Halloween!

My Halloween was not too terribly exciting last night.  Actually, it didn't really feel like Halloween at all.  At school, they do not celebrate or recognize Halloween at all.  They mention it as the day before celebrating the saints but they do not talk about dressing up.  The day was mildly chaotic.  We had our first injured student come.  It wasn't our fault! He got hurt last week at basketball and broke his knee. I've never heard of breaking your knee but now his leg is in a cast and his leg is completely straight.  He was trooper about it though.  We also started working on telling time so both grades made the faces of their own clocks.  That in itself was a mess and I kept telling myself in my head, "Just keep going Lauren. They need this." The school didn't have brass fasteners so I had to put the arms on myself but more about that later.  They acted pretty much like I expected when having to fold and cut paper as well as numbering a clock.  Lots of talking and several mess-ups but that's okay.  I really am glad we did it.

After lunch, I had two students get in a "fight" or however intense a second grade fight can be.  Two students pushing and hitting each other.  I made them write sentences while we were watching saint movies after lunch and they were not happy.  They were supposed to take their sentences home at the end of the day and their parents were supposed to sign them but I found out that one of the two had thrown their sentences in the trash after I put it in their homework folder. Rebel!!! It didn't surprise me because they were very angry and gave me lots of attitude about it all but I was still a bit shocked that at 7 years old, they are already acting like that. 

After school, Patricia drove me on a small hunt for brass fasteners or brads.  I thought they were more popular than what I discovered.  After we finally got back to the apartment, I checked the mail and had received 3 different letters or cards from my friends! It made my day without a doubt.  My day went on a bit of downslope as I started working on my loans...nothing like looking at how much you owe to drop your spirits.  It's a fact of life but it's definitely not fun to look at.  I finally tore myself away from looking at it and started working on all 30 clocks for my students.  Patricia helped me cut out the two hands for each clock for the rest of the evening.  So time consuming but definitely better than having them attempt it in class.  By the time we finished, it was time for bed! Then I remembered that it was Halloween.  We had been watching Casper and Hocus Pocus on tv but it didn't really register until I went to bed.  It's funny how being in a completely different state changes what I thought used to be such a big holiday back home.  I'm not sure if I put it on here yet but in Haiti, Halloween is seen as a huge Devil's holiday so they do not dress up or go out which is why most of my students did not go out trick-or-treating. 

Oh and on a sad note, my program lost another member last night.  He emailed all of us and told us that he had to leave due to personal reasons.  He is in his 60's, has a wife, and two kids at home still but we are not completely sure why he left although we have some ideas.  He was very sweet and sent a really kind email to all of us. We are sad to see him go but wish him the very best.  And now there are 10 of us that remain...

I will post again this evening about my day at school but Happy All Saints Day!!