Second First Day

Today was the first day of school. There was talk about postponing it because of the epidemic of Dengue Fever in the Dept., but in the paper on Thursday, the announcement was that school would start as usual.

The summer holidays has passed by quickly; hard to fathom that the kids have been home for 2 and a half months. But they sure have been busy! Joel with swimming and Kezia with gymnastics, plus all our trips.

A few weeks ago, we started taking Joel and Kezia to a Spanish tutor with Nathan and Maria. They went three times a week to work on vocabulary and basic sentences. It was a good time for them, and I know Joel especially learned a lot and gained confidence in speaking Spanish.

This morning, when I got the kids up for school, they both had big grins on their faces. I was relieved that they weren't upset or grumpy about the prospect of going to school. And Joel was excited about meeting his teacher. Kezia couldn't wait to meet new friends and talk to them in Spanish. Yeah for that!

Carl isn't home right now, he's in Moro Moro, so I think I was the one who was most nervous about the first day of school. I was hoping that I would be able to get them into their classes, and recognize their teachers etc. etc. I feel a bit out of my element still.

Well, we did just fine. Even though they were registered in the wrong classes (well, not really wrong, they both were one level too high, but that would make sense to whoever was making the class lists since they were in kinder and prekinder last year), we got that all straightened out and I even managed to ask about buying more school shirts.

When I went to pick up the kids at noon, I got there a bit early and met up with a mom who's boy is in the other kinder class. My goal last year was that I would be able to carry on a conversation with another parent at school; and I think this morning I did! She talked pretty fast, but we chatted about our summer and our holidays. I'm excited about getting to know her better.

Joel and Kezia had a great morning. Kezia has the same teacher, although Prof. Heidy is having a baby next month so she'll be gone for a bit. And Joel has a teacher that taught kinder last year, Prof. Ana. Neither of the kids' teachers speak English, but I think that's great. Great for the kids, and even better for me! They did some colouring, the teachers introduced them to the other kids and they played on the new playstructure. I explained to a few of the new teachers afterwards that we all are learning Spanish, but they complimented me on how much Kezia understood. And Joel's teacher said that it was obvious he had really progressed. My chest swelled with pride!

Both of the kids said that they met two new friends. Joel wasn't sure what the boys' names were, but he said they were really nice. Kezia also met two new friends and said that tomorrow she's going to ask them what their names are.

On the way home, Liz and Ramont were walking for lunch and asked the kids how their first day of school was. Joel said it was great, and Kezia said, "It was our second first day of school, and I loved it". Second first day? Oh, right, the kids had their first first day of school in Sept. How funny is that?!