Beginning School: False Start

In mid-August, we received two envelopes in our mailbox. One contained two balloons and a colorful invitation welcoming BSM to come play with his teachers and classmates on Sunday, September 4; the other had three typewritten sheets outlining the preschool's daily schedule, yearly calendar, what to pack each day, etc., etc. The typed letter also included a clear schedule for the first few days, starting with a private meeting at 8am on Wednesday, August 31.

I was properly impressed by the mailing (separate envelopes for the child and parents!), but slightly off-balance due to the conflicting dates. So I called the school's main office a few times (no one picked up) and even left a message (no one called back). 

Eventually, I gave up on the main office and called the number listed for the preschool classroom in the typewritten letter. Someone picked up and confirmed that the times and dates from the typewritten letter were correct (she seemed confused why I would have any doubts), and all was well. Or Was It?

On the morning Wednesday, August 31, BSM decided for the first time in ages that he needed to eat a bowl of cornflakes and milk at home, rather than breakfast on a baggie of pretzels on the go. So we showed up at Ohr Eliyahu (as his [private] preschool shall henceforth be known) at 8:10, instead of 8. Well, it looked like one person's 10 minutes late was another person's 10 minutes early, because the school grounds were deserted except for a solitary woman giving the classrooms their before-school deep-clean.

I was slightly less than impressed, but there was a small piece of playground equipment (ladder, tunnel, stairs, slide) to amuse BSM, so it wasn't a big deal. Twenty minutes later, after ascertaining that both his classroom and the main office were locked and uninhabited, I gave up and took BSM to his daycare.

Since I had clearly missed something, I showed the letter to his daycare-lady for her Israeli opinion. She confirmed that the letter stated we should have had a private meeting at the school that morning. Since no one was there, she told me, I should call the aide, whose cellphone number was also in the letter. The aide? What? Why? Because, she told me, that's who to call. Really.

Well, I didn't know what was going on, and the daycare lady sounded really confident, so once I got settled in at work, I called the aide's cellphone. She picked up, I told her who I was, and she immediately said, "Oh, we missed you this morning! What happened?" What happened??? "We got to Ohr Eliyahu at 8:10, stayed for almost half an hour, and didn't see anyone!" "Ohr Eliyahu?" the aide responded, "But we're the public preschool!" Oh. My. Gosh. I apologized and explained that I cancelled BSM's public school registration ages ago; the aide said not to worry about it and wished us the best of luck in the new school year. 

All was now clear. Yes, we got two envelopes... from two different schools. And since neither school saw fit to include the name of the school anywhere (no return address, no letterhead, no answering the phone with the name of the school)... Well. Welcome to the Israeli school system.