blessings

It has hit me in the past few days how blessed am I to be here. It is an amazing opportunity to have an entire class who doesn't speak my language as their first. And it feels so normal; I can't imagine having a class who grew up with English! I have seen so much progress in my kids since the beginning of the year! It's crazy to think that they are learning to speak, read, and write all at the same time. It's such a wholistic learning approach. Those kids are amazing. Plus, it's awesome working with people who have become good friends. Seeing each other around the school throughout the day and swapping hello's or brief conversations is a blessing to me.

So...today I got my first invitation from a student to a real fiesta! Check it out:

Isn't that great?

Another couple stories from this week that made me laugh and reminded me where I am living.

>Words written on the bathroom stall: "Me gusta Hernando de 3c"

>My little girl pointing to a picture of Curious George and saying: "Look! Jorge Curioso!" :)

At the same time, I'm counting down the days til Christmas and being home again with family and friends. I got some mail this week, which was SO encouraging. The school put up a giant Christmas tree in the entryway last week, and all the stores have had their Christmas decorations on display since around Halloween. We have a fall party tomorrow to bid farewall to "the season that never really was" here and then we are putting up our own tree. Feliz Navidad!