So yesterday was my first full day here, and a very crazy day for everyone but me. It was the first day of school, although I did not go. Mostly I followed Malika around all day.
She cares for children, think motherhood times 5. I don't know how she does it, she almost always has 2 babies in the house, the toddlers and young children come and go. In the morning two young children whose names I have already forgotten (he wore a shirt with the cowboy guy from Toy Story on it and she had short hair) were dropped off by their parents and we walked them to school. Millie (I think) is 11mo. and was dropped off by her parents, as was a little boy of 9 months who cries more than any child I have ever met. She put both in a stroller and we walked to my school where she tried to enroll me only to find we did not have the right documents. We returned to the apartment and later went to pick Thomas (4) up from his school around noon. Teachers are on strike right now, so Rayanne and Sara were hanging around the house when we got back. Another woman, a friend of Malika's I think, came by the house to care for the children while she took Ilyess to school. When she got back, several hours later, we went to pick up Oceane (sp?) (7) from school. While we were waiting for her Thomas talked to me for the first time (he is normally shy) and I talked with Malika. Earlier I had told her that everything she had cooked for me was delicious, but she gave me too much food, and now she said something to me about how French have this idea that Americans eat more food. I told her some do, but not so much where we live, and that part of it is the quality of food. It amused me a little though. Oceane was fun to have around the house because she speaks loudly, clearly, and simply. I can understand her! So I colored pictures with her for a while and she taught me clapping games.
This week I am in Ilyess' room because he is away at school.
I went to bed around 9 because despite doing nothing, I am so tired. Speaking and hearing and understanding French all day takes much more mental energy than I was really prepared for.

Le mot de jour:
trottinette: scooter. In the United States, it is a child's toy, here, a method of transportation. Many little kids ride them to and from school each day and I even saw a grown man in a business suit proudly pushing himself along the street sur un trottinette!