Today I did all I could to help in the classroom but I did not teach. I made sure that I had pictures of every class and helped with the day’s activities. After lunch, during our planning time, I talked to my teacher about my evaluation and my experience here in Chile. This was the first sign that tomorrows departure would be difficult because Ms. Mylene told me that she was going to miss me and we both wiped a tear from our cheeks. It felt good to here how much she enjoyed having me in her classroom and it is amazing how much came from just four weeks. I learned so much about the Chilean culture, about working with diverse populations, and about myself, and she learned a lot about the smart board and different resources to use for teaching math. Overall we both learned a lot from each other.
After school it was the same as always, Pancho had practice, I went to the mall with a couple of the other Gringos, and I returned to Thomas Jefferson in time to get a ride home with Pancho. When we got home we all did whatever for about an hour, there is a possibility that our flight from Dallas to Columbus may be canceled, and at about 8:00 my host family said, “let’s go”. I had no idea where we were going but we all hopped in the truck, Martita included, and we were on our way. I asked several times where we were headed but they would not tell me. We pulled up on this rough looking building and parked. When we opened the door I realized that it was a restaurant, and a very nice one at that. We were seated and ordered our drinks (Ivan and I had a Pisco Sour, and we ordered a bottle of wine to share with the family). Ivan toasted to my stay and my safe trip home and the celebration began. We ordered the Traditional Bar-B-Q and I was absolutely amazed by the massive amount of food they brought out on portable burners. We all ate and drank for about two hours. Once the food and drink was gone I asked if it would be ok for me to take the paper place mat to put in a scrapbook, and of course they said yes. Little did I know that this was going to become my best souvenir. Odaly took the place mat and pulled out a pen, on the back of the place mat she wrote a little message for me and then passed it on. In the end I had a place mat from our celebration with a note from each of the family members. It is probably the one thing from the trip that I could not part with. It really meant a lot to me and I hope that I have it forever.
The place mat was the first thing that I packed when we got home. The rest of the evening was spent getting everything together and making sure that I had it all. I got everything packed and ready for tomorrow and called Aimee (Who is kind of freaking out over our possible flight cancellation). Then next time that I talk to her I will be in the States and using my cell phone, Yeah! I had no idea how much I would miss that stupid cell phone. There is so much that I look forward to about getting home but I now feel that I am not ready to leave. I need to get some sleep but I know that it is going to be impossible.
