Hump Day?

In this part of Provence at least - for children the age of ours - there is no school on Wednesdays. (I learned the other day that this was originally instituted because Wednesday was the day for children to go to Catechism). Other than on that day, in which we do whatever we want because we don't go to Catechism, the schedule is as follows:

a. 8:30am Drop off Abby at school. Run to the gate because we're late
b. 8:35am Drop off Sophie & Sam at their school (near Abby's). Theirs starts at 8:40am
c. 8:30/40am-11:30am School
d. 11:30am-1:30pm Lunch at home - yes, we go pick them up, then drop them off again
e. 1:30pm-4:30pm School
f. 4:30pm Pick up the kids
g. Wednesday - No School

There is an option for the kids to have lunch at school every day at what's called la cantine. But this is essentially for children whose parents both work, so isn't really open to us, unless you count Dave burning piles of rubbish in the back yard as a job. After a couple of weeks at school we were able to convince the woman at the Mairie (town hall) in charge of cantine that our kids needed to go at least twice a week so they could learn French better, by interacting more. Luckily my friend Stephanie did all the talking, and I just nodded like I had no idea what was going on. With a little wink, she agreed, and now the kids are in cantine on Tuesdays and Thursdays (that was the day I learned the word tricher). The kids can't bring their own lunch, so when poisson or quiche is on the menu, Dave and I just cross our fingers and hope we don't hear too much complaining on the ride home.

Although we don't like to drive to or from school 8 times a day on Mondays and Fridays, it's surprising how useful it is. We have to walk Sophie and Sam to their actual classrooms, so we see their teachers as often as 4 times a day. And we see Monsieur Gyss, Abby's very stern Directeur (principal) at least twice a week. In Phoenix I'm not sure I saw their teachers four times a year. And we've gotten to know a lot of parents because of it.

The whole no school Wednesday thing is fabulous. You're never more than two days away from the 'weekend', and therefore there is no "hump day". I mean, does anyone in the US really ever say "It's Hump Day!"? What a ridiculous thing. Just declare it: no school on Wednesdays, and Hump Day goes away. Problem solved.