Integration

Sometimes all it takes are a few smiles and hugs and I can have one of the best days I can remember.
I started school this morning, and to my surprise we actually started- there were students when the bell rang at 7:00! Typically on the first day nobody really shows up- students or teachers. Today was different. I taught 5 classes and in all but one of them I had at least 15 students. At first everyone was pretty quiet, probably a mixture of it being the first day and them not understanding a word I was saying, but they got into it after awhile. We sang the alphabet and almost everyone was totally into it. I think I’m really going to like this teaching-younger-kids thing.
I was done by noon so that felt fantastic. I spent the afternoon on my veranda, talking with kids that came by to play and making friends with one of the puppies that’s been afraid of me. Lote and Rafito, the brother-sister duo who lives next door, have become part of my daily life. They come over, come inside to say hi, chit chat (granted I still can’t understand a word either of them says except ‘Mana Ana!’) and play around on the veranda. I helped Lote eat her bag of ice which she was spilling all over herself, and then she and I took a walk around the neighborhood. I went back to their house and sat outside on a mattress and joked around, let them climb all over me, and just laughed. I don’t know how to describe it- usually the kids play around me not really with me, but today I was right in the middle of it all. It felt nice to have them run up to me and not want to let go, or to crawl into my lap, throw their arms around my neck and lay their head on my chest. It really feels like I’m part of something here, not so much an outsider anymore. Granted I’m saying that after spending an afternoon with children no older than 8, none of whom can speak English or Portuguese, but still, it was nice.