Monday, October 26, 2009

First Day of the International School

We had a great day here in Gdansk! First of all, the sun was shining for the first time in a long time. It was about 50 degrees today so it was warm and sunny!

The kids had to get up and get going early this morning because they went to school today. School starts at 8:30. So everyone got up, showered, dressed, ate and we walked out the door at 8:00. It is a 10 minute walk to the tram stop. Then the tram ride is about five minutes and then it's another 10 minute walk to the school.

We got to school in plenty of time and went to the office. We met the secretary, Paulina there. She introduced Trey to his teacher Ms. Marta, who was standing there in the office. Ms. Marta is Polish and speaks English beautifully. Then Paulina took everyone to where they need to be. Trey's classroom is a small room and you have to pass through the older kids' classroom to get there. Trey has two classmates: Emily (who was not there today because she was sick--we can't wait to meet her next Monday) and Maria Camilla. Maria Camilla is from Italy and is seven. She and Trey became fast friends.

The girls' classroom is the room that you pass through to get to Trey's. There are four kids in that group (including my girls). Nicholas is Maria Camilla's brother so he is from Italy. And Jacob (pronounced Yackob) is from Denmark. There is a new girl starting soon from Thailand. Natalie will likely be moving to the older group because it seems that she is quite a bit ahead of the curriculum in math and English for the group she is in now. I am not concerned about this at all. We are doing our own schoolwork, so either group is fine with me. Their teacher is Mr. Reilly and he is from London.

Ben's group has five kids (including him). His teacher is the director, Mr. D'Arcy, and he is from Australia. His classmates are Inga (not sure yet where she is from), Marina (Japanese), Nick (Dutch), and Mads is Jacob's brother so he is Danish. Ben is already Facebook friends with several (if not all) of them.

The kids were so excited and talking a mile a minute when I picked them up this afternoon. They had a great day. While I was waiting for them, I met two moms who were waiting for their kids. I met the mom of the kids from Italy and a mom from India who has a four year old at the school. We exchanged phone numbers and I am thrilled to meet some people who are in similar situations as ours. We are looking forward to meeting more of the parents and getting together.

The kids had art and PE/fitness this afternoon. Trey learned a few Polish food words in class. The little kids have PE and art by themselves, but Ben, Natalie and Abbie all had those classes together. All of the kids ate lunch together. They had chicken, mashed potatoes and tomato soup. I did not know that the kids were supposed to bring their own drinks for lunch so I did not send anything. We'll send bottled water next week. I think I just blew my Mother of the Year award for 09--so close!

We got student identification cards for them. So we should be just fine on the trains now! Now that we have them, no one will probably ever question us about it again. We got home at about 4:15 and it was already getting dark. It is going to be so nice to have some contacts during the upcoming dark winter months.


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