The First Week
Well. It was quite the week at Chez Shasta.
First, Melina is here! She arrived at 1 am on Saturday morning, and as we staggered into our respective bedrooms that morning (she had to be more tired than me), I think we both breathed a huge sigh of relief. First hurdle (not counting the visa delays and flight snafu) overcome!
We spent the weekend running around getting her ready to start school on Wednesday. It was not without its challenges: just getting her a SIM card for local calls and texts took no less than 4 trips to the AT&T store until I got fed up and went to T-Mobile. We went to Walmart, and I think that was a little overwhelming. Melina thinks we have too many options. Just choosing a water bottle had her standing there for 5 minutes, debating. But like the champ she is, she rallied and away we went to the grocery store, where we got her lunch supplies and the ingredients for a chocolate mousse, which she is going to make for me soon.
School started on Wednesday, and I’ll just come out and say it: I already loathe the parent drop-off and pick-up lines of idling cars. I want to eat a bullet every time I get in line, but it’s part of the experience, I guess. Melina loves her theater and English classes and is in good shape to make a lot of friends. She’s shy, but at the same time, very adaptable and resilient. She marched into that giant school like she owned the place, and I’m very proud of her for a successful first 3 days.
I asked her what she thought of the USA after her first week in the country, and she said in her darling little French accent, “It’s just like in zee movies!”
In other news, BIG changes at work this week, and navigating that in addition to having a new roommate was challenging to say the least. I had a nice little meltdown in the bathroom at work one day, but I got control of myself. Everyone at work is so supportive of what I have going on these days; I really appreciate it. I don’t know why everything in life has to happen at once; either nothing’s going on, or EVERYTHING is going on. But it sure does make for an exciting life, I guess!
Melina and I have a busy weekend planned: she is a Westie Rescue of Texas Junior Volunteer-in-Training! We have a home visit coming up today for a potential adoption, and she is excited to put on her Rescue t-shirt and help me with that. Then we have a Welcome to the USA exchange student pool party later today. Tomorrow we will be stomping BACK to AT&T to try to get her money back for the product/service they sold us that didn’t work. I am girding my loins for an argument, but I am a mom now, and my kid is not going to be taken advantage of. Mama Bear RAWR, and all that.
