Instruction #32: What do you remember feeling on your first day of school?

Wow, a memory from ages ago, as we say when something happened many years ago, but our subconscious is so prepared for everything that a bit of that memory surfaced (55 years ago), phew!

Before starting formal school, that is, formal education, my mother didn't send us to preschool as is common. She enrolled us in a small school near our house where a teacher was in charge of teaching us our first steps in reading, writing, and numbers so we wouldn't arrive completely lost. The teacher was called "La Niña Rosa" (The Pink Girl), and we each brought our own little chair. That was our first encounter with numbers and letters. All my siblings went there.

School was supposed to accept me when I turned seven, but since I hadn't turned seven yet, I went to that small school. Classes started in September, and my birthday was in October.

My seventh birthday arrived, my official start at school. What comes to mind is arriving completely lost because the group had already started. I was looking around aimlessly, with no one to talk to, and I couldn't understand anything they were saying, just like in cartoons. The days passed, and of course, I gradually adapted. It was really hard to form groups. Looking back now, I realize it wasn't easy at all.

This is how it is with every stage of school we have to begin. There's always a bit of uncertainty, even if you're with some people you know. They're different stages, boys and girls converging in the same place, coming from different schools. There's nothing like starting first grade; entering this world takes a lot of courage. Sometimes, those in charge of welcoming us don't seem to care how we feel. Just sit there, and that's it, without considering that it's a new beginning and, on top of that, your first time there. Without any guidance on which notebook to use, or any indication of what each notebook should be used for in relation to the activities.

It seems that it's not a good memory; I have to review that and soften that initial moment in the academic world.