Kindergarten

Li is surviving and and perhaps even thriving in kindergarten. Monday, our "driver" picked up Li and Shana at the front gate of the University to take Li to school. Li was pretty nervous and broke down in tears during morning exercises with 200 kids shouting in Chinese around her. Shana spent the morning trying to get comfortable sitting in small plastic chair with Li and little cow on her lap. Lots of the little girls were vying for the opportunity to sit next to Li. Even the big rough and tumble boy wrestled a pear from other kids and brought it over to give to Li. She did loosen up during snack time, no surprise. We opted to leave right before nap time when she was in a reasonable mood-we didn't want to push our luck. Tuesday Shana and Li again were driven to school and Shana was able to leave Li in her classroom while she went to pay the bills. Approximately 9 hours later Li arrived at the front gate of the University riding in the front seat of the mini-van with no seatbelt. She was all smiles and happy. A big sigh of parental relief. Her driver in Mr. Zhou (Joe). He smiles a lot and we pull out our phrasebook to communicate.

Li's description of kindergarten included the following highlights:

Li says "I'm good. Today at Kindergarten I had a good day at school. My favorite part of the day is eating. I met Amy, Lucy, Linda. (English names)" She said that she spent nap time in a tent with a girl named Linda and they talked the whole time. The teacher kept telling them to go to sleep but they kept talking. We asked what they talked about and Li said "I don't know, she speaks Chinese." That somehow explains it.

Wednesday we decided to put her in the minivan by herself to go to school. She was scared and wanted one of us to be with her. Steve decided a little bribery went a long way so offered her some gum tonight if she went alone, she said she didn't want gum, he offered her some extra dessert, she also declined, then she grabbed his ear and whispered "money"! We think it stems from the little pockets on her pencil case that are just right for small change... I guess she's an American after all!