I am amazed at how quickly and well Rhiannon has settled into her new school routine. I'm immensely proud of her newly found confidence and she is thrilled with the school. Whilst I agree it's still early days, she seems to have got off to a great start.
Rhiannon's School Day. (Obviously not actually written by Rhiannon, but I did "interview" her last night!)
"I get up at 6.30am and go downstairs with Kita to make my breakfast. Of course, I don't wake Mum up - she doesn't do mornings. So I wake up Dad instead; after all, he has to get to work early too.
Dad takes Mum a cup of tea at 7.30am and hassles her until she growls and gets up. He leaves at 7.45am so I need Mum to open the gate for me because I just cannot work out how to use keys.
Mum gets up and starts yelling at me to get dressed. Well, I didn't want to spill breakfast on my lovely new school dress, did I? I really enjoy getting ready as s l o w l y as possible because it really winds Mum up. I can almost see her blood pressure rising as I decide what trinket to take to school today to play with. Mum says I shouldn't take my stuff into school because I always lose it. Well, I don't mean to lose it, I just forget about it because I'm having so much fun.
Yesterday was brilliant! I got up especially early as I wanted to pierce my ears.
Mum thought I was cleaning my teeth properly for a change but really I was trying to force an earring into my ear lobe. It didn't go through the skin though, and it hurt quite a bit too, so I stopped. Made my ear all red and it's got a little dent in it now. It's a bit sore; perhaps that wasn't such a good idea after all.
By 8am Mum has gone a funny colour. Well, I can't remember where I put my school shoes, can I?
Mum goes outside to open the front gate for me. The school bus arrives at 8.05am. Mum thinks this door-to-door bus idea is the best thing ever. She says it's great because she doesn't have to do the school run any more, but I think it's also because she gets Rhiannon-free time from 8.05 until about 4.45pm. Poor Mum, I wonder if she misses me?
There are seven other children on my bus. They are really interesting, a great mix of nationalities and religions. We had a really cool theological conversation the other day between a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew. I learned a lot.
This school is so much better than my old school in Tokyo. Although I do miss my friends there, I certainly don't miss the bullying. Everyone here is so nice. Our school is 'all-in-one', primary and secondary schools all on one campus, right the way up to 18 year olds. I've got three very special best friends and am having a sleepover this weekend.
Because it's summer now, we do most of our lessons outside! And our playtimes are longer than my previous school. One thing I am having a bit of trouble getting used to is the sheer amount of space at the school. There's a forest (but we're not allowed to go into the bit where the teachers can't see us), two playgrounds with climbing walls and frames, a slide and all sorts of other apparatus. And grass. So much real grass. It's weird - there was only fake plastic grass in Tokyo; or tarmac which really hurts when you fall over on it. I fall over quite a lot. And with all this space and playgrounds, I have had a lot of accidents. Not bad ones, but I usually end up with several new, big bruises every day.
Red squirrels are everywhere, foxes live in the forest - someone said they saw a dead rabbit outside the fox-hole with it's insides all over the ground. Eew! There are also some wild boar, but apparently most of them have been killed because they are dangerous. I think there may be two left. [UPDATE! I saw a wild boar in the forest today! We were really scared and didn't know what to do, but luckily it wandered away]
All that running around out in the fresh air makes me really hungry. Luckily we have this fabulous cafeteria at school. We can buy snacks and get a cooked lunch too. The waffles are the best things ever.
Lessons? Oh, they're OK I suppose. Because I started here in May, there are some subjects I have already done in my old school. That's OK because it makes me look clever. I do German lessons too, but find them really difficult - German is a lot harder for me than Japanese. Mum says this is because I started learning Japanese when I was just five which made it easier. Now I'm nine and a half and nearly grown up I suppose my brain doesn't work as well any more. Like Mum's...
At home time, it's back on the bus again. Mum's looking out the window for me so she can let me in.
I wonder if she's been standing there all day?"