Sundays are not really meant for this, but……

5
Feb

… when you are where we are right now… then Sundays can’t always be about being lazy, resting and restoring the soul for the week. This Sunday unfortunately had to turn into a day of scheduling, searching and applying for new schools and catching up on school projects that are due soon !

Little one had a playdate and without daddy or a nanny, the rest of the family had to tag along and were hanging out  in a coffee shop near the friend’s house while she was spending the afternoon playing there. Logistics made it too difficult to come back home inbetween. Big city life….

One great thing in Korea though, is that you are very likely to get highspeed internet in most cafes. So, it was Cafe Benne again today, with their good wi-fi set-up, like I posted here. Great thing is nowadays with kids’ homework and school applications – all you need is a laptop and wi-fi and you are good to go anywhere !

We had a crazy 2 weeks and finally I could sit down today and do some scheduling for the weeks ahead. How funny when I realized for the first time today that the first half of my Angel-in-us calendar for 2012 is filled with Hong Kong snaps !  I love how the Korean stationery always have these great pictures everywhere to add to the ambience of their paper and inks !

I loved the calendar when I saw it – especially the bright orange cover… do you know that ORANGE is the color of the coming season?! Watch out – it’s gonna be a big, bright season ahead and I am looking forward to the citrus splashes everywhere !!

I already started collecting inspiration on my ORANGE board on Pinterest.

Source: desert-dreamer.tumblr.com via Ilze on Pinterest

 

For you to also get into the groove – go peek  here !

Source: prepfection.tumblr.com via Ilze on Pinterest

 

But back to the calendar/ diary – I try to do things electronically nowadays, but still love the feel of a real journal to jot things down. Angel-in-us issued this one for 2012 with pictures and other little details that caught my eye one day while buying coffee just before Christmas. To read about this popular Korean coffee franchise, you can read this charming post that Ibyang Sanchet did on her blog, A Wife’s Charmed Life . When visiting Seoul, you will feel like you know the place already, once you have read her post !

So, I warned you that you will be hearing a lot more about not only Seoul, but also my expat journey.

Let me first say that the best part of being an expat is certainly the friends you make along the way. How wonderful that in preparation for our move, I have already been in touch with friends of friends who live in Hong Kong and who have been great in e-mailing and calling me with suggestions and lots of information that has been very helpful indeed. I already feel welcome over there !

Today, I tried to get together a shortlist of schools and contacted the Admission Offices. Schooling there seems to be in a bit of crisis right now, since the demand still far outweighs the supply and waiting lists are therefore endless and the process seems stressfull! The good news is that there are really great schools to choose from.

I am learning a lot in the process and I found this website, to be very helpful as a starting point. This is not only helpful for Hong Kong Schools but for any person moving children between schools and countries. It is worth looking into if you also got totally overwhelmed with the latest on IB, IGCSE, A-levels etc etc… those certainly did not exist in my days !!??!

A friend has kindly offered to pick up this guide for me and I am hoping it would provide me a key to unlock some of the confusion. You can find the link for it on this same website that is linked above. An overwhelming amount of information, but we all want the best for our little “angels”, right?!

Source: tuition.com.hk via Ilze on Pinterest

 

Having so many choices is wonderful, but having it depend on so many variables is a little unsettling and a big reason for panic to set in. And then there is also the fact that kids the age of mine, start to have their own preferences and reasons for wanting to go to specific schools ! My daughter helped me by preparing a sheet for all the information we collected from the internet. This made her feel part of the process and they are already much more involved in the whole schooling decision. That be a good thing? Or a bad thing? Not sure. I see a big headache ahead, but…

For now, it is focus on getting into the system and hope for the best !

It has always worked out, and we certainly trust it will again.

Any experienced moms out there who want to share their wisdom gained in school transitioning?

Any Hong Kong moms who has insights to the schooling system firsthand?

What do you look for in a school for your kids?

I am wondering if there are people out there who geniunely regretted sending their kids to a certain school once they got to applying for colleges ?

I do want my kids to have the best possible opportunities, but I also don’t want to become an anxious mom who looses focus on what are the real important things in life…

…..and that certainly is not only their education !

Let me hear your voice by leaving me a comment and I will find a way to process…

Hope you have a happy week ahead everyone !

Ilze


Comments

3 responses to Sundays are not really meant for this, but……

  • Yvonne says:

    Big sigh here… I am still not happy we did not leave our children in an IB school. We thought they might not learn their mother tongue that well when it comes to writing and we did not know if we would stay expats forever… But I love the curriculum of the IB schools and the international broad view on everything there (not to mention the British accent!) Still pondering if it would not be a good idea to send them there later when they master German written..- Still torn here but deep in my heart I would wish to send them there again…
    Yvonne

  • Paula says:

    Have you chosen a school yet? Let me know if you need any help? Just remember in Hong Kong you need to choose the school and then the area (house). Good luck xoxo

    • Ilze says:

      Well – it seems at this point – we have no choice…they choose you 😉 … but we applied and are waiting anxiously ! Hoping that assessments will go well.

  • Leave a Response to Yvonne

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    Makes me happy that you got this far down on my blog ! See some older posts in the Archives or by clicking back.


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