School and My Brave Little Hijos (Children) - Hannah

The three boys in their school uniforms

We started school today. I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be for me to hold back the tears when dropping my kids off into the unknown. What kind of mother does that?

Silvia and I took Julia first. Silvia has been helping us the whole way and has been a lifesaver. Julia's going to the high school--there is no junior high here. There is a counselor at the school, Bernard, who speaks some English and so was helpful in getting Julia settled. Julia will finish up the Costa Rican school year--until November--with a 7th grade class. One thing that's nicer here is that she'll stay with the same group of kids as she goes from room to room, so she doesn't have to wander around by herself to find her next class. She just needs to follow the other kids. Poor Silvia, when her family lived in New Jersey for a time, started school speaking only Spanish and didn't know where to go. She said she was in detention for the first week and thought it was her classroom since the hall guards sent her there after the bell rang. Finally she met a fellow Costa Rican who told her how to get to her class.

Anyway, we took Julia to her first class. The teacher wasn't there. Apparently when the teacher doesn't show up, there are no substitutes. The kids just hang out until their next class. But we were able to introduce her to the other kids. There was one girl in the class who spoke English--I'm not sure how much. But everyone seemed very friendly and happy to have her there. Silvia thought they would be bragging to the other 7th grade classes that Julia was in their class. I really hope she makes friends and picks up the language quickly. She was so nervous. It makes me sad to think I'm the cause of her distress. But she's so brave and I know she can do this. I really think it will be a good experience for her, or at least I keep telling myself that.

We took Caleb and Dylan to the elementary school next. Again, the kids seemed very welcoming. And Caleb and Dylan were nervous, but I think not as much as Julia. The classes are generally small. Dylan's class had about 10 kids, Caleb's maybe 15. So that will help. Neither of their teachers speak English, or any of the kids in their classes, as far as I know. There is an English teacher at the school who offered to help them if they needed anything. Plus we had the kids memorize our phone number yesterday in case they needed to get a hold of us.

Finally I went with Jonah to his preschool. It's a private elementary school just down the road, where they will take someone his age. I'm going to volunteer there as well. That way I can be close to him and hopefully we can both learn the language. Today I wasn't with him the whole time, but he knew I was nearby. I started off with a group of 5-year-olds, and they were learning vowels--preschool vocabulary is right up my alley. I told them some English words, and they'd tell me the words in Spanish. We're going to do preschool three mornings a week. There's another English-speaking boy in the school named Reed, from California. Hopefully he and Jonah can become friends. Jonah seemed fine with everything. He was excited for school. At his age it's a lot of coloring and playing anyway. And that he can do.

I ended up taking Jonah home early today on accident. Whoops. I must have looked at the clock wrong or something. I'll have to figure out how to apologize for that. I knew I needed to get back to get the boys from school, so I didn't want to stay too late. I'm sure I'm going to mess up a lot while here, but I'm hopeful that people will be patient with me.

I'm anxious to hear how everyone's day went today. I'm just praying that people will be kind to my little hijos.