Intro to International School

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E is undeniably the queen of falling asleep on her snuggling partner (me tonight) in such a manner that it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself, quickly or easily, without fearing one will wake her up or roll her off the bed. Tonight she fell asleep lying so that her head was slightly above mine, tucked in close to my face, on the pillow. I was lying on my side with my legs curled up a bit and my lower arm made a triangle with my hand near my head. She ended up, after quite a bit of maneuvering and wiggling, with her back over my bent arm and her toes tucked slightly under my legs. My upper arm was stretched over her waist. And she fell asleep that way. Incredible. I lay next to/under/on top of her wondering if she was truly asleep and if so, how was I going to get out of the bed. I finally determined that she was indeed fast asleep, but I stayed a few more minutes, enjoying the sweet interlude (a rare time where she is not asking questions, running around busily or saying, “I’m too hot!” repeatedly), knowing it would be one of the last times I will get to snuggle with her.

I finally made myself leave (before I fell asleep too)…gently removing the hand she captured as I rolled her and myself and tucked under her head. I kissed her, made sure she was tucked in. I did the same for Tucker, who I had snuggled with first (since he usually falls asleep first!) and left the room.

They had a busy day today, and will again tomorrow- their first day of school! And it may be a trial for Tucker, especially. Today we visited their new school, which is an international school with several branches here in Shanghai. We checked out the class assignment and to our surprise, and yes, shock, we found that they were assigned to DIFFERENT, though neighboring, rooms! Now, the school had informed MT and J that they had a policy against having twins in the same class, but had assured them that they would make an exception this first year.

In turn, MT had promised T and E that they would be in the same class. This was especially important for T because E is his security blanket. He is very unsure of making friends…they’ve never had to! While E is very independent and can certainly entertain herself, T takes his time to warm up to new people, things and places. And there is a whole lot of new stuff going on at once, so understandably he is pretty worried. I’m sure he will be fine, though, eventually. I actually liked his classroom better: it’s bigger, it has cars (a must have for T) and a class pet, Mr. soon-to-be-named gerbil. E’s class is smaller, has Legos (a must have for E) and really friendly teachers. She spent the whole time making a circus and circus train with the Lego set (it had zoo animals.) T spent the whole time close to MT’s or my side, starting to talk about how he wouldn’t go to class without E whenever we failed to distract him.

The person in charge of assigning classrooms told MT (who went off to find her and discuss the situation before we actually visited the classrooms, while I entertained T and E with a story about a baby dragon that they hatched from an egg) that she put each kid in each class because she felt sure that the teachers would be a better fit. In addition, there are apparently 3 boys in T’s class who really like cars and the other things T likes. In E’s class, there will be 3 girls that like to build and do art projects like she does. They also assured us that the first few weeks are a period of adjustment and the kids would be able to visit each other, MT could stay for awhile, etc…if needed. Additionally, they will have lunch and recess together.

I actually think that in the long term, separate classrooms will be a good thing because it will allow them to find their own interests and their own friends. But in the short term, I think it will be hard- mostly for T. Poor kid. When I was 3 or 4 years old, I was pretty attached to my cousin, Matty, who was the same age. We went to the same preschool, Nancy’s Noah’s Ark, for a while. My strongest memory is of hiding under a table, crying my eyes out, because I was terrified and only wanted my cousin. We were in different classes, of course. Finally, the teacher brought me into the kitchen and then another person brought Matty in.

After visiting the kids’ classrooms, finding out where their bathroom (complete with four tiny toilets, one tiny urinal and two tiny sinks) was located, where to hang their backpacks and where to put their outside shoes in the morning, we went to lunch. Once again, we headed to McDonald’s at Carrefours (which the Chinese pronounce like “Char-Re-Fourse”). It’s becoming a standby, which is completely the opposite from how we avoided it in Seattle, but we know the kids will happily eat there! I tried a Sweet Taro Pie. I had wanted to get the coconut one again- I had tried it before and found it delicious. MT pointed to the pie machine when ordering (they don’t speak more than a few words of English) and they assumed that we wanted the Taro. Which is funny, because I would thing the coconut would be more popular among foreigners. There is no explaining the Chinese mind.

We took a taxi to Beixinjing Station, again having to tell the taxi to stop because it was headed the wrong way! Not one single taxi I have tried to take there has gone to the right place! It is so strange. I can’t tell if they are deliberately taking us the long way or to a further station for a larger fare, or perhaps not very many people go to that station. It’s not just that we are pronouncing it wrong. I once handed the driver the name of the station written in Chinese and still ended up at the Songhong road station. Go figure.

We were headed bravely to the Nihon Children’s Plaza. Our mission: To find E nice black shoes and white gym shoes, a backpack, two lunchboxes, two pillows and inside shoes for both. All of this stuff, of course, will be duplicated once the shipment arrives. MT did all the prep shopping for school before moving here. But because of the Olympics and the extra security that goes with them, everything is delayed. MT wanted the kids’ input, especially E’s because she needed to try on her shoes…it is impossible to return a purchase in China, even with the receipt - unless you are J! But we knew it would require at least some walking in the hot, hot sun to find the market from the closest subway station. She told the kids that they had 3 and only 3 whining cards. Once they used them up, they would not receive the promised small toy. Emi used all of hers with “I’m toooooooo hot!”s.

We took line 2 to People’s Square, only we missed the stop, going one stop too far. So we turned around and went back. Then transferred to line 1 and went one stop to Huangpi Road, the same station you get off at for Xīntāndì. We exited through the number 2 exit and turned right. After about 3 blocks we noticed a Starbucks across the street and took a pit stop. When we left Starbucks we went through their back door into the office building/small mall and found some decent bathrooms upstairs. Next we exited the office building on the opposite side from where we came in, turned right and headed down the block to Pu-an road. The Children’s Plaza entrance is just across the street as if you were turning to go towards the Shanghai Art Museum and People’s Square.

Luckily the first store we encountered was a Children’s shoe store. MT found the dull black Oxford style shoes required with the school uniform. They fit perfectly. I spied the necessary plain white sneakers for gym. The sales lady scurried off to find the right size. T used his first and only whining card while waiting for E to try on shoes.

Then we found the mother lode. We found the cutest backpack, two snack boxes (a Cars for T and pink one for E), and some pencil pouches in one store. It was funny: we walked in because we spied a big, pink Hello Kitty backpack. We tried it on E and it dwarfed her. So I walked further back and found one after another after another. E was gamely trying them all on. After the 4th one, I spied the perfect one. It was small, it was blue and it was Hello Kitty flying an airplane. It was just right. The sales ladies physically propelled E to walk all over the store in it, maybe because they thought she was cute. Most people here do! MT paid about $30 for the whole cache after some bargaining by yours truly! In Seattle it would easily be double that.

On the way out, MT bought the kids some floaty water toys on my suggestion. The pool is too deep for either of them to reach and I thought some toys would be fun and boost a certain boy’s confidence about being in the water. We found some great race car floats-one mostly blue and one orange, green and yellow. They had plastic straps across the bottom forming an X so the kids could sit in them and not slip down and out. I was a little worried because the bags said for ages 2-, but figured they would float, maybe just a little lower. Both kids were thrilled. This was the first transaction that MT carried out completely in Mandarin WITHOUT the benefit of a calculator (I had trouble following it). I have to say, she did pretty well: though she only got about a 10% discount, paying about $3.50 for each inflatable toy in the end, she seemed to understand everything the guy was saying!

We walked to out and headed towards the metro station under People’s Square. Basically, you exit , keep walking straight across the street, cut through the park, walk to the corner, go up the stairs and under Yan’an Lu, down the stairs, down one block and enter the station. But then you have to walk pretty far underground, in air-conditioned halls. Which is nice since it is so hot outside. However, to get to the number 2 line you end up walking through another mall/market of hair things, bags, etc. And I bought another bag. Which I don’t need, but fell in love with! Handwritten on the tag of the large leather bag is the price 1050, printed is the price 549, spoken in Shanghai-ese and hand gestures was the price 150. It was pretty funny. MT also bought another bag. This brings our count up considerably…to 3 for MT and 6 for me, though some are going to be Christmas presents. It is crazy.

At home, we said hello to Ying Chen. I blew up the water floats. MT took Zoey out and checked her email. We all, YC excluded, changed into our swimsuits and headed to the pool. It was full of kids and pool toys. We rinsed ourselves and the cars off and headed to the pool. The toys were awesome. I saw a whole new T- not at all nervous and much more independent wanting to pull himself on the edge all the way around the pool. E quickly figured out that she could move herself by kicking and showed T how. They raced. It was awesome! But MT and I made sure to stay close to the kids, just in case the support straps broke or a kid (read T because he was leaning over and splashing around) flipped over sideways or forwards. They are cheap plastic floatys made for smaller kids after all. But they stayed seaworthy and we all had a great time swimming laps near the edge with the kids between us and the wall and back and forth across the pool where we could touch until rain threatened and dinner beckoned.

J arrived home from Beijing and together he and MT did the bedtime ritual with the kids. I went through my inventory of souvenirs and soon-to-be Christmas gifts. We all laughed at the amount of stuff I, a person who usually dislikes shopping intensely, had bought. Then they headed off together to Carrefour’s to find the pillows and inside shoes we didn’t find for the kids at Nihong. I finished up bedtime with extra snuggles. We all had a busy day.

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Photos

T and E join the student body
Visiting their new international school. They seem to fit right in!

T's new teachers
One speaks Chinese during class, the other speaks English.

Reading with Chrissy in T's class
They have some very T books...trains, cars and rockets galore.

McDonald's Happy Meal Fries
If they had this label, would you eat them?