would have a place to live seemed a little too stressful for us. We decided paying for the help of an agent would be money well spent and made a shortlist of 4 that we wanted to talk to. We would get their advice on how to best time our move.
With these baby steps put into place we made plans to visit the city of lights in person.
