Monday dawned bright and cheery for both of us... for our own reasons, of course, we were both excited that Felix was going to school. Clothing had been laid out in advance and I woke up ready to cook and get on the road. Felix's bus stop is about two blocks away and takes me 3 minutes to walk to alone, but about 7 minutes with Felix. The bus is supposed to pick up at 0744 and we're supposed to be there five minutes early just in case. I truly don't see it ever happening to be early, but I'm not going to take the chance so we will continue to show up five minutes early. The high school bus stop is in the same place and picks up about five minutes before the elementary/middle school bus does. We didn't realize this, but one of the high school kids getting onto the bus let us know that ours would be by right behind theirs. After Felix got onto his super nice tour bus type school bus, I headed directly to my own bus stop so I could head onto post and get my day started as well. I had some items to exchange at the PX... Rob picked up some kitchen utensils for me before I got here but he accidentally picked up a couple doubles, so I took the extras back and traded them out for a knife block set and some other cleaning supplies. All of these items (plus a couple monsters) went into my backpack since I'd be on and off buses it made no sense to me to be carrying grocery bags around all over the place. On the bright side, there's plenty of room in my backpack and it certainly makes shopping easier for the moment although I am considering getting one of those rolling carts...
Since everything had gone so slowly for us on Friday, we had not been able to set up a lunch account for Felix which meant that I needed to not only set up the lunch account for him on Monday, but I also needed to take his lunch to him at school. Go figure, the commissary is closed on Mondays. I wind up in the 24 hour shoppette looking for something reasonable for munchkin to eat while I'm waiting for the bus, which is going to be quite awhile apparently. I found him some food and got myself another giant tea (I'm keeping the bottles for reuse until our stuff gets here so I don't have to borrow so much from the lending closet) and settled in to wait for the bus. While I waited for the bus, a group of tourists stopped to ask me if I happened to be at the bus stop that would take them to the train because they were headed to Venice for the day. I had no idea what stop they needed, but I did know where to find out because this post is about two inches big, it's hard not to know where things are and they were right across from the travel place, so I went and asked for them. It turned out to be a win-win-win because I got a detailed map of the city while I was there and they found out where they needed to go (the extra win was the using up of would-be wasted time sitting and waiting for the everlovin bus!). Finally, I made it to the school and got signed in... apparently everyone on post had the idea that Monday was a great day to have lunch with their kids because there was quite a line. Then I headed to up meet Felix and his new teacher, who made sure to take time to talk to me and by the end of our conversation had clearly decided she was not going to be Felix's teacher. In fact, I'm quite certain she had decided it before meeting me but that is neither here nor there. I did learn, however, that there was a field trip coming up on Thursday and she was apparently terrified at the thought of taking a new student she had not "bonded with" out of town with her. Tough, he's smart enough to know not to get lost from his group and we're in Italy to experience Italy, not to hide, so he's going!! We meet the class at the computer lab and head off to lunch. The cafeteria has two meal options and they're in separate lines: regular lunch line and pasta line. Still not sure what that's all about, but I think Felix will probably be able to explain it to me soon. After lunch, I head back to the bus stop to get back to post. Whoops... it's 1120 and I've missed this particular bus, that means I'll have to wait because the next bus won't be around until 1330 at the earliest. CRAP! The school nurse told me I can catch the AIM bus outside Villagio - she said I'd just have to get across the street and up a couple blocks to Emisfero and she told me how to get there - she also said she wouldn't let her kids do it because it's a busy street, but she's from the city and it doesn't bother her to do it as an adult. When she says she's from "the city" by the way, she is most definitely referring to New York - man have I missed that accent! I probably could've sat in there and talked with her for the rest of the day just to listen to it again. Anyway, I decide to walk up to the gate and give it a go, but when I get there, the gate guards effectively talk me out of it telling me it's a very dangerous street to cross and I really shouldn't try it. I decide that rather than arguing with the Italians, I will go back to the little bus stop and hang out for awhile, then on another day entirely, I will take the bus in and walk from Emisfero to the school just to be sure I can do it. When I get to the bus stop, it occurs to me that Mary lives right down the road and maybe if I'm lucky she's home and I can hang out with her until the bus comes instead of waiting at the unshaded bus stop. I call to see if she's there, but she's not - she was on post at the time, so no big deal I'll just sit and wait (not like there's much choice, right?)...
About five minutes later, I'm playing the only game my phone has on it and Mary calls me back and asks if I'm still at the bus stop. Well, yea, I am... I'll be here for about two hours. She says she's on her way, at which point I tell her it's fine and she doesn't need to stop what she's doing just because I mismanaged time (this is true, I have no problem sitting and waiting) but she insists that I'm a good excuse for her to get away from whatever she was already doing. Yay for me! I won't be at the bus stop for two hours after all!! About five minutes after that, she pulls up and I am back on track to get things accomplished today! Once I'm back on post, I go to ACS again to do one (hopefully) last bit of paperwork with them and get Felix's lunch account started up. When finished with ACS, I take that paperwork back over to the PX and as I'm walking back in, it dawns on me that I was in Felix's school with this huge kitchen knife set in my backpack and I didn't even realize it... oy vey!! So I get Felix's lunch account set up finally then check my watch and realize I gotta get moving back to the bus stop so I can get home on time to be at Felix's bus stop. Excellent. I checked the mail box since I was there (thankfully it has a window so I don't have to try the combo every time I'm there) it was empty so I moved on. I got to the bus stop about two minutes before the bus, which was exactly enough time to get the pass out and be ready to wave it down. The bus got me to my neighborhood with exactly enough time for me to drop off my backpack at the house and head back out to Felix's bus stop. I arrived at his stop and only waited for about four minutes for his bus to show up. I pulled it pretty tight, but I got the important stuff done and since it all worked out, I'm great with it!
As we're walking in the door, Felix is telling me how awesome his class is and how great his new friends are and how much he loves his new school and... my phone rings. Yup, it's his school calling me. I'm thinking "great, he's in trouble on the first day... but that makes no sense because he's raving about school" so I'm a bit nervous now. The counselor is calling to let me know that they've decided Felix is not a good fit for his current class and they will be putting him in a different class. She goes on to explain (several times, no less) that he was not misbehaved and there was nothing wrong with his day: he was well-behaved, friendly and not a problem in the least HOWEVER, because he has ADHD and several other students in that class have similar conditions, the teacher is concerned that adding him may create the tipping point at which the students become overwhelmed. Fine, fine, fine, whatever. I see the point from both sides, but I'm a little upset because he really likes the kids in this class and I don't want him to be disappointed or feel like he's being rejected on the first day in a new school. The counselor advises me that the move will most likely be made during the day on Tuesday and they'll make sure it's as smooth a transition as possible. The sarcastic side of me definitely has a few comments for that statement, but I bite my tongue (good job Piper!! you've learned something!). So now I need to positively prepare Felix to change classes again. He and I talk about it and we decide that it's a great idea because now he can meet twice as many kids and make twice as many friends before summer starts and that way he'll have plenty of people to hang out with during the break. See Rob? The Glad Game WORKS!!!
Since everything had gone so slowly for us on Friday, we had not been able to set up a lunch account for Felix which meant that I needed to not only set up the lunch account for him on Monday, but I also needed to take his lunch to him at school. Go figure, the commissary is closed on Mondays. I wind up in the 24 hour shoppette looking for something reasonable for munchkin to eat while I'm waiting for the bus, which is going to be quite awhile apparently. I found him some food and got myself another giant tea (I'm keeping the bottles for reuse until our stuff gets here so I don't have to borrow so much from the lending closet) and settled in to wait for the bus. While I waited for the bus, a group of tourists stopped to ask me if I happened to be at the bus stop that would take them to the train because they were headed to Venice for the day. I had no idea what stop they needed, but I did know where to find out because this post is about two inches big, it's hard not to know where things are and they were right across from the travel place, so I went and asked for them. It turned out to be a win-win-win because I got a detailed map of the city while I was there and they found out where they needed to go (the extra win was the using up of would-be wasted time sitting and waiting for the everlovin bus!). Finally, I made it to the school and got signed in... apparently everyone on post had the idea that Monday was a great day to have lunch with their kids because there was quite a line. Then I headed to up meet Felix and his new teacher, who made sure to take time to talk to me and by the end of our conversation had clearly decided she was not going to be Felix's teacher. In fact, I'm quite certain she had decided it before meeting me but that is neither here nor there. I did learn, however, that there was a field trip coming up on Thursday and she was apparently terrified at the thought of taking a new student she had not "bonded with" out of town with her. Tough, he's smart enough to know not to get lost from his group and we're in Italy to experience Italy, not to hide, so he's going!! We meet the class at the computer lab and head off to lunch. The cafeteria has two meal options and they're in separate lines: regular lunch line and pasta line. Still not sure what that's all about, but I think Felix will probably be able to explain it to me soon. After lunch, I head back to the bus stop to get back to post. Whoops... it's 1120 and I've missed this particular bus, that means I'll have to wait because the next bus won't be around until 1330 at the earliest. CRAP! The school nurse told me I can catch the AIM bus outside Villagio - she said I'd just have to get across the street and up a couple blocks to Emisfero and she told me how to get there - she also said she wouldn't let her kids do it because it's a busy street, but she's from the city and it doesn't bother her to do it as an adult. When she says she's from "the city" by the way, she is most definitely referring to New York - man have I missed that accent! I probably could've sat in there and talked with her for the rest of the day just to listen to it again. Anyway, I decide to walk up to the gate and give it a go, but when I get there, the gate guards effectively talk me out of it telling me it's a very dangerous street to cross and I really shouldn't try it. I decide that rather than arguing with the Italians, I will go back to the little bus stop and hang out for awhile, then on another day entirely, I will take the bus in and walk from Emisfero to the school just to be sure I can do it. When I get to the bus stop, it occurs to me that Mary lives right down the road and maybe if I'm lucky she's home and I can hang out with her until the bus comes instead of waiting at the unshaded bus stop. I call to see if she's there, but she's not - she was on post at the time, so no big deal I'll just sit and wait (not like there's much choice, right?)...
About five minutes later, I'm playing the only game my phone has on it and Mary calls me back and asks if I'm still at the bus stop. Well, yea, I am... I'll be here for about two hours. She says she's on her way, at which point I tell her it's fine and she doesn't need to stop what she's doing just because I mismanaged time (this is true, I have no problem sitting and waiting) but she insists that I'm a good excuse for her to get away from whatever she was already doing. Yay for me! I won't be at the bus stop for two hours after all!! About five minutes after that, she pulls up and I am back on track to get things accomplished today! Once I'm back on post, I go to ACS again to do one (hopefully) last bit of paperwork with them and get Felix's lunch account started up. When finished with ACS, I take that paperwork back over to the PX and as I'm walking back in, it dawns on me that I was in Felix's school with this huge kitchen knife set in my backpack and I didn't even realize it... oy vey!! So I get Felix's lunch account set up finally then check my watch and realize I gotta get moving back to the bus stop so I can get home on time to be at Felix's bus stop. Excellent. I checked the mail box since I was there (thankfully it has a window so I don't have to try the combo every time I'm there) it was empty so I moved on. I got to the bus stop about two minutes before the bus, which was exactly enough time to get the pass out and be ready to wave it down. The bus got me to my neighborhood with exactly enough time for me to drop off my backpack at the house and head back out to Felix's bus stop. I arrived at his stop and only waited for about four minutes for his bus to show up. I pulled it pretty tight, but I got the important stuff done and since it all worked out, I'm great with it!
As we're walking in the door, Felix is telling me how awesome his class is and how great his new friends are and how much he loves his new school and... my phone rings. Yup, it's his school calling me. I'm thinking "great, he's in trouble on the first day... but that makes no sense because he's raving about school" so I'm a bit nervous now. The counselor is calling to let me know that they've decided Felix is not a good fit for his current class and they will be putting him in a different class. She goes on to explain (several times, no less) that he was not misbehaved and there was nothing wrong with his day: he was well-behaved, friendly and not a problem in the least HOWEVER, because he has ADHD and several other students in that class have similar conditions, the teacher is concerned that adding him may create the tipping point at which the students become overwhelmed. Fine, fine, fine, whatever. I see the point from both sides, but I'm a little upset because he really likes the kids in this class and I don't want him to be disappointed or feel like he's being rejected on the first day in a new school. The counselor advises me that the move will most likely be made during the day on Tuesday and they'll make sure it's as smooth a transition as possible. The sarcastic side of me definitely has a few comments for that statement, but I bite my tongue (good job Piper!! you've learned something!). So now I need to positively prepare Felix to change classes again. He and I talk about it and we decide that it's a great idea because now he can meet twice as many kids and make twice as many friends before summer starts and that way he'll have plenty of people to hang out with during the break. See Rob? The Glad Game WORKS!!!
Felix also came home with the field trip permission slip (6 euro per person, please sign and return immediately since you're already past the deadline) and the classroom rules that officially no longer apply to him (we sign and return anyway, it's good practice!) and a little homework, which we settle down into right away. All in all, despite it being a hectic day, it's still a lovely day. Oh, and Rob's still irritated by the tv situation because even though we got the right cords and everything's hooked up properly, we still have no picture on our tv. I'm not worried - I don't need the tv and he doesn't live here yet, so it really doesn't matter to me at all. Maybe he can fix it next weekend when he comes over again.
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