Yesterday was our last day with our students and it was a tough day just as I suspected it would be. In the morning the kids had P.E. so they went to a near by pool and swam. After they returned they had a goodbye party for all of us teachers. Each class did their own seperate party with lots of food and gifts. My students presented me with a huge card/poster with a note from the whole class and then individual notes from each of the students. The notes are in Spanish so I have not had the time to have someone translate them for me. Then two of my students gave me seperate gifts. One was a beautiful hand woven blue scarf and the other was an small change purse with a traditonal Guatemalan design on it. I managed to make it through the party without any tears but of course this did not last long. When it was time for the students to get on the bus my teacher called each student up individually and each student gave me a hug. This is when the tears started for me. They came even faster when the oldest boy in my class who is 13 (he had to drop out of school for a while to help support his family) began crying. He was the first in the class to cry. Soon I had a group of students surrounding me crying....hardest thing to see. As I followed them out to the bus and stood outside of it waiting to for it to pull away I saw one of my students who is a little bit of class clown and was never quite as affectionate as the other students rubbing his eyes. He was crying too. I was shocked by this because I had not expected him to cry. It was very touching but very difficult. I went up to the bus and put my hand through the window and he grabbed onto my hand and squeezed tight. I will never forget that moment. As tough as it was to go my one hope is that I made enough impact to help them succeed.
Pictures to come later....
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