Here's the Rest of the Story

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Many things have changed in the last year. The picture on the left shows the hulk of a building that we looked at every day when we moved here in June, 2018. Over the course of the winter, we could see changes taking place. In my blog dated December 4, 2018, I wrote about the makings of a school.



Now we're at the beginning of the school year. Our hulk is indeed a school. On opening day, the doors were adorned with balloons to welcome the children. The colorful painted school coordinates well with our apartment complex.


Now five days a week we see children walk through the complex toward the school. I know that school starts at 9:00 because children enter the building between 8:30 and 9:00. But I'm not sure how long the school day lasts. I've seen children leave the building anywhere from 1:00 to 3:00. That much is still a mystery to me.



A lovely playground was built on the side of the school. I imagined that there would be children running and screeching during recess time as we'd expect in the States. However, the only time I've seen children play on the equipment is late in the day, well after school is out. Maybe after-school day care?


A large oval track was built behind the school, also. A couple days ago we saw adults play soccer on the field that is enclosed inside the track and men running around the track for exercise. I've never seen children play on it up to this point.




We found out that on the other side of our complex, we also have a preschool. That too, is now open. I have no idea how many children attend that school. We don't walk that direction often so never see it in action.




Below is a picture taken from the 21st floor of our apartment building - "bird's eye view." You can see the pre-school is dwarfed by the elementary school in the foreground.



What surprises us, so far, is that we can see only five or six classrooms being used. It appears to us that many of the rooms sit empty. I assume that more and more classes will move into this building as time goes on.


I can't imagine that they would build such a huge complex if there weren't a need for it in the community. I'll keep you posted.

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