Last day of school

Jeny and I (one of our third graders)

Soccer game! The kids just scored

The view from our school that I will miss dearly

Jhon and I.  Right after I dragged him back into our classroom

Jhon. Trying to escape per us.

The quishpe clan plus patty and estalin.

Our time here has gone by so fast.  We are no longer teachers.  And will no longer see our precious children.  On thursday the kids took us to a field up the road that had an absolutely gorgeous view of all of quito.  It was a good way to end the day.  When I started to think about leaving (and the fact that Lianna and Sam were leaving in a matter of hours) I would just sit and hold one of our children and stare out into the city (basically just holding Jeny, our angel third grade child).

On friday we had a party for the kids.  It started out with a soccer game with us versus the students - we were so outnumbered, but were slightly more organized.  We left it at a tie though.  We were all so extremely competitive.  After every goal, there was an outbreak of yelling and chanting.  Then we showed the kids the dance that we had prepared to the popular song, Choque.  Annie taught us some steps the night before and we practiced forever until we were semi together.  The kids were silent after the first time through. We thought that they hated it.  Probably just in shock of our lack of dance talent (and by that I mean mine...) but then they wanted an encore.  All in all, we did that dance many times on friday.  After that we broke up into stations - Annie taught the kids a simplified version of the dance, they made cards, Henry and Juhee set up an obstacle course, Bri did face painting and then there were outdoor games.

And then a special lunch of rice and beans and ice cream, but the rice had chicken, sausage, pepper and peas in it instead of just being white rice.  Very yummy.  After we handed out notebooks with class pictures and notes from the teachers.  They went around and had everyone sign them and give out email addresses. I hope they email us! But who knows if they know how to navigate the internet.  Hannah created an account for one of her students and showed her how to use it, so hopefully we will get messages from Evelin.  It would be cool to keep in contact.

Sebas came up to me and he was crying as he hugged me.  Broke the dam.  I couldn't see his notebook as I was attempting to write in it.  I am going to miss their smiling faces, tickle attacks, guess who (they cover your eyes - favorite game ever), amarcame whines and constant hugs.  I already do.  We played with them and took pictures and took over an hour and a half to say good bye to all of them.  Some of them understand the concept that we aren't coming back, but a lot of the little ones kept saying "see you on monday!" even after we told them that it was our last day.  All you can do is give them a big hug and fight back the lump in your throat.  So attached after only a month.  A month that slipped through my fingers.  Eventually we just had to leave - it was time.  We came home and just reminisced and looked through all of our pictures, instead of going through with our grand plans to go downtown and explore Quito.  I had 350 pictures just from friday (the kids stole it for a large portion of the day - they love taking pictures) and my fully charged battery was on the verge of dying.  A day well captured.  I took videos of my kids talking to the camera, singing and reading out loud so that I will never forget their precious voices and personalities.  The trouble makers are the ones that get to you the most.  Jhon could be the worst during class, but he was the hardest student to say goodbye to.  Even after he called me Eleno on wednesday, the little snot.  I am going to miss his antics.

That night we all just hung out and played sardines and charades in the house.  So hard to play sardines - not the best hiding places.  We turned off the lights and it was so creepy to be wandering around an empty house.  Bittersweet as we knew that we were losing Alexa and Alex in the morning and then Bri, Juhee and Hannah at night.  Goodbyes are becoming frequent.  But these aren't goodbyes for real.  Reunited in Ann Arbor very soon :)

But then they wouldn't let Juhee on her flight!!! I just got a message from Bri that she didn't have her green card (she's a citizen of south korea) on her and they had to leave her.  How scary! Poor babe!!!  But I am waiting up for her and Caitlin is going with her to the embassy on monday to figure everything out.  But that's just very scary to be dealing with by yourself.  But we have her for a couple more days :)