Rachel’s started going to a Kindergarten here in our neighborhood. I call it that because they call it a “Jardin” – the Spanish word for “garden.” So, it translates well. Kindergarten to them is for kids ages 2 or 3 through 5. So that one word encompasses the North American daycare, pre-school and kindergarten.
It’s a block and a half walk from our house, and I can see the front door from our 3rd floor apartment window. It’s a really nice pre-school where Rach has made lots of friends, learned tons of Spanish in only a week and a half, and has only been bitten once. She loves it, happily skips off to school five days a week, and is bummed on the weekends when she has to stay home with Mark and Mommy.
We’re still getting used to how they do things in Peru. They have been really relaxed about getting me the list of supplies that Rachel needs. As it turns out, the “parent-teacher communication notebook” is a big item that I didn’t know we needed. It’s how the teachers tell the parents things such as “we’re going on a field trip this week.” So when we showed up at school on Wednesday and saw the school bus (ha – mini-van meant to be used for children), it made sense when the teacher told us they were going on a field trip that day. And because so many other children from other schools tend to be out and about on trips also, she needed to have a uniform for safety purposes. So needless to say, we’ve got the uniform, and we’re not turning back. But I must say, she looks just too grown up in her school uniform, backpack on, standing at the door waiting for mom to hurry up and take her to school every morning.
