1 September 2014 will go down in the history books as the first day my schooler spoke her first French words. She couldn't remember them by the time we got home and tried to pass off a movie quote with a French accent as French words, BUT I was witness to her legitimate French utterances when I picked her up from school.
The first, first day of school was inevitable. Waverly was super pumped and I was just trying to not think about it. In fact, she was SO excited that she forgot to pull her dress out of the top of her pants after using the bathroom. No worries, though, we took care of it!
If you know us, we are not particularly "morning people", so this 8:00 AM start time for school was almost a deal breaker, particularly when I had to set my alarm for 6:45. But somehow we managed to be ready by 7:30, leaving me enough time to talk to her teacher once we got to school.
Except there wasn't time to talk to her teacher. Because the car wouldn't start. And we had to walk. You believe those white leggings weren't so white once we started along our dirt road. Fortunately, Suzie met us on the road and I drove Waverly the rest of the way to school. (But not on the scooter..)
 |
| Les P'tits Loups - The Little Wolves (I think) |
As we walked into the courtyard, the time-concious, American in me took a breath of relief to see all of the students and their parents still gathered around waiting on the school's director to call out the students' names. I should've known. Nothing starts on time in Africa. When Waverly's name was called (or at least, I think she said Waverly... I just assumed since she was looking at the only white kid in the yard when she said it), I lumbered my way through the crowd, baby in the carrier and three bags in my hands, sweating a little in this early morning.
I briefly nodded to the teacher and her assistant, telling them that Waverly only speaks English, not French or Malagasy. I should have just dropped the mic and walked out, yelling "Good luck with that!" over my shoulder, but, like a good mother, I walked Waverly to an open seat, hovering and taking pictures before feeling like I had overstayed my welcome.
We are thankful that she has a friend in her class; the son of our other teammates.
And the most important photo of the morning...
Proof that I didn't cry.
At 11:30, the students are dismissed for a break until 1:30, at which time I picked Waverly up and brought her home for lunch. She requested cereal and a movie and I obliged, so she humored me (literally) with another photo.
I hurried her back across town to school at 1:30, but not before I packed her a snack! Because I had been scolded already for not packing a snack for the morning class. Oops.
I picked her up from school at 4:30 and these are the poses she gave me when we got home.
I think it's safe to say that the first day of school was a success! I was embarrassed that the teacher scolded me over not packing a snack, but comforted by the reminder that it probably won't be the last time I forget a snack or toilet paper... there's no toilet paper in the bathrooms at school. That should've been on the supply list...
