First Day of School

We have had a very busy past couple of days taking care of the usual business when one moves and the not so usual busines one encounters when moving to another country.  We have required the help of a translator in some cases such as getting our Finland residence card at the police headquarters.  These things are tedious and time consuming.  Speaking of tedious and time consuming...the grocery store!  Nothing looks the same and all labels are in Finnish.  I don't even know where to begin as it is a bit overwhelming! Another new thing for me, manual transmission cars.  Mike attempted to give me a lesson in a parking lot much to the amusent of some Finnish folks.  I am sure I will revisit these topics later in my blog. As entertaining and humerous as these stories may be, they pale in comparison to the big news of the day.

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Today was the first day of school for both the kids.  School is very different so far.  I do not think that teachers come back to prepare until the day before the kids do.  Also, there is no "Meet the Teacher" night.  That being said...I don't think I have ever been so proud of my kids as I was today.  Just stating that, brings tears to my eyes.  Mike and I were both fortunate to take the kids to school today.  We waited with all the other children (gr.1-5) and some parents, on the playground, while the principal announced what class was to line up-this was all in Finnish.  We were left to deduce what grade was being called.  Once we figured this out, we sent the kids in their respective line, and waved goodbye.  I can honestly say, that I am sure we all had a knot in the pit of our stomach at that moment.  There we were, trusting our kids to true strangers, as we had never seen these teachers or kids before.  My kids bravely joined their line, doing their best not to cry, though I could see they were fighting it.

One big difference in the school here is the schedule.  Some days the kids start at 8:00, other days, not until 10:00.  There is a day where Alayna starts at 10:00 and is done by 12:45.  There are also days where Lane and Alayna don't have the same schedule.  It is going to be a challenge to figure out how to balace that. (Did I mention that since I can't drive a stick, I don't have a car-this further complicates things for now).  Today, the kids were done at 12:00.  We were so relieved to see smiling faces when we returned.  The kids were so excited to tell us about their day.  They were most excited to report that teachers don't come outsidewith them at recess and they can walk around the school/campus on their own.  They were also raving about the school lunch.  Today they had noodles and "the best sauce ever".  Those of you who have an extremely picky eater, as I do, can appreciate the sense of relief this gave me.  I should mention that it is not customary (or socially appropriate) to bring your own lunch to school so this was huge for us.  They were also thrilled that they serve themselves lunch.  There are no lunch ladies to slop the food on  a tray for them.

Every day there are literally hundreds of lessons.  I am still processing them as fast as I can.  Tomorrow is yet another big day.  It is Mike's first day of work and our first day to manage without our captain.  We'll see if I can keep the ship afloat.

Lesson of the day:  Many foreign countries primarily drive manual cars. (Why oh why did I not learn to drive a stick when I was 16!?!)

It has become a tradition to make this cake for a treat on their first day of school.  Let me just mention that in Finland there is little or no packaged cake or frosting.  A special thanks to Aunt Maria for packing us a suitcase full of goodies that included frosting and a brownie mix (along with 69 pounds of other food items).