My Mundo

I feel a strong sense of pride for my students at Nuevo Mundo. I think they are the greatest kids in the world. Don't get me wrong I've had some pretty rough days with these students, struggling through their inability to understand anything I say, to getting them to stop talking about Lady Gaga's latests video, or trying to break up a fight about which boy in my senior class is more of a "mandarina" (a slang term for calling a man homosexual). There are days when I walk out of the classroom entirely defeated and wanting to never come back. But then there are days when we all seem to be on the same wavelength, like we're all finally speaking the same language...usually that language is Spanglish.

Last Thursday I think I realized how mutual the respect and care is between the students and volunteer teachers here at Mundo. Since it was Theresa's last day our Seniors secretly planned a goodbye party during recess with all of our classes. The ploy was that we had a meeting with our supervisor, but too bad our students are horrible at keeping secrets and told me on Tuesday what they were planning.

So on Thursday Theresa and I got caught up in some parent meetings and then finally made our way to the "meeting" escorted by two of our senior boys, Jesus and Joe. All the students were gathered outside in the patio area surrounding tables full of pop, cake and candy. It was so great to see all the students mixed together and helping to throw the party. We were gifted beautiful hand made cards by our 8th and 9th graders, and then our senior girls bought us tagua jewlery sets in our favorite colors. We spent the 30 minutes eating, drinking and taking ridiculous pictures. It was great.

I won't lie though it was a bit odd for me since I still have 3 more weeks here at Mundo so my real goodbyes will not come for some time. But in that sense the party wasn't a goodbye, it was just a celebration of the year. It was happy and joyful, it was a great example of how motivated our kids are...to get out of class!

I love my job here at Mundo. I love the staff, the administration and most importantly, the students. Leaving this school on August 6th will without a doubt be my most difficult goodbye here in Ecuador. But before then I have a mountain of work to do, so I'm off to begin tackling the tasks that lie ahead.

3 weeks left.