Back to school

Well, that's the summer vacation over for another year but I think the girls are happy to be back at school. Emily said today she wished it wasn't Saturday tomorrow because she wanted to see all her friends again.

The agiasmos (blessing) yesterday was more entertaining than usual, the priest hamming it up like a pantomime villain and spraying all the kids and staff with holy water. The downside was that we had to listen to the usual speeches (by those present and on behalf of the Minister of Education. The Minister proudly announced that this year all the textbooks have been delivered to all the schools so that they are ready for the children on the first day of term. This might be something worth boasting about if it were actually true.

Phoebe then got a bit tearful last night because she was afraid that she might get knocked over in the playground by the bigger children (a not unreasonable worry, this, as she is by quite some way the smallest child in the school). She fell asleep quickly enough after I'd read to her, but I asked Emily to keep an eye on her today to make sure she doesn't spend every break cowering in a corner.

Then this morning in assembly, the head teacher actually warned the bigger kids not to go charging around the playground like buffalo and to watch out for the first-years. OK, he didn't actually call them buffalo, but he did point out that some of the fifth- and sixth-years are three times the size of the little ones (and more, in Phoebe's case). This might make her feel a little bit safer (though it is probably too much to hope that it will actually have any effect).

UPDATE: After school today Phoebe said that break was boring because the teachers didn't let anyone run around!