The Swedish School in Nicaragua celebrates its 20th year Anniversary today. In line with the celebration, the children of the school has prepared a show for the parents and guests. I always enjoy the shows they put up at the Swedish school as it's always done in the spirit of camaraderie and with fun in mind. No pressure, just fun.
I can dedicate a whole blog to the Swedish School here in Nicaragua for all the good things it has done for V and us. On posts, V always goes to the (or an) International School, but since there's no 'real' International School here in Managua - quite a few claims so but at best, they offer International Baccalaureate - we enrolled him with the American Nicaraguan School (ANS) which at best offers an AP program. Big mistake! Now, this one deserves 2 blogs on its own for all the misery we have experienced there! Every expat knows how schools for their kids play an important role in their lives. This I promise to write about separately as I desperately wished I have read first-hand experiences with ANS before we came. That would have saved us a lot of trouble, money and misery.
Anyway, on to happier things. T was adamant that we should try the Swedish school as it caters to children of Nordic heritage. I thought, ugh, another language to learn for V...*cough* bordering on *cough* child *cough* abuse *cough*- I underestimated my own son. After some incidents in ANS, I conceded. We moved him and that was the best decision so far we've made here in Nicaragua...life went on as it should be.
V is definitely happy there and so are we. Every imaginable country up North is represented. Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland - hmmm, did I forget anyone? The school has only done Vicente good and not only is he happy but we've developed great friendships with other parents as well. It's like one big happy family. I can still hear my friend F telling me (her kids are at ANS), just recently: 'you're lucky you're friends with the parents there, me, I've been sitting with this woman (we're both waiting for our kids to come out) for almost a year now and we still haven't said hello. In reality, it's the school that brought us together. We have many activities where parents do help out and out of town family day 2x a year. It is as well convenient for the parents to hold an adult party while the kids play together some place else with supervision.
V now speaks 5 languages in various degrees of fluency. I make sure he speaks Tagalog with me, Danish with his father, our family together in English (my Danish has by now been trampled mercilessly by my Spanish while T's Tagalog is non-existent), Swedish in School and Spanish with friends. I shouldn't have worried at all.
Although celebrated here in Managua on the 29th of April (Friday), I must confess that I don't know exactly when Queen Beatrix' birthday is. What I do know is that the celebration by the Dutch embassy is significant to us. Together with the Norwegian National day, we (just T & I, really) kind of dubbed them as the parties of the year (within the expat circle). The 2 celebrations are big in terms of number invited guests.
