I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams

Today was a rollercoaster.

This morning I woke up and was feeling pretty good. I got a little dressed up because we were going to have the Christmas presentation and party at school. I went to school, but there were no lessons. I was just there to make my presence known. We goofed around for a little bit and then headed off to the retirement center with the 1st-4th graders. Each grade performed 2 songs (one in Spanish, one in English) while some of the teachers and older kids played instruments. I got a picture with one of the little kids (Carlos) because he was dressed as Santa. Maybe this is a better option for Santa Photo 2010? I think so!

After the kids finished with their songs we had juice and snacks and then headed back to the school. We were planning on combining the two schools (the 3-5 year olds with the 1st-6th graders) for a performance on the patio but the weather wasn’t very good. Because of this the younger kids stayed at the infantil. We had a party in the 4th grade classroom (food, music, etc). Then was the challenging part. We had to break up the party and wrangle all the kids back together so they could re-sing their songs here at the school. The 5th and 6th graders hadn’t gotten a chance to perform their songs and we still had to go through with the performance even though the younger kids and parents weren’t there. It was crazy, but the kids did a good job. The 5th and 6th graders finished with “Happy Christmas” and did an excellent job. They even did it twice because the teachers and other students requested an encore.

The English Christmas carols were the first dent in my armor. Up until this day I had been ok with the fact that I wasn’t going to be home with my family for Christmas (for the first time in my life). The second dent was hearing all the teachers talk about how they were going home to their cities to see their friends and family.

After the performance everyone went back to their respective classrooms for a little bit and I hung out in the teacher’s room. I didn’t want to leave for break without saying Merry Christmas to everyone. Finally school was over and all the teachers exchanged their Merry Christmas greetings and we headed out. I got closer and closer to tears but held myself together until after I went to the grocery store. Then, with my bags of groceries in one hand and an umbrella in the other I walked in the rain back to my apartment with tears streaming down my face.

I got into my apartment, pulled myself together and set to work. I stayed busy throughout the afternoon cleaning, doing laundry…just generally keeping myself busy.

Later that evening I met up with Luis and Pepe (different Pepe from my first posts here in Siles) at 1900. Everything was fine. I thought I had pulled myself together throughout the afternoon. Luis and I were talking about Christmas decorations, traditions, etc and then out of the blue I burst into tears all over again. I grabbed my coat and headed outside to get some air. I tried to pull myself together quickly. Pepe came outside to see what was going on. He just stood there and made sure I was ok. I walked back inside. Luis understood exactly what had set me off. I didn’t need to explain at all. However, apparently Pepe had been confused as hell. Haha. Before he stepped outside with me he was grilling Luis about what the heck he had done to make me cry. Poor Luis. Shortly after Pepe headed home. Luis and I played darts and I was fine the rest of the night. However, maybe I was still a little distracted because at one point I threw the dart, nailed the bottom of the dart board (the part without the circle of colors you are supposed to be aiming at) and shattered the dart tip. Ooops!

Hello Christmas Break! No more classes or private lessons for two weeks.