Tunaskolan

Jetlagged and curious of what the day would bring us we woke up early and were ready to leave the house at 8am. We walked to Tunaskolan, the school where Alice and Nils went to Kindergarten and 1st Grade before we moved to Palo Alto. The walk is very similar to the one from Seale Avenue to Walter Hays - walk a block, cross a larger road, walk through a park and there's the school - in less than 10 minutes. Perfect.

Since we don't break up the classes in Sweden their old class was still intact, only with a new teacher. It was their last regular day of school before the summer break, so we walked over to the classroom to see if we would meet any friendly faces. Alice & Nils were a little hesitant, but as I assumed the door was open and kids were running back and forth cleaning out their desks. Anders, the teacher we had never met, suddenly appeared. He looked at me, then the kids and said: "You must be Alice and Nils! Although I've never met you, I have heard so much about you. Please, come in and welcome back to Sweden!" 

We recognized almost all the kids but there were also some new ones who had joined the class. We talked a little to some of them and then Anders invited us to come back for their "end-of-the-school-year-lunch" a couple of hours later. Excellent.

We walked over to the principal's office and she invited us to come in and answer our questions. At Tunaskolan they have decided to break up the classes before you enter 6th Grade, the first year of Junior Highschool. The classes were already made, so she gave us the accurate lists. Good timing to move back this year, because now both Alice and Nils will have some familiar faces in their new classes, but also many new potential friends. The school is smaller than Jordan though, and there are only 3 parallell 6th Grade classes. Nils asked about tardies, but there are no specific rules and punishments for that here. Another question was about cellphones, and those are ok for students to have during the day as well. We will have to get back to this topic when school starts.

When we ran out of questions for the principal we went to Skatteverket - the Swedish Tax Agency - to register us as residents. I was expecting the worst, long lines, bureaucracy etc, but was positively surprised. We were in and out in less than 20 minutes, so we strolled around town a little. It felt somewhat familiar to Alice and Nils, but there is a big difference to be 8 and 12 years old.


Back at Tunaskolan they had set a long table across the classroom and they had ordered pizza, Chinese food and sushi. Yum. Nils is in the middle at the far end, surrounded by all the boys. He said that they treated him like one in the gang right away - not more, not less. That felt good.

Alice sat among the girls and felt the same way. (I'm glad she can still eat with a knife and fork after 4 years in the US, but apparently some do eat pizza with their hands here in Sweden too.)

After lunch we were exhausted with new impressions and contacts. We went home, closed the suitcases and left the mostly empty house in Lund for the summer house in Yngsjö.