Last Day of School and a Trip to the Pharmacy

I'm having a hard time believing that today is the kids' last day of school at the International School. Have we really been here that long? It also feels like we lost a month in there somewhere as back home, the last day of school is at the end of May, not June. So, it's equally hard for me to believe that it's July next week.

We would call this school year a success, with some reservations. There were issues at the beginning for me, such as figuring out how to get the kids signed up for everything they needed and wandering around the school for hours with a squirming toddler on my hip. The biggest issue we have been facing is the lack of communication from the school to the parents. The school does not hold your hand, feeding you information and checking to be sure you've done everything you need to do. At ISF, you need to seek out information, and you'll be surprised to find that there were things you needed to take care of that you didn't even know about. We now realize it is our responsibility to check with a subsection of the school's website to find out what is coming up (a daily habit I still do not have ingrained yet).

Also, language can be a problem. There were times the kids lost points on tests with their English. When I tried to explain to the coordinator (you are not allowed to speak to the teachers directly) that my children's answers were actually right and the corrections made to their tests by non-native English speakers were not correct English or were less-correct than my child's answer, I was rebuffed. It irked me that my kids lost points when they should not have.

The other big international school in the area has an American-based system, whereas ours is British based. Most of the people I know from church and through the American Women's Club send their children to the other school and are very happy there. We toyed with the idea of taking a second look at that school, with their better technology and more familiar system, but in the end decided that we'd stick with ISF. German is emphasized more at ISF, and more importantly, our children are very happy there.

The kids have friends from all over the world, but we had to say goodbye to many of them today. Most of the people we have gotten to know are leaving this summer, either on to a new assignment or moving back home. Everyone warned us that this is an aspect of being an ex-pat that you need to expect. We also have said goodbye to many families at church, and even our priest is moving back to the States. So, there should be a whole new crop of people moving into the area this summer that we can get to know.

Rebecca was croupy this morning, so off we went again to the pediatrician. I just adore our doctor. He speaks perfect English and is one of the most gentle people I have ever met. The first time I met him, he expressed great concern that we were settling in OK because after all, "It isn't easy having children in Germany." We're still figuring out what he meant by that.

I recently had Rebecca there for croup that turned into bronchitis and when I apologized for not bringing her in earlier because we all got sick, then it was the weekend, his head snapped up and he exclaimed, "But, you could have called me at home! You should never hesitate to do that!" I think my jaw hit the floor. When I got home, I checked his business card and sure enough, there was his home phone number, not an answering service you must deal with first.

Rebecca did indeed have croup that we caught early this time and so our next stop was the Apotheke (pharmacy) just two doors down to fill some prescriptions. I just adore the pharmacies here. You know how it usually works back in the States. You get a prescription, then go the pharmacy where you proceed to wait with a sick child for at least 1/2 hour to get the medicine, worried that your child may throw up all over the place or stressed trying to keep your child from touching everything in sight. In Germany, you walk up to the counter with usually no wait, hand them your prescription, the pharmacist opens a drawer, pulls out a pre-packaged box of medicine and off you go. The first time I needed to do this, I handed the lady my prescription and said, "Should I come back in about an hour?" She looked at me funny and said, "No, I have it right here."

So, it's true that you may end up getting more medicine than you need, with it being pre-packaged, but knowing how efficient Germans are, this must in the end make more sense. And, they always throw in a travel packet of tissues and some candy for Rebecca. The only problem I've run into is that they'll give you a bottle of medicinal powder and you need to mix it up yourself. The one time for Emilie, it was a big bottle with a lot of powder, and I could not get it all mixed up, but I've since learned the pharmacist will mix it for you if you ask.