Thursday, September 3, 2009

First Day of School


Well, it couldn't be helped. School starts whether or not we've found a house to live in. The kids have been such troopers. Especially Maryn, because she has the added stress of starting Middle School (shudder). I just hope that Bennett and Dallen won't have to switch schools when we finally do find a place. (There are two military elementary schools, and some of the places we've seen are in the boundaries of the other one) Wouldn't that just add to my mommy guilt?

Bennett was a little discouraged watching Dallen go off to school without him. He's been waiting for this since he missed the cut off by six days last year. The kindergarteners don't start until September 8th. The teacher spends the first week of school scheduling home visits and individual testing, so class time is postponed till the second week. I tried to explain it to Ben as best I could, but he was still skeptical. "Are you SURE I get to go to school in England?" The way I helped him cope with his dissapointment last year was by telling him that he'd get to go to school at our new house in England. So he's been more than ready since the moment we crossed the border!

We've almost completed all of our required hoop jumping to legalize ourselves in this country. Our last hoop is registering the car, which is proving more difficult than I had hoped. First of all, our car is American "steering-wheel-on-the-left-side", and second of all, it is less than three years old with LED lights.

Apparently our rear turn signals are the wrong color and will have to be CUT OUT and replaced with amber colored ones. (If it was a regular bulb, they could just change it out - not so with LED) Yes, I am hyperventilating over that news. (You are doing WHAT to my two-year-old, not-yet-paid-for car?!) The only thing that calmed me a little was speaking with the garage that will be doing it. Finding out that they are GMC factory authorized (they can even make us a spare key!!!! Yippee!!!) and seeing another Acadia that they did, helped to calm me down. I was able to visualize exactly what they will have to do and what it will look like in the end. It is still nerve-wracking. BUT at least everyone I am dealing with speaks English. This would have been a nightmare in Turkey. And the end result will allow me to have a vehicle for the next three years. Now I just have to concentrate on driving on the left, when 20 years of experience has trained me to drive on the right. I look forward to the day that I won't have to chant "stay to the left, stay to the left" as I drive. (I'm sure my kids do too)