In the morning, we played musical chairs with the kids and I had to carry one little girl, Chris, around for her to play. Her sister had been carrying her, but she wanted to run faster, so she put her down and Chris started to cry. Unfortunately, I got her out pretty quickly since it's hard to run to find a chair with a little girl in your arms. :) After we had finished playing, no one wanted to play again. Instead, we started to play soccer. Kevin and Justi, two boys in my class said it would be them and Jaime against Doane and I and Margoth and Yesica, two of the girls in my class. I don't think they thought I'd be any good and were a little bit shocked when I scored the first goal. Doane and I were doing pretty well and were even ahead, but the other girls on our team let some goals go in that really shouldn't have. Oh well, it was all in good fun. I got another goal, kicking it between Jaime's legs. :) Near the end, I almost scored again, but Jaime got his head on it. I thought he was hurt, but when I went to check on him, he was just dying with laughter. They ended up winning in the end. My energy was definitely running low, but I know I've gotten more used to the altitude. If I had done that when I first got here, I definitely would have died. I took pictures with my class and with each of my students individually.
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| The students in my morning class: Justi, Yesica, Kevin, Josselyn, and Margoth. :) |
I also got individual pictures with other students who I had gotten to know, like Jaime and Heidi.
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| Jaime, superstar soccer player. |
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| Heidi...she would walk up to school with us a lot and she was the one who hurt her head on this week. |
The boys didn't want to make it look like they wanted to take pictures with me, so the only boy who's not making faces or frowning is Justi. I know I'm not supposed to have favorites, but Josselyn, Justi, and Kevin were my favorites in the morning class. Taking pictures of Doane with his class was pretty funny since his class is made up of all the littlest ones. They were climbing all over each other and Doane, so I don't think there was one picture where everyone was looking and smiling at the camera. I suppose that's too much to ask.
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| The best picture of Doane and his class. |
When we left, I gave everyone big hugs and kisses. They hung around a bit longer than usual, and we watched as they went their separate ways. I don't know if I'll ever forget Justi looking backward and watching us go. I'll really miss them!!! It was so different from leaving the students at Concepcion. I felt a much stronger bond with these kids. I don't know if it was because we hugged and kissed them ever day, or because we played with them at recess all the time, or because we just got a better sense of knowing them. It is a really special connection.
At lunch we had quite a feast, pollo a la brasa and the dish Mari had made before with potatoes, beets, boiled egg, and a tuna and vegetable topping. After lunch Doane and I went to go get our bus tickets for Monday. It made our leaving more official.
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| Lunch!!! |
In the afternoon, some of my girls had brought their cameras to take pictures of me. They had been asking where my handprint was on the wall was, and Mabel brought out the paint right away for me. I put my blue handprint right next to Lauren's. Doane and I carved out our names, our countries and the time we spent here. I had given my camera to Ingrid, so she took pictures of me while I was doing all of that. My hand was very sticky and blue after that. I had wiped it in the grass to get most of the paint off, but I didn't want to use paint thinner on my hand.
My girls, Ingrid, Luna, and Jeraldine, were all asking me to take pictures with them in different places. I got a picture with most of my class, but Yadira hadn't been coming until lately, so I forgot to get her into the picture. Lisbeth and Diana weren't there, so Yannyna was the only one there out of their clique.
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| My afternoon class: Antonio, Luna, Yannyna (in the red), Ingrid, and Jeraldine. |
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| Yadira, in the middle of a soccer game. |
I spent most of the time taking pictures with kids and trying to wrestle my camera away from the kids who I didn't know. A handful of students whose names I didn't know were asking me to take tons of pictures of them, but I wanted to get pictures with the kids in my class and some of the other children who I'd bonded with. Olga and Patti were two of the little girls who I absolutely loved. They would always run up and give me big hugs and ask me to walk them both home. We also played ball together a lot on past Fridays. I was trying to ask Olga for a picture and then she started crying, not because of the picture. I carried her into my class room and quieted her down and she finally started talking about what happened. I could hardly understand her though since she was sniffling and mumbling in Spanish something about rocks and her brother. After a bit she wanted to go back out to play and I got a lot of pictures of her and Patti together.
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| Olga and me. |
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| Patty and me. |
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| Doane and his afternoon class. |
I went up to my classroom to check the clock in my jacket and my girls were writing me the sweetest message with the help of the English teacher who has been coming to the school in the afternoons to help out. They wrote, "Miss Amy, We will always love you. We never forget you." Then they put their names in a heart and a star at the bottom of the whiteboard. I took pictures with them in front of the message.
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| My kids with me and the note they wrote. |
Luna was hugging me and telling me not to leave. She was on the verge of tears and I was about to cry too but there were enough other distractions that it didn't leave me a chance for crying. All my other girls were hugging me and telling me to have a safe trip and it started pouring down rain. I figured the weather had just come to match the sadness of the situation. Like Mabel had said before when it was raining, "It's raining because everyone is crying because you're leaving." On our way home, Mabel and I saw Lisbeth. I had Mabel take pictures of me with her. Even though she had caused me grief in class with Diana, I still will miss her.
Yesterday, I taught my kids the story of Hercules and his labors. They each drew a picture of one of the labors, although some took them home and some ripped theirs up (the girls who gave me grief in the afternoon. ;) ) The other drawings I hung on the wall because they are really good!
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| My students' drawings. The morning class is on top and the afternoon is on the bottom. |
After class, I had Lorenza show me the new pants I had gotten for her, since I hadn't seen them when she tried them on. She came back with the jacket and the pants on and gave me a big hug and thanked me over and over for them. They did really fit her well! :) Then she asked me if I would help her write the rest of the alphabet in her English notebook. I was helping her and then Pilar came into the living room and was telling me about some books she had read. I gave her some of the clothes I was planning to leave here, and while she was trying them on, I continued to answer some of Lorenza's other questions about English. Mabel was coming in and out of the room too. Lorenza left us after a bit and Pilar continued to tell me about the books she had read and even showed me some of them. I'm impressed with myself for being able to understand Pilar because she talks at about a hundred words a minute. :) The other night when I took Mari and Lorenza out shopping, Mari was telling me that she wanted to visit me if she had an art exposition in California and that I should definitely come back to visit them at some point. I would come back in a heartbeat and am so excited to see Pilar and Angela grow into young women. And to see my students again would be just amazing.
Doane cooked dinner last night. He wants to be a chef, so it was quite a treat. Stuffed bell peppers, zucchini, asparagus and potatoes. Mari liked the stuffed peppers so much that she ate two. :) After dinner, Mari was telling me stories about her childhood. I'll have to remember them and put them into stories I write... :)
