Monday morning we had to go back downtown to the Medical Center and have our TB tests read. They were all ok. So now this information gets passes on to the Ministry with our other paperwork from last week and then we wait to recieve a letter (probably in 6 more weeks) that invites us to the Ministry to get our pictures taken and finger prints. So now we just wait to receive the letter in the mail. The kids were late to school today because of this so we walked them in and they all got passes even Amber- like she was going to skip school! And when we took Amber to her class, her new little friend hopped right over and said she could sit next to him. So cute.
Then Jason left to drive to Germany for a few days for work. It is the European Automotive Show over there this week. I tried out the cleaners this morning. From talking to other people, any women's clothes you bring in will be dry cleaned and are expensive probably starting around $7 and go up per item. But men's shirts they will do something like wash and press and then it is about $3.25/shirt. So I dropped off 2 shirts and not really sure what to say and she asked if I wanted them on hangers I said yes and she charged me that. Then she said it would be ready on Sat! That is a long time to wash and iron 2 shirts! We will see what they look like when I pick them up.
Today both boys wanted to buy lunch, so they tried it out. Sean loved his lunch, and Jacob thought it was just ok. Lunch cost $6/person. I haven't seen any chicken nuggets on the menu, and only pizza and hamburger once per month so that is nice. It is more full meals like you would be served at home or a restaurant. So today was Chinese beef stew with asian mix vegetables and rice. Then everyday you can also just get a pasta dish instead of the main entree. They also have 5 different types of premade cold sandwiches on a baguette if they prefer. Other main entrees they have this month include, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Beef Stroganoff, Pork, Turkey, fish, Ham, sausages, and Veal are some examples. After school we went to a friend's house for all the kids to play so that was nice!
Tuesday Sean had his first fieldtrip! The took a bus downtown and did a walking tour of Luxembourg. They brought their lunch and had it outside and then they took a little bus that looks like a train and did a tour on that. He was gone most of the day and said he enjoyed it! They both got invites for b'day parties next weekend same day. One is here just outside of town at a lazer tag place, so good to know they have that! And the other party is called a football party, but it is really soccer at a place in Germany. So that one is about 45 min. away. Tonight before I started dinner Amber wanted to watch a movie so I got her all set. Then soon she came down and said the movie was giving her a headache so I told her just to play in her craft area. Well soon she went back upstairs and I figured it was to watch her movie. When it was time for dinner I called everyone down and the boys came and I asked where Amber was and they said they hadn't seen her. I now knew where she had gone- to bed. I went up to her room and there she was in her clothes with the light on at 5:20pm all curled up and sound asleep. Oh no. I woke her up and carried her downstairs and she was not happy. When she finally calmed down I was able to get her to eat but only by feeding her myself. By the end of the night I had caught her "headache".
I joined the chuch and it is right over by the school. They have one Sunday mass in English and during the mass kids 7 and under can go to a little Sunday school. The boys are going to be signing up for Religious Education classes that will be held after school at school. I am still trying to figure it out, but it is one day after school for an hour. Then at home kids normally make their 1st Communion in 2nd grade and I asked the church about it. Here the child has be 8 as of Jan. 1st of the year they make it, so since Sean's b'day isn't until spring he will have to wait until next year. And this is something that is done through the church not the RE classes, so after chuch every Sunday he will have to take 1st Communion classes next year.
On Wednesday Amber was very excited because we were going out to lunch with her new little friend! She even wanted to wear one of her play necklaces to look pretty! She was so ready for school today that when the teacher opend the door she just ran in the class room doors holding one of her girlfriend's hands and I never even said goodbye. After school we walked with Amber's friend and his mom to a cafe up the street from the school and we had a very nice time. It was a nice lunch and we hung out there until I had to pick up the boys since on Wed. they get out at 2:20. After school today their religous education classes started. I had signed up twice for these and never received a call or note when it was starting. There were some postings on the school website about it, but this morning when I looked it up all I could find was something with dates and days that didn't match up. This is a perfect example of why I feel so flustered trying to find out what is going on. So I left him a message. When he called back I was already out the door to get Amber and I am finding out it is starting today. I had not told the boys they now had to stay after school for an hour and I had no snacks for them. So I picked them up something from the bakery at lunch. We got back to school after lunch and when school ended I took the boys to the room where the RE class was being held. Since today was the first class there were only a few other boys there too. Since class was for an hour I decided we would just go home for a bit. Well once I get Amber in the car she tells me she has to go potty and then I realize I left the stroller in the school since I had brought it b/c we walked to lunch. So I drag her out of the car and up and about to the school, get the stroller, take her potty and now have to change her pants. By the time we finished this up we only had 30 min. left so now we just stayed and hung out in the school lobby b/c there was no sense in going home.
Tonight Jason came back so the kids were happy to see Jason again.
Thursday my French lessons started. Someone is going to come to the house for an hour. Not sure if I will do this 1 or 2 times a week. She didn't have a book she was just talking and trying to get me to say the accents on the words right. I didn't sound good! But on a positive note my Portuguese is improving! So we will see about the French.
Jacob's French homework has already bypassed me.
Once every 7 days (for the 7 day schedule the kids classes are on) Amber's class does a cooking lesson. Today they did pigs in blankets. She loved it!
Jacob told us that each week they are assigned a class job. This week he is "tech support". Jason busted out laughing when Jacob said this. We asked him what he had to do. He said he is in charge of turing the computers on and off in the room and then if someone needs help on the computer they can ask him. Then he adds " and it is a good thing no one has needed help b/c I don't think I would be able to help them!" Too funny!
This week is when local Luxembourgish schools have started up again. This week also started up afternoon preschool. This is where kids who go to preschool in the morning can just stay at school all day and it ends when the upper school ends at 3:20. So they eat lunch there and then just have different play areas, but no more schooling. So now there are only a handful of us who pick up their preschoolers at 12:20 (except Wed. everyone needs to be picked up at 12:20). But this is a nice quiet time for Amber and I. We eat lunch together in peace and she talks and talks about her day or things in general. She is such my little baby. She tells me "Mommy your my best friend. I am going to keep you" Too cute. I will remind her of this when she is 16. Maybe I should video tape it for her later. Besides her new little boy friend she now likes and plays with 2 other girls as well. And then today she does her gymnastics class after school and just loves it.
I am in the process of trying to locate a guitar teacher for Jacob. Up until we moved he had been taking electric guitar lessons for 1 1/2 years.
Tonight was the boys curriculm night at school. The first hour was all the department heads talking and then the second hour was divided up by grade. So it was a good thing Jason had come with me. He went to the 2nd grade presentation and I did the 4th grade one. So the whole grade met together and went over what the children will be learning this year, and then you could go into your child's classroom and meet the teacher. So it was nice. Here in addition to the Principal they have a Deputy Principal, Assistant Principal Curriculum, Counsellor, and French Coordinator. They have 7 different French Teachers here for grades 1-5!
I missed the notes the boys would write and leave on their desks when we did curriculm nights at home. Here one of the supplies the school gives all the kids are these homework little briefcase looking bags. Each grade has a different color. Sean can fit his in his bookbag but Jacob we got a clip and attached his to his book bag. This is what all their homework goes in and anything they need to bring home from school. But Jacob also has this big French binder/folder thing that doesn't fit in that bag so that has to go in his bookbag.
Friday morning some of the preschool moms/dads went up and had coffee together so this was nice. There are quite a few dads that do the dropping of the kids off in the morning here. Since school does start earlier 8:25 maybe it works out better for the dads to take the kids. Today the highschools that are right next to the kids school started- strange doing it on a Friday. But there was more traffic this morning and they can park in the beginning of our school lot, yikes now even less spaces. Can you tell I freak out about parking here! Then after coffee I came home and got Jason and we took the Volvo to be serviced. There is a light on in the car saying bulbs are out and service due, so we thought we better get it checked out. We took it to the dealership since that is where the other set of tires are stored and there really aren't other places to take your car. Then Jason left and drove to Paris for the day for work and returned late tonight. It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive one way. I told him if he gets lost he can go ahead and give me a call- ha I don't even know my way around here.
Let me just say a note about the pencils here. To buy a box of pencils at the store is around $3-4 and it is for maybe 3-6 pencils and they don't have erasers on them. Jacob does not like these no eraser pencils at all.
Tonight Jacob had one of his good friends he has made sleep over. He was so excited and they had a good time!
Saturday was a busy day. Jacob's friend had spent the night and all had gone well. Then the cleaning lady came over with her friends to take away the big old fridge in the laundry room we didn't need. We had gotten a nice, newer, smaller fridge from someone else and just didn't need that other one any more. We went and picked up Jason's shirts from the dry cleaners. They turned out nice and we dropped off some more which won't be ready until next Sat.- kind of crazy long time. They have this neat system to pick up your shirts. You put your ticket in this bar scanner and the rack of dry cleaning starts moving and then finds your stuff and slides it out this little slot to you. Then for lunch, the American's Women's Club was having a fundraiser for raising money for the training of dogs for disabled children. They brought some of the golden retrievers. They were so cute and they showed us some of the things they can help the children with. The dogs could take off someone's glasses and socks! They were having a pancake brunch. So we went there and had breakfast for lunch! They had yummy pancakes, eggs, our favorite turkey bacon from home, and juice. Sean and Amber also got their faces painted. Amber got a ladybug and Sean became a tiger!
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