School started on Thursday with a half-day. Here are the boys just starting out on their walk to school. We are lucky to live only about one mile from the school. Most other families have long bike rides, or bus/train commutes to school. In this shot we are walking through the side street near our house.
Crossing the main street near the school.
That path below looks nice! We decided to try it the next morning. 
Arriving at the school. Wiping sweat at 8:05am. You can see the building behind...as far as I can tell it's a pretty typical school building. Rooms are really big and have high ceilings and big windows. No air conditioning.... The teachers have fans, keep the windows wide open for a cross breeze, and let the kids drink lots of water. 
Each morning (based on two mornings) students play until 8:25, then the bell rings and the kids line up with their teachers. The tall woman in pink is Alek and Hugo's teacher. She's fabulous. Great energy! In the picture I also like how Max's golden head is kind of shining out of the center of the picture...so far he's the only one in his class without black hair.
The man second from right in the next pic is Max's teacher, a combined grade 4-5 class. Max really likes him so far. They started an anatomy unit today. Their room has a life-sized torso named Ed, whose organs are completely removable. The curriculum is integrated...I guess they try to teach reading, math, and writing skills through different units, like this anatomy one. 
Below is the whole school--grades 1 through 8! A few students had to miss the first day, but in total there are 60 kids. After the first day we had a picnic to meet all the families. My camera battery ran out, so I couldn't take any pictures. But there are families from all over the world--Germany, Japan, Switzerland, US, Australia....
On Friday morning we decided to take this "river" path to school instead of the street/sidewalk. It was great! It's cooler down there, and pretty, and there isn't any traffic. (Our boys are still a little spacey in the intersections....)
Alek and Hugo wanted to walk in the water. I think they forgot they had somewhere to be. 
The last picture is my favorite. There are a lot of looks on that one face (and in that hair).
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