Final Days of School

For everyone the final days of school were an excercise in "running on fumes". Laurence busily ran around trying to do as much of his "new" job as he could before departing (editing this, giving feedback on that, organizing the other). Natalia filled her time packing, buying gifts, putting all her grades and comments in the computer. Amalia ran around the house, as usual, with a flair for the voluminous. Whether happy or sad we knew it, no matter where in the house we were. Irini, on the other hand, was happy as can be. She knew the end of the academic year was coming. She knew that meant trips to Greece and Colombia. She knew that we would be on several airplanes. And she also knew that she had one last chance to be with her friends. So, Natalia and she arranged for one final hurrah with the girls of her class... a play date that - according to her teacher - everyone in class knew about for days before the event. The girls would all start singing, in the middle of class - "the girls are having a play date, the girls are having a play date". The boys didn't seem to mind much, but the teacher did. 

So it was that the Thursday before we all headed out, Irini's friends Karin (from Sweden), Blakely (from the US), Allie (from Canada) came over. Jaeda, the final member of the group, was not able to make it. The girls all arrived on the school bus and Natalia picked them all up. Once inside the house, they played and ran around, followed by a smiling Amalia. They worked on making apple pie (which was later consumed with much gusto) and got ready to go to the pool. Laurence and Natalia went with them, their hearts in their throats with the thought of five four-years-old-and-under girls in the pool. But worries were allayed when they took a look at the girls in the water. Every one of them was an expert, save for Amalia who, delighted though she was, isn't able to swim yet. 

After the pool we all returned to the apartment, dried off and ate some hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream. By then several parents had returned to pick up their children, so they too joined in the festivities. The girls departed with smiles and hugs all around. Goodbye to Blakely and Jaeda whose stories will continue in other places next year. It was great meeting you. For the rest of the gang, Prep Junior awaits!