Dear Suev
Given that your message is now six months old I doubt that what I have to say is going to be of much use to you. However I will continue.... I am also based in Paris and I felt very isolated on birth of first child in 1998. I soon started going to the play groups at the local PMI ('Protection maternelle et infantile) and I made a number of acquantances there with mothers of small children. Some of these people I just see around when out shopping and just stop for a brief chat - this in itself makes my life a little more pleasant - and others I now see on a regular basis which has been great for both me and the children. Meeting these few people has certainly made an enormous difference to me and although they haven't quite replaced my friends from home, I certainly feel a lot less isolated. I also found which I'm sure you have too, that once there are children on the scene people seem to talk to you more easily. It is only once I had children that the people in the flats I live in started talking to me. Also now that my eldest child will be entering the equivalent of nursery school in September I feel quite excited at discovering with her the school system in France.