First day of School!!

The Patnode's from Syracuse NY

Milan ready for his first day at INDUS!!

Cheesy Smile!!

Big sister ready to take care of the 'little guy'

All Geared up in the Sports Uniform

Heading off to the bus!

And they are off!!

  

Lunch Time!!!  Yep Milan is eating an Idli!!

Yum Yum!!

Mira sticking to something a little more familiar - Corn Flakes!!

Walking the halls of the Primary Block

Picture of the campus

 This post was co-authored by Vim and Dev.

Today, Aug-11-08 was the big day!! The kids did great! Mira took great care of her little brother. You would have never known from looking at them today that they were the same kids that were irritating and annoying each other for the past 2 weeks!!

Mira was the one that was a little nervous about going to a new school. I (Dev) tried to reassure her that the unique situation with her school is that there were at least 10 other kids in her class that would be starting their first day at Indus too! She would not be alone. I think that helped.

Milan on the other hand was the happy easy going chap he is. He took to the room with a bright smile, had his listening ears on, followed the instructions and he also proceeded to make friends, even those kids that were quite or crying. This is a contrast to the days when I (Vim) would drop him off at Troy Montessori; he was either the teary eyed kid or Niagara Falls. Seeing both of them settle in so well, bought allot of assurance that they will be fine, and as the school days proceed very little to worry about.

Mira has to wear a uniform. She looked great in her green uniform. This is the PE kit as they call it. She will have a regular uniform too with a skirt and button down shirt. However, there was a mix up with the tailor so she has to wait another day or so for it. Milan does not have a uniform, but he is insisting on wearing his shirts and ties to work. This was what he was wearing at his old school. If you want to hear the whole story about that, drop me a comment I will post about it.

Anyways, back to the first day of school... they had breakfast and lunch at school, all buffet style with choices from Indian, Chinese or Continental cuisines. With the vast array of choices, breakfast started off with Milan tasting everything that was served to him, Mira was more conservative and opted for plain old corn flakes. The lunch choice was simple for both of them... Spaghetti. And yes, they liked it, considering we are talking about school lunch here.

The day did go by quickly without the kids today (for Vim). Before I(Vim) knew it I was at the bus stop waiting for them with Manjula our maid. When the bus arrived Manjula went up to greet them – yes she took the lead! I stood back. As soon as the kids off loaded from the bus, they hugged her, smiles all round, by passed yours truly and ran home!!!! Only conversation; Vim “Kids how was your day?” Mira, “Can I go and play with my friends? Ok Bye!” Milan, “Gooooooood”.

Milan was so tired after school, he fell asleep on the bus. It was good thing Mira was there to wake him up when it was time to get off the bus!

Conclusion to the first day... GREAT! Milan had the same smile as he had when he left the house in the morning. Mira, excited to go out and play with her new friends. Manjula, just went back to cooking dinner and I went out and played soccer with the other kids already at the park, with persistent calls from Dev wanting to talk to the kids and find out how their 1st day was, but no kids in sight and nothing to report until we all sat down at dinner.

No homework on the first day. That will quickly change, they will be expected to do at least 20-30 minutes everyday. Both kids have a diary which has to be reviewed with comments from teachers, return comments from parents all of which has to be signed and returned daily. It was a long day for the kids close to 8 hours – now this will be typical, so by 8pm they were shattered out for the count. Only to do it again the next day!