As most of you well know 5 de Mayo is not the Independence nor Revolution day here in Mexico but is a celebration of a big win. La Batalla de Puebla is celebrated mainly in Puebla and in a few other areas but not here. Alana got the day off school but that was about it. She did come home yesterday with a color page of a guy with a gun and canon that said la Batlla de Puebla on it. On the way home from school I asked "So Alana what is that picture about."
"Well this guy is a war hero." Says Alana
"What happened in that war" I ask
" The Mexicans didnt want people in their desert so they tried to kill them."
"Oh my!" I exclaim holding back my laughter. " And then what happened"
" Well the people just walked away." Saying it with a look and tone as if I should have already known this.
"I see."
So there you have it folks 5de Mayo was when the Mexicans didn't want other people in their desert and when they tried to kill those people they just walked away.
I love children.
Showing posts with label school in Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school in Mexico. Show all posts
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Inrolling in government school in Mexico
Ok guys Im taking the lazy way out on this one. A good friend who has been here much longer than I wrote a wonderful and informative post on getting your child inrolled in school here. So instead of rewriting something that has been so well stated here is a link to her blog.
http://www.motherhoodinmexico.com/2011/02/important-information-for-moms-dads-in.html
http://www.motherhoodinmexico.com/2011/02/important-information-for-moms-dads-in.html
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Government school in Mexico
For Kinder we have opted to have the girls go to the government schools. With Alana she already knows everything in English that they will be teaching her in Spanish. Actually she already knows most of it in Spanish also. So we decided it would be silly to pay a ton of money for her to go play with friends every day. Its a good thing we decided that to because we dont quite yet have the income we were expecting. Here in Mexico they have three years of Kinder. The first year at the age of three is optional and is a lot like preschool in the states. We opted out of that year and started her at the beginning of this school year. If you remember we were living in a smaller town when we started her and she loved it. I was having a hard time with her teacher there but was glad for her to be in school. When we moved to the city we found a couple government schools and were actually allowed to pick the one we wanted. Its totally secure and I LOVE her teacher. She is about my age and seems like someone I would hang out with if given the chance. She works so good with Alana and seems to like the challenge of it. When I asked her how Alana was doing with her Spanish she said she speaks great and only some times has trouble understanding words. When she does have trouble the teacher says she gives her multiple different words or ideas or uses her hands to help her figure it out. She also said she rarely has to explain a word more than once. How great that the teacher takes this extra time with her and that she took the time to explain this to me. If you remember from a previous post when I asked her old teacher she bluntly told me that Alana spoke better than me and then turned back to her task at hand.
Christmas break started the week of the 17thish. I put the ish for a good reason, just read about her Christmas party and you will understand. She was suppose to go back to school on the 10th of January. This seemed like a long break and she was so ready the morning of the 10th. I´m pretty sure I mentioned in the Christmas party post also that when we arrived on the 10th the place was torn apart for remodeling. Well its three weeks later and this morning is her first day back. I have this sinking feeling were gonna walk all the way there and they wont have it for some reason or another. Issac had to use the truck this morning to bring the baby in for her immunizations (which will be another post) so we are on foot. Which is fine actually its a nice walk and with just the older two its good exercise and its not to cold for them.
So all in all the government school for Kinder can be a pain and let them miss three weeks of school but like I said its Kinder and mainly a play date every day. This teacher does actually send home homework and encourage the parents to do things with the kids outside of school and class work. Alana and I love to do activities and she has about three or four learning websites so we have that covered and I hope I can always manage to do this type of thing with her. Any of you that have kids here in Mexico and want those websites let me know. Her favorite one, I found out while I was in Dallas, is used by the schools there to give kids homework. This made me feel really good about the sites I found and choose for her to do.
We are so excited about her first day back. I'm also hoping this routine will help with the nightly bed wetting we still have. We are also trying to remember to wake her up and bring her to the bathroom before we go to bed. This usually helps but not always. Any suggestions on that issue are welcome although I'm afraid we have tried everything.
Christmas break started the week of the 17thish. I put the ish for a good reason, just read about her Christmas party and you will understand. She was suppose to go back to school on the 10th of January. This seemed like a long break and she was so ready the morning of the 10th. I´m pretty sure I mentioned in the Christmas party post also that when we arrived on the 10th the place was torn apart for remodeling. Well its three weeks later and this morning is her first day back. I have this sinking feeling were gonna walk all the way there and they wont have it for some reason or another. Issac had to use the truck this morning to bring the baby in for her immunizations (which will be another post) so we are on foot. Which is fine actually its a nice walk and with just the older two its good exercise and its not to cold for them.
So all in all the government school for Kinder can be a pain and let them miss three weeks of school but like I said its Kinder and mainly a play date every day. This teacher does actually send home homework and encourage the parents to do things with the kids outside of school and class work. Alana and I love to do activities and she has about three or four learning websites so we have that covered and I hope I can always manage to do this type of thing with her. Any of you that have kids here in Mexico and want those websites let me know. Her favorite one, I found out while I was in Dallas, is used by the schools there to give kids homework. This made me feel really good about the sites I found and choose for her to do.
We are so excited about her first day back. I'm also hoping this routine will help with the nightly bed wetting we still have. We are also trying to remember to wake her up and bring her to the bathroom before we go to bed. This usually helps but not always. Any suggestions on that issue are welcome although I'm afraid we have tried everything.
Friday, September 3, 2010
First school meeting
Today was the last day of the second week of school and we and the school are finally getting some info. Wednesday when I dropped Alana off I saw a poster up that said Attencion. Thankfully as I was reading it I heard another mom asking about it because it kind of didn't make sense to me. Apparently it was written weird and even those who know spanish well were a little confused. So I listened in on her questions to the director (I guess that's what I should call her)and I got what I could out of it. I then approached the ladies who have sort of "taken me in." They live right on my block and helped me find someone else who lives on our block to make Alanas uniform. Also they are always sure to slow their pace if they know I'm behind them or ask me if we want a ride if they see us walking to school. One of these ladies actually has a daughter in Alanas class so she explained things to me and offered to come by and explain to my husband just to be sure I was not misunderstanding anything. This was a major relief to me. Well she wasn't able to come by and explain things to my husband because she came down with a bug and here is how things played out.
From what I could understand we were to have a junta (meeting) with the teacher on Thursday morning at nine and the kids would be having class that day, and then next Monday the whole kinder would have a junta with the director. Thursdays are a very busy day for my husband and we decided I would go and do my best and hopefully our neighbor could fill him in on everything. I hated the idea and so did Issac but we didn't have much of a choice. Walking to school that morning I was a little nervous but had my pen and paper and was ready to do what I could. But when I showed up the teacher handed me a paper and "reminded" me of the junta tomorrow. Opps I got jueves and viernes confused again, I do this a lot for some reason. But the good thing is that it was no big deal for Issac to switch to evenings for Friday so he could go to the meeting with me. The paper she sent home with me was one to fill out information on Alana. It was all information that we had already filled out for her inscription, and on her first week of school that I gave again to the director. I'm assuming this is the teachers personal copy of the info on each kid. It was simple things like the CURP, ht, wt, domicillo ( address)with this they want to know not only the street you live on and your house number but the streets that you live between also, I find this odd. Anyway also they ask for the parents names and jobs and phone numbers. I also find this interesting considering so far I had not been asked for my phone number. We did give it to them on a piece of paper the first day of school but that was our own idea and was not requested. In a lot of cases I like the laid back style here but in this one I feel it was dangerous for all those kids to be at school for two weeks without any emergency numbers on file. Anyway I came home and filled it out, mainly just to prove to myself I could do it, and because I was annoyed at the fact the teacher specifically told me to have my husband fill it out. I know I should be able to let this stuff go knowing how my spanish isn't great but being the independent person I am it gets to me. So once I had fluffed my ego by filling it out I had Issac check everything on it the next day ( I did good!! lol)
This morning we got there a little before nine and the teacher told us to go on in with Alana. When the bell rang they had only the parents go into the class room and brought the kids out and the teacher had some class time with them during the first part of the morning. I was expecting this to all be a brief overview of what they do in class and a quick vote on if we should buy the materials individually or give the teacher money. Oh boy was I wrong and completely unprepared (we didn't bring diapers for Joslin nor food). I should have known better from reading blogs such as Leslies.
First we sat through about and hour and a half of lecture and questions on proper nutrition. I'm so glad they did this because its one of my pet peeves down here. I'm also glad they did it because it gave me a new perspective on things. I thought people just ate and feed their kids the way they did because well they just dont care or its just the way things are or eating right is just to much of a hassle. But seriously these ladies seemed like it was the first time they were hearing any of this information. I realize I take my education and my quest for learning for granted. What I didn't learn in school I have self taught through many hours of reading. I actually told a few of the ladies I would bring in some healthy recipes because they were talking about how they wanted to try to eat right but didn't know how. They actually asked the nutritionist if they could make it a school project to get recipes together to send home with the kids. So there appeared to be a real interest and this was exciting to me. During my years of nursing, teaching this type of thing was drilled into my head and the importance of jumping when you see the willingness to learn. So I'm ready to jump and I hope I can help in the way I want to be able to. I'm thinking about putting the food guide pyramid on the back of the paper I use to type up the recipes. Most of the women were doing their best to jot it down during the lecture but I could tell they were not quite getting it. I couldn't believe some of the questions that were being asked and how many of the mothers were agreeing that they didn't know these different things. But again I'm just excited to see that they were eager to learn and were listening with interest. During this whole thing the few things I didn't catch Issac was sure to whisper to me and no one seemed to mind.
Next the teacher came back (apparently the class was now watching a movie with another class) and was ready to do her part. I missed a lot of this because due to a wet diaper and a hungry belly and it being nap time poor Joslin was getting a little restless so I was standing outside the door rocking her in the stroller and Issac was standing near enough to explain things to me randomly. Basically the teacher went over that at times she had to be fuerte (strong) with some of the kids if they didn't listen that she intends to not grita or yell at them but that she does sometimes talk strongly to them. I'm thinking well no kidding but some of the moms seemed like they were not sure this should happen and asked to be sure she didn't hit the kids. The teacher explained that she nor any other teacher in the school hits the kids and mothers who had other kids that had been at the kinder a couple years agreed with her. She then talked about the uniforms and dates that we had to have them by, thankfully we have till the 13th because the lady who is making Alanas has not let us know they are ready yet. And of course the debate about materials. Issac and I were all for her taking money up and the teacher buying it all herself. This would insure all the kids had the same stuff and that one person didn't end up supplying for other kids. After her explanation of the same thing and lots of questions everyone agreed on collecting money. The teacher didn't want to be the collector and one mom agreed to do it. So we have to give her 300p before next Friday and the teacher will go to Guad over the weekend and buy all the stuff. Other than that all we have to buy is a clear pencil holder or bag and put Alanas name on it. And finally we got the fun part and talked about the fiesta for Independence. I have to say that getting to be involved in this kind of stuff is one reason I'm so glad Alana is in school. We have missed out on a lot of the culture over the last couple years because we cant ever figure out whats going on. Here is the best part, since hubby was the only dad actually inside the class room (their were two others but they were hanging around the door and in and out the whole time) and he was also a good participant the whole time he got asked to dress up for the party. I'm so excited and for sure you all will see pictures. Seriously my husband is the best man I know, he accepted with a smile and will love doing it. And here comes the worst part. None of the women wanted to dress up and I told Issac I could do it. He proudly said, "Mi esposa puede." And all the women looked at me and were excited. But then the teacher is like, that might not be a good idea. She explained to Issac that there will be a short camio for whoever dresses up. While Issacs explaining this to me the teacher is explaining to the rest of the moms that my Spanish sucks. Ok I know that's not how she put it (shes very nice and works well with me when I do talk with her) and I know the horrific scene of 15-20 moms shaking their heads and doing an "oh ok we see now" face prob wasn't as bad as it seemed... but... well... I have no words. I know this is only the beginning and I'm trying to brace myself but the more I think about it the more I'm getting irritated by it. I'm a doer, I'm involved, I'm active... and damn it I cant be now. As we were picking up Alana from the movie room Issac suggested that Monday I should stay at home with the girls and he could go to the meeting alone. I know what he was thinking was for the girls sake but this hurt. And of course instead of saying anything, I got snippy with him on the way home and just briefly mentioned that the language barrier sucks. Iv since talked to my sister and and I think I need to be at that meeting. I need to feel that I'm doing all I can to understand and be involved even if I have to tote along the girls and ask Issac to explain constantly.
I really cant explain to you how bad it sucks to not be able to jump in and say what I want and be as involved as I want. It may be prego hormones and it may not be but I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes. I'm hoping after writing this post and talking some more about it with my husband (poor guy) that I will be able to walk back into the school with a renewed since of confidence on Monday.
I'm starting to feel that my Spanish needs to move to the next level but I'm not sure how to get it there. I do really well with a one on one or two conversation now but if there is more than two people I just cant keep up unless its people who know me well and make sure that I do (like Issacs family). I cant expect people to cater to me forever and I need to step it up... but how?
All in all the meeting went well and we got all the information we needed. I hope I added enough of that in with my sob story for those of you who may be looking to enroll your kids someday. If I left anything out about the school you want to know please ask!!!
From what I could understand we were to have a junta (meeting) with the teacher on Thursday morning at nine and the kids would be having class that day, and then next Monday the whole kinder would have a junta with the director. Thursdays are a very busy day for my husband and we decided I would go and do my best and hopefully our neighbor could fill him in on everything. I hated the idea and so did Issac but we didn't have much of a choice. Walking to school that morning I was a little nervous but had my pen and paper and was ready to do what I could. But when I showed up the teacher handed me a paper and "reminded" me of the junta tomorrow. Opps I got jueves and viernes confused again, I do this a lot for some reason. But the good thing is that it was no big deal for Issac to switch to evenings for Friday so he could go to the meeting with me. The paper she sent home with me was one to fill out information on Alana. It was all information that we had already filled out for her inscription, and on her first week of school that I gave again to the director. I'm assuming this is the teachers personal copy of the info on each kid. It was simple things like the CURP, ht, wt, domicillo ( address)with this they want to know not only the street you live on and your house number but the streets that you live between also, I find this odd. Anyway also they ask for the parents names and jobs and phone numbers. I also find this interesting considering so far I had not been asked for my phone number. We did give it to them on a piece of paper the first day of school but that was our own idea and was not requested. In a lot of cases I like the laid back style here but in this one I feel it was dangerous for all those kids to be at school for two weeks without any emergency numbers on file. Anyway I came home and filled it out, mainly just to prove to myself I could do it, and because I was annoyed at the fact the teacher specifically told me to have my husband fill it out. I know I should be able to let this stuff go knowing how my spanish isn't great but being the independent person I am it gets to me. So once I had fluffed my ego by filling it out I had Issac check everything on it the next day ( I did good!! lol)
This morning we got there a little before nine and the teacher told us to go on in with Alana. When the bell rang they had only the parents go into the class room and brought the kids out and the teacher had some class time with them during the first part of the morning. I was expecting this to all be a brief overview of what they do in class and a quick vote on if we should buy the materials individually or give the teacher money. Oh boy was I wrong and completely unprepared (we didn't bring diapers for Joslin nor food). I should have known better from reading blogs such as Leslies.
First we sat through about and hour and a half of lecture and questions on proper nutrition. I'm so glad they did this because its one of my pet peeves down here. I'm also glad they did it because it gave me a new perspective on things. I thought people just ate and feed their kids the way they did because well they just dont care or its just the way things are or eating right is just to much of a hassle. But seriously these ladies seemed like it was the first time they were hearing any of this information. I realize I take my education and my quest for learning for granted. What I didn't learn in school I have self taught through many hours of reading. I actually told a few of the ladies I would bring in some healthy recipes because they were talking about how they wanted to try to eat right but didn't know how. They actually asked the nutritionist if they could make it a school project to get recipes together to send home with the kids. So there appeared to be a real interest and this was exciting to me. During my years of nursing, teaching this type of thing was drilled into my head and the importance of jumping when you see the willingness to learn. So I'm ready to jump and I hope I can help in the way I want to be able to. I'm thinking about putting the food guide pyramid on the back of the paper I use to type up the recipes. Most of the women were doing their best to jot it down during the lecture but I could tell they were not quite getting it. I couldn't believe some of the questions that were being asked and how many of the mothers were agreeing that they didn't know these different things. But again I'm just excited to see that they were eager to learn and were listening with interest. During this whole thing the few things I didn't catch Issac was sure to whisper to me and no one seemed to mind.
Next the teacher came back (apparently the class was now watching a movie with another class) and was ready to do her part. I missed a lot of this because due to a wet diaper and a hungry belly and it being nap time poor Joslin was getting a little restless so I was standing outside the door rocking her in the stroller and Issac was standing near enough to explain things to me randomly. Basically the teacher went over that at times she had to be fuerte (strong) with some of the kids if they didn't listen that she intends to not grita or yell at them but that she does sometimes talk strongly to them. I'm thinking well no kidding but some of the moms seemed like they were not sure this should happen and asked to be sure she didn't hit the kids. The teacher explained that she nor any other teacher in the school hits the kids and mothers who had other kids that had been at the kinder a couple years agreed with her. She then talked about the uniforms and dates that we had to have them by, thankfully we have till the 13th because the lady who is making Alanas has not let us know they are ready yet. And of course the debate about materials. Issac and I were all for her taking money up and the teacher buying it all herself. This would insure all the kids had the same stuff and that one person didn't end up supplying for other kids. After her explanation of the same thing and lots of questions everyone agreed on collecting money. The teacher didn't want to be the collector and one mom agreed to do it. So we have to give her 300p before next Friday and the teacher will go to Guad over the weekend and buy all the stuff. Other than that all we have to buy is a clear pencil holder or bag and put Alanas name on it. And finally we got the fun part and talked about the fiesta for Independence. I have to say that getting to be involved in this kind of stuff is one reason I'm so glad Alana is in school. We have missed out on a lot of the culture over the last couple years because we cant ever figure out whats going on. Here is the best part, since hubby was the only dad actually inside the class room (their were two others but they were hanging around the door and in and out the whole time) and he was also a good participant the whole time he got asked to dress up for the party. I'm so excited and for sure you all will see pictures. Seriously my husband is the best man I know, he accepted with a smile and will love doing it. And here comes the worst part. None of the women wanted to dress up and I told Issac I could do it. He proudly said, "Mi esposa puede." And all the women looked at me and were excited. But then the teacher is like, that might not be a good idea. She explained to Issac that there will be a short camio for whoever dresses up. While Issacs explaining this to me the teacher is explaining to the rest of the moms that my Spanish sucks. Ok I know that's not how she put it (shes very nice and works well with me when I do talk with her) and I know the horrific scene of 15-20 moms shaking their heads and doing an "oh ok we see now" face prob wasn't as bad as it seemed... but... well... I have no words. I know this is only the beginning and I'm trying to brace myself but the more I think about it the more I'm getting irritated by it. I'm a doer, I'm involved, I'm active... and damn it I cant be now. As we were picking up Alana from the movie room Issac suggested that Monday I should stay at home with the girls and he could go to the meeting alone. I know what he was thinking was for the girls sake but this hurt. And of course instead of saying anything, I got snippy with him on the way home and just briefly mentioned that the language barrier sucks. Iv since talked to my sister and and I think I need to be at that meeting. I need to feel that I'm doing all I can to understand and be involved even if I have to tote along the girls and ask Issac to explain constantly.
I really cant explain to you how bad it sucks to not be able to jump in and say what I want and be as involved as I want. It may be prego hormones and it may not be but I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes. I'm hoping after writing this post and talking some more about it with my husband (poor guy) that I will be able to walk back into the school with a renewed since of confidence on Monday.
I'm starting to feel that my Spanish needs to move to the next level but I'm not sure how to get it there. I do really well with a one on one or two conversation now but if there is more than two people I just cant keep up unless its people who know me well and make sure that I do (like Issacs family). I cant expect people to cater to me forever and I need to step it up... but how?
All in all the meeting went well and we got all the information we needed. I hope I added enough of that in with my sob story for those of you who may be looking to enroll your kids someday. If I left anything out about the school you want to know please ask!!!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Primer dia de Kinder
Today was the big day, Alanas first day of kinder and my first time leaving one of my kids somewhere with out me or a loved one close by. But really I must start this post with a story from yesterday. You see Alana was daily showing me signs that she was ready for school. We do a class time almost every day and she has been doing so well and learning so much. Yesterday I was laying on the couch while Joslin napped and Alana was playing quietly on the other couch. I knew she was looking at my scrapbook from our visit to the states and then I hear it.....
I wish you could hear this in her sweet voice, I hear her sound out the letters..." V-I-S-I-T," this part didn't phase me because she is always trying to read and often will sit and sound out the letters to words. But then I heard her put the sounds together and say the word, Visit. I could hear the surprise in her voice as I opened my eyes and we both got all excited. She read her first word all by herself and understood what it was she was reading. I cant tell you how proud I was and still am. She is so smart and and it was so cool to see the recognition of what she had just done on her face. I'm so glad that happened at home and not at school. I have frozen that moment in my mind and hope to never loss it.
This morning started out as every other morning does except that she had a dry bed which was a plus. So we all got chocolate milk and lots of whoohoos this morning. Then I sat and watched them play or held them while I drank up my morning cup of vitamin C (my coffee that is). Around eight we did our normal get dressed and clean up routine except this morning I had to throw together a little bite for Alana to eat at school and Tia Irma was here with us also. I find it funny that they want you to bring them a snack when they are there only two or three hours. I think its because most people here eat breakfast at like nine or ten AM so these kids are used to having something during the time they will now be in school. I was so thankful even last night that Tia Irma came to help. For one I wouldn't have sent Alana with food and two I would have sent her in an dress that would not have been as comfortable as what we later picked out. Also this morning before leaving she called us all together to pray over Alana and her first day of school. Which I think is a great way to start out the new school year but was to preoccupied to think of doing it myself. (Side note to Alice, I hardly ever used the word preoccupied before I learned Spanish.)
We headed out around 830 because like a true Mexican I waited till today to make a copy of the paper we got from the SEP office (thanks Theresa). I waited in the truck with the girls and did a cute little video of Alana while my tia made the copies. I went ahead and drove the rout we would have walked just to show Tia Irma where we would be walking every day. She agreed that it is almost an easier walk than drive because at one point you have to double back on yourself when driving. I know she will give Issacs mom the full run down so I was trying to show her everything. We got to the school a little early but the gate was open and we went to the building that was obviously the main office. There are only three buildings two of which are just one room classroom buildings. The principal (not sure if that's what they call them here, but the lady in charge) was a little gruff but totally helpful. She gave us a list of documents that I needed to bring copies of when I came back to pick Alana up today. She informed us that for the first two weeks class would only be from 9am to 11 instead of noon and on that third week times would go to noon. She showed us which building was to be Alanas class and told us to show the paper we had to the teacher so she could put Alana on her list. We walked over to the building (class room) and I fallowed Tia's lead. She not only has done this with her kids but also with a lot of kids from the childrens home. We talked to the teacher from outside the door while she was busy doing things inside the classroom. To me she didn't seem to be hearing much of what we were saying but did eventually take the paper we had and asked what the Alanas name was. We told her and she wrote it down in a little note book she had on her desk. Tia also explained that sometimes when Alana doesn't understand something she says, "no quiero." (I dont want to) I forgot to teach her to say no intiendo (I dont understand) until like a week ago and for some reason she keeps switching them up. I didn't want the teacher to think she was being a little brat when really she just didn't understand what was going on. We also were sure to tell the helper because like I said the teacher seemed a little to preoccupied to pay any attention to us. During all of this Alana kept saying, "Im ready mom!" Finally when we were all let in the classroom Alana found herself a cubby for her jacket and backpack as if she had been doing it every day of her life and picked a chair at the table and sat down. She then looked up at me like, "Oh your still here?" So I reminded her again to listen to her teacher and to be a good girl, and that I loved her and could I have one more kiss. SHE GAVE ME HER CHECK!!!!! (Seriously what am I in for). My Tia was waving me that it was time for us to leave so I gave Alana her peck on the check and hugged her tight and walked out. At the door I turned to wave at her and of course she wasn't looking my way so I said, "Adios Alana." And she turned and beamed at me like she was totally in her element.
Tia Irma and I headed from there to see Papi at the store so she could relay everything and be sure I didn't miss something. Papi was a little sad but after seeing Alana beaming in the pictures I took his spirits were lifted. You just cant be sad about something that your child is so dang happy about and ready for. I ran Tia for a couple errands and dropped her off downtown so I could go make the copies of Alanas paperwork. I did come home and try to look online for Alanas CURP number which is the only thing I'm missing but didn't have any luck. Issac will have to look it up and print it off for tomorrow. Joslin fell asleep on the way home so when I got home thankfully I only had about thirty min before I needed to leave to go make the copies and pick her up. After keeping myself busy on face book and being sure I had all the documents I needed, I put sleeping Joslin in the stroller and headed out. One quick stop at the papalaria for the copies and we were on our way. Its only about a 13 min walk with Alana is with me so it only took me ten to get there. I was happy to see I was not the only mom there 20min early. When we showed up the kids were playing outside and I was trying to be sure and find Alana so she didn't see me. I found her sitting under a tree watching the kids play. I was kinda sad but then she quickly got up and started chasing some of the kids around. All the kids are from our neighborhood so they most likely already know each other. I know it wont take her long though it never does. Then they bell rang and for the last 15 min you could hear the kids singing a song in the other building (which is the third year kinder) and Alanas building was pretty quiet. I dont know how these teachers do it there are at least 30 kids in Alanas class. During all this wait I'm feeling more and more like an outcast because all the moms seem to know each other which I'm sure they do. And I couldn't catch up with any of the conversations quick enough to try and jump in. So I just sat there and talked with Joslin. Right before the wait was over I saw a familiar face coming towards me. It was our old pastors wife (this was the church we went to before we moved). We got to talking and their youngest son will be in Alanas class. Issac and I are both a little unsure about this because this is the most unruly kid you will ever meet. Alana not playing with him every Sunday was one of the upsides to us moving and finding this other church close by. I'm really not exaggerating here this kid listens to no one including his parents. Maybe being in school will calm him down a bit we shall all see. But it on the other hand it is nice to already know one of the other moms. I was happy to find that instead of letting the kids all just run out and find their parents the teacher stood at the door with them and called out the kids name. The parents then went up and got their child. Alana came out happy to see us and tell me what all went on. I was the only mom there with a camera but I didn't let that stop me, as you will see below. Im sure this wont be the first time. lol
We walked over to the little park and I gave Alana her bubbles and a doughnut as a first day of school surprise. Our walk home was actually kinda crowded with others who live in our neighborhood. I ended up asking one of the moms about how they got the little girls uniform and was able to chat with them a bit. The funny thing is that once they realized I was "not from around here"... actually once I said, "perdon me español no es muy bien." The one lady was like Oh I know who you are, your friends with my friend .... yep I cant remember her name. This lady apparently knows one of the ladies I go to church with. Im so bad with names anyway and no living here its worse so I'm not sure exactly which lady. Well one of the ladies knows of a lady in our neighborhood who will make the dresses for cheap. She is going by there tonight and was going to ask how much fabric I would need to buy and how much to make the dresses. So all in all I think we all did a great job today, and I still might let a few tears fall tonight. ;)
I wish you could hear this in her sweet voice, I hear her sound out the letters..." V-I-S-I-T," this part didn't phase me because she is always trying to read and often will sit and sound out the letters to words. But then I heard her put the sounds together and say the word, Visit. I could hear the surprise in her voice as I opened my eyes and we both got all excited. She read her first word all by herself and understood what it was she was reading. I cant tell you how proud I was and still am. She is so smart and and it was so cool to see the recognition of what she had just done on her face. I'm so glad that happened at home and not at school. I have frozen that moment in my mind and hope to never loss it.
This morning started out as every other morning does except that she had a dry bed which was a plus. So we all got chocolate milk and lots of whoohoos this morning. Then I sat and watched them play or held them while I drank up my morning cup of vitamin C (my coffee that is). Around eight we did our normal get dressed and clean up routine except this morning I had to throw together a little bite for Alana to eat at school and Tia Irma was here with us also. I find it funny that they want you to bring them a snack when they are there only two or three hours. I think its because most people here eat breakfast at like nine or ten AM so these kids are used to having something during the time they will now be in school. I was so thankful even last night that Tia Irma came to help. For one I wouldn't have sent Alana with food and two I would have sent her in an dress that would not have been as comfortable as what we later picked out. Also this morning before leaving she called us all together to pray over Alana and her first day of school. Which I think is a great way to start out the new school year but was to preoccupied to think of doing it myself. (Side note to Alice, I hardly ever used the word preoccupied before I learned Spanish.)
We headed out around 830 because like a true Mexican I waited till today to make a copy of the paper we got from the SEP office (thanks Theresa). I waited in the truck with the girls and did a cute little video of Alana while my tia made the copies. I went ahead and drove the rout we would have walked just to show Tia Irma where we would be walking every day. She agreed that it is almost an easier walk than drive because at one point you have to double back on yourself when driving. I know she will give Issacs mom the full run down so I was trying to show her everything. We got to the school a little early but the gate was open and we went to the building that was obviously the main office. There are only three buildings two of which are just one room classroom buildings. The principal (not sure if that's what they call them here, but the lady in charge) was a little gruff but totally helpful. She gave us a list of documents that I needed to bring copies of when I came back to pick Alana up today. She informed us that for the first two weeks class would only be from 9am to 11 instead of noon and on that third week times would go to noon. She showed us which building was to be Alanas class and told us to show the paper we had to the teacher so she could put Alana on her list. We walked over to the building (class room) and I fallowed Tia's lead. She not only has done this with her kids but also with a lot of kids from the childrens home. We talked to the teacher from outside the door while she was busy doing things inside the classroom. To me she didn't seem to be hearing much of what we were saying but did eventually take the paper we had and asked what the Alanas name was. We told her and she wrote it down in a little note book she had on her desk. Tia also explained that sometimes when Alana doesn't understand something she says, "no quiero." (I dont want to) I forgot to teach her to say no intiendo (I dont understand) until like a week ago and for some reason she keeps switching them up. I didn't want the teacher to think she was being a little brat when really she just didn't understand what was going on. We also were sure to tell the helper because like I said the teacher seemed a little to preoccupied to pay any attention to us. During all of this Alana kept saying, "Im ready mom!" Finally when we were all let in the classroom Alana found herself a cubby for her jacket and backpack as if she had been doing it every day of her life and picked a chair at the table and sat down. She then looked up at me like, "Oh your still here?" So I reminded her again to listen to her teacher and to be a good girl, and that I loved her and could I have one more kiss. SHE GAVE ME HER CHECK!!!!! (Seriously what am I in for). My Tia was waving me that it was time for us to leave so I gave Alana her peck on the check and hugged her tight and walked out. At the door I turned to wave at her and of course she wasn't looking my way so I said, "Adios Alana." And she turned and beamed at me like she was totally in her element.
Tia Irma and I headed from there to see Papi at the store so she could relay everything and be sure I didn't miss something. Papi was a little sad but after seeing Alana beaming in the pictures I took his spirits were lifted. You just cant be sad about something that your child is so dang happy about and ready for. I ran Tia for a couple errands and dropped her off downtown so I could go make the copies of Alanas paperwork. I did come home and try to look online for Alanas CURP number which is the only thing I'm missing but didn't have any luck. Issac will have to look it up and print it off for tomorrow. Joslin fell asleep on the way home so when I got home thankfully I only had about thirty min before I needed to leave to go make the copies and pick her up. After keeping myself busy on face book and being sure I had all the documents I needed, I put sleeping Joslin in the stroller and headed out. One quick stop at the papalaria for the copies and we were on our way. Its only about a 13 min walk with Alana is with me so it only took me ten to get there. I was happy to see I was not the only mom there 20min early. When we showed up the kids were playing outside and I was trying to be sure and find Alana so she didn't see me. I found her sitting under a tree watching the kids play. I was kinda sad but then she quickly got up and started chasing some of the kids around. All the kids are from our neighborhood so they most likely already know each other. I know it wont take her long though it never does. Then they bell rang and for the last 15 min you could hear the kids singing a song in the other building (which is the third year kinder) and Alanas building was pretty quiet. I dont know how these teachers do it there are at least 30 kids in Alanas class. During all this wait I'm feeling more and more like an outcast because all the moms seem to know each other which I'm sure they do. And I couldn't catch up with any of the conversations quick enough to try and jump in. So I just sat there and talked with Joslin. Right before the wait was over I saw a familiar face coming towards me. It was our old pastors wife (this was the church we went to before we moved). We got to talking and their youngest son will be in Alanas class. Issac and I are both a little unsure about this because this is the most unruly kid you will ever meet. Alana not playing with him every Sunday was one of the upsides to us moving and finding this other church close by. I'm really not exaggerating here this kid listens to no one including his parents. Maybe being in school will calm him down a bit we shall all see. But it on the other hand it is nice to already know one of the other moms. I was happy to find that instead of letting the kids all just run out and find their parents the teacher stood at the door with them and called out the kids name. The parents then went up and got their child. Alana came out happy to see us and tell me what all went on. I was the only mom there with a camera but I didn't let that stop me, as you will see below. Im sure this wont be the first time. lol
We walked over to the little park and I gave Alana her bubbles and a doughnut as a first day of school surprise. Our walk home was actually kinda crowded with others who live in our neighborhood. I ended up asking one of the moms about how they got the little girls uniform and was able to chat with them a bit. The funny thing is that once they realized I was "not from around here"... actually once I said, "perdon me español no es muy bien." The one lady was like Oh I know who you are, your friends with my friend .... yep I cant remember her name. This lady apparently knows one of the ladies I go to church with. Im so bad with names anyway and no living here its worse so I'm not sure exactly which lady. Well one of the ladies knows of a lady in our neighborhood who will make the dresses for cheap. She is going by there tonight and was going to ask how much fabric I would need to buy and how much to make the dresses. So all in all I think we all did a great job today, and I still might let a few tears fall tonight. ;)
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.
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.
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