School's out for the summaaaaaah!

... Almost. But I AM done teaching regular classes.

Two weeks ago today, my mom's mom passed away, so I booked a ticket and flew back to the US to be with my family. Before continuing, I'd like to thank everyone for their support and condolences. My entire family really appreciates it. Despite the circumstances, it was good to be back home with my family. I realized that it was the first time that all 7 of us had been home since Christmas. I guess that's what happens when everyone grows up.

I flew out of Quito on a Saturday, but on Friday I prepared everything for the upcoming week of school that I would be missing. My boss was (and still is!) AMAZING, and he covered all of my classes for me. It was an easy week to miss, because it was the last of three review weeks before the kids had exams.

During my time as a teacher, I've really questioned how much the kids actually like me. I mean, I'm mean to them. While I was gone, however, I got an email from a student named Diego telling me (in pretty good English, I might add) that he hoped I would return soon and that I was the best teacher that he had ever had. Maybe it's because I give them candy. But whatever, it still made me feel good.

Upon my return, I found out that I had missed the last week of regular classes. This made me kind of sad, just because I realized that I would never see the kids together as their classes again. I even brought them candy (Smarties) back from the US! But I see them around in the halls all the time, so I just keep a pocket full of Smarties.

The way finals week works at this school is messed up. The students have two periods of exams: 7:40-8:40, and then again from 9-10. After that, if they have permission, they get to leave. The poor kids who didn't get a note from their parents have to just bum around the school all day. All of the novenos had their English exam Wednesday morning at 7:40, so now I'm done. On Tuesday I didn't do ANYTHING - well, actually I played Line-Up on my iPod Touch, and beat my high score 3 times. Wednesday, I gave the test to my kids, and then I graded them. I was done by 10. So now I've been sending random one-line emails, playing Line-Up (beat my high score again!), and surfing the internet, which consists of surfing between about 5 sites, since I don't actually know how to surf the internet.

When I was grading one of my kids' tests, a boy's who has given me trouble since day 1, I found a nice note at the bottom: an apology for being so bad in my class, and then he thanked me for being a good teacher. Well. I'm better than I thought I was. While I was home, I went to the BFHS graduation and talked to my high school English teacher, Mr. Lawton.

Lawton: What have you been up to?
Sara: I'm an English teacher! In Ecuador!
Lawton: How did THAT happen?

My thoughts exactly. My students, however, are doing a good job of boosting my confidence.

Today is the last day that the kids are in school. I've been breaking the news to them that I won't be returning next year. The school offered me a position for the entire school year, but I decided that I don't want to stay here for another full year. My original flight home from when I booked my flight to come here in January is August 3, so I'm going to work at the school's summer camp in July, and then I'll be flying home and STAYING home in August. I'm feeling very bittersweet about the whole thing, especially after seeing how my students are reacting to it today.

As we were taking pictures and I was giving them all hugs, the students kept telling me how much they are going to miss me, and that I'm the best teacher that they've ever had. THIS I doubt, but again, they're making me feel good. And sad. In all honesty, I've had some REALLY horrible days here (but I've had a lot of good ones to make up for it), and I didn't think that I'd have a hard time saying bye to these kids. The reality of the situation is really different. I even found myself getting attached to the kids that were HORRIBLE for me during the year. We all know that I'm emotional, but I really thought I wouldn't be in this situation. Looks like I was only trying to kid myself!


My 9A students. 12 boys and only 7 girls! Mateo, who looks like Chewbacca :) is in this class.


My 9B students. There are 19 of them, and they are WILD. My wildest class hands-down.


My 9C students. This class is convinced they were my best class. I always told them, "It depends on the day." David is in this class... Can you pick him out?

Now that the World Cup is going on, everyone's been OBSESSED with soccer. I keep telling everyone I'm indifferent about the sport, but I AM going to go to Diego's house to watch the game with his family. Tomorrow I'm FINALLY going to unpack my suitcase from my return trip, and then on Sunday I'm going to a marathon with my host family to cheer on a few of my host cousins. I hope it's warm out, because it's been COLD here the last week!

Until next time,
Sara the Sap.