This week was a game changer, although it certainly didn’t start out that way.  On Monday Jake acted sick enough that we actually let him stay home from school.  while he was certainly under the weather, we suspect that had there been a baseball game to attend, he would have summoned the strength to power through.  His acting prowess turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we forced him to stay in his room all day with no TV or video games.   Unsurprisingly, Jake discovered that sitting home alone wasn’t much fun and as a result he seemed almost eager to go to school.

Tuesday Jake and Ted went to the ministry of education so that Jake could take the test that would allow him to be formally promoted to the second grade.  It seemed quite strange to be giving a test of any consequence to a 6 year old. It took three people to administer the test and afterwards, they took 15 minutes to meet and confer in order to arrive at the weighty conclusion that Jake did indeed belong in the second grade.  A very unusual system.  Regardless, we were quire proud of him and the school gave him a little certificate to mark his accomplishment so another notch on Jake’s belt to boost his confidence.

On Wednesday Jake had his first visit with a friend from school.  Camilla lived in Miami and is fluent in English so she and Jake have become fast friends.

Looks like fun

Perhaps it was the combination of spending a full day locked in his room and a fun time with his friends, but by the end of the day Thursday, Jake even admitted that school was “pretty fun.”  Great progress!

Since Jake was promoted to second grade, naturally  we needed to celebrate as well, so we had dinner at Osaka.  We showed up at 8:45 with no reservation, so our slow movement toward  becoming Argentinos continues .

Michele also attended parents night this week for both Kate and Jake’s class.  One observation is that the parents seem to be the same here as in Palo Alto.  Some are super involved with the kids, some just want to gossip.  Some are dressed to the nines, while others show up in sweatpants.  Additionally, the parents from the school have been so incredibly welcoming and inviting.  Parents from both classes are scheduled to have welcome dinners for our family.

Parents night                                           Yay 4th grade!

Meanwhile on Thursday we were invited to our first Argentine dinner party.  Our host was the sister of a friend of our friend Scott Darling so it wasn’t exactly a close connection.  It was even more random, because we were invited to the home of the mother of the sister of the friend of Scott’s.  In any event, these nice people welcomed us into their home and told us many things about Argentina and it’s people and culture.  The generosity and openness we have encountered has just been amazing.  We are both resolved to imitate it more in our daily lives.