Well, the school year is back in session for the little people of Munich! While I am putting on my dutiful Mommy face on the outside...(*oh, my baby is leaving me... yada yada yada... she's growing up... blah blah blah...*) I am celebrating on the inside! (*hello-o-o-o, Can you hear that???... the sound of silence! If only for a short while.) Most of you know that my child is a little chatterbox with a broken "off" switch, so no big shocker that I sometimes crave quiet. Anyway, we just walked to school about 30 minutes ago. I love that her school is within walking distance. Kinda cool. She wanted to ride her bike this morning but I think we will try that tomorrow since first days can be kinda hectic and off putting. I am so proud to say that at least on this first day she did not cry. Her friend Didem came out to greet her and Kalynn was off. Sadly, my dadgum camera died right after I took shots of her leaving our house. (Yes, I said 'dadgum'... I'm from the south and have a God given right to say it). What you don't see in the picture is the coat I put on her afterward since it is a cool 40 degrees here right now. I had to get Marco to bring down one 'installment' of Kalynn's fall/winter clothes. (I say installment because it is only about a 1/3 of her clothes and was 'pert near' 100 pieces!!!).
I will be going to pick her up in a couple of hours and I have the batteries charging so I will snap a couple of more pics. Until then... "Love, Peace, and Hair Grease"!
***UPDATE***
Okay, as promised, I took more photos when I picked KO up from Kindergarten.
She had to stop and pick up a leaf and then inspect a schnecke (snail). They are really rather pretty with the designs on their shells. When it rains there are many along the walkway... and she thinks she has to stop and look at each one. (Even has the nerve to ask me to pick 'em up).
Just for the record, german Kindergarten is basically like US preschool. In Kalynn's class there are children from ages 3 up to 6. After that age they go to Grundschule (equivalent to primary school). It is great to have children of different ages in one classroom so that they can learn from each other. What is even more awesome is the number of different cultures & ethnicities represented in her class. American (she is the only one in the school), African, Turkish, French, Spanish, German (of course... we are in Germany after all), and Austrian. I love that!
A little bit about her school. We enrolled her in German Kindergarten, opting out of putting her in an english speaking kindergarten at the International School. So naturally, they speak german. KO is fortunate enough to be in a class where the teachers speak a little bit of english. When the children come to school in the morning they must change out of their street shoes and put on house shoes. These shoes are only worn inside the school which is great because who wants to play in dog poop that was wiped on the floor from the bottom of a shoe that walked to school and detoured into a mound of great dane doo? They also have gym shoes which are unlike the 'typical' gym shoes you may be thinking of. They're more like ballet shoes. They are soft and a bit fitted and the sole is flexible. They look like this. This keeps children from getting injured by hard shoes on flying feet. She takes her own snack to school (the kids that stay all day have lunch provided but KO only goes for a few hours). She must have been hungry today because practically all of her snack was finished when I checked her lunch box!
There are more pictures in our photo gallery. You can link to it from our home page!
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