Willkommen in der Christlichen Deutschen Schule Chiang Mai

On April 8th, 2013, one of the most important goals of our move to Chiang Mai was achieved: Conrad and Vivienne started conventional school.

Lunches packed, backpacks on, we headed off. The entry drive to their new school is lovely,

a tree-lined grove blooming with beautiful lilac-like flowers. "You have arrived at your destination":

Christliche Deutsche Schule Chiang Mai

In the picture below, the kindergarten building is on the left and the playground is on the right. Behind the playground the covered, open-air gymnasium building can be seen.

This is the path we walk every morning and afternoon, from the carpark up to the Kindergarten, between the gymnasium and the playground. 

The school has a lovely system for helping the children organize themselves and their things throughout the day: each child is assigned an animal and their places in the circle, at the lunch table, for their toothbrush, backpack and shoes, are labeled with their animal. I can't help but think of it as their avatar.

Vivienne is the parrot, "der Papagai".

Conrad is the bee, "die Biene".

The school shares photos of the week's activities with the parents. Some shots from Conrad and Vivi's first week:

 

The playground is naturally one of their favorite parts of their new school. Vivienne loves to dig in the sand and Conrad loves, well, all of it: running, jumping and shouting with his friends.

 The boys have an informal lesson in balancing weights:

Time to go home and hose off The Bee.

Life is funny. Days before, my children were walking among skyscrapers. Now they will spend their days in the countryside idyll of a rural school. Big city, small town; close to family, foreign country. Trade some things for others; weigh the pros and cons. How do you ever know what is best for your children? I think we were so lucky to find Miss Rebecca in China, given our situation with the wait list at the German school there, and their language skills really flourished under her tutelage but I am so happy that the kids are finally in school now. Conrad is so social; he came home the first day telling us all about his new friends. Frau Haller, their teacher, laughed when she told me Vivienne seemed to seek out other English speaking children, that she seemed to test the waters: with whom can I get away with speaking English? In just 2 weeks, though, she seems to have made the switch. At pick up and drop off I now hear her speaking more German than English.

For now, I feel confident that we have found the best situation for them, given the options. We are settling in and finding our way. Our shipment is expected to arrive in Bangkok tomorrow, so hopefully we will have our container within the next 2 weeks. Yea!! Then I'm looking forward to some new adventures. I've started a list...watch this space!