Hi all!
What an awesome week it’s been! For starters, it was the kids’ last week of school. Wednesday our kiddies left our 1C class and will journey on to second grade (well except for one special kiddo who will repeat). Since it was the last day of school, we celebrated “Fun Day”. Each year, 1-5th grade go to the fields and play in the sprinklers. There are children everywhere, running around. It’s a bit overwhelming and not to mention hot. But unlike last year, I got really into it this year. I had a blast running around with my students. Ultimately, they pushed me into the sprinklers and I gave in. Before I knew it, I was soaking wet in all of my clothes. It was so hot that I didn’t care!
^^ When the principal jumps in our your selfie
The kids brought us all several gifts for Christmas/ thank you gifts. There are perks of working with children who come from extremely wealthy families; especially because here in Chile everyone loves to give gifts! I'm especially excited about the Benefit They're Real lip kit.
On Monday, León had his first birthday! I can’t believe he is no longer a puppy, maybe that’s partly because he still acts like one. I made him some homemade dog treats, gave him a new toy (which I made him unwrap) and I sang him happy birthday. León was so excited that night with all of the festivities.
This Thursday and Friday us teachers had to do “the mezcla”. Basically, we have to decide who each individual kid will be with next year. We have to consider things like their overall academic level, religion, behavior and social issues. It’s like putting together an impossible gigantic puzzle. First, the kids write down 4 girls and 4 boys they want to be with in second grade. Then we have to go through and find all of the mutual matches. Each kid is guaranteed to be with at least one of their selections. It’s such a pain in the ass because there are many kids who can’t be with specific kids from other classes for various reasons. Not to mention, many of the parents are very demanding and don’t understand that there are 134 other children we need to consider…
During lunch, us first grade teachers celebrated Secret Santa! It was a bittersweet moment because our team is going to change a lot next year (more on that in a sec). I got a beautiful quartz necklace. I didn't know anything about quartz but after reading about it online, I'm a believer. Really, I have more energy! I highly recommend trying quartz y'all!
This week, we found out who our partners will be for next year. There is always a lot of anxiety around this subject as we have no say in the matter. We will be losing two of our veteran first-grade teachers and gaining two second grade teachers next year. I'm so happy to report that I will be working with Dani again next year!! I can't say enough great things about Dani, she is so awesome! She helps me with so many Chilean technical things. Not to mention we work so well together! Definitely the best news of the week.
This weekend I went to a gringo Christmas party. It was a lot chillier than I expected on top of the roof (nothing like home right now) so we drank some alcohol to warm ourselves up. I had a headache this morning ;)
Laughable Moments:
During the Fun Day, one of my student’s flip-flops got caught while she was walking and she tripped and spilled the bowl of fruit she was carrying. Very sadly, she looked up at me and said, “Miss, my foot fell off and I dropped all of my fruit!”
While running around with the kids, one of my rather strange girls kept screaming “Run until freedom! Run until freedom, Miss Kim!” I told her I didn’t know what she was talking about to which she replied, “Well, you run, until freedom Miss Kim”
While soaking wet in my clothes, some of my kiddos told me I should eat more salad (I’m very used to this as kids have no filters). I told them that made me sad so one of my kids consoled me by telling me, “It’s okay Miss, in the United States there are people a lot more fatter than you.” I couldn’t help but laugh!
The tax people told Dani she needs to prove where she got her money from. She explained it by saying “I need to prove I’m not washing money…” *me with a confused face… “you know like putting it in the washing machine” –she was referring to laundering money.
I went to a Christmas party last night and met a girl from CT (Farmington) and her mom works at the same place my mom works. Freaky!
My Uber driver asked me if the number “twenty” was the same as the number “tweny” (because when we say it out loud we don’t pronounce the second ‘t’)
^^I stumbled upon an awesome free Christmas concert in the park. I noticed that the Spanish Christmas songs follow the same tune but the lyrics are completely different. Like Jingle Bells is about today being Christmas and has nothing to do with bells!
^^At the dog park yesterday, a little boy named Matias came up to me and presented me with this flower seed thing, he said it was for me and my dog.
^^ I got some fancy chocolates as a gift and they're shaped as sea creatures.
