un batido de emociones

This post is probably one of many where I jot down my jumbled up mess of feelings in attempts to capture and remember these last days. I invite you into the bittersweet whirlwind that is the end of something beautiful...

Yesterday was awesome. I went to the beach with a teacher and her family from school. Two adults, one mini adult, a 6th grader, a 3rd grader, and a 5 year old. The transparent turquoise water sparkled in the Andalusian sun, the sand was white, and the beach is the site of a really well conserved Roman city. We visited the ruins first. I liked them alright, but they were just a little old and broken. :) Seriously they were sweet. Carmen (the 3rd grader) and I imagined we were Roman sisters walking along the main street and visiting our uncle - the owner of the tuna fish factory. We then walked by the forum, saw the incredible views from the amphitheatre and the temples. We also visited the thermal baths. Our pretending might have been interrupted by Carmen's complaints that we were not at the beach yet, but I enjoyed it.

Once at the beach, we played in the massive boat. The thing was 6'2" long (which I inflated with a manual pump because I was cold, explaining the massive tiredness in my arms and back today). We also played in the waves and then Eva and I climbed a sand dune the size of the bunny hill in a ski resort. It was so great.

On the way home we played "Veo, veo" ("I spy with my little eye...") It goes like this: "Veo, veo" "¿Qué ves?" "Una cosita" "¿Qué cosita es?" "Empieza por la... C" Highlights included Sara, the five year old choosing "Sinturón", "Gardin", and a story about when she saw a "femaforo"

Today I am assigning grades. For everyone. From the 1st graders ( -, +, or ++) all the way through the 10th graders. My grades are for sure skewed because I am finally remembering all the names. Each student runs through my mind and I remember things they did in class, I remember the way they pronounce, their mannerisms and how much I love them. It sounds cheesy, I kind of feel cliché saying it, but it's true. I cannot comprehend what it means to be leaving them after having been a part of their learning and growing for a year. I see the first graders now and they have grown so much! They look like second graders. And soon they will be. At the beginning of the year, they were like these tiny flowers that surrounded me and yelled "Ellen!!! Hola Ellen!" which was followed by a gush of high pitched Spanish coming out of at least four mouths at once.

That still happens. The only difference is now I finally differentiate between Gema, Carlota, Carmen, Carmen Bin, Monica, Julia, Maria, and Mercedes. And they are a little bigger.

One thing I have learned here is that it's truely the people that make a place special. You can be in the coolest place ever, but if you are alone and don't want to be, or with people you don't really like, it won't be the same. That's what gives me hope about exchanging sparkling, transparent, turquoise waters for State Line Road and cement ponds; flights to Paris for eight hour drives to Nebraska; biking everywhere for my coche.

back to work...