beginning of the end of august -- the swiss schools

First, Monday marked the start of a new year. Let me tell you, as much as I complain about how much of the students time the American school system waste, the Swiss have them beat in a different way. Let me explain. I have always said the school system in American keeps the students in school WAY TOO LONG, then on top of that they send home the students with all this homework. I am not saying school and homework is a waste of time, I just think the students don't need to spend as much time as they do on school related things. Well, the Swiss tried to remedy that issue I guess, however, they have perfected the art of wasting the parent's time and complicating life for everyone.

I have three girls I take care of here in Trélex. The all have different schedule as to when they need to be at school. Some days they all have to go to school at 8:15 and other days they all have to be at school at 9:00. But my favorite are days where one or two of them have to go to school at 8:15 then the other one or two at 9:00. So, by 9:00 everyone is at school. Then at 11:40 I pick up all three from school for lunch; except on Thursdays when Raylen, the eldest girl, stays and eats at the school because she has gym somewhere else. Ok, so after there two hour lunch break, I take all of them back to school, unless it is a Wednesday. There is NO SCHOOL for any kid in this area of Switzerland WEDNESDAY AFTER LUNCH. On Tuesdays during the two hour lunch time I "babysit" one of her friends, who is in the 6th-9th grade school and she has no school on Tuesday and Wednesday after lunch. So, I take them back to school at 1:40 then I have to pick them up at 3:15. One of the moms and I were talking how it is kind of a drag for parent. can't really do too much while you kids are at school. You are constantly either going to drop them off or waiting to pick them up. [side note: If you are wondering, they also still get recess.]

Also, the schools here are psycho. Every kid has to take a pair of slippers to school and a BRAND new pair of tennis shoes. The slippers are for them to change into once they get to school. They don't want students wearing shoes inside the classroom that they have worn outside. And the same goes for the tennis shoes. Last year, Andréa accidentally let the girls wear their tennis shoes outside once for a little while and the school made her buy them new shoes. So, essentially a kid could wear three different pairs of shoes in a school day.

Well, other then school, nothing too exciting happened for the first part of the week. I opened my bank account on Tuesday, so I officially have a Swiss account. However, I MUST close it when I leave here due to all the craziness with the U.S. government and Swiss accounts.

peace, love and applesauce