transposable element

taken three weeks ago when i was sitting in on jan’s first day at school. i’m not sure whether that look means “mom, do you really have to take pictures?” or “mom, am i supposed to understand these?”. it was a mandarin class, on insects… i think.

oh well, it’s such a big difference to the kindergarten we knew in germany, i just had to document it. wearing uniforms, for example, is something (public) schoolkids never do in germany. but in jan’s preschool, they even have two sets: one for the morning (the set jan is wearing) and another for afternoon (that on the boy next to him). they switch at midday, after taking a shower(!), before naptime (!).

i’ve nothing against wearing uniforms. in fact, i consider it time and cost-saving: not only do you save money on buying streetwear so often, it also saves you the daily dilemma of “what am i gonna wear today?”. jan loves the concept also because he thought uniform had something to do with going to university, where daddy goes to work. funny that at barely five, he’s already set his eyes on going to university.

it feels like a blast from the past, having our stuff from our previous flat -our previous life- in germany with us again. all the mugs and china, oma’s cupboard, the books, jan’s toys and a few knickknacks we simply couldn’t part with. oh and of course, my aging, slow but much appreciated desktop. it’s not much, really, our shipment was less than 5 cubic meters in all, just the essential personal effects, vestiges of our stay in germs land. vestige. like the appendix: it’s there, a token from a past life, something you can actually do without, but would keep if you can, if for no apparent reason. however, looking at some of them now, they look awkward, like they don’t belong here. pretty much like the foreigners we were when we first arrived here, i guess. oh well, let’s see how they “integrate” with the rest of our new stuff…

instead of being in an unpacking frenzy, though, i’ve more or less instructed the movers to just put everything in our spare room. i’ve asked them to unpack only those boxes labeled fragile, just for insurance claim purposes. the rest… well, we were able to make do without them for 2 months, so, apart from jan’s stuff, there’s no hurry. nobody’s going to read those books and documents in the near future anyway. for some, perhaps not ever. besides, i am more comfortable doing the unpacking on my own, in my own pace and according to our needs. i guess i’ve lived too long in germany and has gotten too much used to doing things on my own.

if there’s one thing i learned from this relocation exercise, it’s that if you really think about it, it doesn’t really take much in terms of tangible, material stuff to have a comfortable life. the last few weeks have not been perfect for us, no, not having the financial padding to fully furnish a flat in one go. but really, there are just a few items left on our absolute-must-have list. we still lack a dining table, andin the meantime have been making do with a tiny table from ikea –nothing more than a board on four legs, really– which i plan to use as a working or extra kitchen table later on. our mattress still lays on the floor (but just til tomorrow, alleluiah!), and half of our clothes are still in suitcases. sure, it’s been inconvenient at some points and required a bit of improvisation, but heck, we’re far from struggling. it’s been fun, it’s been the adventure we have been treating this whole relocation experience all along.

how about you? what’s priority one on your current must-have list?

jan started kindergarten today. like all our other feats since arriving here, we consider this day another milestone. heaven knows i’ve agonized and worried about this day so much, fidgeting about making the right choice of preschool for jan. coming from a kindergarten where no formal lessons were held and children “just play” until they enter first grade, the school system here in singapore approaches the other extreme to what jan had in germany. whereas the moms of some of his mates back in germany were amazed that he can “already” write his own name (all three letters of them, haha) and can identify several other letters of the alphabet, over here, i observed that most of his mates not only can read at this age, they already have such an advanced pen control such that they can also write whole sentences… in english and mandarin. so yes, i was insecure. am insecure. drats, jan is lagging way behind.

i’ve tossed and turned this issue, looked at it at different angles, and still i am unsure whether we’re taking the right approach, surrendering him to the local school system. while i have no doubts that jan will catch up academically in time for primary school (i have no doubt in his intellectual abilities and he does already seem to be prepared to absorb subject matter-heavy curricula), i’m worrying that he’s getting shortchanged on time that should rather be spent on free play, developing social skills and EQ. he is such a playful, frolicking, fun-loving child and i’m worried that he’d lose these qualities too early, forced to take things more seriously much earlier. i know he’ll lose them anyway, and he’d have to grow up and in a year or so, when he would really then have to take school seriously, but why hurry things up?

i’m probably over-thinking things again, as usual. jan had a lot of fun today, even if they spent two hours in the morning on mandarin lessons and he didn’t understand much of what was going on in the class. but i could tell from the way he’s so excited at the prospect of saying longer tomorrow that today was a good experience. he was well-received by the other kids, and already found two naughty boys he could make a lot of playful nonsense with. the teacher struck me as kind and responsible, patient and yet firm, just the kind jan needs. the classes seems to be well organized, if a bit content-heavy (when did YOU learn about photosynthesis?) and just might satisfy jan’s increasing curiosity and interest in understanding how stuff work.

perhaps it just might be alright after all. i hope.