Yippeeee! Only a few days to go till Tenerife schools are in!
Having had the week from hell (or to be honest the last thirteen weeks from hell) I am prepared to admit that mothering is not my forte. Love them to pieces as I do, I find my two darlings in concentrated doses makes me go more than a little round the bend. How I envy those unruffled women who glide through parenthood so smoothly while magically keeping their homes clean and sparkling at the same time.
In comparison at the end of each day my hair is standing on end and I am having palpitations at the scary thought of the mountain of clothes to be washed toppling over and suffocating me in the middle of the night. Then having finally said my last goodnight and waiting half an hour for the inevitable squabble and squawk to die down in the kids bedroom I can then enjoy a precious nugget of silence before Tito starts baying his silly head off at some innocent person out walking their dog past the garden gate.
Having never been a religious person I am more and more drawn to the vow of silence.
But I digress. Back to school or at least back to the subject of school. Oddly where in the past the little ones were taken in a day earlier so that they could get settled, it seems this year that the intake for both infantil and primaria is on the same time at the same day. That can’t be right, surely?
With one set of buildings on each side of a main road and a janny (a janitor to those who do not speak Scottish) who seems to take great delight in ramming the gates shut if you are a nanosecond past the 9.10 am while galloping from one school building to the other, there will be utter chaos on Tuesday.
There is also the matter of the subsidised school books. At third year in Primary, my daughter is entitled to have her text books paid for by the cabildo but what a holy mess they made of that last year. The list of books was not handed out till the last minute and there were not enough books on the whole island to cover the demand. If this is your first year dealing with the state school system in Tenerif e you can get an idea of what to expect by reading The Tenerife TexBook Fiasco and Tenerife Textbooks – the Saga Continues.
So with crossed fingers and a song of hope in my heart I am skipping off down to the school reception this morning with my babies in tow to find out just WTF is going on. Tra la la.
HA! if you think that story is sad.. have a thought for the poor Granny and Grandpa..13 weeks is TOO long. Please powers that be take note. Love the grand-kids to bits but enough is enough.