Goodbyes

I still can't comprehend that in 36 hours I'll be on my way to the airport. This past week has been full of Christmas, goodbyes, and too little sleep.

Two Fridays ago we had a goodbye volunteer potluck for me. Everyone brought a dish, and to be honest, we all really came through. Given the food that usually happens at our houses, the banana bread, fried yucca patties, brownies, mashed potatoes, and creamy cilantro spaghetti were unprecedented and completely delicious. We had a really nice time, though that became the beginning of my goodbyes.

On Monday I went to my last tutoring session at Carlos' house. His family had bought me an entire sheet cake from San Pedro to say goodbye. 

Tuesday night was the first night of Hanukkah. I celebrated by attending the staff Christmas party at our house. The entire school faculty showed up with food, we ate, and then we awkwardly gave gifts in front of everyone to our Secret Santas. Dulce, my classroom aide and the person to which I had been giving gifts, told me that the pack of fruit snacks that I had regifted to her (from one of my kids) was gummy vitamins. Oops.

Wednesday was my last tutoring session at Hernan's. He fell asleep midway through the tutoring, which had never happened before. I guess in some way it must have been symbolic of our learning together.

Thursday night Hernan's family held a going away party for me. They invited all the volunteers, served us enormous plates of delicious Honduran tacos, and hung out with us for hours. We made it home around midnight and woke up for school a few short hours later.

With this week being the last week of school before break, Christmas was in full swing. We made ornaments and played with bubbles. I finished all 30 pairs of foam antlers last weekend for our Christmas performance, and Tuesday's antler fitting went well. During our Thursday dress rehearsal, complete with antlers, tails, and red noses, my kids started sort of actually singing the song.

Friday: my last day as a Prepa teacher, my last day with my kids, and the last day of school before Christmas. When I walked over to Prepa before school began, one of my girls was already in tears over the fact that I was leaving. As I held her for a solid four minutes I fought back tears of my own. Later in the morning, I was summoned back to Prepa. When I walked into the classroom, all 30 of my kids jumped out of their seats and hugged me at once. As they hugged me, they said the phrase that had been newly taught to them by an aide that morning, "Miss Eliza, thank you for teaching me," and that about broke my heart in two. I still can't believe they learned that. We had a cute surprise goodbye party for me, ate cake and a meal, played outside, hugged, and took pictures. Hernan bought me a donut. The kids were absolutely thrilled with the Christmas bags I'd made for them. After an extremely unproductive and hot Christmas pageant walk-through, the day was done. Teaching is over.

Later, the Christmas pageant only started 45 minutes late. Somehow the first act, my kids were damn cute.

The evening then consisted of taking pictures with kids, watching mediocre Christmas performances, serving tamales to families, and holding back tears. And that was the end, I guess.

Pretending I can pull off Christmas

Over the last few weeks it's been clear that Christmas is arriving to Honduras. Lights and decorations are popping up around the school. Students are making wreaths in art class. A staff Secret Santa drop-off box sits in the office. A Christmas aisle glows in the supermarket. Classroom aides wear Santa hats. Spray-painted frost even made a brief appearance in the windows of a restaurant.

Everyone at school is preparing for our Christmas pageant, each teacher deciding what their grade will perform. Seventh grade has been practicing "All I Want for Christmas is You." It's such a difficult song to sing that I have been rehearsing it with them during my resource periods for their class. After trying to teach the song for 45 minutes, I think it's safe to say that I've become quite familiar with Mariah Carey's voice. Besides that song, which I've decided I do like, every grade is working on something. Third grade is singing "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree," and eighth grade is dancing to a pop song. In Prepa we are singing a reindeer-themed version of the hokey pokey, "The Reindeer Pokey," that I found online. I figured it would easy enough to learn since we regularly sing the hokey pokey, and then we'd dress all the kids up with antlers and tails and red noses. Now I get to make 30 sets of antlers this weekend. The kids are having trouble saying hooves and antlers, though, so worst case scenario they'll just look like lost little reindeer.

The thing about all this Christmas is that I've never done it before. I have never actually celebrated Christmas to the extent that is expected here. I feel fairly under-qualified to be planning the Prepa portion of the Christmas pageant, to be decorating and hanging the stockings that I decided we'd make in class, and to be explaining American Christmas traditions to eighth graders. That said, I'm also definitely under-qualified to be a teacher. And since I seem to be pulling that part off okay, I think I'll probably be able to manage this Christmas thing. I have to admit, though, that the stockings I cut out for my class to decorate were a bit misshapen. I then (joyfully - Christmas spirit?) spent an hour hanging them across my room.

Tomorrow we'll be making paper snowflakes. Snow is a topic that I feel much more prepared to teach to my children - maybe because of my Minnesotan upbringing or something. Last week we started talking about snow. I showed them photos of my house in a snowstorm and then we drew pictures of houses upon which we painted snow. The kids had a great time, especially when I got silly and started painting some of their noses white. And then they got sillier and started painting their own and each other's faces. It ended with a bit of yelling, but cute as ever.

I did consider teaching my kids about Hanukkah - for about half a minute. I even thought about having them be a menorah for the Christmas pageant. Then I realized just how confused they would be, especially on top of learning about that abstract concept of snow. That and the Honduran staff might've all had cows. So I've come to embrace what is likely my only chance ever to lead Christmas.

I have thirteen days left in Honduras. I can't really comprehend that right now. I've told my kids that I'll be leaving, and every day they ask me, "tomorrow you won't be here, right, Miss?" Learning a sense of time has not yet appeared on our curriculum. Some of the kids are sad at the news and express that every single day, some of them are excited, some of them could care less. I'm so going to miss each and every one of them. Their energy literally brightens my day every time I see them. I'm not quite sure how I'll manage without that. I'm now trying to stock up on cuddles every chance I get.

** Rat update: last week the rat was spotted in the kitchen one afternoon. Kris and Sebastian chased it out into the courtyard with a plastic badminton racket and a broom. They smashed it to death. Standing on chairs on the patio, Liz and I screamed loads. The rat was then flung out the front gate. As of now, no longer sure of the current rodent situation in our home.