School Daze

Chandra here this time.  But don't expect me to be as fun to read as Paul. Isn't he charming online? Worked on me.

We've been here now for three weeks and are settling in nicely.  The arrival of our air shipment and a trip to Ikea have helped to make our apartment more homey.  It's properly called a flat with the British influence and all, but I feel like such a poser when I say it so I'll stick to apartment. Since our furniture and most of our belongings won't arrive until the sea shipment gets here mid-March, we have a few pieces of rental furniture and wide open space.

I'll give you the full tour once we're furnished.

Aside from getting our home set up, the other big task was getting the kids enrolled in school.  Full-day daycare centers are not really available here, just preschools with partial day programs and no summer sesssions, so we'll be hiring a domestic helper to live-in with us like the rest of Hong Kong, more on that in a later post.  But back to school, the kids were able to get into a preschool not too far from here called Greenfield and started March 1.  Here are first day of school pics in their uniforms and school issued backpacks (school-issued windbreakers not shown):

Preschools here are so serious! Aside from the uniforms (the ones above are to be worn MWF and then the green and white sporty one on T/TH, along with only pristine white shoes and white socks), don't forget your backpack with it's "notification bag" and clean towel box inside and temperature card clipped to the zipper.  We are supposed take their temperature every morning and note it on the temperature card and then they get forehead temp scanned by a teacher as they walk into school.  No more doping up on children's ibuprofen a half hour before school, sending them in short sleeves and acting surprised six hours later when the school calls to inform you your child has a fever and you have to pick them up.  Or am I the only terrible mother that does that?

Then there is the curriculum and textbooks and homework! I remember first having homework in the 4th grade, PE's not even in kindergarten yet! I know I should want to be involved in my kids' education and spend quality time with them and encourage academic excellence, but it is a chore I was hoping to avoid for a couple more years. My sisters can attest to the fact that I am an inpatient teacher. And the content is what I would expect to be covered mid-1st grade in the US so of course I'm worried the school will think my child is not smart.  The school also does an hour of Mandarin instruction a day and here is a picture of his Mandarin homework.

All of this is making it much more clear that the Chinese will leave us in their dust.

I'll sign off with a pic of the kids enjoying their "Babyccinos" from a local coffee chain. Mini drinks? Named babyccino?  I couldn't resist.

p.s. can someone think of a blog title for us??