Thursday 2-23-06 Our Amazing Children!
Our search for a decent language program for the kids has been an ongoing challenge. We have promises that there is a good one waiting in Cuernavaca, but there are a lot of places we want to see between here and there. Plus, we love Merida and the family with whom we are staying. So we ramped up our efforts to find something in Merida and our hostess, Miriam, offered to ask the English teacher (who is bilingual) at her daughter’s school if she would be interested in teaching our kids Spanish. Well…the teacher suggested it would be better if we just dropped the kids in the school instead, and with the Director’s approval, that’s what we did.
We broke the news to Miles and Jill Monday afternoon and got a full range of emotions in return. They were appropriately freaked out and had a hard time falling asleep that night, so Enrique, our amazing host, made them a medicinal tea out of orange leaves (off the orange tree in the courtyard).
Tuesday morning was the first day of school for Miles and Jill. Miriam and her daughter Ally picked up Miles, Jill, and me at 7:05 (Ruth didn’t think she could handle it, nor did she think the kids would let her leave the school as easily as they would let me.) We arrived at Ally’s school within a few minutes. It is a small private school with about 70 kids spread across six grades.
I attended morning assembly with the kids and listened as the student body sang a song about the Mexican flag and had their uniforms inspected (Miles and Jill are without uniforms for the time being). Throughout this, Miles stood like a trooper with his new class, and Jill stood in line with her class clutching my hand and putting on her best “I’m scared as heck so I’ll look mean instead” face.
I accompanied Jill to her classroom upstairs and hung out for about 10 minutes before heading down to the front office to hang out. The next time I saw her, at 10:00 on her way to recess and lunch, she and two classmates were holding hands and smiling on their way to the “playground”. It was so precious I nearly bawled. Miles came along next with his class and we exchanged thumbs-ups and I took off.
What’s the school like? Basic. Old wooden desks each with a writing arm. No tables or flat spaces to spread out and work. Very small class sizes – about 6 or 7 students each. Very nice, well-meaning ladies running the place (and owning it since it is a cooperative). And….wow!? So this is a private school that is better than the public schools? Yikes! It will certainly give us all a new appreciation for what we have in Hinesburg. (We were very appreciative all along by the way.)
So…we’re in Merida for a few more weeks so the kids can stay in school. But then we’ll have to get a move on to see the rest of the sights between here and Cabo San Lucas by the end of April.
Signed,
A very Proud Papa
Our search for a decent language program for the kids has been an ongoing challenge. We have promises that there is a good one waiting in Cuernavaca, but there are a lot of places we want to see between here and there. Plus, we love Merida and the family with whom we are staying. So we ramped up our efforts to find something in Merida and our hostess, Miriam, offered to ask the English teacher (who is bilingual) at her daughter’s school if she would be interested in teaching our kids Spanish. Well…the teacher suggested it would be better if we just dropped the kids in the school instead, and with the Director’s approval, that’s what we did.
We broke the news to Miles and Jill Monday afternoon and got a full range of emotions in return. They were appropriately freaked out and had a hard time falling asleep that night, so Enrique, our amazing host, made them a medicinal tea out of orange leaves (off the orange tree in the courtyard).
Tuesday morning was the first day of school for Miles and Jill. Miriam and her daughter Ally picked up Miles, Jill, and me at 7:05 (Ruth didn’t think she could handle it, nor did she think the kids would let her leave the school as easily as they would let me.) We arrived at Ally’s school within a few minutes. It is a small private school with about 70 kids spread across six grades.
I attended morning assembly with the kids and listened as the student body sang a song about the Mexican flag and had their uniforms inspected (Miles and Jill are without uniforms for the time being). Throughout this, Miles stood like a trooper with his new class, and Jill stood in line with her class clutching my hand and putting on her best “I’m scared as heck so I’ll look mean instead” face.
I accompanied Jill to her classroom upstairs and hung out for about 10 minutes before heading down to the front office to hang out. The next time I saw her, at 10:00 on her way to recess and lunch, she and two classmates were holding hands and smiling on their way to the “playground”. It was so precious I nearly bawled. Miles came along next with his class and we exchanged thumbs-ups and I took off.
What’s the school like? Basic. Old wooden desks each with a writing arm. No tables or flat spaces to spread out and work. Very small class sizes – about 6 or 7 students each. Very nice, well-meaning ladies running the place (and owning it since it is a cooperative). And….wow!? So this is a private school that is better than the public schools? Yikes! It will certainly give us all a new appreciation for what we have in Hinesburg. (We were very appreciative all along by the way.)
So…we’re in Merida for a few more weeks so the kids can stay in school. But then we’ll have to get a move on to see the rest of the sights between here and Cabo San Lucas by the end of April.
Signed,
A very Proud Papa
posted by The Lambersons at 10:36 AM
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