Well, I am officially done working at my school here in Angol. Actually, as far as the program was concerned, I was officially done a week ago, but I wanted to stay on a bit longer and squeeze in some more time with my students.
Last week, for Thanksgiving, my head teacher Karen invited me and some of our teacher friends to a nice dinner at her house. Partly to celebrate Thanksgiving for me, but partly to bid me farewell! It was very sweet and we had a great time.
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| that's Chef Karen at my right hand side : ) |
Towards the end of last week I also started taking my group pictures with all the classes. And on Friday one of my favorite groups (a freshman class) had a little surprise party for me! They sent a brave soul to stall me from getting to the classroom while they set up their desks into a long snack table and decorated their whiteboard for me. I played along and got a big "SORPRESA!" when I walked into the room, and then we ate some snacks and took a million pictures. I'll miss those kids so much!
The rest of my time at school this week was mostly spent refusing offers from students that I move in with them, or in some cases marry them, so that I could stay there longer. And also, as I said, taking pictures. I have a lot of them, but the students took most of them on their own cameras, so I don't have access to them till they are up on facebook. In the meantime, here are some that I do have...
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| class 3A (juniors) |
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| 2A (sophomores) |
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| Karen and I with some of our very sweet sophomores |
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| one of my many marriage proposals... |
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| 1A, after they gave me my surprise party! |
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| 1B (look how big the freshman classes are!) |
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| with some of my favorite/goofiest freshman after my last class in my classroom |
Then on my last day we did a big group photoshoot, with all the high schoolers who were there on Friday. Can you spot me in the middle of this crowd? haha
Before I left, I made my rounds of each classroom for hugs with everybody before I left. I got a lot of little gifts and notes, and some of the sweetest letters I have ever received! I got scarves and pretty origami flowers and jewelry and drawings and (from two of my favorite students) a playlist for my long flight home! It was so very hard to tear myself away from the school, but I have countless fantastic memories and little souvenirs from my students that will keep me going whenever I get sad about missing them. Plus, I know we will be in touch, thanks to the magic of facebook. And, as I told many of them to console them during the week, I do genuinely want to come back and see them in a few years--I can't imagine never seeing them again! It was a very bittersweet goodbye, but my invaluable experience with them makes it worth it, I think.
And I had another surprise waiting for me last night, when I came back from a very long day (hiking the tallest hill behind my neighborhood) to find all my extended host family in my living room yelling another "SORPRESA!" when I walked in. My host mom had recruited my friend Todd to keep me away from the house all day while she fixed up mountains of food for everyone (thank you Todd, I'm sorry I was not very cooperative!). It was so nice to see all the aunts and uncles and cousins and family friends back together one more time before I leave! I really loved it, it was so very sweet of them. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of that, either, but just trust me when I say that it was very sweet. Yeny did a little toast to me and everything! I love my host fam so much : )
Now tonight I will set off for 10 days to travel around the South with another volunteer friend, Steph! We are heading first to Bariloche in Argentina, then back to Chile for Puerto Varas and Chiloé (three days based in each place). Then I have just two and a half days back in Angol to get everything packed and ready to go (including my host brother Franco!), and I will be back home two weeks from today! I expect to take a load of pictures on my trip, but probably won't have time to upload them in the rush to get everything packed.
Accordingly, this is probably my last blog post from within Chile. As you have probably gleaned from reading this blog, I freaking love it here. I've already got separation anxiety! But being back home with all my friends and family for Christmas will ease the pain a little, I think. Until then! : )
