First Days of School

Yesterday was the beginning of adjustments for all of us and to a new routine. We as parents where nervous as well as the whole cross-cultural school experience is just as new to us as it is to them. It's hard not to be able to relate to your own kids in what they might be experiencing, because we have not been there ourselves.

Samuel's First Day:
He was very excited about going to his new school and is very proud of himself in that this is one step closer to growing up to be an adult. He really likes to learn and so we pray his lessons are stimulating and his teachers are both captivating and also understanding in his growing language ability. His first grade class now has 20 students. One of the additions being, Dario, a boy who was also in Samuel's preschool class. They are seated next to each other and I'm sure it was a comfort for him to see a familiar face. The parent's meeting lasted until a little after 9:00am at which time we received a school supply list and some basic need-to-know information. We left Samuel happy and smiling in his new classroom. He had a great first day and still carried his excitement home with him.


The only bad part of his day was when we arrived nearly 10 minutes late to pick him up. We had to pick up Emma and make a quick detour but it cost us deeply. Samuel was in tears when we got there and we felt HORRIBLE! What parent wouldn't?! He was the last child remaining and no doubt his anxiety was increased because of it being his first day. He said "we lost him." The rest of the day was full of reassurances that we loved him, we would never leave him and that we were deeply sorry. He took great comfort in having our phone numbers written in his school planner that if ever he or his teachers need to reach us that they can call. And believe me, that won't happen again!!

Emma's First Day:
She was not excited about going back to school and there was much anxiety in her little heart about it. Maybe not having her brother who is stronger and more outgoing in character walk in to school makes it harder. The language is greatly intimidating to her and she becomes extremely quiet in social settings. We are praying that with her soon to be all-day schedule that she will gain confidence in the language and come out of her shell. I had to pass off a clinging and crying Emma to her teacher before leaving her both yesterday and today. I am told she quickly calmed down and was very tranquil, saying very little to anyone.

When I picked her up she said she had a good day. Even better today, because when I picked her up the first thing she said was "I like school!" I asked if she wanted to come back and she said "yes." I asked Jonathan if he had a tape recorder so I could play what she said to her tonight as usually that is when she starts to whine about not wanting to go to school and just wanting to be a little girl her whole life. Keep Emma close in your thoughts and prayers in these initial weeks of adjustments. We were pleasantly surprised to hear that she just goes 1/2 days all this week too.

Luca's First Day:
He would have been just fine to stay at either of the schools. He was not happy to leave his siblings. At the preschool we stopped in to say hi to Vittoria, Samuel's teacher from last year and Luca just jumped right in playing with the other kids. I had to go and pry his fingers off the school door as he wanted to get back in to stay. His final year at home will be cherished by his parents even if he thinks otherwise.

After dropping the kids off and with our grocery and school supply lists in hand we headed off to the supermarket. It was an insane place to be with parents trying to find all the very specific list of items. For example, Samuel needs 7 different colored notebooks of graphing paper of a specific dimension with margins. The solid colored notebooks found were not the right dimension or were missing margins, the correct dimension ones didn't come in solid colors, the notebook covers came in packages that included only 4 of the colors you needed and so you can see how frustrating that process was. Of course, this being our first time experience at the elementary level we didn't know that these hassles could have been eliminated at a specific cartoleria store. The cost is higher, but to cut out the stress of school supply shopping with every parent with a school aged child, we will gladly pay any price next time around. Why is it again, that they can't mail you a school supply list 2 weeks prior? Answer: Not a clue, that's just the way it is!

My afternoon was spent organizing materials, covering notebooks, and labeling items for both kids to take to school today. The dishwasher wasn't unloaded from the night before, lunch dishes still remained, laundry needed to be hung, dinner needed to be made, and I was still missing 3 school items, when my loving husband came upstairs to give me a great big hug and say, "let's go out to eat tonight." His proposition could not have been better timed or more appreciated! The kids were thrilled to get a special treat of MickeyD's for dinner too. Not to mention that we got the final 3 items by visiting 2 additional stores.

Today after dropping the kids off we headed over to the center to clean all morning. It will be a busy week of much the same schedule as we try to get everything ready to open for the first ESL class on the 30th. Tomorrow morning I will clean with Giulia while Jonathan and Danilo hang up flyers for the ESL classes around Caselle. Fun, exciting times all around that continually keep us on our knees! Thanks for your prayers too!