The skirts had to be purchased at the school. For the shirts, we were told to go to Woolworth or PEP and by white school shirts. This didn't seem like enough info for me, but sure enough, along the wall at both places were rows and rows of "white school shirts" in little packages, for the equivalent of about $2.oo each. It is a good thing, because we have already ruined two of the four we bought for Eden - one was stained when she decided to climb a mulberry tree during recess, and the other I burnt a big hole in while ironing it...
The look on Eden's face below represents our entre into the world of middle school. She really wanted to get the picture thing over with, and was more concerned about just getting us out of the way so she could start her day.
Below is the giant wall-size world map in the administration building (which is the building in the background in the picture of the girls above). Note that Africa is in the center of the map - surprisingly, the United States may not actually be the center of the world... Ted really wants to point out how small Greenland is on the map. I have no idea why this is relevant, but he insists that I include it. So, please take careful note of Greenland.
The school campus is very large, with all the classrooms opening directly to the outside. Eden was disappointed to find out that despite that fact that there are no hallways to speak of, there is still no running allowed. She doesn't think this is right: how can you have a "no running in the hallways" rule when there are no hallways???
Not to be outdone, below is Trey walking out the door with his lunchbox in hand for his first day of preschool. Check out the big boy haircut (where did my baby go???). The lunchbox is hands down his favorite part about preschool, but he did come home singing "Row Row Row Your Boat" and they have an old golf cart the kids can play on in the playground, so they apparently do more than eat. He is also signed up to participate in "Monkeynastix" (I can not think of a more appropriate name for a Trey activity), and a music program similar to kindermusik.
The playground at Buzy Beez is below. Trey is at the top of the slide, looking at his teacher "Auntie Natalie". It seems to be a nice and well-run place with very nice people. However, he is still not completely comfortable there. Over the weekend he asked several times a day if he had to go to school today... But as best we can tell he does fine when he is there - he doesn't seem upset when we get there to pick him up, and he likes to show us the pictures he draws for us every day. This seems to be the thing that he focuses on (other than the lunchbox). He has never done anything other than a home daycare with the same woman his whole life, so this is a big adjustment, but I think we will get there.
The girls continue to do well. Hope seems to be making some friends and is able to relax and be herself. Eden continues to love it. Tonight when I was tucking her in she said that she would like to just stay here and have her family and friends move here and attend this school with her. She stated she wanted to start by getting Lyra here, and decided she would start saving money to buy Lyra a plane ticket...
3 comments:
re: Greenland -- global warming. That's why it's smaller now.
Hope looks so grown up in that first picture -- maybe it's the hat, maybe the direct look but she's ready to take on the world!
Wow - what a difference that haircut makes. The cutie boy has grown into quite the handsome young man. :) And his arms are getting a workout lifting that lunchbox!
I can't find any fault with Eden's logic. However, perhaps in Africa "hallway" is more a state of mind rather than a physical location. A friend of mine lived in Zimbabwe for a year. When she visited rural villages, initially people laughed when she walked up to the village center. When she asked why, she was told that she didn't stay on the path. Looking over where she walked, she didn't see any difference between their "path" and where she walked -- it all looked overgrown to her. It was then explained that there wasn't much foot traffic in the rural areas to flatten a path; the path was more of the direction one knew to take in approaching a village. After visiting a number of villages, she eventually learned to differentiate between overgrown and not quite so overgrown and walk the path into a village.
The kids look so cool and confident in their first day of school photos...I bet you are so proud of them! They look like they could be in a kids catalogue, too cute! Terry
The pics are so precious! I showed Lyra and Chet and they both were stunned at how big Trey looks. When I read them the post they were all ears. Lyra said she would like to go to Africa someday and asked how much it would cost. She became less enthusiastic when I told her the price of plane tickets and said she would wait. She misses Eden so very much. Every decision she makes these days involves considering what Eden would like...
Send your absentee ballot soon. I heard a news story on NPR the other day about the mess with absentee ballots from overseas. Frightening! If you need one let me know and I'll priority it to you. Then you can send it to me and I'll get it mailed in. Obama '08!!!! Besides moving the store were working hard on the campaign!
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