I should have known (and did suspect) that we would be changing our tickets a third time this summer.
The first was changing our flights back to Hong Kong so that the kids would be able to attend new student orientation (and the first day of classes) once they were accepted at HKIS.
The second time was to move our flight to the US up so that we could leave earlier because all primary schools were suspended due to H1N1.
The third time was to change all of our flights (again) back to Hong Kong so that I could report to work on August 3rd! (One option was for me to fly back alone and to have to kids stay in the US with Tom. However, the kids decided that they wanted us to all go back to HK as a family.)
I have yet to receive my contract (should be here today? maybe?) but the Head of School has approved my hire. It will be a bit of a homecoming of sorts, teaching Language Arts and Social Studies back at the Middle School. It will also be very different as what we teach, how we teach it and the assessment of student learning has all changed. Change is good, though.
As you may imagine, with all of the changes in the air, emotions have been running high in our household. The latest was Claire crying until after midnight, stressing (not over camp which she arrives at in Maine on Sunday) about changing schools. She's nervous about everything. The physical lay-out of the building, how a non-Montessori school is organized, the kids in her class, finding her way around, etc. We went through a lot of Kleenex. She wants to know who her teacher will be, whether she'll be in a straight grade 4 class or a grade 3/4 combination. She just wants school to beginso that she's not worried about it. Claire can't understand this nervousness as she says that she's never been nervous about school before. Not even when we received news the day we were flying back to HK that her campus had moved (and we had no idea where to). (Talk about a fun drive the morning after we arrived back---jet lagged and following a friend's texted directions...but we made it.)
Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace
I'm going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Oh, look out you rock 'n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the stranger)
Ch-ch-Changes
Pretty soon you're gonna get
a little older
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
(David Bowie, Changes)
Oh, and did I mention that not only are the kids changing schools and I'm going back to work, but we're also moving (hopefully soon) to the Stanley area (or at least somewhere near the Southside). I wonder how many points that puts us at on the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale?
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