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school days

So it's been nice weather here in Cd. We still aren't seeing the sun much but we keep having these clear, gray sky days. I love being able to see the sky even if it's gray clouds. And almost everyday or night we're getting rain. And it's cool, in the 60s and 70s. It's great.

Last week and this week I started looking at kindergarten's for Madeleine. There are 3 within close walking distance of our home. 2 are already full for the fall (maxed at 50 students per classroom) and one is already at max or close to it but they are willing to register Maddie. The other 2 wouldn't even let us in the gate to look around the school. One won't even let us talk to a teacher, it's just the guard we get all our information from. It's very frustrating.

HePing (peace) Kindergarten is the one we've looked at and it's an older school. The headmaster was happy to have us visit, happy to accommodate our wishes (half day is what we want rather than 8-5) and happy to let us look around the school. She's also happy to take our money and that's one thing we need to work on. Getting a low price.

The kids were eating lunch, bowls of noodles. They eat in their classroom. The teacher asked if Maddie could use chopsticks (definitely the best way to eat noodles). We've been a bit lazy in teaching her and she hasn't had the motivation to learn how to use them very well. Now it's a common topic of conversation for her, when she'll learn and how she needs to practice.

So we need to make a decision soon about HePing. We're already starting this registration process late. I guess it should have been done about a month ago but it also seems like we need some special connection or in roads to some of these schools.

I think my hesitation is that I want Maddie to be at the best school for her and I can't know if HePing is it. I feel nervous for her. She'll be the only foreigner. I know it will be hard with the language and the rules and all the other kids. She seems to think it's a big playdate. The thing that makes me feel better about HePing is that the headmaster was easily accessible. She listened to our desires and easily agreed. I think we need that kind of flexibility.

Man, she's growing up. This is hard.

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