Once January 20th rolled around, the kids were ecstatic to get back to school. They had been doing asynchronous learning from their grandma and grandpa's house since the beginning of the academic year...it was a 10-hour time difference between Utah and Addis Ababa, and was certainly not an ideal experience. We were supposed to go back to school on the 13th, but the administration made a last-minute decision to postpone the in-person learning because some people were using the quarantine buffer as an opportunity to extend their out-of-country holidays instead of actually quarantining. Grrr.
Anyway, they were SO excited to go to school, and came home very happy at the end of the day.
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Before leaving our gate for the school bus (the embassy provides a shuttle for school kids...very nice and convenient).
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| They have their temperatures checked and hand sanitizer applied every time they get on the bus. |
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| Jasmine is a Japanophile. She wanted to have a bento box-style lunch so we ordered some special lunchboxes on amazon.com. I learned how to make kimbap--the triangle-shaped, seaweed-wrapped rice things--from a Korean friend in Germany. Now my kids are eating them in Ethiopia. Talk about globalization! |
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| At a certain point, Jasmine complained that my lunches were no longer "cute." She wanted rice shaped into rabbits with ham-and-seaweed smiley faces, etc. My response was to slap a "cute" sticker onto her pretzel bag. |
We considered sending Zinnia to the kids' school, but since she is under kindergarten age, we would have to pay out of pocket (the state department pays for your kids' education only once they hit kindergarten). The tuition for the early years program at this place is just beyond belief. Thankfully, there are a couple other parents of 4-year-olds who were keen on creating our own little "playschool." Half the week the kids come here and half the week they go to another woman's house. I have to admit, I put less planning into my "lessons" as the other amazing woman does, but it is really nice that Zinnia has the opportunity to socialize with peers every day, with zero cost! So glad we could work out this arrangement.
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| Lunchtime at our "school." |
1 comment:
By far my favorite post even though I loved my food one. School!! Ok these lunchboxes -- I love them. How is Jasmine a Japanophile? Please tell me more because I am one too. I love their containers and food arrangement. Japan makes such interesting stuff. They are a very creative country for sure. I would love to see the school the kids go to, and how cool that they send a mega bus to pick all the kids up. Who are these little tykes that Zinnia hangs out with? I love their cute little faces, and the back of braid girl's head. I think no lessons is fine -- they can just play and learn new words, and be lil kiddies. So great. One of my friends out here did a similar thing and they call their group Narwhal Academy. Maybe the kids can name their school too.
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