And they're off again

I have just come home from the train station, where I said good-bye to Christopher, who left with his class to spend a week at a language school in France. When I got home, I found Paddy packing to leave early in the morning with his class to spend a week at another language school in a different part of France.

I'm already feeling lonely.

Since school started this week, they have both been very excited about some of the classes they have this year, and it has been so much fun with them. Paddy is delighted to be taking "higher level" math now, and Christopher is looking forward to starting an extended essay on Lenin and Stalin for his "higher level" history class, as they start preparations for the International Baccalaureate this year. They both have so much to say, and each one has a very different but equally delightful sense of humor that makes it a pleasure to listen to them.

It doesn't seem quite fair that they are to be gone again for a whole week so soon, but I'm afraid this is just a taste of things to come.