Many thoughts are going through my brain right now, but at 4am in the morning, the most prominent is the thought of getting up in a few hours to spend the day in a caravan on the way to El Rocio. It seems like this festival / romeria has been right around the corner ever since I got to Spain, with people telling me, I couldn't miss it, and now it's just a few hours away. How crazy, that my whole Spanish experience could possibly culminate in a 21st century reenactment of the Oregon Trail...
Aside from that, today was my last day of school, which for some reason or another was more emotional to deal with yesterday than today, as Ngoc can attest. I spent most of yesterday afternoon on the verge of an emotional breakdown, but finally recovered by late afternoon - which by that I mean around 10pm. Just kidding, I actually was fine after tutoring and playing with a couple of 6 year olds took my mind off of the more serious things in life.
Today, was filled with many surprises, most of which included being ambushed by 5th and 6th graders with gifts and cards to say goodbye. I was glad to find out that most kids think I'm funny, and in some way or another have learned something from me. I even got one little card from a 3rd grader that said she was happy to have had the chance to meet a person of color... I wonder how much of the letter Encarni dictated, but I don't really know for sure. Some of my third graders also apologized for asking on numerous occasions, when I came in with my signature loco hairstlye, if I had metido mis dedos en the enchufa... or in other words, if I'd stuck my fingers in an outlet. You laugh. Hell, sometimes I wanted to, but the point is, I'm highly sensitive, and I don't think they know enough people of color to be saying that. My hair's kind of a point of pride at this point, maybe a bit of laziness too, but again, NOT the point. Anyhow, looking forward to tomorrow, and happy about today. In between the two, I've gotten lots of farewell wishes, and advice which I'll keep with me, and eventually write down here when it makes a bit more sense. To the left, that's me with Valle and Encarni, the teachers I've worked with all school year in hopes of transmitting English, and Bilingual Science, into the brains of 5th, 6th, and 3rd graders... Some of them claimed to have learned, so I'll go ahead and say job well done, although anything from perfection and fluency always feels like it falls short of the goal. Still, I'll give us credit for working with what we had, and working well together, despite some curable discipline and respect issues among the students.
Many thoughts are going through my brain right now, but at 4am in the morning, the most prominent is the thought of getting up in a few hours to spend the day in a caravan on the way to El Rocio. It seems like this festival / romeria has been right around the corner ever since I got to Spain, with people telling me, I couldn't miss it, and now it's just a few hours away. How crazy, that my whole Spanish experience could possibly culminate in a 21st century reenactment of the Oregon Trail...
Aside from that, today was my last day of school, which for some reason or another was more emotional to deal with yesterday than today, as Ngoc can attest. I spent most of yesterday afternoon on the verge of an emotional breakdown, but finally recovered by late afternoon - which by that I mean around 10pm. Just kidding, I actually was fine after tutoring and playing with a couple of 6 year olds took my mind off of the more serious things in life.
Today, was filled with many surprises, most of which included being ambushed by 5th and 6th graders with gifts and cards to say goodbye. I was glad to find out that most kids think I'm funny, and in some way or another have learned something from me. I even got one little card from a 3rd grader that said she was happy to have had the chance to meet a person of color... I wonder how much of the letter Encarni dictated, but I don't really know for sure. Some of my third graders also apologized for asking on numerous occasions, when I came in with my signature loco hairstlye, if I had metido mis dedos en the enchufa... or in other words, if I'd stuck my fingers in an outlet. You laugh. Hell, sometimes I wanted to, but the point is, I'm highly sensitive, and I don't think they know enough people of color to be saying that. My hair's kind of a point of pride at this point, maybe a bit of laziness too, but again, NOT the point. Anyhow, looking forward to tomorrow, and happy about today. In between the two, I've gotten lots of farewell wishes, and advice which I'll keep with me, and eventually write down here when it makes a bit more sense. To the left, that's me with Valle and Encarni, the teachers I've worked with all school year in hopes of transmitting English, and Bilingual Science, into the brains of 5th, 6th, and 3rd graders... Some of them claimed to have learned, so I'll go ahead and say job well done, although anything from perfection and fluency always feels like it falls short of the goal. Still, I'll give us credit for working with what we had, and working well together, despite some curable discipline and respect issues among the students.
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