We've moved!

I'm really excited to report that we've moved to our new apartment in Eaux Vives!  Moving day (yesterday) was extremely stressful.  I woke up at 4:30 to make sure I got a good hour of worrying in before getting the kids ready and taking the bus, with rolling suitcase, some backpacks, the kids school backpacks, and various other bits and pieces to our new apartment.  I'm sure we must have looked like quite the vagabond family.

But it wasn't just the move that was happening, it was also the kids first day of school at their new, permanent school!  I feel bad that they need to make another transition so soon after starting at the first school, but it can't be helped.  So far I'm very pleased with their school.  Most importantly, it's at most a 3 minute walk from our apartment!  Also, during my meeting with the principal at 8 to get the kids registered, I got a very good impression.  She seemed very kind and competent, and also seemed to have a good rapport with the kids, and knew their names.  She spent a good hour with me, made sure that I knew what was going on, and also got the kids registered for the lunch program for the day, since it was our moving day and it would have been hard to have them here with us during the move.

In Kenny's classroom, the teacher sat him next to a kid who spoke English well.  I think he may have been British.  He'll be starting the French welcome class next Monday, which - oh joy! - is just down the hall from his regular class, not in a whole different school like previously.   Peter's classroom looked very different from his previous class, which was very barren looking.  This one was packed (almost to the point of clutter) with all kinds of materials and games.  The teacher was very warm and welcoming.  She had a little girl lead Peter by the hand around the room, showing him the points of interest in the class.  Also, there's only one teacher, the class isn't split between two teachers like in his old school.

After I got the kids settled in their new school, I walked back (only 3 minutes!) to our apartment to see this outside:

We're on the 7th floor (called the 6th here), and this is what they do, whenever possible, to move people in and out of apartments.  It's like a mobile elevator without walls.  There were a team of 5 men here, working pretty steadily with about an hour and a half lunch break, and they were in by 8:15, and gone by 1:30.  I expected them to just leave all the furniture and boxes and go, but it turns out that they also assemble the furniture and unpack boxes.  That worked out very well, Eric helped them assemble the kids bunk bed, which is quite a chore, and they also did some Ikea tables and chairs, and a bed.  They had a guy unpacking in the kitchen as well, which I'll have to completely redo once I figure out how I want things in there.  But it was still great to get rid of those boxes and papers - they ended up hauling a huge load of packing material away.

Our apartment looks like this now

It'll take a while to get everything set up, that's for sure.  Right now we have boxes everywhere.  Thank goodness there's a little storage space in the basement, we'll be putting lots of stuff down there.  Tomorrow we're headed to Ikea to buy some kind of storage unit for the entryway, just some place to hang coats.