First Day of School

Monday was Sophia's first day at her new preschool.  We're blessed to have her school, Sun City International Preschool, in view from our front window, a minute's walk from our house!  Sophia was happy and confident when I dropped her off at 8:00 a.m.  I paid our money for the semester to the principal's assistant then told her in Chinese that I could not speak Chinese.  She said she would call Adam to tell him some information.  I came back at noon, pushing Elise is in the stroller, to pick up Sophia.  Her teacher wondered why I was there because usually school is over at 4:30, but I explained that Sophia would go home every day at noon.  There is a small handful of kids that do that, so it's not totally strange.  I waited at the front door and the teacher brought her down.  Sophia was very excited about her first day.  She said that she played outside, then went upstairs to her classroom and did school things.  Then they ate, but she did not eat very much of the food so she wanted a bowl of oatmeal when she got home.  That's about all I got out of her.  Maybe I can get a little more information from her today.

Adam also had his first day of school today.  He rides his bike to school in 15 minutes.  Adam bought a new bike this summer.  It's a really nice one that he bargained a great deal for.  Even the Chinese thought he got a fantastic price, so that's saying something because usually they think we pay too much money for stuff.  Today Adam also bought a cool bike helmet, so yes, Peggy and Karen (Moms), he'll be safe!  Since his bike is so nice, he brings it into our house and into his school building to hopefully cut down on the chances of it being stolen, since theft is the biggest crime problem a person has to worry about in China.

For the first three months Adam will be taking two courses.  The first one is on statistics and how to do research.  He thought this class would be in Chinese, so was pleasantly surprised when the professor started out in English and said that class would be taught in English.  His professor has a master and doctorate degree from Stanford!  The class is comprised of Chinese and International post-graduate students.  This class will meet twice a week on Monday and Wednesday.  Adam's other class won't start until next week, and it will be his Chinese class.  It will meet four times a week, Tuesday through Friday.  He's sure that will be a great class, and he's excited to keep up his Chinese studies.  Really, I wish you could hear Adam speak.  You would be blown away.  He's humble and still says he's not that good, but I beg to differ.

We thank our Father for smooth transitions into new schools for both Sophia and Adam!