Friday, August 20, 2010

Kinder

In February any child who will be going to kinder in August is suppose to get what they call here their inscription. I had no idea what I was doing and really no one was of any help around here. The problem comes in that there are tons of private kinders and at least 50 public or government kinders in my town. This is a good thing in a way because you are sure to find one close to home. I visited a few on my own and ended up with more questions than answers. Also in February we knew we would be moving before August and didn't want to put her into a school and then end up living far from it. Thankfully Issacs mom was staying in a town not far from here with his grandma and said she could get Alanas inscription for that town and when Aug came would could let the school know we moved but that she at least had her inscription somewhere so she should be let in. I actually just gave his mom Alanas papers and she took care of all of it for us. This was such a huge blessing. To prove how hard it is to figure anything out here my friend who is Mexican but not from this town was having as hard of a time of things as we were. About a month ago because we were now settled into our new house Issac and I decided we needed to check out some of the schools close by. Thankfully after all this mess from before Issac decided he should go with me this time. After the second school and our questions getting more precise a lady told us that there is an office that knows all the kinders, which have openings, and could help us to find one that is close to the house. We were thankful for this information and at the same time a little irritated that this was the first we had heard of this office. We quickly went to see the place and where told that we needed to wait until the second week of August and call for an appointment. She was helpful in telling us it was a good thing Alana had her inscription and that when the time came she would help us find a good school for her. A couple weeks ago we called the office and were told to show up on the morning of Monday the 17th at 9am. When I brought to Issac attention that there was no Monday the 17th he decided it must be Monday the 16th. So on that Monday he went into work at his normal time and then came to get me and the girls around 830. We had been told there may be a wait but when we got there it was empty. The guy told us it was the next day and that we should show up a lot earlier because there were a lot of people that would be in line. Well we knew Issac wouldn't be able to leave work two mornings in a row so I was on my own the next day. I showed up with both girls in tow at about 815 and the line was almost a block down the street. Around 9am when they opened they handed out fechas or numbers, I WAS 56, I cant imagine how long some of those people had already been waiting. Thankfully around 930 a friend of mine (the same one earlier mentioned) meet up with me there in line. She did go up and get a fecha which was 108 but stood in line with me so she could help me if I needed it. We waited in line outside until eleven. At the door we didn't mention her fecha and they helped us both. They simply asked what colonia we lived in and found that page. There are at least 10 Colonias and each page had at least five schools on it. They thengave us the school they thought was closest to our house. Thankfully me and the girls have been doing some walking every day and about a week ago had ran across the very kinder they picked for Alana. I was glad because this one is only a 12-14 min walk from the house. We dont have school buses here and although we have the truck its nice to know we can get there if something is wrong with it. We then were told to go sit in a row of seats and wait in line again. By about 1130 we were finally at the desk where they lady put the girls info in the computer and gave me a print out of the paper I need to bring to the school on Monday.
From what I understand on Monday Alana will be able to participate in class and I will be given the list of school items and what type of uniform to get her. I'm a little nervous about this because Issac will not be able to take off work to go with me. I have asked his aunt if she will be able to come into town to help me out but I'm not sure if that will happen yet. Anyway it was a headache and took more than three hours but in the end turned out ok and heres wishing next year will go smoother.

6 comments:

  1. You poor thing, it's hard getting stuff like that done. You did well.

    Here's today's Spanish lesson. An inscripción is an enrollment. They gave you a ficha (a token, the work actually means a tile like a domino tile not a floor tile), a fecha is the date as in "la fecha de hoy es 20 de augusto."
    You probably went to SEP, which is the secretaria de educación publico (the dept of education).

    At least you are starting with kindergarten! We had a horrible time when my son was with us and we were trying to find a High School. They didn't like the way his transcripts were done.

    My favorite and what I think of as most typical was the list of things he needed. After the uniforms it said "Uniforms can be bought at the usual place" but no address was given. After all, once you had been there, you knew where it was!

    regards,
    Theresa

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  2. This exact thing has me very worried. Is your daughter bilingual? My 7 yo doesn't speak any spanish but a few phrases and the 2 yo is bilingual. I had just assumed I could homeschool them but I hear that's against the law in most states there and I'd need special permission from the SEP or something. Then Leslie mentions paying an annual fee to the school too. Do you get a shopping list for supplies like we do here? Eager to hear about her adventures as the year progresses!

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  3. You are so brave!!! Good for you, you're doing great.

    You ladies that are having and raising babies here should write an ebook about your experiences and sell it on your websites. You could help other transplanted moms.

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  4. All this will pass quickly and Alana will do great in school. Glad she will be near your home and that you had some help. Hoping she has a terrific first week of school! :-)

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  5. Theresa-Holy cow thanks for clearing the ficha thing up. It is used a lot and I always assumed they were using the word for date in a different manner. I gave up asking my husband about this stuff a long time ago and I just try to figure these things out. That is some helpfull info. And what you said about the SEP makes sense. That is to much about the uniforms, thats why I want my aunt there in case there is something like that and I can have her ask.
    Krystal-kids learn really fast, but to make it a little easier Im sure you can find some Spanish as secound language classes for him. Try at your library or ask at the school if they know of any or if there is a community college close by. Also have your husband start speaking to him only in Spanish that is the best way for kids to learn.
    Trailrunner-not sure if its brave when you dont have a choice. ;) Iv thought of writing a book but it would have to be one I could update and change regularly, I find that a lot of times I dont figure things out till way after I have already done them. lol
    Leah-thanks Im also sure things will go ok. ;)

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  6. I agree with Trailrunner, you are brave even if you don't have a choice. These things are sooo different from what we are used to and take quite a bit of patience. There are a lot of things that I have to do now by myself too that I NEVER would have done when I first moved here and sometimes I get very frustrated but I usually end up learning something new. And thanks so much for this post because now I know to start checking around in Feb. for Enrique's inscripcion (I still have no idea where I am going to send him for kinder). Suerte with the school supply list and keep us posted!

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