In which we become members at the American Library

One of the things that is hardest about being in a non English speaking country is the difficulty involved in obtaining reading materials in English. Obviously there are books available for purchase, but the titles tend to be fairly limited, and the prices quite high. Two years ago when we were here, we discussed buying a membership at the American Library in Paris, and decided against it, on the grounds that it would be inconvenient to travel across town by train each time we wanted to check out or return books. Also, we decided that it would be too expensive to make it worthwhile. After about a month in Paris last time, with our kids so thoroughly tired of the few books that we had brought that they refused to listen to them at all, I decided to take them to an English language bookstore and buy them a few new books. It turned out that we could have had a four month library membership for the cost of 3 children's books.

With that in mind, we set out Saturday after lunch to buy a membership at the American Library in Paris. It is now even further away, and more inconvenient to get to than it was, but we'd at least determined that it made sense financially. It took us 2 trains and about 45 minutes to reach the station nearest the library. From there, we had to walk several blocks. We went right past the library the first time, as the entrance is rather unassuming, and Blaise had remembered the wrong address. (His job was supposed to be directions. Mine was making sure we had the right paperwork and documentation.) Finally we found it, filled in our membership application, and paid our 155 Euro fee (for a family membership), about 2.60 per person per month. While they processed our cards, the kids and I went into the children's room to look for books. Each kid was allowed to pick 6 books, and the librarian was very helpful about looking for StarWars books for Ezio. Sapphire and Ezio signed up for the summer reading program (which felt odd, as the program in Kansas is ending in a few days and this one is just beginning). I picked up a couple of grown up books for myself, and we collected Blaise and checked out our materials.

After we reached the river, I noticed that Cherry was no longer wearing her backpack and had to run back to look for it. We found it over by the periodicals after searching both the children's room and the bathrooms. Cherry was extremely happy to have it back, and I was equally happy that I could leave our newly checked out books and all three kids with Blaise while I went back.