Day 1860. We knew we had a long and intense day ahead of us. At 10 am we all left the house and took the subway downtown, then walked to their music school, where we arrived on time. It was the third session of this semester, and the second with the new teacher, as he was out of town last week. The founder and director of the school had substituted for him and had done an outstanding job. She had handed out assignment books and given them an assignment. The more days of the week they practice, the more stamps they get, the better prizes they get at the end of the semester. Tammy and Emmy had actually practiced every day of the week last week. However, their teacher had not been told what we'd done last week, nor was he interested in their assignment books. It was a rather chaotic one-hour class. He had them play a song that had notes in it that they don't know yet, while the director had taught them how to sing that song. Then he taught them something about beats that was way too difficult for them. It was also all frustrating for the kids. Emmy was not participating well at all, even though I had promised a reward for good participation. In the end they finally got their story that they had been anticipating for weeks.
Several parents weren't happy and were talking with each other. I got to talk to the director, and the other parents were going to do the same. Let's hope for a better experience next week. All the kids and parents miss last year's teacher.
We left the school, took the tram and then the subway and got to where the swimming pool is. There is a McDonald's right there where we had lunch, then we walked over to the pool. We paid, then walked to the backdoor wheelchair entrance. When I tried to hand the guy our locker keys, he didn't want to take them. They had told us at at the front desk to hand them in. He left and came back and discussed some more, then took the keys.
Because the water is so cold at the pool, we'd bought wet suits for the children. Especially the boys were freezing and Sammy shivering bad. They were excited to wear them.
The class was from 1:30 to 2 pm, with a new teacher. It was our second session of the semester. We were there way early again and had to wait for our class that then even started late. The suits made a big difference, making the class enjoyable again. We did a greeting song, Tammy with the teacher, then she gave them swim noodles to swim with. She threw little cars into the water that they had to pick up and bring back to her. All three kids had fun. Then she had them sit on the side of the pool and showed them leg movements. She told them to practice them at home during the week. And with that the class was already over. Randy and Sammy had left a few minutes early and gone to the warm water kids pool. I did the good-bye song with Emmy and Tammy with the teacher, then we left the water.
They all wanted to go into the warm water, but there was no time for that today. They had their big tennis tournament, and we had one hour to get there. We went to the changing room, got dressed, and left as quickly as was possible. We walked to the subway, rode it for a long time, and then rode a bus for a long time, followed by quite a walk. I knew we'd probably be late, and we got there about 5 minutes late. All the kids - and there were a lot of them - where on the court playing a game together, running around. We quickly changed their clothes and shoes, then they received a name tag, and off they went to join the other kids. They played all together for a few more minutes, then they put them into groups of four.
And Tammy and Emmy were not in the same group, which made it challenging. There were six big courts, and four of them were used to play tennis, while two had other stuff set up. One had a hockey parcours set up, and one a game of running. Each group of four went to a different court, starting there. Emmy and Tammy had one group between them.
Randy had left with Sammy right in the beginning because he wanted to go to the nearby playground, while I went inside after I had noticed that all the parents were inside to watch their kids play. I was on my feet most of the time, going back and forth between Emmy's and Tammy's group to film them, whenever they were playing. The teachers kept score, writing down how many balls they hit successfully. After a while, all the groups moved on to the next court, and so did I. One court they played forehand, another backhand, another volleys. Tammy immediately connected with the other girls in her group, doing lots of talking with them while waiting for her turn. When she did the running game, she was very fast, but I don't know her score.
And then Randy came with Sammy who was not happy. He sat down on the ground near me, and I started playing ball with him. He really enjoys that! He ended up playing for a long time.
And then it was suddenly over. All groups had done all courts, and the trainers left with the scores. We were told we could now play with our children until it was time for the awards ceremony. I had waited for that opportunity, eager to play with the kids. I started playing with Emmy. I kept asking Tammy to also play with us, but she was upset about something and refused. I still don't know why. Emmy, on the other hand, had the best time playing with me, and so did I. It was wonderful, even though my eye problem made it a little challenging. We had so much fun that Emmy said later that he wanted to play with me again.
We were stopped, when they called everyone together for the awards ceremony. The head of the school gave a speech, with all the kids sitting on the floor in front of him, and the parents standing a little further away. The kids were all 4 to 6 years old. Once they reach the next level, they'll be playing actual tennis tournaments.
After the speech, he started calling 4 kids at the time to the front. They hi-fived all the trainers and then got their medals and a little tennis keyring. Most kids then walked to their parents, but our kids sat back down on the floor. Then it was all over, and I got to take a picture of them with their medals. There was only one more thing to do before leaving - take a group picture.
Sammy had been unhappy for a while, wanting to go home. It was after 5:30 pm by the time it was all over, and it had been a long day. The kids changed back into their street clothes and shoes, then we left. We walked to the tram, and then took two trams home, which took a while.
It was 6:45 pm by the time we got home, so rather late. They'd had snacks all along, but I cut up some fruit for them, then they went into the bathtub. I even read them a story before they went to bed.
We were all exhausted, especially us adults. I started working on the pictures, but never got to start writing my report. I don't know how I lasted that long given how tired I was, but it was after 1 pm by the time I went to bed.
