Culture Shock still happens

We have lived here in Monterrey over 2 years now, but every now and then I still have "culture shock" moments. I have had 2 of those this week. On Monday, Anna's teacher informed me that an assignment was totally unacceptable. The instructions for the assignment were: Cut out and glue the following dates in order into your notebook: Sept. 1, 13, 16, 20, 27. So, we did that. What we were supposed to do was go to a paperleria and ask for historic picture sheets from those dates, cut out the pictures and glue them into the notebook. Somehow everyone just "knew" this.

Today was another of those days. I'll back up to yesterday. Anna came home with a note from school saying they were having a parent's meeting at 8:00 am this morning (I am used to always being informed about things the very last minute). I immediately told myself that I wasn't going because: a.)Maggie has to be at school across town at 9:00 b.)The babies usually wake up at 8:15 and Wes is in the shower and c.)The meetings are usually about needing fund raisers because the conditions of the school or something else that could be summed up in a note. Well, the meeting wasn't about anything that couldn't be summed up in a note (i.e. they need money for some books, explanation of grading policies, etc.). So I was very surprised by Anna's teacher's severe reproach about me being the only parent not at the meeting (aside from one who had chicken pox, but she told her she wasn't going to make it [although I don't know WHEN]). I tried to explain to her about Maggie (to which she replied, that's not until 9:00) and the babies (you should bring them). So not only am I frustrated about all the cultural differences and expectations, but I hate to think of her teacher thinking of me as the disinterested parent who doesn't care about her child's education. And then again I cannot believe that every other parent can attend and 8 am meeting with less than a day's notice! And that proves that I'm suffering from cultural shock!