Kindergarten Rush

Lately I have been suffering from the Kindergarten rush. My baby boy is going to Kindergarten next year... But other than the anticipation (his) and anxiety (mine, who else?), this is not a sit around do nothing kind of event, my job starts now, no less than 6 months in advance, at a stressful, depressing and unpleasant place called The International Office, or maybe this is just my selective memory speaking. While some states or counties in the U.S don't have enough or any international families to even justify the existence of such place, in our county where a huge part of the population is international, we have the pleasure of starting an otherwise exciting process at this very office. My first experience with this place, 3 years back, was very negative. Partly because we were so new here and everything then seemed different and sometimes intimidating, partly because my daughter was diagnosed with diabetes only a couple of months afterwards and so the whole time period was fused in my head to a one big bad and sad memory, but mainly because we were treated like illegal immigrants that came from a third world country and probably had never acquired any education, and for us; proud Israelis, this was nothing but unacceptable. The only nice moment we had in this office summed up to the five minutes before we were asked to fill out a satisfaction survey... So the motive for their sudden improved behavior was pretty clear, and I made sure they knew about it. Who could blame me for not looking forward for the next time? So now, 3 years later, we had to go there again, a fact that troubled my sleep and occupied my thoughts. I made sure I had all the needed documents, even called in advance to update my check list. To my surprise the lady on the phone was pretty nice and helpful and added some more items to my long list. I had to employ my dad and especially my grandma back home to issue some original formal documents for me and get them to my email inbox ASAP. Amazing what one can do these days with a computer, a scanner and an Internet connection! I remember looking for a local post office branch just to make a long distance call... And there I was, loaded with all the documents, heading to the International Office with my 5 year old son, hoping to get this over with, wishing to create a slightly better memory for my son who is so excited to finally be going to Kindergarten. I held his hand, took out my polished smile and we went in. A nice lady greeted us, she showed us the way to the first station of our journey and we headed down the long hallway. The office was nothing like I recalled from that terrible first visit. The walls were decorated with traditional paintings from different cultures and the corners were equipped with items from all over the world. We signed in and within minutes were called by yet another relatively nice lady that showed us to her office and gave my boy a lollipop, to buy his silence while going through the tons of documents in my pre organized folder. "This place looks nothing like I remembered" I said, wondering whether my memory had deceived me. "Oh yes, you are right, this place was renovated two years ago, it looks much better now isn't it?" I had to agree of course, hoping the rest of the day will be as pleasant as this. From there we went on to English testing and got an exemption from testing "he will be tested at school for English levels when he starts Kindergarten, there's no point to test him now" they explained, and it totally made sense. Then to the clinic, to make sure his immunization record was up to date, this is the part I was mostly concerned about, because the last time they wanted to test my daughter for tuberculosis and lead poisoning, two unnecessary tests if you come from Israel directly to the specific county we live in now, from which I managed to get away with after protesting. A nice nurse welcomed us to a room with a kids play area and a TV, she thoroughly checked the forms issued by our pediatrician and then said: "You have been living here for over two years, correct?" I nodded, lately we had our 3rd year anniversary... "So your son doesn't need any further testing, you can now take these forms to his home school" she smiled and handed me a survey, the same one I remembered from the last visit, only this time I was happy to give them all five! There's a slight chance I became a little more accepting and patient, and also accustomed to the local manners (or sometimes lack of) but no doubt about it, our local International Office has changed dramatically in the last 3 years, it might not be the best place to spend your spare time at, but at least for me this is no longer a bad memory.