Despite all the protests and only hearing, "I nyet school." she ended up loving it. I love the ESL teacher she has. The classroom teacher is okay. I stayed with her until first recess on Monday and she wasn't too thrilled that I left. She seemed quite uncomfortable as she was asked to do things, and honestly, I don't blame her on some of them. What part of "Doesn't understand English." do some people not get?? Ah well. I didn't put her in for academics. I put her in to help her meet new friends and to help motivate her to work harder learning English. Next year we'll worry about academics. When I came to pick her up that day though, she was very happy and said she loved it.
She had a field trip on Wednesday and who knows what they did, but she seemed to enjoy it. The rest of the week went pretty much the same. She'd be very happy and excited when I'd pick her up and tell me all about what she played with the kids. Mostly boys. I'm not too thrilled about this. :) Baptism by fire, right?
She was asked to do a math test that was WAY beyond what she can do. Even if she understood the concepts, a lot was story problems. In English. *rolls eyes* She was almost in tears as I was asking her about it and trying to help. She was just guessing on the answers. I have a feeling homework is going to be a struggle when we get to that point.
I had an advanced photography class on Wednesday. 4 hours of bliss. :) We met downtown at a couple of different locations and first shot an adorable girl. Then we did a family of 4. Both were quite interesting and I had a blast. I always get a little nervous (to take over and start directing a subject) around the teacher since I think he's such an awesome photographer and I think I'm going to say something dumb. LOL It was still amazing though. It helped that there were only 3 of us in the class so we got plenty of time for questions and to have him look at our cameras to help us get something better right then and there. The only problem is that I need more equipment. I need a flash, a small stand/umbrella, a laptop and a mac version of Photoshop. Not exactly cheap. Must think.... Anyone need pictures done so I can earn the money to get them?? ;) I'll post some of my favorites from the day once I can get the computer to quit being weird/Lightroom will work.
Last night I went out to dinner with some of my favorite people in the world. There were 5 of us, 4 of whom have recently returned from adopting in Ukraine and 1 who is hoping to go within the next few weeks. Stephanie H., Kerry S., Nan C., Ranee H., and me. We all went to Zupa's (sp??) and ate and talked and talked. Then when they closed we went and sat in Steph's car and talked more. :) We shared horror stories of how our kids are doing, what different school situations are and different things that happened while we were in Ukraine. Somehow, we didn't manage to scare Stephanie into not going! LOL It was a wonderful night and one I hope to repeat often. I didn't get home until about midnight and was exhausted, but it was good.
Ira and Little One are doing fairly well, for the most part. I honestly think having Ira gone most of the day has really helped that. I'm turning into one of those parents I've always complained about. You know the type (and perhaps you ARE one.) You panic at the thought of trying to find things to do for the summer. You anxiously anticipate that coveted first day of school. Yeah. I used to think such people were horrible. Why do you even HAVE kids if all you can do is count down the days until they're gone for 7 hours at a time?? Well, never say never, apparently. I honestly hope to not be in this category for long, but it has at least given me some empathy for those I've always frowned upon. My apologies for having frowned.
