The New School Year Has Begun!!!

The ISM's main building

I am relieved. I will need to wake up early once again and look over the kids' shoulders as they do their homework, but this is a small price to pay for a few hours' silence (no more screaming, fighting, complaining, demanding, whining, crying kids) each day in the week.

Soon I'll be able to shop for groceries without running around looking for lost kids, have a cup of coffee and occasionally lunch with a few mothers, learn Italian, read, go shopping. I wouldn't even need to cook lunch (unless the Hubby decides to come home for lunch and more *wink*) as they have a canteen in school. Bliss...

So it was with much excitement that we sent the 3 monsters kids to their new school this morning. We (the parents) were probably more enthusiastic than the children themselves.

A side building, maybe where the gym is

For those in the know, we have switched them from the French-German school system to the International/English one. It would surely be a difficult first term. But the school just moved to new premises, therefore spanking new buildings, new playgrounds, music room, gym etc etc. The classes are small (on average less than 15 students per class), well equipped and there is no need to lug around heavy school bags. But of course be prepared to choke out 10K per kid per year for this. Think of the number of shoes one could get in its place...

Baby Boy's 1st morning in class (looked so serious, eh?)

Baby Boy enters into Kindergarten and Baby Girl into Transition Year. We're a little troubled for the latter as she has already done 2 years of Kindergarten in Stuttgart. She should be in Grade 1, but because she was born 3 months after the cut-off age she has to go to Transition Year. She is her father's most beautiful and most intelligent child, so he is quite affronted by this. Understandable, right?

School was only for 2 hours this morning though. Just for the kids to get to meet their new teachers and classmates and visit their new classrooms. The parents were offered coffee and tea in the activity room and were encouraged to network while waiting. Most of the foreign families work for Tetra Pak, Ferrari, Okaidi... The Italians are well to do and many own big family businesses. Another place for the kids to learn about poverty and suffering through newspaper articles and the 8 o'clock news. Or an expensive volunteer immersion in some remote village in Morocco where you pay to go help poor people set up schools etc.

I have met quite a number of mothers and we were already talking of afternoon playgroups, morning coffee, shopping etc. I was hoping to be introduced to some reliable cleaning lady or babysitter via the ladies, but that will have to wait.

Bought a few school uniforms for the kids, actually just 2 polo shirts each and the bill came up to 100 Euros already. But it's not Polo Ralph Lauren leh. Someone mentioned that maybe the mothers whose kids have outgrown their uniforms may sell them off at a huge discount later. I still need the sweatshirts and PE T-shirts with the school logo.

So this afternoon I made lunch for the last time at least for this week : Fried Green Beans, Ham and Onion Omelette, KD Ribs with Japanese Rice.

KD Ribs (Thank you you-know-who-you-are)

You probably wouldn't be seeing much of me in the next few days. I'm going to go shopping. Destination : the Mantova Shopping Outlet. Been 3 months since I last shopped and am suffering from the withdrawal. Just thinking about it I'm already on a high. Arrivederci!