Happy Teacher’s Day! June 22nd is Teacher’s Day here in El Salvador and that means we had no school today. On one hand it was nice to have a day off from classes. On the other hand it seems like we have a lot of days off, and I don’t like having too much time off from class because it sets us back. But I didn’t really have a choice in the matter so I tried to enjoy my time off. I admit that although I had great intentions of accomplishing a lot I didn’t get too much done. I can’t remember exactly what I did. There’s always a lot of catch to do after a delegation leaves.
Later in the day as I was sitting in Kathy’s office taking a break from all the hard work I was doing Damaris stopped by. Damaris is Margarita’s daughter and has started coming to my English classes on Sundays. She had brought me a small bouquet of flowers from her house as a gift for me for Teacher’s Day. How sweet!! It was a big surprise and definitely the highlight of my day. She wasn’t able to stay long but I gave her a big hug and we had our picture taken together. It’s always fun when she stops by the house.
With Damaris and the flowers she brought me
Thursday, 6-23-11
Today classes resumed so I was back at school. Yesterday I’d bought some little gifts to take to my teacher’s. I asked Kathy’s advice on what to get. I bought some pretty glasses and filled them with stickers, pens, and a bookmark. I handed one out to all of the teachers throughout the day. I also received a gift from one of my students which was unexpected. It was a small, plastic jewelry box with little candies wrapped up in cellophane. I thanked him and gave him a big hug. In one of my classes the teacher had bought me some pupusas and Coke to have after teaching class. After all my classes were over I stayed at the school with the teachers for a special lunch. We had salad, rice, and chicken stuffed with hamburger meat and potatoes. It was delicious, and even though I’d already eaten pupusas I ended up finishing it off.
That evening I went out with the Pastoral Team for dinner in Alegría. It’s something fun that we all like to do every once and a while and Teacher’s Day gave us a good excuse. It was Kathy, Blanca, Cecilia, Idalia, Aminta, Margarita, and I. First we stopped by our favorite flower shops in town where Kathy bought everyone a plant. The clouds rolled in as we went to the restaurant. Though we often go to Mi Pueblito this time we went to La Fonda de Alegría. I ended up with my usual: the snack platter of chicken, chicharrones, onions, tortillas, and bean. Yum!! We chatted and ate for over an hour.
As we left the restaurant it started pouring down rain. Since not all of us fit inside the cab of the pickup Cecilia and I were out back. She’d thought to bring a tarp so we huddled next to each other on the floor of the truck completely wrapped in the tarp so we wouldn’t be wet and freezing going home to Berlín. It gets really cold driving home at night from Alegría in the dark and it’s even colder when it rains. For the first half of the ride Cecilia and I were laughing hysterically but after a while we settled down. We had no idea where we were since we were completed surrounded by the tarp and it was dark outside. But we made it home in one piece and relatively unfrozen. It was a fun way to end the day.
A gift from one of my students
1 comment:
The flowers are beautiful. What a wonderful gift on Teacher's Day. It's so great that you got a few gifts from your students. I can't imagine riding in the back of the truck at night with the rain. Brrrr.
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