For those of you in France, it must sound strange that finding a good kindergarden can be a process that takes more than a year and is filled with tough decisions. But that's how it works here in Berkeley and much of the rest of the U.S.

It finally ended for us last week when Ecole Bilingue, the French-American school of Berkeley, accepted both Felix and Milo for next Fall.

We've spent huge chunks of time checking out schools, talking to principals, dropping into classrooms, gossiping with parents, and of course doing research online. We really wanted to make public school work, but in the end it came down to the fact that the boys are probably not going to speak French unless they go to Ecole Bilingue. After a year we'll see how their French is and decide if we can keep affording it, or whether they go to public school (now that we know which are the good ones).

Private schools are expensive. We thought the French government might actually give us a bit of money towards tuition, but apparently we're too rich. We don't feel rich -- well okay, sure, spiritually rich, but money-poor once we pay next year's tuition in advance.