We had a beautiful crisp fall day for our first field trip with Flynn's kindergarten class. Appropriately enough our destination was an apple orchard.
I was a "class parent" for the trip and I was impressed with how the students behaved and cared for one another. The teachers did an amazing job of preparing the students and organizing the trip entirely in Chinese. By the end of the field trip even I was understanding things and speaking a little Chinese.
It's been a while since I last rode in a school bus for an extended period of time. Let's just say it was a memorable experience. I don't recall my tailbone hurting as much as the bus drove over bumps when I was a third grader! For some reason I forgot that these big yellow buses are lacking shock absorbers and any kind of suspension! Ouch!
The kindergarten staff sent a note to parents asking them to dress their children in snow pants, winter coats, hats, and mittens for the trip to the orchard. Now, as I mentioned it is a bit crisp this time of year--but you certainly don't have to dress for blizzard conditions. The situation made me smile and remember the "clothing police" in China. These "officers" were usually Chinese grannies who would scold you for not dressing your child in many layers of thick clothing in July! (I'm not kidding.) For some reason the Chinese culture seems to revere over-dressing. We traveled in a packed school bus with some very warm children. I forgot to mention all the bus windows were closed for the first 15-minutes of the trip. Eventually the school Vice Principal took pity on us and forced some windows to open a crack. I let the five little girls I was responsible for take off their wool hats on the bus! They were grateful. Sweaty but grateful.
When we reached our destination the students had fun running around on the playground, taking a hay ride, hunting for pumpkins and picking apples. Flynn had a great time and I was pleased to see her happily interacting with her school mates.
We capped off the day with apple donuts and Flynn got her first taste of real apple cider. She pronounced it "delicious" and asked if we could make our own from the apples she picked. I told her we lacked an apple press and would buy some at the store. Flynn was a bit disappointed but agreed it "might be easier to buy some at Target."
