First Day of School

The kids started school on August 23rd at TISB (The International School Bangalore), check out their website http://www.tisb.org/ which also happened to be William's 14th birthday. Now, the kids have been pretty upbeat about India, no real reservations, but that morning was tense! First of all they started off their day at 6:15 am, shower and breakfast. Since we had only been in the country for about 60 hours, our grocery selection was pretty slim. I resisted the $8 box of poptarts and opted for the "Honey O" cereal and some milk. Next they had to wear uniforms for the first time in their lives and these are not so comfy...think stiff starched shirts, ties (except for Nolan), polyester pants and black tie shoes that seem like they were left over from the British occupation. I was able to capture one quick shot on our front porch before the 5 of us with dog in tow walked down to the bus stop. The bussing for children is very well managed, a teacher rides the bus, the routes are labeled, kids have assigned seats and they take attendance! Not as much fun as the years i rode a bus in Michigan with one lone bus driver and 70 kids hopping all over the place while a skinny eigth grader tried to act as a safety... The kids marched on the bus and it pulled away. For the first time, I was actually sad to see them go to school...I didn't cry at daycare drop offs, or first day of kindergarten, but seeing them drive off to a new school in a foreign country was a like a knife in the heart. I wasn't sure we had done the right thing. They were back home at 415 in good spirits and having already made friends...we celebrated with Domino's pizza (see Hello May I take your order? for that ordeal) and collapsed by 830 pm.