I am not funny, China is funny.: First day of school: 2013

After being on holiday (doesn’t that sound better than vacation?) for six weeks, I guess it’s time to get back to reality and the joy of writing my blog. We had a lovely time in the states, visiting with dear friends and family. Our time there seemed too short, but we cherished every moment. We were greeted back in Australia by ex-cyclone Oswald. The torrential rain and heavy wind made me want to click my ruby red slippers and head back to South Carolina! We survived, though, despite losing our power and feeling like we were melting in the humidity. The power came back on and the sun showed it’s face just in time for the children to begin their first day of school. For those of you that may not know, the Australian school year coincides with the calendar year. So, Ellis entered Year 4 with Ms. Keates. Lucky for us, she was Hannah Grace’s teacher in Year 7. It was nice to begin the year with a familiar face. Hannah Grace started fresh, however, as she entered Year 8 AT THE HIGH SCHOOL! I’ll just tell you that this mama is not ready for her child to be in high school!

I will blame a busy trip to the states and jet lag on our lack of preparation for the first day of school. Because I was familiar with Bulimba State School, I knew to order Ellis’s supplies on-line. Too bad, I did not know that for Hannah Grace. She will be receiving her books a bit late. OOPS! I also didn’t consider transportation issues soon enough in advance. The night before school started, we determined that Hannah Grace needed to ride the bus to school. Now when I say bus, I don’t mean school bus. We are talking public transportation. It would have been nice to think of this before so that we could practice, but here we were, the night before the first day of school. OOPS, again!

The kids were up and ready to go early, so we had no problem getting out the door. That was about the only thing that went right on Tuesday morning. Ellis and I waited with Hannah Grace at the bus stop, for the bus that was to arrive at 8:24. Yeah, that didn’t happen. By 8:35, Ellis was itching to go, so I sent him on to walk the rest of the way to school on his own. The bus finally arrived at 8:46 (over twenty minutes late)! I sent Hannah Grace on her way with no time to be sad that she was off to high school, on public transportation ALL BY HERSELF! I ran up to school to make sure Ellis made it to class, only to realize I had no idea where his class was located. Luckily, I ran into Jen Fisher. Jen’s son, Tom, is in class with Ellis. She was already looking for me because when she ran into Ellis earlier and asked if he needed help finding the class, he told her no, but that I might need some help. Ahhh, sweet boy looking after his mama!

It was a crazy start to the first day of school, but also a wonderful start to the year. They both gained a bit of independence and I learned that it is okay to let them go (just a little bit, anyway).