Hatice's first Day of School

One girl all ready with a nervous heartOne brother feeling sad knowing that he will be left behind at home while the elder sister is at school
A father in front of the school compound holding his sweetheart's hand with a heavy heart

One mom in front of the school door entrance with an even heavier heartThe pre school entrance
Hatice's personal locker to put her stuffs in

Hatice's another locker to put in sport shoesHatice's class name
(arılar sınıfı)
Hatice's classroomHatice's classmates while doing one of the class's activities

a mini size cute Ala Franga Toilet
Cute washing basins

n these r some of the pictures i had snapped as a remembrance of hatice's first day at school...

I am thankful for the voices of concern as to *kemana menghilangnya simah*.. we r all fine Alhamdulillah...glad to know that i am missed heheheh...all the same..i apologize 4 the worries i had caused..we were back at home on thursday night but there were n r so many things to do that i just simply fail to indulge myself in the world of blogging..actively...and one reason is this........

The moment she heard that we would be sending her to school on friday, her mind started to race into millions of thoughts. She started to speculate on what she would be studying..how her anaokulu (pre school) learning would be like...the place..the new friends.. her teacher..etc..etc.. She expressed thousands (ok ..ok..maybe i am exaggertating here) of her own conclusions of her future studies...inside..she waited for the day...our journey home from our holiday place in edremit meant the more nervous hatice became...the nearer we were towards istanbul..she knew that a new era of her life would soon start... very soon...and here come friday..

While we were busy splashing ourselves in the deep sea..or taking a 10 minutes peep at the turkish hamam ..or playing in the warm pool water of edremit..a letter was sent by hatice's future pre school class teacher to us..(adressed to baba..passed over to halim n finally delivered to us after we got back home from our holiday)..The letter goes like this...

A hello to a sweet child of my class.

I am very eagerly waiting to meet u before the opening of the school. My dearest student, though i know not the color of ur eyes, of ur hair; but i believe that u r a sweet n an intelligent child.

Before the school starts, I am thinking of wonderful activities that i can do with u...What shall we do together....we will play different types of games, sing beautiful songs together, do interesting activities together and together, we will explore all the beautiful things ...

My arms r open wide for u and i am waiting to explore all the best of things with u

Your teacher

Nilgün Gülen

Well..actually that is a call out letter for parents n child meeting for the pre school students before the formal school opening.. of course we did not attend it since we were at that time busy splashing ourselves at the beach n warm pool..such a sweet letter isnt it?

And today...a friday...we decided to send hatice to school only for a few hours..as a pre introduction..

She woke up quite late this morning...i dont blame her..the journey from edremit was indeed tiring.. And her first words were..*anne! geç kaldım* (Anne, i am late already). I gave her a short bath, let her have a choice of what she would be wearing, braided her hair, gave her her breakfast...n we waited....lunch came...n after the friday prayer, as a family we headed to her school. If i could record the beating of her heart, i am confident it had beaten so fast n so loud that u would have pain in ur ears from the sound n noise.....she was busy speculating about what was to come at school..she practically had driven me crazy with her speculations n logics (see mona.. hatice is as good in driving people nuts with her logics as i do hahahahahahaha).... And while having lunch, when halil reminded her never to talk or go anywhere else with a stranger, she practically cried.

Yup..she was that nervous....poor her....my nervous haticem..

We reached her school. Met her class teacher at the reception hall n she was whisked away into her classroom. They were having english class at that time (she said the english lesson was very easy :0))....she did not cry..Baddin was sad naturally. He kept asking me to go n visit her *abla* (sister) in her classroom..Up to that point..hatice n baddin most of the times were always together..they were very rarely separated.. Now he has to get used to it..he didnt cry or anything..but u can see that he felt lost without his abla by his side..something he needed to get used to...

And as for hatice, i think going to school is something she needs to do. She has been getting bored n restless. I sensed this urge in her for development...to be her own self without the presence of her anne, baba n baddin. All her life, she acted in line ofwhat is expected of her.. to be baddin's sister.. She has been needing a break...a break from baddin in particular..something we could not afford to ...a chance to spread her wings....n i think this pre school is what she needs exactly...

Our sending hatice to school experience did not end there...Later of course we were given a tour of the pre school area...the rooms etc. We were given a briefing by her class teacher..shown to the rooms available for the pre school students etc etc etc etc.... There r project room (for creative projects like making cookies..etc..etc), play room (with toys inside since every child needs to play), imagination room (where they watch entertainment ie cartoon..do drama, pantomine etc), 2 toilets (one for girls n one for boys) n 3 classrooms..with one classroom consisting of 16 students. Hatice's class is called *arı sınıfı* (bee class) -9 girls n 8 boys-n from what we were told every subject is taught by different teachers.. .. ie computer class, english class, art class, etc etc.. there is also a playground in the gargen n a decent garden area for picnics on sunny days.. There r even individual lockers-a big locker to keep hatice's things (extra clothing, coat, wet tissues, etcetc)..n a small locker for keeping sport shoes.. everything is complete....

I notice one thing though.. everybody in the school..i mean everybody has a handphone.. maybe this is a school policy for the staffs.. i mean.. if there is any problem with hatice's studies etc, i can contact the class teacher anytime i want..parents n teachers exchange phone numbers..even the school service (school van) chauffeur.. if for example we wanted to pick hatice from school ourselves, we can always call the school service chauffer to let him or her know that hatice should not go home by the school service... hmmm... technology huh? in this sense, it does make life much easier...n less worries.And one good thing about the school service is that an asistant (normally a lady) will help ur child down the vehicle, cross the road n even press the bell to the apt...u wont need to worry that ur child will be run down by a car while crossing the street..

Talk about hp..dearests..my handphone is not available for sms for a while..halil's hp died on us once again.. n i had volunteered my hp to him..so till i get his hp fixed or buy him a new one...my hp number is not available... until further notice...pls note..

Everything was well today.. before going home we went to the upper level of the school building to buy stuffs like books n stationaries that the school has prescribed for the usage of pre school students this year..we had the shock of our lives when the price of everything was like... 290YTL (1 US dollar = 1.53 YTL)...n we need to buy an english book as well later (31YTL) since it is out of stock.. ..pokai pokai... tak pa la..asalkan hatice bahagia.. dah sekolah swasta..biasa la semua mahal gilaaaaaaaaaaaa....sabar je la kan? Tahun depan lagi parah sebab badin pun masuk pre school n hatice akan masuk darjah satu..kena save la dari sekarang yek?

So starting this monday..hatice will board the school service in front of our apt at 7.42am n will reach home around 5pm. If i am not mistaken, pre lunch, lunch n tea will be provided by the school.

When i first saw the price of the yearly school fee, i was shocked because 1st grade students' fee (darjah satu) is the same as pre school students' fee. Now i see why..the cost is enormous... one teacher for one subject..etc..etc..Hatice loves the school. She finds everything there new n interesting.She is fascinated by it.... I think she will be able to adapt to her new surrounding pretty quickly knowing how self reliant she is...she is *abla* (sister).. she has been a sister of baddin for as long as she can remember..helping me in so many ways than possible (remember how she actually helped me to prepare köfte n tuna sandvich for her baba???)...knowing how she has been all these years.. with Allah's permission, her adaptation period will be quick..

my worry is for baddin next year.. being the youngest, he is spoilt..my fault perhaps..he is not as self reliant as his sister....with less self confidence..but then, i have one more year to train him before his pre school entry..insyaAllah i will be able to make him as self reliant as possible...

Anyway... this is hatice's first day experience in school.. She came back from school using the school service..her cousin keremcan who lives across our door is also using the same service..his presence somehow gave hatice courage to board the school service..(servis te yine onun başı tuttu yahuu)

All's Well Ends Well..Alhamdulllah....For this mother whose child is going to school for the first time.. this is indeed a big day for me....n next year baddin will join her sister in school.. what will i do with myelf alone till 5pm everyday?? I cant imagine the boredom!!....help...

And for my dear sweet çiçeğim...22th September 2006 is a date to remember....Her first day of attending Özel Yaşar Cimilli Ilkögretim Okulu...my daughter..a pre school (anaokulu student).....Please Pray for her..

Sunday those in Malaysian n Turkiye will be having our first day of fasting...in the month of the holy ramadhan...i would like to convey our regards n our outmost salam from this Zaim family to all our families n friends real or in cyber..whichever countries they may be in...

Hayırlı Ramazan Mubarek Olsun..

Selamat Menyambut Bulan Ramadhan yg Mulia

Let us together live the spirit of this holy month with a lot of ibadah... amin...

p.s.. i am having a difficult time embedding the slide show n adding photos of hatice's first day at school..i am wondering id u r facing the same problem as i? this is driving me crazyyyyyyyyyy