First Day of School

As promised, Carmela will be chiming in on the blog every so often.  Here is her first post.  Who better to write the blog about the first day of school than one who experienced it!

Today was my first day of school in Argentina. Have you ever wondered how Taylor Swift or Katy Perry feel when they are walking into a concert? Well I know. They feel COMPLETELY overwhelmed.

The first things students are supposed to do at my school in the morning are drop backpacks off in class and head to the gym to line up and hear the morning announcements. Instead half of my class and some others sixth graders were standing on the other side of the main glass doors. When we walked up they started waving, shouting, and pushing each other as they all tried to catch my attention.  Just waving back drew another shriek, sounding louder than a charging herd of hippos, as they announced to the rest of the group that I had noticed the stampede behind the two sets of glass doors.

The photo we got AFTER the bell rang
and the stampede moved to line up.

They stared at me the whole time dad took our picture. Mom’s idea. Thanks Mom (yeah right). When I went inside, it was just as bad. If Mom and Dad hadn’t walked in with us, we would have been completely mobbed. Questions drifted over and small comments were whispered.  After SoJo and Caleb (Antonio) were taken to their lines by Mom and Dad, I went down to my line at the end of the gym.

“Hola, Carmela,” a voice said over my shoulder. I turned around and saw 3 girls standing in a small group. One was waving and grinning energetically the other two were smiling happily.

“Hola,” I said politely. It was my first mistake of the day. The one girl let out an ear piercing scream and started giggling and announced to both classes that I had spoken to her and that I wasn’t mute or deaf (just go with it). After that I decided to stick to the waving.

            When we got to class I had a very important decision to make.  I had to pick who I was going to sit with for the day.  I was told I could pick, but I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, so I said I didn’t care. One of the girls was waving and pointing to the seat next to her. She was one of the girls that I had waved to. The teacher told me to sit by her, so I pulled out the chair and sat.  Everybody was staring at me, and it was sort of creeping me out, so I was really happy when the teacher started talking.  Normally I would tell you her name, but I can’t remember it, so for now she is just teacher.  I guess that it sort of makes sense because everybody just called her, “Seño.”

The gym where students line up for morning announcements.
The principal brought Caleb, Carmela, and SoJo to the front
and introduced them to the whole school.

After we did the intro, we did math which was multiplying fractions. I was done before she started explaining, so I got to look around. Each desk could fit two people. Everyone sat in their uniforms - navy blue bottoms and a white top. Everybody has the school logo on their shirts - except for me. Mom said we should get them here.  Thanks Mom.  My shirt also has a collar and puffs on the shoulders. Thanks again, Mom. 

:( 

At least we got our school sweatshirts here.  I thought that was a good thing until I found out that everybody had the sixth grade graduation sweatshirt, which was different than the one mom bought for me. :( But now I get to where my normal sweatshirt. Mom will go through and edit this, so she will probably finish the story. I just gave you the outline (wink wink). (Note from Mom – yes, our kids have white polo shirts, and the other kids have white t-shirts with the school logo on them.  That is just the way it is for now!  Life isn’t always fair – but to be honest, their polo shirts look very nice). Yeah right.

            During lunch we went home on the Escolar Transporte (private school bus – this is a giant van with no seatbelts.  It costs a lot of money, and they stuff as many kids as the can inside – all seats are shared plus kids are standing).  They said it could take an hour round trip.  It only took 30 minutes. YAY!!!!!! :)

When we went back to school for our afternoon classes, we all went to English class.  That is the only one I will Ace. :) We played A Tisket A Tasket. When I got the letter, I chased after the kid, but the tread on my shoes was horrible. I am just going to hurry up and get to the point.

…

Fine. I wiped out. Ok?

Yes.  I cried.  I landed on my left side and was bleeding on my hip and elbow.

…

The end. End of story. Good bye. 

OK.  I will end on a happy note.

:) :) :) :) :) I AM STILL ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :)