In our last school days post we ended the story with our visit to the new school. The two young women who were running the application desk were different from the one we had met the day before. They were surprised that we were registering four children at once. They asked our address and we told them. They asked where we were from and we told them. They said that they needed to talk to their director, so one of them got on the phone for a minute. They spoke for a few minutes and then said, okay.
[ We later learned that our helper from the International Scholars Office had called the ministry of education. Apparently they called the director, and very shortly after that we had been invited to meet with her the next day! It is sometimes nice to be on the right side of a power balance.]
We're in - Now What?!?
We were in! Now all we had to do was take care of all the things we needed to do to actually register the kids for school. The first step was to fill out an application for each of the kids. This was done in the old Russian fashion of handwriting an application based on an example that they had taped to the table. Yulia did this for all four of the girls - she didn't trust my handwriting to inspire confidence in our kids by the school.
After we wrote the application (заявление) we were given a list of things that we needed to bring to enroll the girls in school. This list included a medical passport, an individual tax identification number (like a social security number) for the girls, birth certificates, a proof of residence and proof of work for the parents, and uniforms.
The HR staff at our school (The School of Humanities and Social Sciences) helped out by applying for the individual tax numbers for the girls. The first step in that process was to notarize their passport information and to register them with the government here. Since they are under 14 they didn't have to do that when we first arrived, so we had to do the extra steps. That was an afternoon for me with someone from the school helping. We got on top of the medical issue the next Monday. That required a great deal of going back and forth to the hospital for various appointments with all the different specialists, translating the children's shot records into Russian, and collecting urine and stool samples at home. The blood sample they took at the hospital. Overall the girls were good about the process and were very brave.
The school required uniforms, but they weren't available yet. We were given a number to call on Sunday (August 9) to find out where and when the uniforms would be available. We were told that they would be ready on Tuesday at 10:00 at a store on the other side of town (at the bazaar). We found the bus route to the area and on Tuesday took the bus to get the uniforms. We found the store, but the kid that was running it pointed to all the boxes in the hall and said - we have the uniforms, but we aren't ready to start selling them, yet. We'll start selling them on Thursday morning at 9:00. He learned that we were from America and said that he studied in Vancouver for 5 years a few years back. He was really glad to use his English with us.
Thursday morning we went back - and it was quite wild. We were almost the first ones there, which was good. We had to get uniforms for all four girls - and it was quite a process to find and try on all the different components. The sizing is different from America, so we had to guesstimate and then verify. We left the store a few hundred dollars lighter, but glad that we had gotten the full uniforms. They had not ordered enough uniforms because they were not expecting as many kids to sign up for the school as did.
Through all the process we were not sure if the school would be finished on time for school to start on 1 September.
All of the medical and other paperwork took a while to get together so we didn't turn in all of our documents until the 19th or 20th of August. We were by far the last parents to complete the process, though!
We were the first ones in our school to send the kids to a local school. My friend, Jon, and his family moved here from Moscow, arriving a few weeks after we did. They decided to send their two oldest to the local school as well. Another of my colleagues' husband is from Kazakhstan and her daughter had attended local school before. She decided to send them to the local school as well. We were about a week ahead of both of them and so Yulia became the expert on the process of enrolling the kids in the schools. She went to the hospital with both families to show them where and how to get started and to get uniforms as well. It was nice to be helpful. Jon's daughter is in Veronika's 4th grade class, and his son is in Sophie and Lexa's 1st grade class. So only Polina is alone in class. She will probably be the first to learn Russian!
Overall we felt as ready as we could be - the kids were enrolled, we had their uniforms, and we were ready to begin.
[ We later learned that our helper from the International Scholars Office had called the ministry of education. Apparently they called the director, and very shortly after that we had been invited to meet with her the next day! It is sometimes nice to be on the right side of a power balance.]
We're in - Now What?!?
We were in! Now all we had to do was take care of all the things we needed to do to actually register the kids for school. The first step was to fill out an application for each of the kids. This was done in the old Russian fashion of handwriting an application based on an example that they had taped to the table. Yulia did this for all four of the girls - she didn't trust my handwriting to inspire confidence in our kids by the school.
After we wrote the application (заявление) we were given a list of things that we needed to bring to enroll the girls in school. This list included a medical passport, an individual tax identification number (like a social security number) for the girls, birth certificates, a proof of residence and proof of work for the parents, and uniforms.
The HR staff at our school (The School of Humanities and Social Sciences) helped out by applying for the individual tax numbers for the girls. The first step in that process was to notarize their passport information and to register them with the government here. Since they are under 14 they didn't have to do that when we first arrived, so we had to do the extra steps. That was an afternoon for me with someone from the school helping. We got on top of the medical issue the next Monday. That required a great deal of going back and forth to the hospital for various appointments with all the different specialists, translating the children's shot records into Russian, and collecting urine and stool samples at home. The blood sample they took at the hospital. Overall the girls were good about the process and were very brave.
 |
| The girls show off their bandages after giving a blood sample. They earned ice cream as a reward for their bravery! |
The school required uniforms, but they weren't available yet. We were given a number to call on Sunday (August 9) to find out where and when the uniforms would be available. We were told that they would be ready on Tuesday at 10:00 at a store on the other side of town (at the bazaar). We found the bus route to the area and on Tuesday took the bus to get the uniforms. We found the store, but the kid that was running it pointed to all the boxes in the hall and said - we have the uniforms, but we aren't ready to start selling them, yet. We'll start selling them on Thursday morning at 9:00. He learned that we were from America and said that he studied in Vancouver for 5 years a few years back. He was really glad to use his English with us.
Thursday morning we went back - and it was quite wild. We were almost the first ones there, which was good. We had to get uniforms for all four girls - and it was quite a process to find and try on all the different components. The sizing is different from America, so we had to guesstimate and then verify. We left the store a few hundred dollars lighter, but glad that we had gotten the full uniforms. They had not ordered enough uniforms because they were not expecting as many kids to sign up for the school as did.
Through all the process we were not sure if the school would be finished on time for school to start on 1 September.
 |
| Finishing up the main courtyard - School 75 less than 2 weeks before class begins. |
 |
| Inside the School 75 less than 2 weeks before classes were scheduled to start |
All of the medical and other paperwork took a while to get together so we didn't turn in all of our documents until the 19th or 20th of August. We were by far the last parents to complete the process, though!
We were the first ones in our school to send the kids to a local school. My friend, Jon, and his family moved here from Moscow, arriving a few weeks after we did. They decided to send their two oldest to the local school as well. Another of my colleagues' husband is from Kazakhstan and her daughter had attended local school before. She decided to send them to the local school as well. We were about a week ahead of both of them and so Yulia became the expert on the process of enrolling the kids in the schools. She went to the hospital with both families to show them where and how to get started and to get uniforms as well. It was nice to be helpful. Jon's daughter is in Veronika's 4th grade class, and his son is in Sophie and Lexa's 1st grade class. So only Polina is alone in class. She will probably be the first to learn Russian!
Overall we felt as ready as we could be - the kids were enrolled, we had their uniforms, and we were ready to begin.
No comments:
Post a Comment