Morning Musings

This is the second day that my son goes to middle school. I've managed to let him eat a thick slice of bread and drink a cup of choco milk drink before he went downstairs at 7:45. I watched him from the window until he got on the bus. It was a bit of a wait for him out in the cold along with other kids who were also wearing similar uniforms. He thought it was going to be bulky if he just stuff the jacket in his bag later so he opted not bring one.

As the bus left, I checked what other buses come around this time online. I found that there are 1 or 2 more that he can take if ever he miss the 7:50. The tricky part is how long it would be walk from the bus stop to school. Bus ride alone takes 10-15 minutes, depending on time and passengers. I checked the buses coming and their locations as it is a bit tricky to figure out if the bus coming is going out or in since we only have one-sided bus stop. The one going the opposite way stops on the same bus stop. There is no way to know if the bus coming is going in or out unless I open another tab on the online menu or actually see the bus with it's LED out in front. Sometimes, even the latter can be wrong. The color-coded one online info is better. One can actually follow the bus' current location as it is updated real time, give or take a few minutes. It's almost creepy to think of that GPS thing on buses but it is pretty useful.

It made me reflect on how a parent would try to push the kid out in the world while still trying to keep the strings on him. He has been keen on taking the bus himself since day one of middle school and we've tried to teach him the basics. But as I chatted with him last night, he said he'll just follow the crowd. Ha! I guess he's not that ready yet? Even if I tried to let him find the stationery store to buy his supplies, he flat out told me that he doesn't know it, he's not good at navigating and he might get lost. Good or bad? I guess he won't be going anywhere except school anytime soon. I should be contented with that view for now.

We should do some more navigation trips later when we can. I noticed from our last trip to Seoul that he has stepped up a bit in navigating unlike our previous ones before where he simply didn't care and just relied on me for directions unless I try to push and ask him. This time, he was more involved although when I remarked that getting lost and navigating is fun, he tells me that it's the opposite. Where has his sense of adventure (a.k.a. Amazing Race spirit) has gone? Let's see what other changes will come these coming years. It would be totally nice to have him plan a whole trip by himself one day. I managed to let him do a bit of route research this time. He was the one who researched the trains and buses schedules and cost to COEX and this was because he wanted to go there in the first place. I'm not sure what other destination places would encourage him to do such. Or do so even if it wasn't a trip that he would like to take.

I actually like planning trips and such. But as I am a free spirit, I am very flexible. I have a plan, yes, just so that I will be on the safe side but at the same time, I can also tweak some on the fly provided that I have an extra info as back up. My son, at his age, is still a work in progress. It would be an interesting life trip ahead for him and see him navigate on his own in this so-called life.

My husband had his literal life trips on his own but it's really amazing how he did it considering that he suck at navigating streets. We've lived for more than ten years together in four different cities in between and he is like a homing-pigeon. He will only be be familiar with a couple of routes. That is probably why he ended up in Coron when his final destination was supposed to be El Nido when he first came to Palawan eons of years ago! I should've known better. :) He managed without his luggage and survived to tell the story and it's still a good one to remember now.

This reminded me about the interest to travel abroad soon together. Destination: Vladivostok, Russia. We all came up with possible interesting places. P, for Italy. Me, Greece. But both are a bit far for starters so Hubs kind of zeroed in Russia. Kid was interested in Russian language last year, and German this month due to hubs' encouragement mostly. Crossing my fingers that some family trip will happen soon!

Got to get to that uniform shirt for handwashing now, though.