Hello from the other side

It's been a year since I posted. I thought I would capture our move to London through a series of emails I shared with friends...

Hello from the other side (of the Channel)..

How are you ladies doing? I really really miss you all so much and the girls miss their friends...

School started last Tuesday. Here's a photo of the girls in their uniform. I must say having a uniform makes life so much easier. No more arguments in the morning about what to wear! The hats are only for show, they are supposed to wear them to school and back but they were the only girls in school with the hats on the first day, so now the hats are in the cupboard to be taken out on a special day. The school is pretty strict about tying hair back, no nail polish etc (no earrings on PE day) but the girls have been quite cooperative. 

The school is completely the opposite of ICS. Its amongst the bigger ones in Hampstead which is why i was happy the girls got in with its own playground, but really its just one building with a playground. I won't complain though - they take the girls very week to Hampstead Heath for PE (we nearly missed the bus this week since i didn't know they had to come to school early that day). There's no parking allowed inside the school and nobody hangs around after school with the girls playing. Its just come and collect and go. About 50% of the people collecting are nannies and the other moms. I was quite surprised that its an international crowd- in A's class we had a coffee morning for the moms last Friday and there was not one British mum in the 8 mums who had turned up - a mix of Italian, Japanese, South American, Indian, New Zealand etc. Also quite a bit of students joining and leaving - certainly not as much as ICS but I thought it would be a very closed school with the same class together for all the years. 

The girls are still to settle down though -they really miss their friends. I thought A was ok but she told me today that for the last two days nobody was playing with her in the playground and today she went and found Akka and played with her. The teacher said A cried in class also the last two days as she found the writing and the science a bit tough. The positive is that A's teacher is really wonderful. She is very kind and open (i requested a short meeting with her and thought i would have to sign a yellow slip (yes that's how we can meet teachers here!) requesting a meeting but she just asked me to wait a few minutes and met me immediately after school. She said she was not going to out any pressure on A in terms of studies and in her view A was adjusting well socially but she would keep an eye out.

S's teacher on the other hand is a nightmare. She is very strict and quite unfriendly. On the second day of school, S was walking down with her at pick up time and I called out to S and she came and gave me her bag. The teacher shouted (yes shouted!) at S to get back in line and made her come back to me and take back her bag and blazer and I had to go to the hall after 5 mins to pick her up in the correct way! Seriously, for a new child? S was crying on the way back home. also when i asked her for a meeting to discuss how S is settling down she said she's very busy and not really spent much time with S yet so only after a couple of weeks more. Very reassuring!!

So when i asked A who S was playing with in th playground today when she went to her she said no one, and I could imagine the two of them playing by themselves in the playground. I felt bit sad but also glad that they at least had each other for company :)

Ok enough about the school. WE are slowly settling down here. setting up the house took a lot longer than expected. We are 80% there now - its livable but still too many things lying around the house and cluttering up all the rooms. We have a small garden area at the back where the girls now have a trampoline. Surprisingly the weather in London has not been that bad- its hasn't rained THAT much so the girls are able to jump on the trampoline at least every alternate day. The school is a 1 km trek from the house so I get a good 4 km exercise daily! For free :)

I like our neighbourhood. Its very close to the Finchley road high street and we have a tube station, bus stop and overground station all within 5 mins walk from the house. There\'s the O2 centre which has tons of eating places and a cinema and a gym/swimming pool and Sainsbury's also about 10 mins walk from our place. On the other side is Hampstead village which is very quaint with a village atmosphere and beyond that is the Hampstead Heath which is a lovely huge park. There are supposed to be very nice pubs around this area which we haven't got around to exploring yet- maybe when you guys come visit us :)

It's only been a week since the girls are back at school and i've been spending my days doing exciting stuff like getting a bank account opened, getting a mobile phone connection (I was rejected for a post paid connection since I did not have 5 years residence proof in UK so I've settled for a prepaid connection). I've also started running on the roads here- Regents park is about a 3km run from the house and Hampstead Heath is 1.5 km so its quite good for running. I met some of my old college and school friends. The moms in the school are not super friendly and as far as i know there are no school parent clubs like the book club etc which we had in ICS. Never mind. Maybe ill start my own book club :)

That's it for now. Do write back and keep me posted on the happenings in Zurich..