Monday, September 2, 2013

The first day of school in Poland…

…stinks.
Today, I officially have a 2nd grader and a kindergartener. Our kindergartener is also missing her first tooth. She was so jealous of her older sister who lost 3 teeth in one week and cleaned up moneywise from the tooth fairy. Anticipation really must sweeten the situation because I have never seen a child more happy to find a coin under her pillow than our little Rosie. As per tradition, she asked the tooth fairy to leave her tooth behind as well, so I did. I mean the tooth fairy did. Of course, the tooth fairy did.
Anyhow back to the first day of school – The first day of school in Poland is always the first Monday of September. That you can depend on, and well, only that. Oh and maybe that the kids are supposed to dress galowa which had me confused at first until someone told me it doesn’t mean to dress for a gala, just to dress up a little. Let’s say today we were hipster galowa.
Anyhow, the time your child starts and the time your child finishes the first day of school, nobody knows, sometimes not even the teacher. In my girls’ school, the older kids started at 8 a.m. with the next smaller kids starting at 9 a.m. and the kindergarteners started at 10:00. By noon they were all back home and by they I mean kids plus Daddy because with the little ones, a parent (or other adult family member) has to take a day off from work to accompany the kids to school, collect all the papers and forms, and spend the rest of the day with the kids probably at Tesco buying notebooks and crayons and other school supplies.
Luckily, our Rosie got the kindergarten teacher we were hoping for. It is Lizzie’s former pre-school teacher. We had the choice to send Rosie to kindergarten in pre-school (subsidized but still paid) or to kindergarten in school (not paid except for materials, meals and extras). Lizzie attended kindergarten in pre-school for the sole reason that she had  great teachers. Rosie is attending kindergarten in school for the sole reason the her pre-school teachers really stank. One was fired for striking a child and she was the best one! Tomorrow, Rosie will eat in the school cafeteria for the first time. I can’t wait to hear her reaction.
As per Polish school scheduling, Lizzie starts and finishes at a different time each day. It’s odd for me that a 7-year-old starts at 10:45 and finishes at 2:30 one day and then starts at 8:00 and finishes at 11:30 the next day, but whatever. At least they put catechism as the first or last lesson. And let that be a lesson to you all, complaining loudly works.
Happy, happy school year to you all!

10 comments:

Asia Prezentuje Prezenty said...

Could you post pictures of hipster galowa style? I am dying to see what it looks like ;)

Chris said...

Hipster galowa/Lizzie's version/nerdy chic: boy's khakis, army green trampki with white laces, a white t-shirt with a plaid shirt (also from the boy's dept) buttomed only at the top "gansta"-style plus a Piper Cub baseball cap.

Hipster galowa/Rosie's version/layers and patterns galore: mandatory leggings, today grey leggings with white and peach bunnies with pink and navy Peppa Pig socks, pink t-shirt, a ruffled skirt in a pink floral pattern circa 1985, a navy-blue cardigan sweater with melon-colored pocket edging from the Gap also buttoned gangsta style and a Hello Kitty hair clip.

They obviously dressed themselves as I feel jeans are appropriate for all occasions.

Asia Prezentuje Prezenty said...

Your kids must have been the talk of the school but well done for letting them choose the outfits! And thank you for such a detailed description :)

Bee, Magazyn Kuchenny said...

I had no idea that strój galowy was still obligatory in Polish schools. During my times (oh, god...) it meant white blouse and dark (black/navy or grey) skirt or trousers. We even had to dress this way for studniówka!

Chris said...

PP- A lot of little girls in zerówka were sporting the "I dressed myself today" look ;)Sweet!

Hey Bee! There were a lot of dark trousers (high waters aka "water in the basement" after a summer of growing)and white dress shirts. Galowa is still the obligatory dress code for all special occasions as well as studniówka, polonez and matura. Our small town does the polonez in the main square for majówka. A few years back we were like, "Wow. Hot 18/19 year-old girls in short black skirts." Now we are all like, "How did her father let her out of the house like that!?" Ahhh, to be 18 again.

Ingwen said...

The first day of school was a cold shower for me :D. I'm no longer a student at school nor university. So I don't have to dress "galowo" anywhere. Instead of waking up early and going to school or signing up for classes I spent whole yesterday in sweatpants making faces at my infant son. Large part of what I described myself to be is no longer valid! Wow. Though I did wake up early. :D

ds said...

When I was in school, the first day was always the 1st September (unless Sat or Sun). I had no idea it changed. And we always started at 8:00 in primary school. What do you do when she starts at 10:45?

Chris said...

Ingwen - I remember those days fondly. Sweatpants are a wonderful thing. I also remember the feeling of pure freedom when I was able to take the trash out without the baby. It seems funny now.

When I was a student, I worked at the local factory outlet mall. It was cool to say that I was a student and I worked part-time at the mall. Then I graduated. It wasn't cool.

ds- We park Lizzie in świetlica. At least our świetlica is nice and fully-equiped with plenty of legos.

Ana said...

ds - probably and for sure it's not changed ;)

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