Day 2204. I was very much hoping to sleep in this morning but once again no such luck. Surprisingly, it was Tammy today who was up first, and it was only 6:45 am. I guess they're already used to getting up early. Eventually Randy got up to make breakfast for them. I at least got to stay in bed until about 9 am, which is very early for me for the weekend.
I got up slowly and went to the kitchen to do some prep for cooking lunch. Then I went downstairs to do piano practice with the kids. Back upstairs, I started cooking. That way lunch was actually done early, and we sat down to eat at 11:30 am.
After lunch, I turned my computer on and started working for a while. Then we got ready to leave, and just before 12:30 Tammy, Emmy and I left the house. We had our scooters with us so that we'd be faster. We took the subway to the final stop, then rode our scooters for a little bit to get to our destination. Tammy had actually taken her old scooter with three wheels as she doesn't feel secure enough on her new two-wheel scooter, while Emmy had his new scooter.
We got to the "Little Genius" premises a few minutes before their class was to start at 1 pm. It's called "mental arithmetics" and is an Asian system for calculating very quickly. It's astonishing and is going to give the kids a legs up in maths in school. While Emmy is gifted in maths, Tammy is having a much harder time so far. But that's going to change with this class.
The kids sat down in the first row, and I waved them good-bye. I was not allowed to stay even a few minutes which I had figured in advance. I went downstairs to the common room the building has, where other parents were also waiting. I got my computer out, plugged it in, and used the 90 minutes of the class to get work done.
Just before 2:30 pm I went back upstairs to pick the kids up. The founder of the school, who had a young teacher teaching the class but was present, told me that Tammy and Emmy had done very well. Normally the class is from 7 years up and they're only just 6, but the class for 6-year-olds is on Saturday when they don't have time so he put them in this class. He said they could easily hold their own, and that even Tammy had done well. They had both received a backpack, a book and an abacus, and they had a page in the book to finish until next week. I asked them how the class was, and they both said that they'd loved it.
We rode our scooters back to the subway and got on. Another girl from the class then got on with her mother, and we got talking with them. They got off before us. Just after 3 pm we were back home. Sammy was very happy to see us and continued the game he had played with Tammy before she left. Tammy played a cat, and Sammy had the time of his life playing with her.
At 4 pm we all left the house and walked to the subway. We took two subways then walked to where the church was meeting. We got there ten minutes before the service started at 5 pm which is unusual for us. We found seats and sat down. The kids were excited to be back as it had been months since we had been there. Tammy immediately started playing with a girl about her age. When the service started, the kids had fun. Sammy got streamers, though he was waiting for paper to do drawing. Daddy held him, and he waved his streamers quite well. Once the paper had arrived, he went to the front, with his sister, to do some drawing. Later Tammy and her friend played with fabric, and Sammy became a part of that game. Tammy can be really sweet with him.
They were excited when 5:30 pm came around and they could go to kids' church. I was extremely tired and could barely keep my eyes open, so I was very glad that Randy was the one to go with them.
At 6 pm worship was over, and announcements started. Then all the kids came back as they wanted to pray for all students and teachers. She mentioned that some kids had just started school, and Tammy and Emmy were jumping up and down to let everyone know that that was them. Randy was in the front with Sammy, while I was at my seat and standing up as all the teachers were supposed to stand up. They then prayed for the kids, students, teachers and parents. Then the kids returned to kids' church, and I sat down as the pastor started preaching a few minutes later.
When 7 pm came around which is normally when the service ends, I left the sanctuary and walked to the kids' ministry rooms. I found all the kids at the table doing crafts. They had made a little booklet together, including Sammy who Randy was helping. Tammy didn't even want to leave but I reminded them how early they'd have to get up tomorrow morning. So we got ready and left church to go back home. They were hungry and ate all their food on the way.
We took two subways to go home. Just before we reached our stop, we looked out and saw the dark red sky which is rather unusual. Unfortunately I missed the best shot, but I still captured it a little bit. We then got home just before 8 pm. The kids had a little more food, brushed their teeth, put their pj's on, and I prayed for them, then they went to bed. Then I made myself some soup, and Randy made his food. I ate, then went back to work. Now it's midnight, and I still have to load the dishwasher before going to bed. The alarm is gonna go off in just over 6 hours.
