Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Jackson's erster Schultag


Today we got up early, ate breakfast, and walked 1 km to school in gray mist. Jackson was so excited he was awake before I was. Fingers crossed that he will be excited for day 2 tomorrow!



Riding scooters to school

The front of the school. This is actually the administration building.

The courtyard behind the administration building. The white building is where the classrooms are. Jackson's class is at the top left in this picture.  The kids all gather in the courtyard until the teachers take them inside. We were early, so there were not many kids there yet.

The playground is on the other side of the white building. He said this was his favorite part of the day. :)

The rest of the playground.


Jackson is following his teacher into school. His teacher is the tall man in the blue jacket.

There was a lot of this today.


Jackson's class walking down the street.

After dropping Jackson off, Brandtley and I walked down the street to visit another Kindergarten. We had only just walked out of the gate of the school when Brandtley declared, "I miss Jackson!"  
After leaving the kindergarten, we had the treat of seeing Jackson's class all walking down the street with their gym bags.  This morning was "Sport" (PE) and they walk a few blocks to the gym.  

The kids are wearing bright yellow reflective vests and I saw that Jackson had been given one too. When we were waiting in the courtyard before school, a girl from his class came up and introduced herself. She spoke only German, but we were able to understand her name, age, that she would be in Jackson's class and that she remembered him from yesterday. She was wearing one of these vests, so I asked her what it was.  She replied with a lengthy explanation in German, of which I only understood that they wear those when walking on the street. I got the impression that only the younger kids wear them.  

I tried to catch a video of them walking. Jackson is near the back, not far from the teacher.  He shouted to me that they are walking to the gym, which is 10 miles away! His teacher laughed and clarified "10 minutes!"




UPDATE!
He had a GREAT day!!  To celebrate, we ate lunch at a restaurant.  I was prepared & had packed a lunch for B since there were no safe options.  I let Jackson pick, and he chose burgers.  haha!

The restaurant had decorative aspen trees inside.  Brandtley asked our waiter why there were trees inside and the guy simply said, "Because it looks good." :) 
Brandtley eating his pear from home with our grosse Wasser mit gas (large sparkling water).


After that we went home for Jackson to do his homework, then back out to get his lengthy list of school supplies.  Thankfully, one store had everything, including Sportshuhe (gym shoes), and a very kind salesman helped me collect everything. 



By the way, this store was similar to a department store but had an extensive stationery/school supply department. This is just one row of many rows of pens in every color and type. Made me think of a few people I love who would also love this section of the store! ;)



After another stop at the grocery store, we headed back home to cook dinner. Over dinner we talked more about what school was like.  He liked Sport and said they played games.  One had to do with fish.  It sounded similar to games like tag and red rover. The teacher would repeat instructions throughout the day in English for him, and his math homework is very similar to what he was doing back in the States. There is a German language class for several kids after school on Wednesdays, so he will stay an extra hour for that while I meet with his teacher tomorrow.  

I did speak with the OGS teacher. Or rather, she spoke a lot and I nodded. I understand that: 1) there is not a place open right now, 2) there is a list, 3) I have a paper to fill out to put him on the list, and 4) I have an appointment with her on Thursday. Though I'm not sure why. However, after much discussion of the list, she brought out her calendar and wrote my name on Thursday at 12:00.  I have a meeting with our agent that morning as well, so I might take her with me to translate, if she has the time.

The kids and I are all worn out tonight. I checked my fitbit and supposedly walked 7 miles today. All of them with Brandtley. Much of them in the rain.  However, I happened to catch this beautiful view in the middle of it, which made it worth it. 


Tschüss!



1 comment:

  1. Wow! What an exhausting long exciting fun day! I will read all of this two more times sometime today to grasp it all! Glad he had a good first day!

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