First Week of School Lessons

We have survived the first week of Alex's new school (yep, 3rd school in 3 years).  You would think that since my first child started school in 1995 and since I taught school for more than ten years I would have this adjustment down to a science.  Uh, no!  So here are a few of the lessons I have learned in the first week...

• It does not matter how early I go to bed my body does not like 6:30 AM.  As the culture here is a late night culture, my bedtime is usually 12 or 12:30.  I went to bed at 10:30 last night just to see if it made a difference, and nope, my body didn't like 6:30 AM any more than the other nights.  Apparently, my teenage son's body doesn't like 6:30 AM anymore than mine.  Our mornings have been quite interesting!
• No matter how hard you try, school supplies will cost more than you expect and you will always forget at least one thing on the list.  At least this year I only forgot index cards and they weren't needed yet.
• I should ask Alex if he has his lunch before we leave the house, not as we are pulling into the school yard an hour away from our home.  Yep, Alex is gonna be one hungry boy when he gets home today.
• Laundry left in the basket for a week will need ironing.  Being just too tired to worry about it and Scott not being here to give me "that look," Alex and I have been living out of the clean laundry pile.  Uh oh - I might just have to find the iron.... or should I just rewash it or wear it wrinkled?
• Transitions like this go so much better with a spouse.  At least he could have gotten up at 6:30 some of these mornings and made the coffee.  :)  He has been in the states for a conference since last Tuesday.
• The rest of life doesn't seem to acknowledge that school has started... the floors still need cleaning, bills still need paying, dinner still needs cooking (and oh wait, that means I should have gone to the grocery store), and ministry still happens.  Did I mention that I start language school tomorrow?
• And the lesson from today.... the numbers on the calendar are just as important as the name of the day.  In my mind today was Monday, September 3.  In several correspondences from last week I referred to Monday, September 3 and made my schedule for today as if it were really the 3rd.  Well, apparently today is the 2nd and nope, I didn't have a breakfast meeting after that test that I didn't actually have.  So tomorrow, the real 3rd, I will do today's schedule.  Does that mean I am already behind or ahead for this week?

I am hoping we find our groove this week, but if not - there is always another week since the school year is about 36 weeks long.