But You Are in France, Madame

Book excerpt: At the collège for a parent-teacher interview, I met my daughteroutside in the courtyard and she showed me up to herclassroom. Her teacher was busy chatting, so we waitedpatiently in the corridor. When he did come out, he indicatedthat the meeting would take place downstairs and headed offwith us in tow. Before sitting down, I introduced myself using my first name,and put out my hand to be shaken. He mumbled back his fullname as he took my hand, although I suspect he would havebeen shocked if I had actually dared use it. By this stage, I hadalready understood that teachers did not expect to bequestioned about their practices. Of course, I did--questionhim, that is; politely and almost deferentially. There was aslight pause, as he dipped his head to better digest what he hadheard. Then, with the assurance of a perfect, unarguableanswer, he replied, "But you are in France, Madame". Some months before, my husband, three children and I hadcasually unzipped and discarded our comfortable Australianlifestyle and slipped on life in the country of haute couture. Onarrival, there was no celebrity designer waiting for us, ready topin and fit our new life to us; so we threw it on and wore itloosely, tightly, uncomfortably, any old how--until we learnedfor ourselves how to trim, hem and stitch à la française. Thisbook is testament to the joyous, but not always easy, journeythat we took along the way.