First day of School--three weeks late:)

This has been a very different first day of school for us. If you ever live out of your suitcases for two months, you'll know what I am talking about. Nevertheless, we were very excited about the beginning of the school year.

Pictures have the wrong date on them since our camera is still set on the US time:)


Katya's first day was on Aug 31st. She got to go to Cummings Elementary School which is specifically for kids who live in the North area of our base and several houses from the main base. The school is very close to us, so she gets to walk or ride her bike every day. For the first two days, we all walked together to school (about 7-10 walk). On the first day, I was very surprised to find out that kids are not allowed to enter the school until the first bell rings at 8 am. So if you show up at 7:50, you have to wait outside by the entrance to your classroom. Only if it is raining, then kids can go into the lunch room. I guess we'll see how it all works out when it's snowy and windy:)



Katya loves her teacher--Mrs. Smith. She is in 1st grade. And there only 16 kids in her class. Their mascot is Siberian Swan since these birds pass our area when they are migrating.

Mrs. Smith kept calling Katya--Katrina since that's her full name. I had to ask her a couple times to call her Katya. Because for the first week, Katya was known as Katrina, most of the kids in her class call her Katrina. She doesn't mind. I kind of do:) We'll keep working on it.



Oh, I have to mention that Katya has a very unique class here--Host Nation Culture class. It is taught by Mr. Kumaga--a Japanese native. So far, Katya has had a ton fun in that class. He teaches the kids different Japanes traditions (like how to bow), how to make food, and different phrases.



Another class that Katya really enjoys is PE. She only has it twice a week (in FL she had it every day!). But what's really different is that the teacher practices with kids not only what to do in case of fire but most importantly in case of earthquake:) Seriously, their gym has a very tall ceiling, and that's their main concern if we have a strong earthquake.



Ever since we got our unaccompanied luggage, Katya has been riding her bike to school. Great way to get some extra exercise!



Well, we better finish now. We have another early morning tomorrow if things go as they have been going for the past three weeks.