Hola amigos,

Hope the arrival of December has found you in good spirits. For me, it’s hard to really get into the “Christmas Spirit” when it’s 90 degrees out and everyone is out by the pool. My brain is so confused.

This week went pretty well. It was our last full week with kids. Starting on Monday, they will start to go home at 1:30. This Thursday is a holiday, which means we have “a sandwich”. So we’ll get Friday off too! I’m so looking forward to the long weekend ahead. I've always liked sandwiches...

Everyone is so tired, that it is time for the school year to be done. We have students who are so irritable and cranky. Of course my special friend I’ve been mentioning in the last few posts is having an awful time. This week he completely destroyed our classroom one afternoon. He left each and every chair turned over, all of our markers and dumped onto the floor and the pillows everywhere. I really don’t know what’s going on with him. His psychologist told the school "He definitely has a problem". Wow, thank God for that professional input. Too bad you can't say "no shit!" at work.

This week the vet came to see León because he has an eye infection. She also gave him his one-year check-up. I can’t believe he’s about to turn one! Everything was fine with him; he’s 5 kilos now (11 pounds). He was over-the-moon to have a visitor, even if she gave him shots. His eye is all good now that we have drops.

This weekend I put up my Christmas tree. León is quite confused why there is now a tree inside the apartment, but he hasn’t peed on it yet (fingers crossed). He has decided that Christmas ornaments are just fancy tennis balls and has had a blast playing with them.

^^ I decided to make a Summer tree

Heart-Melting Moment:

One of our students is having a tough time lately. His parents are getting divorced and he’s in need of some extra love. He asked us if he could talk to the class because some were saying mean things to him. We gave him the floor and he explained how he feels sad when the other kids say he’s bad at football (soccer). The class all apologized and promised to be kind.

The next morning, one of our students brought a medal for him. On the backside she wrote “Santiago (his name) football 2016”. She gave him the medal to keep. He wore it all day long. I actually almost cried because my heart couldn’t take it!

On Sunday I went to the "Animal Lovers Expo" because how could I not? It was really great. All sorts of pet stores came to sell products. We don't have a Petsmart or Petco here in Chile, so sometimes the selection and/or quality of pet supplies for us crazy animal lovers is less than par. I brought León with me and he seemed to enjoy himself. I bought a few things and some cheap dog toys that Santa will bring him. I also bought him an amazing bed shaped like a slipper. That's also from Santa, but I couldn't wait to use it. He seems to think its a giant toy.

Laughable Moments:

• I was walking with one of my students and he told me “Miss, my brother was crying all night last night so I didn’t get many sweet dreams”

• I wore a shirt one day with a pocket that had some bling on it. All day the kids were touching my boob and playing with the bling

• I saw a girl on the street wearing a shirt that said “Don’t war, do fashion” ...what?

• There was a little boy dressed as Iron Man at the park. León wouldn’t stop barking at him and following him.

• One of our kids was sad because he’s not very good at football (soccer), one of the girls raised her hand and shared “Well, if you think about it, he’s better at football than a newborn baby”. True…

• At the Animal Expo, a photographer asked me if I wanted a free photoshoot with my dog. León and I took like 15 photos with backdrops, props and everything. She is going to send me the photos within the week if I want to buy them. Stay tuned...

The British are coming!