First Day of School and a Birthday!

Today we had two momentous occasions at the girls' house! The first was that today was the start of a new school year! The Bolivian school calendar runs February-November. Summer passed by way too quickly, but the girls were excited for the first day of school!

The second occasion was that C. had a birthday! Now to backtrack a bit… She actually had a birthday back on January 20th. However, we didn't know that so we didn't celebrate. (You may remember reading my post about L.'s 1st birthday and how sometimes info. on the new kids is slow in coming?!) Apparently C. doesn't really know her birthdate either (when asked for her birthday, she said "I think it's soon…maybe this month"), so she hadn't realized that we skipped it either. I know she hadn't really cared that we skipped it, but I felt bad. Unfortunately there wasn't time to make a cake, so I made chocolate chip cookies instead.

After picking up A.M. from school, we stopped by the tienda (corner store) to buy some Coke and ice cream to eat with our cookies. I can't imagine that I'm really the first volunteer to introduce the girls (and Tía Rosi) to Coke Floats, but they said I am. These were the first cookies I haven't burned and the Coke Floats were pretty yummy, too! 

I think the girls really enjoyed their special snack! After singing "Happy Birthday!" to C., we went around the table and everyone shared something great that happened on their first day of school. 

 A.M. was very excited to show me her desk and tell me the 3 classroom rules (1. Don't eat in class, 2. Don't hit or bother your classmates, 3. Throw your trash into the trashcan)! 

After about 30 seconds of carrying our 2.5 liter bottle of Coke, her arms were tired and she gave it to me.

 O. had a great first day of pre-school!

C. with her "cookie cake"!

 "Look Tía Hannah! I have a ball of ice cream in my Coca Cola!"

S. started at a new school today, and it sounded like everything went well. She told us "My teacher is really great! I followed all of the rules, and we did our homework in class!"

J. enjoyed her first day of 5th grade and has decided that only having 2 friends is the way to go ("Because sometimes it's hard to have a lot of friends like I did last year.").

 B. and A. (hiding under the table) being silly during snack-time!

Although it sounded like A.M. had a fun first day of school and was fine on the way home, the second we got home, she started complaining of a stomachache and kept crying… We're not really sure what the deal was. 

J. couldn't quite figure out what she was drinking!