Book Creator | TASV - English book

26th November - First day of school

I will meet my new friends soon. I am eager to get there and probably they are also eager to meet me. The first thing to do is to hug them as tight as I can. Yes, there will be lots of hugs. I will also hug the teacher. Tightly! Probably they are waiting for me already and may be they have prepared a welcome party. The new school will be better than the previous one. Mom told me that. Dad and she went there several times so far. They did not take me with them. I will see the school for the first time today. I looked through the window several times in the morning if dad had arrived here to take me. At the end mom scolded me I would tear the curtain...
- When will we reach school? - I suddenly broke the silence in the car.

Dad seemed to be thinking about something for he startled. Or maybe because I shouted strongly.
- 10 more minutes and we are there.
I hate him doing that. 10 minutes means nothing to me. Is it much or nor? Now I have to ask him again, with a careful voice.
- A little more?
- Yes. A little more to go. - He was not startled this time, he even smiled. - I wanted go hug him, but this was not the right time. He is angry when I hug him while driving.
I am Vihra Lyubcheva, 11 years old. I live with my mom. We moved to another town. I will soon go to live with dad and auntie Mila (dad's wife), but I will meet mom, because we all will be in the same town. I will attend a new school and I am eager. I do not miss the old one. It was bad.

The kids would make fun of me and I would beat them sometimes and the teachers would punish me for that later. Sometimes the kids were kind and I would hug them and the teachers would scold me again. I was too stout ... I could not feel my strength ... And other nonsense. Of course, I must not beat the kids but how can hugs be a bad thing? How can one not like hugs? I like hugs. This is the way to show people how much I love them. People love me more then. I think they would not have made fun of me, if I had hugged them more.
Hurrah! We have arrived! The corridor is silent because the pupils are in class. The nice woman, who met us, told us so. Later I understood this was the school principal. She is really kind. Usually adults talk and I have to wait in silence, but she was now talking to me.

She said I would meet the resource teacher, the school special education teacher and the school psychologist. I have already heard these words - I had such teachers in the former school. Mom was right. The school is really good. There is no welcome party though. Everything is colourful and beautiful, especially the offices of my new teachers. They are full of toys, drawings, pencils, crayons, puzzles and many other things - the names of which I forgot. The teachers are smiling and very good. Nobody scolded me for too tight hugs. I like the classroom too and the kids are so many. Everybody is looking at me and I am shining with my biggest smile.
- Kids, we will have a new classmate this year - Vihra. Let's welcome her! - Ms Visochkova said loudly.
- Welcome, Vihra! - everybody shouted.

I could only hear my heartbeat and my name twice. But the given name only and I quickly recalled the other names - Vihra Boyanova Lyubcheva, Vihra Boyanova Lyubcheva, Vihra Boyanova Lyubcheva ...
- Vihra, will you tell us where you are from? - this time the teacher addressed me but I was too busy to recall my names and I just shouted:
- Vihra Boyanova Lyubcheva!
Everybody laughed loudly and I decided that something funny, had happened, which I had not understood, and I started to laugh too. Ms. Visochkova did not like that. She cast a severe glance at the kids and they stopped laughing. She waited a bit for the silence to resume and said:
- Obviously we have to talk about manners. We will tell Vihra goodbye for now and I hope that we will make her a better impression tomorrow.

During the next two days the kids asked me about different things - about myself, my previous school, my family. It was fun when I could not recollect a word or when I could not pronounce it correctly. Sometimes they were making me repeat complex words and sentences and we together laughed at the result. Ms. Visochkova did not like that. We have a favourite game already - tag. I am chasing them and when I reach someone, I give him or her a tight hug. While we are playing someone may push me strongly and we start to argue and fight. Ms. Visochkova calls that ‘crying game’. She often interrupts our tag plays and makes remarks to the children. And sometimes to me. I am afraid if it happens like in the previous school where the children did not want to play with me and were abusing me.

I like the classes with Ms Sarneva a lot. She is a resource teacher. We often chat with her, while we are making something interesting from various materials. We talk about hugs and tag. She thinks I should not chase the kids and hug them, if they are going to hit me after that. And when this happens, I should tell Ms. Visochkova instead of hitting back. We play special games in the office, she calls them privacy exercises. We place a scotch tape or hold hoops to designate our privacy. After that we rehearse when we are allowed to enter the circle of the other and when we are not. At the beginning it was very difficult to understand, but now I already know. Privacy is a small area around each person, may be a yard away. It is impolite to invade the privacy of another person without asking for permission. It is incorrect for someone to invade my privacy if I do not want that.

Unwanted hugs and hitting may breach someone's privacy. People do not want their privacy invaded and they get angry. I cannot understand why other people do not like my hugs and I am trying to ask or warn. Ms. Sarneva said I can ask for a hug even without words. It is enough to spread arms to someone and if that someone responds, we can hug. I am trying not to hug too tightly and to stop when I count to 3 or not more than 5.
The classes with Mr. Filipov are also very helpful. He teaches to articulate correctly more words and to know their meaning. There are many pictures in his office and we make stories based on them. There is also a big mirror where we make funny grimaces. Mr. Filipov says that many people pronounce some sounds with difficulty and there is nothing shameful in that.

He is a special education teacher and helps people learn to articulate such sounds. He says I can also learn that.
I already know why Ms. Visochkova does not like the tag. Running in the classroom and in the corridors is forbidden. We can hurt us. She has been repeating this rule quite often lately. She says there are many games which we can play together without violating the rules or hurting ourselves. She often reminds that they can include me in the games too, that I am also part of the class and that they can be more careful. I like it when Ms. Visochkova talks with me; I also like it when she scolds someone for abusing or hitting me on purpose. Didi told me that when I have a class with another teacher and leave the classroom, Ms Visochkova talks to the class and has also talked to Didi's mother.