Hej from Sweden - schools and independence

Here we are! It's my first blog post from Stockholm and I have no idea how I should really begin, but mostly I came to talk about the kids' school, so I'll just make a few notes on the past days since we left Lincoln and then jump to that.

~ The days prior to leaving were sheer chaos. Time will tell whether I made the right decisions on what to bring and what to leave behind, but all in all it was incredibly stressful and exhausting. I'm so grateful we weren't also trying to pack our house and prep it for renters. Truly I cannot even imagine how that could work. Definitely, if you ever go abroad for a year, try to find someone to host you in their house for a week or three beforehand, so you can check house prep off the list before you have to finalize your packing list. Just sayin'.

~ The kids were rock star travelers. I am beyond impressed by them. Everyone was brave. Everyone was independent. Everyone slept at least a couple hours on the overnight flight, and listened to movies and games on headphones the other 6-ish hours (quality parenting, obviously).

~ Our flat is wonderful. It's had some quirks, like the lack of furnishings we've had to quickly supply and the weird smell from the bathroom that Nathaniel finally seems to have resolved this morning (a badly aligned gasket in a floor drain letting sewer-y smells in, yuck). But overall, I am incredibly happy with it. The area was built in the 1800s and I love the charm of it all. Mostly, though, I'm so grateful we're near the school. If you haven't seen my spreadsheet of the kids' crazy school schedule, see here. Ridiculous. Praise God we ended up in easy walking distance; it's about a 10 minute walk at a decent clip.

~ The kids had their first day of school today. We met with the head of English School (the school is half for students who speak primarily English at home, with all lessons taught in English, and half for Swedish students from bilingual households who want more learning in English than they'd have in a typical Swedish school, with lessons taught 50/50) yesterday and she was incredibly friendly and welcoming, but much of it is still a mystery to me. The schedule, for starters. I cannot imagine how this is a good idea for anyone, the total lack of regularity to the schedule... except maybe for the after school program folks, because I can see everyone wanting their kids in after school care so they'd know what time to pick them up each day for real. And it's not just the afternoon end of things. Tomorrow, Marianne doesn't start school till an hour after the rest of the kids. How is that sensible?!

I'm getting ahead of myself. School. We dropped them off this morning. The kids were all nervous, but incredibly brave. No tears, no major whining. They all actually went into classrooms without so much as a hug goodbye, which left me a little bummed. But everything was distracting and new, so I get it. My feelings aren't too, too wounded. (I'd much rather get no hug than have to peel a crying child off my leg.)

(It's Wednesday morning now, as I try to finish this post before you all wake up! If the tenses or day references change awkwardly, my apologies in advance.)

Tuesday appears to be the easiest pick up day. I went to get the younger two kids around 1:45, with the older girls getting out at 2:15. We stepped into a park just off school grounds while we waited the short time between, and Peter and Meg started telling me about where they're allowed to go during recess. I took this little video to share:

Here I was thinking "Wow! So much freedom! They can roam all the way into this lovely fenced park area!"

Then the older girls got out.

Guess where the kids can roam beginning in 7th grade?

Literally ANYWHERE. It's an open campus, so to speak, beginning in 7th grade. During the breaks - a 20 minute break midmorning and 30-60 minutes at lunch, they are free to leave the school as long as they make it back for their next class. Marianne said she walked with a group of all the 8th grade girls (there are 10 on the English side) to a candy store where they all sugared up for the afternoon. Of course she needed some pocket money to take today. Funny that at a school where you cannot send sack lunches because they want to control what your children are allowed to eat, and the morning snack you are asked to send for younger kids is limited to a fruit or vegetable, the kids are allowed to wander off for coffees and candy during breaks.

Also, just... my kids can wander the city unsupervised with kids I don't know?! I'm both excited and terrified for them. I truly cannot settle on an emotion about this.

Funny sidenote: the couple days prior to school starting, when we'd be out and about in the city, it seemed like we saw kids everywhere, just roaming on their own or in packs. I was confused, given the governmental requirement for school attendance. Turns out, those were the school kids! Wowza.

In addition to the amazing revelation about the independence kids are given (so different from home), there's the whole schedule thing. It's even quirkier than I'd first thought. Turns out, every other week, Marianne doesn't have a first period class on Wednesdays, so today everyone else started at 8:20 but she didn't need to arrive till 9:40. Also, on Wednesday afternoons, Ruth and Marianne have a "student's choice" that goes till 4. Unless they choose swimming, which is every other week till 5:00. Marianne thinks. Ruth hadn't heard that. And all the 8th grade girls apparently are doing swimming so Marianne thinks she'll choose that, but Ruth's not sure what the 7th grade girls are doing, so she doesn't know what she'll choose. So I may need to pick her up at 4:00. Or maybe at 5:00. And Marianne I'm probably picking up at 5:00, but she wasn't SURE-sure. What the?! Maybe they gave a lot more info to the parents who were here at the start of the year. And I think after this week, we'll have the schedule set, which will carry through the semester, if not the whole year.

There are some great things we're very excited about. Everyone from Meg's class and older takes a class called "craft", which is one semester of woodworking and one semester of sewing. Marianne will also have a home ec class which includes cooking, sewing, household finances, etc. They all have PE (requiring gym clothes and a towel for a quick shower, and here I thought my girls might miss out on the amazing rite of passage that is the junior high PE locker room experience... this goes all the way down to Peter's class! That's got to be sheer chaos in the locker room, don't you think? A bunch of 7 or 8 year old showering?), and at the older levels PE includes "orienteering", during which they go to nearby Hagaparken (see my i/g posts from last Sunday), are left in pairs, and are expected to navigate to several spots, collect stamps, and find their way back to school. I just can't wrap my head around all the independence! We're totally going to get arrested when we get home for letting our kids wander around Lincoln on their own because it's nothing compared to what they've been doing in Stockholm, but someone will report us to cps. Ha!

Almost time to pick up the littles from school at 12:45! Rachel and I did some shopping at a department store (photos coming soon to i/g) and the grocery store this morning, so I'm already exhausted from the miles and stairs walked, and the day is barely half done!