LA PURA VIDA: ...it's just "different," right mom?

Almost every day I can hear my mom saying something like, "It's not bad, it's not weird, its just DIFFERENT..."

funny stories that make me love Spain:

- one day last week in one of my 2nd grade classes, my teacher stopped the class to allow a girl to read a list she had created of "mis amigos;" so of the kids in the class which of them were lucky enough to be considered her friend. You can only imagine how confused I was that this was okay...

- one of the 3 girls i give private "lessons" to, lost a tooth. she explained to me how the "RAT" would come that night to bring her a present... i told her that in my house, a FAIRY comes and she got upset and said she would rather a fairy come than a rat, and that is just not fair. I was also explained to by the girls that in Spain on Valentines day, it is a day for the boy you like to show you that he likes you, too.

VS.

- I realized that the teachers I work with only work 20 hours a week. Of course this does not include the HARD, HARD work I am sure they do at home... but in the school: 20 hours. They arrive at 9am, leave at 2pm.

- this week I had a field trip to the theater. It was with the 1st and second graders to see an ENGLISH "play" -- Frankenstein. I knew this was going to be a crazy experience and of course Spain did not let me down. We walked with probably more than TWO HUNDRED 5-7 year-olds across Motril to the theater. There were MAYBE 2 chaperons per class (25 students). I was terrified. My coordinator explained to me that "Here in Spain, we have confidence...how funny it is that people require all of this paperwork to allow kids to go somewhere..." Yes, how funny... The play was even funnier because of course the kids had NO idea what they were saying but somehow this English pair kept them entertained. I also loved that the teachers did not sit with the kids, rather in the back and just let them misbehave during the show...
...i love Spain!