Things That They Say...

I think this will be a reoccurring blog post title because the kids just have so many good, ridiculous, and/or funny things to say...

I sat with some first graders earlier this week at lunch; they are adorable with their giant brown eyes and missing teeth.  I sat down near four boys who all turned and stared while shoving food in their mouths.  Soon, one little boy asked me, "Tia, do you know when my birthday is?"  Since I had no idea when his birthday was or who he was, I had to say no.  This was a huge disappointment to my new buddy, but the other little guys were not deterred...
"Tia, do you know how many brothers and sisters I have?" "No, I don't." "Oh, I have 7."
"Tia, how many kids do you have?" "I don't have any kids..." "Why not?"
"Tia, are you married?" "No, I do have a husband." "Why not?"
...and so forth...

I taught my fourth graders this past Thursday, it was the last class of the day before the holiday, Fiestas Patrias (Independence Days), began.  At the beginning of class, Benjamín, told me--straight up, that he had no interest in focusing today because he had stopped paying attention in school yesterday.  I told him I appreciated him telling me but we were going to still learn English today.  Fast forward thirty minutes and Benjamín was true to his word--goofing off, hitting other kids, not doing his assignments, only answering to the name Obama (he is half-black). So, I called on him to read something and he looks up at me and goes, "What the fuck, tia?" I was shocked and so he and I stepped out into the hall, where I explained that he is not allowed to use that kind of language and how offensive it is in English.  He needed to apologize before he could come back inside... So, Benjamín sighs, shakes his head, and then looks up at me all smooth and goes, "I am sorry for say 'what the fuck, tia'"  At this point, I was worried I was going to burst out laughing so I sent him back inside.

There was an asado at the parish last night to kick off the Fiestas Patrias celebration, and, in typical Chilean fashion, it didn't actually start until a couple hours after it was supposed to.  So, I was playing games with Nicole, one of the 2nd grade girls that I know from jornada, in the patio area of the parish.  We played hide and go seek, tag, and ran races.  And despite my most valiant efforts, I never seem to win a single game.  Finally, I told Nicole that there was a "gran injusticia" going on-- she always won, how fair was that? And she just looked and me and said so matter of factly, "Tia, you are too old to win games." I think I was rooted in place because she had to pull my hand and remind me that once again, it was my turn to count for hide and go seek.

And an Anais story to top us off :)  I wore my glasses the other day, and she had not seen me in them yet.  We were singing in the choir at mass on Tuesday and she just kept staring at me.  Father Chris was giving his homily, when she leaned over, and told me in this really loud whisper that the microphone happened to catch, that I was like Clark Kent with my glasses on and that makes me Superman on the other days.  Everyone turned to look at us, Father Chris stopped speaking, and I just sat there laughing...