This morning when we were walking to school, a little dog, a spaniel, started following me. I thought she would eventually turn back around and go back to her house or run ahead of me but she didn't. If she fell behind to check out some plants or mark her territory, she would run to catch up with me. If she ran ahead a bit, she would stop and look back to make sure I was still there. Otherwise, she would be circling around me so close that a few times I thought I would trip over her. There were boy dogs who stopped to sniff her and some started following us. I think they thought love was in the air, but she barked at them and ran them off. She followed me all the way up to the mountain school. I thought she would leave then, but after a bit, she came into the school too. I said, "Oh, mi perrita!" meaning, "Oh, my little dog!" One of the students said, "Es tu perrita? Como se llama?" meaning, "Is that your little dog? What's her name?" I told him I didn't know because she had just followed me to the school.
I've decided to do history or a story every Thursday with my class since they enjoyed the St. Patrick's Day lesson. I've decided to start on Greek mythology and told them the story about how Athena was born today. They have to look up all the words they don't know, so it helps them build some vocabulary. I asked them if they liked it and they said they did, so I think I'll tell them another Greek myth next week.
When I finished with class, she came out of one of the other classrooms and found me. I motioned to her to follow me so I could sit down and give her a good scratch. She followed me and I sat scratching her for awhile, before I headed home.
The others have been playing "trompo" a lot, which is a top that you set spinning by winding a string around it, holding one end of the string, and launching it spinning to the ground. It takes a bit of practice to actually get it spinning, so they've all been trying over and over again to perfect their technique. Since they've been doing that, it's taken them an hour or more to get home since they wind the toy, throw it, and then have to go get it before taking a few more steps toward home. I haven't gotten into it that much, so I've taken to walking home by myself.
I set off out of the school with Canchita, as someone affectionately named my little dog. Canchita means popcorn. Again I thought she would walk toward her home. We usually come up a different way than we go down, so when I got to the point where the path we take to school and the path we take home diverged, I stopped to see what she would do. She just stood there with me looking up at me, waiting to see what I would do. I started walking down the steps and she happily followed me. A woman walking along the street commented, "Que bonita esta," or "How pretty she is," about my little Canchita. She followed me all the way home and I felt so bad closing the door in her face. I left it a crack open for a second and she put her nose in the door. I finally closed it and went upstairs to get my camera. She was still down there when I came back with my camera, so I got some pictures of her by the front door. Mari and Lorenza came down and saw her. I could tell Mari wanted to take her in, but she kept saying Tino didn't like dogs. He's allergic to them. Finally, I said goodbye to her and closed the door. Maybe I'll see her again this afternoon. :)
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| Poor little thing was just waiting for me to let her in. |
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| When I knelt down to take her picture, she got hopeful and lifted her head up. |
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