Anna finds a school

I found a local Preschool for Anna. Hooooray! When I asked people if they knew where I could find one, people just looked at me like I was crazy trying to put an American kid in an all Chinese preschool. We got one lead and called the principal of this one school. She didn't sound too thrilled about it when I talked to her on the phone so I decided to find the school and talk face to face. I didn't know exactly where it was so I just wandered around on my bike and happened upon this other little preschool.

It's this tiny little casual preschool which is what I was looking for. People get a little uptight about preschool in the foreigner community around here, thinking that a 3 year old needs college prep or something. Anyway, I met the "principal" and liked her. She didn't have any problem accepting Anna with no Chinese speaking ability. They have a half day program from 8 to 12 every day so that's what we arranged for Anna to do.

The school is a couple miles from our house and we still don't have a driver. Getting Anna to school was something of a dilemma seeing as I only have one kid seat on the back of my bike. Emily and Gabe start school at 8:00 so here's how it all went down: I just strapped helmets on both Anna and Sara, strapped Sara on the back and sat Anna on my Handlebars. Yep! that's what I actually did. We dropped off Em and Gabe and then off we went down the busy street like that all the way to Anna's preschool. She loved it.

When we got there though, she was having no part of all these Chinese women coming at her. There were probably 8 of them wanting to comfort her which did the exact opposite. The only teachers she has ever known are white so she was naturally scared of these people. Anyway, being the resilient child she is, I only had to stay for 10 min before I asked her for a kiss and she let me go with no problem. I kept my phone with me all day in case there was a problem but no phone call came. I picked her up at 12:00 and they said she had a great time with no crying. They wanted to know what Anna likes to eat and I told them that she eats anything, which of course they didn't believe. It was hard for them to understand that an American kid would eat Chinese food. I had to tell them several times and list several Chinese food items she eats before they believed me and let it go.

Today when I picked her up (her second day) They said she had another good day. I guess Anna saw the other kids about to nap in their little beds and decided she wanted to nap there too. They seemed so disappointed when I told them that I was going to take her home anyway. I guess it's a good sign that Ann feels comfortable enough to want to nap there and that the teachers actually want her to stay.

Once we get a driver I won't have to do my little circus act with two kids on one bike. Although, I have enjoyed my rides to and from her school. Today as I was riding and looking around at the morning scene, I felt like I was in the Chinese version of the opening scene from Beauty and the Beast. People out selling vegetables, people opening their various little shops, buses and cars honking and going by amidst the constant flow of bicycle riders and scooters. Some people were waiting at bus stops, others were washing clothes in buckets outside their shops. I saw all the Clothes racks strewn with drying clothes decorating the balconies of the neighborhood apartment buildings. There were old men standing around smoking and, old women strolling along with friends. The old and the young alike beginning a new day, just going about their lives. The sounds and smells (sometimes not so good ones) filled my senses. It was like Bell was going to jump out and sing, "there must be more than this provincial liiiiiife"