Hola Todos!
Why not make the title 9/9/09? I didn't realize that's what today was until I read about the whole hijaking fiasco that happened in Mexico today. Que cosas.... Anyway, here I go with my attempt to write more frequently in my last few months in Mexico. Ugg. Don't like to think about that. I think I am entering the acceptance phase of my grieving process. For a while, I kept trying to think about ways that I could weasel my way back here in the spring for a few months. I was hopeful there for a while....then reality hit and I started looking for jobs. With all the time I've been spending looking for jobs, postdocs, etc, I've accepted that it wouldn't be so easy to come back in the spring =( I continue to hope that one day down the road I'll be able to come back to Juconi, but that would be for weeks at a time, and like I said...it would be down the road a bit. Last week, I was feeling pretty down, but after some pep talks from my coworkers about how much they are going to miss me and how great I am, I started feeling a little better. Anyway, I'm pretty sure for the next few months I'll go through about a week of mild depression each month thinking about how I'm going to say goodbye to all of the amazing kids and adults I've met here. But...don't want to think about that too much, because I'll make myself all sad again.
On a more positive note.... Since I started working with difficult kids, and studying positive psychology, I always try to take note of the small things. The things that make me feel like what I do matters, the small interactions that show me that the kids trust me, the little successes, etc. I think I'll share a few of those things, because I think about them quite a bit. This week, I've had to go pick two of our younger ones up from school because everyone else was busy. The first day I went for them I went early because I didn't know where the school was and I wasn't sure how long it would take me to walk there. As I waited for the classes to end I stood across the street and watched other people arrive. Other parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc., the ice cream man, a woman selling chicharrones (fried pork skin in all shapes and sizes), a man selling cotton candy, etc. It's like a small fair outside of schools in the hour or so of transition. Eventually I saw one of the boys leave his classroom on the second floor. The majority of the schools here have classrooms that open to the outside to a large courtyard in the middle. I saw him looking around so I waved and when he saw me he smiled. Soon, I saw the other one walk out of his classroom below, saw him looking around, and when he finally saw me he smiled and waved. And I realized, for me, that is a really special part of going to get them. I've had to go a few more times this week and I always keep my eye out for them so I see them first. And when they finally see me, they are genuinely happy. And that makes me happy=) It's a little thing. Those of you who work with difficult kids know that a genuine smile is not always easy to come by. Even writing it seems silly, because it seems like such a small and normal thing, but I tell you...it's not!
The other really cool thing that happened this week is that we have two boys who began going to school for the first time. They have both been in Casa for over a year and haven't been leaving the house for school. This can be really difficult, especially for the young ones because they don't get as many opportunities to have a life outside of Casa. Anyway, one is 14 (ish) and one is 11-ish. The 14 year old has been dancing around the house all week (totally NOT his style!). He comes home and cannot wait to do his homework. The past few weeks he's been walking around the house pissed off saying "Quiero ir a escuela. QUIERO IR A ESCUELA!" (I want to go to school). It was a bit of a frustrating procress for him and for us, because they have to take a placement exam and then wait and wait and wait until they can actually be enrolled in school. Finally, that day came on Monday and now he is super happy! His first assignment was to write the history of his family. Which in 5th grade consists of a paragraph. Anyway, he is a kid who has a pretty difficult time talking about his family, rightly so, as he has absolutely no contact with them due to a variety of reasons. Anyway, he chose to write a paragraph about how his parents met. He wrote it with Bibiana's help, as she is the person he feels most comfortable talking to about family etc. Later, he told me about the assignement and asked me if I wanted to read it. He just seemed so comfortable and able to share that part of his history. I think he ended the paragraph with, "and that's a little part of my history." Understatement of the year!
Ok...enough for now. Besos y abrazos por todos.
p.s. pictures of the fair in cholula...did that too=)
http://picasaweb.google.com/eharanin/090509FeriaCholula?authkey=Gv1sRgCMTCmbqC4dmfMg&feat=directlink
