"A Day in the Forest"

Today both kids are going on a class field trip to the forest.

(Or, "Une Journeé dans la Foret," s'il vous plâit.  My French is getting très awesome.)

If you're expecting photos featuring the kids frollicking in the lovely Luxembourgish forest to follow, I'm afraid there are none.  All I have as evidence is this announcement note from last week:

how's your French?

After receiving this paper, I had to sign James' little book in his backpack saying I saw it.  In Daphne's class I didn't have to sign anything, but the teacher was kind enough to write out a basic translation for me (above).

Naturally, I still had many questions.  Namely, where exactly is this so-called "forest?" Does it have a name?  Will any parents be going?  How about Hansel and Gretel, will they be tagging along?

In an attempt to avoid being an overbearing American helicopter parent with too many questions, I decided to just let it all play out.   Maybe they told all the parents about it at the beginning of the year?  Maybe there was a sign up for parent chaperones that I missed?   Maybe they told everyone exactly where they were going?  Maybe they go the same place every year, and it is so well-known and obvious?

"Oh yeah, THE forest. Right, of course."

But the day of the trip came, and my curiosity got the better of me.  I broke down and asked James'  teacher a couple of my most pressing questions this morning.  At the very least, I wanted the name of the forest so I could Google-map it in case of an emergency.

Bambesch Woods, 10-15 minutes away, no parents are going, just the two classes, the two teachers, and three teacher assistants.

I thought about asking to follow along, maybe to offer to  take pictures for the class, or to just say I was curious about what a Luxembourgish field trip was like, etc.  But I refrained.  It wasn't easy.

You see, in James preschool class back in the states, all parents were required to attend the field trips.  In kindergarten back in the states, Daphne had one field trip and it was to the pumpkin patch (the other trip was at the very end of the school year so we missed it).  I couldn't go to the pumpkin patch because I had to drop off and pick up James from preschool right in the middle of when they'd be gone, but I figured it was no big deal.  I found out afterward that I was just about the only parent from the class that didn't go.  Daphne and one other little boy were assigned to the teacher's aide.  Many kids even had both their parents along, so the parents actually way outnumbered the children on the trip.  I had no idea this was the sort of thing that parents would actually take off work for.

Daphne told me she fell asleep on the teacher's aide's lap on the way home.  I admit, I felt pretty of guilty after that.  It should have been me.  For shame!--It should have been ME!!!!

Anyway, I'll let you know how it went when I hear back from the kids at the end of the day.  Meanwhile, I'll continue my deep breathing exercises.