First day of school in Luanda, Angola

Jacob was very nervous this morning and asked me about 1,000 questions in about 45 mins. I kept telling him he knew as much as I did and he would be fine. He couldn't eat breakfast very well either said his stomach hurt...nerves I am sure. Jared ate his waffles and then asked if he could have bubba's too. They are so different is just amazes me. Jared was complaining that he wanted to stay at school all day and not leave at noon and Jacob was asking if he could leave at noon. For the first two weeks Jared only goes from 8-12 and then he will start staying until 3pm with Jacob. I have to say I think I was more nervous than both of them put together this morning just not knowing where to take them and how to pick them up. I tried my best to hide my nerves. The bus picked us up at the house at 7:30am and there were only about 8 kids on the bus today. I took Jacob to his class he is in 2nd grade but here it is called Year 3 because they start counting at Kindergarten. His teachers name is Mr. Reid and the helper teacher is also a guy. Jacob said he was in Heaven with two guy teachers. He went to class without any problem and then I walked Jared to his classroom, which is all the way across the school yard from Jacobs. Jared's teacher is Ms. Jennie and she is from England. He said she says Tidy Up for clean up time. He has to take his shoes off and put in a cubby when they come in their classroom and then they have inside shoes that they can put on in the classroom. He took off and didn't even say bye to me.

I thought I was excited for them both to start school and for me to be alone at home but I have to say it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I never cried but there were a few times I probably could have. :-) I didn't know how the whole bus thing worked to pick up the kids so I tried telling the bus driver, Junior, that I needed to pick Jared up at noon today and I would have my driver take me but that I wanted him to get me at 2:30 before he picked up the older kids so that I could be there when Jacob got out of school. He didn't seem to understand me so I had Batista, my driver, call him and tell him. He met us at the school when I got Jared and said tomorrow in the morning I need to take him and introduce him to Jared's teacher and then he would go get him at noon and bring him home to me so that my driver doesn't have to go get him every day. I asked Jared if that was ok and he said, "Yeah sure." I asked him if he remembered the bus drivers name in case the teacher asked him and he said, "Nope you might have to remind me of that one again." He is 5 going on 13 I think. He said he played in the water table and on a scooter today. I asked him who he played with and he said if I was playing in the water then I was playing with Boris, a boy from our compound, and if I wasn't playing in the water I was playing by myself. :-) Jacob said he played tag with some kids on recess and he chose to eat in the cafeteria today with all the rest of his class. Once this week is over he can decide to eat his lunch in the cafeteria or outside in the covered area. Whatever his chose is he has to eat there all year. He said he would try both before deciding. Wearing a hat is part of their uniform and if they do not have a hat on at recess time then they have to sit in the shaded area and can not go in the sun. Jacob's schedule consist of Math, swimming, language, PE, Portuguese, Unit of Inquiry, computer technologies, reading, Library, music and every Friday morning they have assembly. Jared said he loves this school because all they do is play. They follow the Reggio Emilia philosophy and then they have PE on Tuesday's and swimming every Friday. It was a very stressful day for mom today but I think by the end of the week we will all have a routine and be good. Jacob couldn't quit smiling when I picked him up today. Here are a couple pictures of him on the bus coming home.