Bring your Cagoule to Mufti Day, and other reasons I'm hiding from my kids teachers.

When my daughter started school I was sent an email full of acronymns I didn't recognize.

We were invited to the FOS AGM and a SHUS the first week of school. They welcomed a new Year One Form Mistress and informed us of a "nits and kits check."

FOS - are the Friends Of the School i.e. the PTA
AGM - annual general meeting
SHUS - Second Hand Uniform Sale

Form Mistress: Nope, she's not a bureaucracy villain!

A form is a grade, and a mistress is the head of the grade. But, it's totally unecessary for our school to use this phrase. There is only one class in every grade at my daughters school so the Form Mistress for any grade is just the teacher!

Nits & Kits - Nits are lice. Kits is stuff.... the kids have Kit Bags, a bag full of their different uniforms - P.E. Ballet Gymnastics, spare clothes and an apron for art. If any items are missing their Kit is incomplete and we get a note sent home.

One of the compulsory (mandatory) items in the kit bag is a cagoule. It's a pack-n-mack, basically a rain jacket.

Once a term (semester) there is a Mufti Day, a day where you don't wear your uniform. The girls bring in £2 each towards charity and they get to wear their normal clothes.

At first when school started I would outsource my questions, sheepishly asking english friends for translations but now, three years in I just email the school... and then, sometimes I wish I hadn't.

Every friday the girls have a spelling test of 5 words. We didn't realize spelling tests had started so the first week we didn't study. My daughter got 0/5 (she wrote Ov for Of) Last week we reviewed and my daughter got 5 right. There were 5 check marks ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️ but at the top of the page it said 3/10.

I was confused; are they averaging these tests? are they averaging incorrectly? are they grading on a curve? I couldn't figure it out and it was Friday and I didn't want to wonder all weekend... so I sent an email from my phone - quick question... this is the reply I got:

Dear Mrs. L
3/10 is todays date.
Sincerely,
Mrs R.
School Secretary

Have I ever mentioned that the dates are written day/month here?

it's 2014!

Well, at least nobody can criticise me for blogging too much.

It's 2014!!
Where does the time go?
I'm sure you're curious: the answer is YES; I am STILL living in London.

Coming back to the blog now kind of makes sense, since I'm figuring out a new life here.

The mass exodus of my nearest and dearest from London means that I am starting over, kindof. My best friends have moved away; mostly back home - their jobs having changed, their English husbands in tow, they returned to the states to raise their children among family.

No more college friends living here for grad school, no more fellow new yorkers to roll my eyes at when the guy at the deli tries to butter my bagel before putting the cream cheese on it. My book club is disbanded, my evenings are pretty free AND I'm really going to have to throw myself into my work!

Tthese last few years have been wonderful. My kid is in school, and loving it. I have successfully navigated my way around the British educational system. I'm not saying I like it of course, but I get it.

We have expanded our tiny family to include a tiny dog - which is very British of us. You can take your dog ANYWHERE here, to pubs, parks, restaurants, cafes, shops... our dog is often walking around "off her LEAD" (without her leash) free to roam the parks and forests (there are no forests just the heath) and well behaved enough to come back to us when called. Even the dogs have good manners.

We've spent summers in New York, running wild in the city... suddenly free to relax, be silly and speak openly with strangers.

But I will Keep Calm & Carry On... maybe blog a little bit about London life, Anyway as someone mentioned to me recently, blogging is so over now it's probably cool again. I can blog ironically.