School!

Monday was make-or-break day - would Jemima be happy in her new school, or would she hate it, and our whole plan be scuppered...?  She had said, "Mummy, I'm anxious" in England - what would her feelings be on the actual morning of her new school...?

I'd like to ratchet up the tension a little more, but it was (thankfully) completely fine: she loved getting dressed in her new uniform in the morning; and although she said she was a bit nervous, she skipped ahead of us down the road, saying "those going to school must be the leader".  Then it was in through the gate, into her new classroom and lots of hellos to her teacher Miss Oliver and her classmates.  They all lined up for the start of the school day (very English old-school); and my last image of her was as she wandered off, holding hands with Miss Oliver and already chatting, just turning to shout, "Bye Mummy!".  And that was it.  So Kevin and I returned, relieved, to a suddenly quiet and empty flat.  

After a few hours, Kevin prised me out of bed (I was feeling sorry for myself, nursing my cough/cold) and we went for a walk to explore the local area.  Onto the Portals Nous main street for coffee in an English-run café full of both Spanish and English residents; through and around all the nearby streets, including detours to investigate an English supermarket and two local yoga studios for me; then back through the marina and along the beach, up over the headland into Bendinat next door, then back past some very swanky villas into Portals Nous again.  It was cold (especially for me because I was feeling ill - have I mentioned that?) but it was sunny, and very pretty.  Some of the shops and restaurants had signs outside saying they re-open in two weeks or mid-Feb, so it's going to be fun seeing how the area changes over the next three months.  Then lunch in the local Spanish-run café (we ordered stuff off the daily specials menu and were surprised by every item - my food vocab still needs a lot of work); and then it was time for school pick-up. 

I was nervous.  It's a long day - 8.45 to 4pm.  And all those strange people - was she going to have been OK...?! Of course she was: "school is GREAT!". I asked which was better, school in England or Mallorca: "Mallorca, definitely".  She had eaten rice soup for lunch, which was apparently delicious, and had lots of fun doing sport - "we don't do PE, we do sport".  And that was it - home for some seemingly endless eating, while I went to the local shop to buy her a few things that her teacher said she needed (a toothbrush and toothpaste?!), plus a short stop in the local (English-run) bookshop to pick up some second-hand picture books for reading in the evenings.  And that was it.  Day One - a definite success, for all of us.  Thank goodness.  

Portals Nous beach

Exploring towards Bendinat

Sunset from our apartment