Girls' first day of school

To be clear, Forrest and Ellis had a first day of school exactly eight days after we arrived and I did not capture that moment. I did, however, take a picture at the school a few days prior to their first day.  The boys ride a "school bus," which is more like a luxury cruiser, but the parents pay extra for this, so I guess it makes sense.  They also leave at 6:55 am, and we all know how wonderfully alert I am at that hour, so I've not photographed the moment just yet.  Now that I've chronicled the girls' first day, we might get a boys' "first day" pretty soon.  

As you know the girls and the boys are not in the same international school, but the girls are on the waiting list and will stay on the list until they get in because the school is closer to our house than any of the other American international schools. When we arrived I had great plans for education, but those fell through quickly and I was back to looking for spots at other schools. Then, someone pointed me in the direction of this school, with the warning/encouragement that I continually receive, "the international schools register one year in advance and it's always tough to get a spot, but remember expats are always coming and going." We prayed for a spot, and the girls prayed to have a school, and the school to which I was sent had a spot for each. There's much more to this, but I will spare everyone. 

We have decided the girls will also have a nice school bus ride starting asap. This morning Jeff took us on his way to work, which was really not on his way to work, other than it was north and his office is north of our house.  It took us 40 minutes and we really didn't get dropped off in front of the building because it's a bit crowded in this city and you can only circle the block so many times.  But, we knew we were close, so the three of us hopped out, saw children in the same uniforms, thus we followed.  Well, we followed for a minute until we realized there were other children in the same uniforms going in the opposite direction. This is an international school so the parents, despite appearances are going to speak English, so I asked the first parent I saw and was set in the direction toward Claire's building.  We dropped her off, took her picture, and got directions to Taylor's building, just one block away.  

Whew. Now, I had to get home to meet a repairman.  I was walking down a street looking for a taxi and was seeing none and wishing I could just blend in! Thankfully, I brought my tea with me for comfort to look like I was just casually dropping my children off to school and I really belonged there (no one walks around with food and drink here).  But I was continually dripping my tea down my already sweaty white shirt as I was trying to fit in. Finally, after one stroll around the block, I saw a taxi releasing someone so I tried to flag him down before he got away, but I ended up banging lightly on his window because I was apparently blending in to this driver. Finally home! Of course, I have to go get the girls in the afternoon!  That school bus can't come quick enough.

Claire didn't want me to take her picture, obviously.