One of the first things we needed to do was visit the school.  Back home, the school year had ended.  But here, In the city of Duarte, there were 2 more weeks to go.  So we enrolled Mary into the 1st grade for the remainder of the semester at Valley View Elementary. The school was very different from the one Mary had attended in Indiana.  It consisted of single story buildings.  Each one had 2 or 3 classrooms, all with doors going directly outside. There was a canopy outside of the classrooms providing shelter if it rained.  (It rarely did.)  The rows of classrooms were situated in outward directions, like sun rays in the shape of an arc off of the Cafetorium.  The Cafetorium was a dual-purpose building that housed a cafeteria with a stage at the back of the room.  Outside of the building there was also an area with picnic tables for the students to sit at during lunch.

Everyone was friendly to us wherever we went in Duarte.  We just knew that this was going to be a great community for us to live in.  The next day Mary, Seth and I walked to school.  It was a good thing I had allowed a lot of time to get there because I hadn’t paid attention on the drive the day before.  There were cul-de-sacs everywhere and it took awhile to find our way to the street that would bring us to the school.  Once there, we found our way to Mary’s classroom.  We went in to meet her teacher, who welcomed Mary at the door.  Mary walked into the classroom with her new teacher with a big smile on her face.  Then Seth and I walked home.  This was the beginning of many “first days” in our new life.