Starting school at Inti Pakari

Emmett and Annalise started school this week, on Wednesday September 7th  -- coincidentally, the same day that our home Tacoma Public Schools started this year.  We chose a very small local school for them called Inti Pakari.  It is known as the "bilingual" school in town -- not Spanish / English bilingual, but Spanish / Quechua (sometimes spelled and pronounced Kichwa).  Quechua is one of the major indigenous languages spoken in multiple countries in the Andes region.  We chose this school not so much because we are dying for our kids to learn Quechua (though we certainly have nothing against it), but because of the intimate and family-oriented atmosphere, and a seemingly more creative approach to education.   There are only about 20-25 kids in the whole school, mainly from the local Saraguro ethnic group.  Our kids stand out not only because of their obvious blondness, but also because the Saraguro tend to be very short people -- and so our kids tower over them.

Here are our brave souls about to set out for their first day of school:

Ecuadorean school kids universally wear uniforms -- white shirt, black pants or skirt -- which we did not have yet.  The head teacher had told us not to worry about it, and to just show up on the first day of school -- she indicated that once we signed the kids up for school, the government would send their uniforms to the school for us to pick up.  But things don't work that smoothly.  So here are our kids gathered outside the school on the first day with their classmates.

They were not really going to "fit in" in any case, but they definitely stuck out like sore thumbs in their colorful clothes!  Here is a video of their classmates singing the Ecuadorean national anthem in Quechua.  Yes, the Landy kids were feeling a bit lost -- but got through it like champs.

I was anticipating them coming home from school feeling totally lost and confused and upset, but actually the did great.  Emmett said "I only had to say 'no entiendo' ('I don't understand') twice!"

Yesterday we finally found a store that has uniforms in town, they didn't have any in Annalise's size but they were able to make them for us overnight.  This morning they had a new look:

Cute!  The shirt are scratchy, so we need to get them some white t-shirts this weekend so they can wear them underneath.  It's funny that they had kind of been dreading having to wear uniforms -- but once you are the only one that is NOT wearing one, all you want is a uniform!

So far their actual school work is way below their abilities.  Annalise's homework last night was to write her name a bunch of times (which would have been appropriate for pre-K, but she is a very capable 2nd grader).  Emmett was answering math questions in class for the kids 2 grades ahead of him.  We will see how it goes -- mainly we want them to be in school to be immersed in Spanish, and to have a little school community that they can call their own.  We are supplementing them with their math books from their school in the US, and they are avid readers on their Kindles (a genius invention for this kind of year abroad).  I actually feel OK that their "work" is on the easy side, so they can focus on learning the language without being overwhelmed by new material.  But I also don't want them to be totally bored.  With time I think it will sort itself out.  For now, I am just so proud of these kids, and so impressed with how they are rolling with the punches with a smile.  Hats off to them!