Starting school

Today was the first day of school for Leif and Hanna.  On Monday, we registered with the official Swiss/City of Zurich registration office, opened a bank account, got our tram passes for travel within the city, and took them each to their schools to meet their teachers.  Both of them were quite excited.  Hanna goes to a Kindergarten which is located just next to our apartment building complex.  It is only children from ages 5-7.  There are 2 teachers (both of whom speak very little English) and 18 children.  It is similar to preschools and Kindergartens in the U.S. with little chairs, lots of artwork, circle time, and snack and recess.  Hanna will take also a German class on Monday afternoons, and she will have Wed and Fri afternoons off.  When we picked her up for lunch today (they have 1.5 hours to go home and eat) the other classmates were already calling goodbye to her saying "tschüss Hanna".  She spent her lunchtime teaching Elisabet how to say 'my name is Elisabet' in German.  Leif took the tram and bus to Schule Ahorn this morning with Travis.  They learned that you have to push the "stop" button on the bus or they don't necessarily stop at each bus station.  Leif stayed until 11 and then came home for a long lunch.  I took him back at 1:45 for an afternoon of swimming lessons.  They walk to a nearby swimming pool and get an hour in the water of exercise and lessons (each Tuesday).  At Leif's school, all the children are non-native German speakers.  There are 12 children in his class and they are from Turkey, Tibet, China, Portugal, Montenegro, etc.  The teacher individualizes the German lessons for each child and they work on the High German (proper) form of grammar and speaking.  Most people in Switzerland speak a different dialect called Swiss German which is more guttural and has it's own vocabulary.  This is what Hanna will learn from her peers at school - and likely Leif next fall when he goes to the 'regular' school.  Leif's school emphasizes the German and mathematics, and he was excited to hear that he will have Monday and Wednesday afternoons off.  I guess all the schools our out early on Wednesdays for sports/music/clubs.  Most of the older children ride the tram to school on their own and Leif says he's ready to do it himself tomorrow.  He sees a few of his classmates at the next tram stop so he is not worried.