first day of school, take three

If you have ever lived in, or are currently living in China, this post will not surprise you. If you are used to a western way of "doing things", it probably will.

Julianna's first day of school has been delayed once again. Matt took her (and a big pile of paperwork) to school to register this afternoon. There he discovered that we are missing one important stamp from the Children's Hospital (her second round of blood work was done at a local hospital that - apparently - doesn't use the right stamps). For the un-initiated: the Chinese LOVE stamps. You know, the old school kind where you dip a stamper in an ink pad and slam it down on a sheet of paper? The entire Chinese nation has an ongoing love affair with stamps. I'm not kidding. Something as simple as paying a phone bill could require four stamps - from four different people!

Here's the miracle: The headmaster of the preschool agreed to take her even without the right stamp! That's what I call "foreigner privilege".... Julianna is the first foreign kid to ever attend this preschool, and I guess that's why the rule is being waved in this one instance. We have been forewarned that, at any given moment, they may ask us to return to the Children's Hospital to acquire the appropriate stamp. This will undoubtably require at least three hours of my time and involve lots of standing in lines and showing previously stamped pieces of paper. For now, we're going to go with the flow, and hope they never bring up the missing stamp issue again.

So, why not start tomorrow? You know what? That's a dang good question. I wish I knew the answer. Apparently, the first week of school was suddenly postponed - it's not this week, it's next. This is breaking news as of Monday morning. Seriously... we saw the headmaster Sunday afternoon and she assured us that school started this week. But, alas, things change quickly around these here parts.

Long story short, she starts NEXT Tuesday. But who am I kidding? At this point, you probably shouldn't believe me. Let me just say this: pray whenever you want to. I'll let you know how the first day went AFTER it actually happens. Don't hold your breath :)

PS - You might be interested to know that even Chinese universities operate on this kind of "last minute change" prone scheduling. (The universities also love stamps - but you already knew that, right? If I had a penny for each stamp I've gotten since arriving in China I'd be a wealthy momma.) Some of Matt's students find out the first day of school in this manner: a phone call, the voice on the other end saying, "school starts tomorrow".

Gotta love that!