Annie's turn: the journey to preschool

9.08.2007

Annie is now 3 1/2 and as we have previously described, our social butterfly. She has been begging to go to school with Sophie since Sophie began kindergarten last year. As a new preschool option became available here, we decided to send Annie 2 days a week, Wednesday and Friday. She was delighted and it seemed to her that the day would NEVER come when she, too, would get to venture out to school. She did have a couple of disillusionments when she found out A.) she wasn't going to school with Sophie and the other 6 year-olds (a.k.a. Annie's BEST friends...have we mentioned she thinks SHE is 6?) and B.) that Mommy and Ben weren't going with her either! She then informed me that she was going to be shy there. Due to a nasty GI bug she missed her first day (not the best way to start out the school year...infecting 20 other children and their families with a virus!)

...A funny aside for those who don't mind hearing about childhood illness...Annie is mid-hurl leaning over her bucket (time check: 3:30 AM) and Sophie is sitting beside her and says, "I feel so bad"...not "I feel so bad for you, Annie", not "I feel so bad (sick) myself", but simply, "I feel so bad for myself that Annie is sick." Ahhh, the egocentricity of a child...

OK, back to Annie and school. Below you will find some pictures that will help give you a glimpse of what is involved to simply get Annie to school in the mornings...and then you will see why we only do it two days a week!

Taxi Trip

8:00 - 8:30 AM

We are out the door by 8 AM to catch a ride with our regular taxi driver up the hill (about 7 minutes drive) to our friends' and teammates' apartment. When Sophie is going to school the other days of the week we leave her with the Douglas kids (Krystal & David) for the rest of the trip to school. We leave the Douglas place by 8:15 AM...The twist, this taxi, like about 99.5% of taxis here have no seat belts, let alone booster seats. Every trip to school (or anywhere) is a venture of faith!

8:30-8:50 AM

Once we arrive at the school , we get to fun of seeing Sophie off to her classroom. Annie gets to see all of her "best friends" and then we usually visit the kindergarten class, too. School hasn't started by this point and since it is such a small school (less than 60 students grades K-9) it has a real family atmosphere. Most of the kids and parents know Annie by name and greet her accordingly...unknowingly making her day.

8:50 - 9:00 AM

From here we await one of two different families depending on the day. These two gracious families, with vehicles of their own, have agreed to shuttle us on to the preschool along with their own second-born girls (the older two being students with Sophie), pictured below.

Out of the van and ready to go! (note Annie's choice of clothing: her "princess" dress...on her way to the ball, no doubt!)

9:00 - 9:10 AM

Once we arrive near enough to the preschool, we park and walk the last block or so to the school. As you will see below, the last stretch of the road is a bit hard on any vehicle...besides the little extra walk helps the girls burn off a bit of the bubbling over excitement. The school, like Sophie's, is actually a house located in a neighborhood. It has the advantage over our apartment of having a nice little yard to play in.

Ready to face another tough day at preschool...the three musketeers!

9:10 AM - 2:30 PM

Upon arrival at the school, the children are greeted by the rest of their buddies and their lovely teachers, who help them change into their indoor shoes and get them settled in the general play room, while they await the rest of the gang. The next 5 hours will be full of healthy snacks, singing, games, new concepts (ABCs 123s), lunch time followed by a rest and (knowing these kids) lots of giggling!

School, at last!

2:30 - 3:30 PM

I'll spare you the details of the return journey. If you just do everything in reverse, you'll get the general idea!

Coming Soon: Life from Benjamin's point of view