Day 2116. Last night it was 3 am before I made it to bed and so I was extremely tired all day long. It's only at night that that tiredness subsides somewhat.
Today Sammy didn't have horse therapy, so Randy took all three to their kindergartens. My alarm went off at 10:30 am, and I got up and got ready for my 11:15 student. I taught until 12:30, then I went to the kitchen to start cooking. A few minutes later Sammy got home, and Randy left again to go pick up the other two. I finished cooking, then sat down to eat. Sammy was watching on the projector first, then started playing with the door while I was eating. Then he also wanted some pasta even though he had already eaten a bar, so I got him some too. I was very tired and wanted to close my eyes for a while but there was no time as I had to teach at 2:20, and right after we had to leave. So I cleaned up the kitchen and made their dinner sandwiches to take with us. Randy and the kids returned home just as I was about to start teaching.
After I was done at 3:10, we all got ready and left the house ten minutes later to make the 3:27 pm bus which we did. We rode two buses and got to their kindergarten just after 4 pm. Their year-end summer party was scheduled to start at 4 pm. We went to their gym, where the teachers, children and parents were all gathered. They had just started the program. Tammy and Emmy joined the other kids up front. Their main teacher was singing a song together with a teacher from another group who I didn't know, and Tammy's and Emmy's class was on their feet making the arm movements to go with the song. They then did another song. The kindergarten director spoke a few words, as well as another top lady who I didn't know. We found out that the kindergarten had just received a prize - only the 13th kindergarten of the 2700 in the whole city of Vienna. The prize was about quality in teaching MINT (=mathematics, informatics=computer science, natural sciences, technology). And so the year-end summer party was all about science.
Then everyone dispersed. The kids had to go pick up a sheet where all the stations they had completed would be stamped upon. They got their sheets, then we went to the school's workshop first. And for the longest time they were the only kids in there.
They had set up tablets with simple programming software that was doing different things, including moving a lego vehicle. There were two students from the elementary school who were showing them what to do. Of course, this was not that new to our kids since they have been attending a programming class since February.
After they were done there, we walked to the table right outside that room. There was a man on a computer with his daughter. He had the image version of ChatGPT on his computer. He took the kids' pictures and asked them what and where they wanted to be. It took a few minutes for the computer to create the image, but we saw Tammy's and Emmy's. The director said she'd print them out and they could be picked up in the end. However, she then said they'd be emailed to us so we have to wait for them. Emmy wanted to be spiderman on a skyscraper, Tammy a unicorn on a rainbow and Sammy Mickey Mouse on a bicycle. I haven't seen Sammy's picture yet.
From there we went outside into the courtyard where they had a buffet as well as a few stations to accomplish. Emmy went straight for the boxes filled with different stuff that they had to walk through. The last box was full of water, then they stepped onto a towel. Emmy really enjoyed the box with water. Tammy preferred the one filled with cotton.
We moved on to another station where the line was rather long. Right next to it were the giant bubbles, and both Tammy and Emmy enjoyed making them. They also both had their turn at the table there. They had two basins full of water so they could choose between the red and the blue water. The teacher lit the candle, then the kids put a glass on top. The candle would then go out and the water level inside the glass would go up. Then they had to take the glass off again which was hard as the pressure inside the glass was high.
We had done everything outside, so we went back inside and went to another room where they had a few stations set up. The first table had a few free spots so Tammy and Emmy sat down. The tray at every seat was different but it all had to do with magnetism. They could just play around with what was in front of them.
They soon moved on to the next table once spots became available. At that table, they glued black circles on top of white ones, then glued the five circles on the five fingers of a plastic glove. Then they put the glove over a paper cup and put a straw through a hole in the cup and blew air inside so that the glove inflated. Pretty cool.
We moved on to the next table. There were all kinds of fruits and vegetables on the table, as well as a big box full of water. The kids had to pick three items and predict whether the item would float or sink. Tammy's first pick was a mango. When the teacher then asked her if she knew what she had picked, Tammy said no. It made me deeply sad that my children don't know what a mango is, a staple of Mali. It's been over 3 years since they've been to Mali.
There was one table left there. They drew on a paper napkin, then rolled it up and crushed it together. Next, they had to drip water on top of the napkin and watch the napkin expand. That was it.
They had received all 8 stamps on their paper but there was a space for a bonus station. They had not been to their own classroom, so that's where we went next. Their main teacher was there at a table, all by herself, so they both sat down with her. She had made invisible marks on paper, and the kids had to put colored water on top to make the marks visible and then count how many there were and tell her. The kids then got their 9th and last stamp - and there was even another station next to that one, but the line was rather long there. The kids wanted to go back outside to get something from the buffet so that's what we did.
Then went to the school director to hand in their papers with all the stamps. In return, they got a certificate and could choose whatever stamp they wanted out of a box. Randy and Sammy joined us there, and Sammy also got a certificate and a stamp. Then we said our good-byes and left to go home. It was just after 6 pm.
It was nearly 7 pm by the time we were home, and I cut up their fruit right away. They had already eaten their sandwiches on the way home. We then went downstairs to do piano practice, then they went into the bathtub. Back out, I quickly prayed for them, then I send them to bed and sat down by the computer to teach from 8:10 to 9 pm. After I was done, I got something to eat, and later I went back to work and then to bed late.
