back to school

The long summer vacation has finally ended for the children in the village, and today was their first full day back in the classroom. At 8:57, the front doors open, and throngs of children, the younger ones accompanied by a parent usually, dash out onto Calle San Antonio. For a full five minutes, the street is jammed with children, most dragging behind them overloaded wheelie backpacks that seem to weigh more than their young owners. The school day officially begins at 9am, but judging by the numbers of late stragglers, the general attitude regarding punctuality that is prevalent in this part of Spain, what I call the 15-minute rule (ie, always add at least 15 minutes to the agreed-upon meeting time), seems to apply to school as well. Sidebar: On the subject of time, Big Jim and I noticed that the official time in the village is one minute behind that of the rest of the world. We find this adds even more charm to the place. :-) As a child, I always loved back-to-school time. All the shopping for supplies, new clothes, etc. I will never forget the image of my father's cringing face as he stood in the background of the young teen department at Wanamaker's, watching my mother, sister, and I look through the racks of designer jeans, circa 1979. In the end, probably out of sheer exhaustion, he agreed to the then-astronomical price of $32 for the pair of Jordache jeans I felt I so desperately needed. Poor Dad. The new school year always seemed so alive with possibilities, which added to all the excitement. "Yes, perhaps this is the year I become a 'cool' kid" was the sentiment running through the minds of 95% of students as they struggled to find their way to their homerooms on that early September morning. It wouldn't happen for the vast majority of them; it never happened for me. But in the long run, we are all probably better off, the experience helping us to build the character we'd need to make it in the "real" world. And even if the other kids didn't realize how cool I was, I always had my Jordache jeans to remind me otherwise. :-) hasta pronto, mylifeinspain