Um, what do you mean my children ARE NOT HERE!

September 3, 2008

I dropped the kids off at school this morning by our usual routine of a cab. We have no car yet, I believe it's "in country" but waiting on customs along with the rest of our stuff. Maybe next month... but I digress. I take them to school via cab because it is too far to walk and the Embassy has to do a security check on the transportation company before our children can use it. Which is good. The cab is a bit cheaper and only about a half hour out of my morning. So anyway, I dropped them off and went about a pretty good morning. Got in a workout, some Spanish exercises, a few phone calls, yada, yada, yada. Take a cab to back to the school to retrieve them and... THEY ARE NOT THERE!!!! This is where having a better command of the Spanish language would come in handy. The woman at the door tells me she put them on the bus. Now, why would you do that without notifying the parents? To me that is just basic common sense. From what I can understand the tranportation company told the school they sent the Embassy the required info so they could ride the bus. Now sending over information about your company and receiving clearance, to me, are 2 entirely different things. And again, what about notifying the parents bus service is starting. Oh, and by the way, I haven't paid for said service either. So before I can get a clear understanding of WHY my children are not where I left them someone calls the bus and tells them to bring the kids back. Wait a minute, I am standing in the rain, with a cab waiting AND the meter running, because they screwed up and now that my kids are like a block from home I should wait a half hour for them to return. WHAT? Finally I tell them to just send the kids home because 1. coming back makes no sense and 2. the meter is running on my g.d. cab. HELLLOOO. So back in the cab I go and call Maria, my empleada, to let her know the kids should show up before I do. I get home - NO KIDS. Now I'm really irritated. Apparently the school was a little freaked by their screw-up so they wouldn't let the kids be released to anyone but me. After the bus drops off all the kids they FINALLY show-up at the apartment. I am quite sure they are clear now on NOT releasing my children to ANYONE for ANY REASON without written consent. Is it me or was that whole screw-up totally avoidable by a simple phone call to the parents?