Friday Franticness

Friday morning, I walked J to school (or rather, Richard and Hannah walked J and me to school).  I returned home and immediately as I walked in the door, the phone rang. It was the school secretary, who explained, in German, that J was not with his class.  WHAT????  What do you mean, he's not there?  "No", she said,
"Moment.".  I waited.  J got on the phone...  Thank God! Literally translating German phrases into English can be very frightening.

J explained that the class was on a field trip, and that I needed to come and get him from school, as his teacher was not there.  I told him we just need to find out where the class is, and I would get him there.  "But you don't know where it is!", he exclaimed.  Poor J.  It must be tough to lose faith in your mother's competence.  "It's okay", I assured him.  We will find it.

I drove the car to the school, ran into the office and found the secretary on the phone with the teacher.  She handed the receiver off to me, and the teacher explained that she had given a note to J, and told him it was very important that he give it to his mother.  He said, "ok".

This clarified a few cryptic conversations I had with J the day before, such as: "My class won't be at school tomorrow, of course".  "No, J, your class will be at school, it's Friday tomorrow, not Saturday".  "We need to get to school early today, right Mom?".  "Sure, J, whatever you say".  When we arrived at school, J exclaimed. "Oh no, I was supposed to give you something to sign and bring it back today, but I forgot".  "Don't worry, J.  Your teacher can call me if she needs it right away.  Goodbye, sweetheart".

It was all starting to make sense, albeit a bit late.  The teacher started to give directions, and then started to give up.  The secretary said, "Why don't you just take a taxi?".  Brilliant!

We hopped in a taxi, and in five minutes, arrived at Musiculum.  It's an awesome place, where kids get to learn all about musical instruments and get to try them out.  J loved the string bass, but I am hoping he will stay with the violin, because, well, it's an awful lot easier to carry...

I left him there and took the bus back.  A bit frazzled, I forgot how to get on a bus and pay the fare, etc.  I just handed the driver a ten euro note and he stared back, muttered something I couldn't understand, and then I said "Suchsdorf An Der Au", and, hearing my accent, he just took the note, said "zwei euro dreissig" and handed me some coins.  I started to take my seat... "funf euro (you stupid American)",  "oh, right", I took the rest of my change.  He grunted something else.  "Oh, the ticket"... Finally, I sat down.  I congratulated myself on successfully getting home on the bus, when I realized, the car was at the school.  Uggh.  I trudged back on foot, in the wind and light rain...

Luckily, it was all worth it in the end.  J had a wonderful day on his field trip, and would you believe:  the sky cleared and the sun came out.