Irene: "The yellow school bus with my daughter in it just didn't come..."
The alarm clock is ringing
It's 6:00 and everyone is in deep sleep. I wake up my eldest daughter and together we put on her brand-new uniform, which has her name embroidered on it. She looks so adorable in her white blouse, gray dress, tall white knee socks, and her neat black shoes. We quickly grab something to eat at the hotel and order an Uber. We get into the car and I have a nervous girl next to me who hugs my arm with one arm and holds her own familiar cuddle toy in her other arm.
We will leave early in the morning for our new apartment in Mexico where we will live for two years
She is almost six years old and she goes to school by herself on a school bus. She doesn't know any other children yet, speaks very limited English (she attends a British international school), but bravely she gets on the bus. I am so proud of our little girl. It feels strange to hand her over to completely unknown people in a country not known for its safety. But then again, if it really wasn't safe, there wouldn't be so many school buses driving around here, I reckon. We have to gather at the intersection at the end of the street, because so many children from the apartment complex go to the same school that we have a sort of 'private bus'.
The other parents at the bus already know each other, as there's a lot of greeting and catching up going on. There she goes... Waving and blowing kisses, I watch the bus turn the corner. I find it quite exciting to see her leave on that big, yellow bus to her new school.
I'm going back to the hotel and will spend the day with my three-year-old daughter while my partner is at work
We swim a bit, read some books, pick up the last items we need and have to get back to our apartment in time to pick up the eldest from the bus. Well ahead of time, I am at our apartment complex (I wanted to make sure I would be there when she would come back for the first time) and go to the same spot where I waved her off this morning at the end of the street. She was supposed to arrive at 14:40, but at 14:40 there isn't a single parent at this spot. “Hmm... Strange,” I think to myself. By 14:50, there is still no parent and no bus. I'm starting to get a little worried. I try to calmly figure out what I can do now. My phone has no credit left, I speak very limited Spanish, and I don't know anyone else around here. It's now 15:00 and I don't dare to leave my spot, afraid that I'll miss my daughter when she returns.
Nearby is a small square with a fountain where some young people are relaxing
I ask (with a slight panic in my voice) if they speak English. Fortunately, they do, and I explain the situation. I ask if I can use a phone to call another Dutch family I met at school when we were picking up the uniforms (luckily, we had exchanged phone numbers). To my relief, I get the father on the phone and he tells me that they are often a bit late. Traffic in Mexico is not always predictable. Meanwhile, my daughter is starting to get a bit tired of the long wait and I can't really deal with that at the moment. I am now really worried and for the first time in the two weeks that we have been here, the country feels unsafe.
All sorts of scenarios are going through my head, while of course I still have good hope that I can give her a big hug later
But still... Still, there's that little bit of fear that this could become the worst scenario in my life. There are still no parents at this place and I don't understand why. I check the arrival time again and I'm sure this is the spot where we stood this morning. Just when I can barely hold on any longer at 15:15, a small white van pulls up. A friendly, somewhat plump Mexican woman in uniform sticks her head out of the window and calls out my daughter's name. Yes! There they are! What a weight is lifted from my shoulders! That half hour felt like an entire day!
My little girl steps out and asks, “Where have you been?!”
We stood in front of the apartment entrance for a very long time! Not once did it cross my mind to go there or to check it out. Fortunately, she's not too upset and I give her the biggest hug in the world! I'm so happy to see her and I'm proud that she didn't panic when she didn't see me right away. We go back to the hotel and have a relaxing afternoon in the pool. I'm especially enjoying that we're all together again. But wow, that was quite the afternoon!
IRENE
