Back to An Open Drop

Parent-teachers day at the International School of Beijing allowed parents to go online and schedule ten- minute sessions with each of your kid’s teachers.  If you had two children in the school, as we did that meant you fourteen or more meetings to schedule.  Meeting usually started a few minutes late which was good because you were generally a few minutes late arriving at each subsequent meeting.  Generally my wife an I divided  to conquer before the end of those hectic days.

At Oakwood we’ve been invited to spend the day with our child visiting each of her classes with her.  All the parents will.  Most of the students are boarders so presumably they aren’t expecting a deluge.  It would never have worked in ISB.  They certainly didn’t do this when I attended Oakwood.  The only teacher I scheduled anything with was the counsellor.  Otherwise, I’ll need to speak with them on margins of the classes we’ll attend. 

Some of the teachers handle this new challenge better than others.  I’m imagining it as a teacher myself.  It would be impossible not to stilted.  If you play to the parents it's clear that whatever you’re doing has nothing to do with what normally happens.  If you ignore the parents and try to just carry on oblivious to the elephants in the room, it’s also disingenuous.  I was glad, with what I saw, in the main.

That afternoon my daughter had a home-volleyball game.  She’s been playing with the team every day this fall from 3-5:00PM.  But even though I’ve asked to attend games numerous times, I’ve been asked to stay away.  Today we get our seats in the bleachers and cheer on her squad.  They got off to a tough start.  The nearby Poughkeepsie Day School played well, passing consistently with a number of impressive players.  But the Oakwood gals took it back with three straight wins after an initial loss.  So proud to see my little girl out there, serving, passing, scoring. 

A dinner, out?  Yes.  No one wants to cook. Italian?  Sounds good.  We decide to try La Tavola in our own town which is supposed to be the spot  We managed to get a table at 6:30 on a Friday evening, but would need to sit three at a large bench that might also take three people as walk-ins.  And indeed, it was this tavola, the table itself that I wasn’t crazy about. I was up on a second floor with my back to an open drop to the first floor.  The darkness seemed to mask the dust.  The food was lovely and the wine was reasonably priced and well described.  But I think I need to try a different seat in this place next time.

Friday 10/25/19