This week marks the last exams of the last trimester. Which
means this is almost all over! This is by far the most bittersweet feeling of
my life. On the one hand, I am completely overjoyed to smother my family with
hugs and kisses, but on the other hand I could cry right now just thinking
about not seeing my girls every day.
My friend told me recently, "What we start we must end."
It's a short and sweet phrase, but it encompasses the hard truth. I have to go
home. I can't stay here forever. Although as cheesy as it sounds, I hope part
of me stays here with the girls. I hope they don't forget me, and I hope they
remember the life lessons I taught them.
The good news is, is that I still have 2 1/2 weeks left with
some of my girls, 3 1/2 weeks with the rest of them. So before I get my
keyboard wet with tears, let me fill you in on the stories and adventures from
the past couple weeks.
About 2 weeks ago for a gym class Matt and I took the girls
to a soccer field at the farm. Usually we play at a local basketball court that
we have to share with local, loud, hair-filled-with-a-bucket-of-gel teenage
boys who - I swear to God - live to annoy me. In short, I was happy to go
somewhere where we could have a gym class with just our class. We played
capture the flag which - much to Matt's surprise - I have never played before.
The girls absolutely loved it. Actually, the ones that didn't fall down and
scrap their knees loved it.
In other news, we have also recently been turning the school
into a small zoo. We have now collected 2 giant dead snakes (a boa constrictor
and a king snake), a live turtle that contrary to popular belief moves pretty
quickly, and a fairly large elephant beetle that lives in the mango tree. If
you don't know what that last creature is, try to think of that part in the
Lion King where Pumba is trying to catch a blue beetle and just as it flies
away, Nala leaps out at Pumba. That blue beetle is what an elephant beetle is,
minus the blue color and the animation. Though I'm not too sure how much longer
it's going to be living for how many times the girls pick it up, scream, and
then drop the poor thing.
Speaking of the Lion King, a couple weeks ago Matt, Alex and
I borrowed the projector from the school, moved all of our living room
furniture, and projected the Lion King on our wall. As a courtesy to Alex and
Matt, I didn't belt out the lyrics to every song, but for the record it took
every ounce of me not to.
Today was also a filled with fun moments. During my Social
Studies lesson, we were talking about people with high education who can know
how to build things such as as calculators and iPods. My student, Rosa, raised
her hand and said, "I know someone who is more intelligent that the person
who invented the calculator." I asked her who and she said, "The
person who invented white-out." For the record she also commented on the
intelligence of the white-out inventor a couple months ago. Out of all the
things in this world, white-out is the one she's the most fascinated with.
Unbelievable.
Also today I had a sexual education class. Right now I am
teaching them about self-esteem and how they can improve theirs. So today - as
an activity to boost their self-confidence and life their spirits - I had them
write a praiseworthy note to everyone in their class and stick them in an
envelope with their names on it. I accidentally gave them an extra piece of
paper, but instead of giving it back to me, they all wrote me a note. One of my students (my white-out girl, Rosa) even made
me my own envelope to put them in. She sealed it shut and told me I can't open
it until I'm on the plane in November. I don't know if their spirits were
lifted by the exercise, but mine sure was.
Did I mention it's going to be hard to leave them?
