My first day at school.

I felt quite uncomfortable my first day of school in United States. There were so many people from different countries. Some from China, others from Saudi Arabia, and others from the Dominican Republic.  There were also students from Brazil, Mexico, and other countries I had barely heard of. Still, I was a very rare species there. I was the only Russian-Jew. I didn’t speak to anyone, and avoided eye contact. No, I am not mute, but that day I sure felt like it. I had only been in the country for a month and I could not understand most of what everyone was saying.  However, most of the others also sat quietly and avoided each other’s eyes. Actually, that first day went by like one long minute, and basically I was on autopilot the whole day. I went from class to class, getting lost, arriving late, and trying to figure out what was going on. 

My first class of the day was computer class. When I came into the computer lab, I was amazed to see over forty brand new computers. My previous class in Israel had very old, outdated computers. This lab was state of the art and I was looking forward to escaping the stress of the day and getting online. However, for some mysterious reason the network was down and all of the forty beautiful computers were completely non-operational. My new teacher Ms. Bianco assigned us seats. I got the first computer in the fourth row next to her. Ms. Bianco was very young for a teacher, and she looked very lost. She was nice enough, but it was her first year of teaching Visual Basic, so the kids had the advantage. The entire class just sat there, except for some kids who were talking, listening to music, and getting into trouble with Ms. Bianco.

Math class was second period. I was excited to go to math because it had always been my favorite subject. However, this class did not work out as well as I had anticipated. The teacher arrived fifteen minutes late, and by the time she had taken attendance, there were only twenty minutes left to the end of class. And, the concepts were ones I had learned four grades back. In Russia math was very advanced and they started to teach complicated mathematical concepts in the elementary grades. In Russia, we already knew Trigonometry in fifth and sixth grade and in my new school Trigonometry would not be introduced until the tenth. I learned that many students and teachers in America are amazed (and impressed) by Russian minds.

Overall, the educational system here in the U.S. was most easy of all places I came from. For example computers, here level 1 and 2 are typing, in Israel levels 1 and 2 high language of programming or another class, here you must take Biology first then you can take physics or earth science or chemistry, in Israel you take Biology and Physics together then you take chemistry, but in my opinion because of shortness of high school (3 years) they toke rapid education and because many students lazy before high school level of education is lover, and here I don’t know prey school so I wont judge. Well, enough about the past and judge other countries. I’m now here and I’ll get use to it.

After my adventures in Math and Computer class, I went to lunch. I stood in line for twenty minutes, then swallowed my lunch quickly and sat around digesting it, and my new life. In Israel I had two recesses. We were given twenty-five minutes for eating and twenty minutes for resting.  Everyone ate together, but students sat in a group of others who spoke their language. In Israel all students separated into various language groups.  No one cared about anyone’s religion, or nationality, but the language was important. Teachers in Israel were not known for their friendliness, but they were always ready to answer any question that one posed to them.

Lunch finally ended, and I headed to English class.  The problem was that we did not have a teacher.  Instead, we had a substitute who spent the entire class talking to one of her friends. We just played cards all day. English class had different substitutes daily until we finally got a teacher two weeks later. Each day I brought cards, and I made new friends from Greece and Mexico.  We played cards until the end of the period every day. I did not learn much English that semester, but I made some good friendships.

            Really, my first day of school was an indicator of the year that was to come.  Some things remained strange for me until I got used to the new rules and the American ways. I developed some friendships with other Russian-Jews and I learned English. I also developed good relationships with some of my teachers who tried to help me adjust.  The best part was that I finished the year with high grades – very high for a new student in a new country.