Thanksgiving and a Quick Trip Home

Nana did attend our wedding and we were lucky enough to get this photo of her with Kels and me. 

Part of the explanation for my hiatus from the blog occurred just before Thanksgiving.  My Nana had been declining over the past few months and passed away on Sunday November 23rd.  Saying goodbye to her before Javier and I moved was one of the hardest goodbyes I made because I was all but certain it would be the last time I saw her.  We were in close contact with my Mom and Dad in her last week, but it was still very difficult being away from home.  (I had a very different experience when my Grandmother passed away two years ago.)  Sometime in that last week, I started talking to Javier about the possibility of going home for the funeral we knew was imminent.  While I shouldn't be surprised by now (he is always the most supportive and thoughtful man) he assured me that he had always planned on me returning home to be with family during this difficult time.

Here is Nana looking beautiful and sassy as she was.

After Nana died, I quickly bought a ticket home (using miles) and anxiously created sub plans for the 4 days I would be gone (our school does not have Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving...for obvious reasons).  It was so wonderful to be with family over the next few days.  Kelsey and I had the opportunity to speak at the funeral, talking about Nana's love for Christmas (that included carols in her car in July), special sweet tea and evenings spent on her porch rocking and watching the cars go by.  She was such a special lady.

I also need to take a minute to acknowledge another sad loss for our family.  Kelsey and Scott's dog, Lily Mae (sometimes known as Pants), also passed away on Sunday November 23rd.  If you ever met her (and I bet most of you did....she was pretty portable), you know she was a truly special pup.  She fit in perfectly with our family through her love of food, sleep and good company.  She too will be incredibly missed.

Rushing home for the services allowed me to stay an extra day to spend Thanksgiving with the family.  It was so nice to get to see so much of my family in the hurried three days.  While I didn't get any pictures of people...in typical fashion I was able to capture a few shots of the delicious food that we ate.

While it was so nice being home, I did feel guilty that Javier was spending his first Thanksgiving in Ecuador all alone!  School did provide a Thanksgiving potluck and half day on Thursday to help their expats celebrate a little bit!

All of this food was so yum-o, but my body is clearly getting used to Ecua cuisine because I had tummy troubles the entire time I was in the US.   (Fine in Ecuador, but bring me back to the US and my weak stomach can't handle it...)

In addition to chowing down, I also got to meet this lovely lady, Miss Elsie Mae,  during my hurried trip home.  She is even more sweet and adorable in person than in this picture if you can believe it!

When I returned, Javier and I hosted a little friends Thanksgiving! I put up a few decorations and Javier and I braved the turkey!

Here is our 'Give Thanks' banner with the gorgeous view of Pichincha in the background (it never get old)!

Our organic market had pumpkins!  That I used 1st as decoration and then later for soup!  (The leaves were provided by my loving sister who knew I missed them and had a bag ready for me when I arrived in the US!)

Once again, I neglected to get any pictures of humans, but managed instead to document the food that we ate.  Javier did a beautiful job carving the turkey! and all the sides our friends brought made for a delicious Thanksgiving meal!

Going home for a few days was incredibly hectic, but 100% worth it.  It was so comforting and important to spend time with my family.  Nana was such an important part of my life and I know I'll miss her so much.

Juegos Internos and Goofy Games at Colegio Menor

Merry Christmas and a heartfelt apology for the long hiatus to my dedicated readers.  The end of November got busy (I'll explain in a post in a bit) and I never seemed to catch up....but I'm back now and hope to quickly fill you in on all the shenanigans that have been happening in Quito because KELSEY AND SCOTT ARRIVE TODAY!!! And I know that means I'll have more shenanigans to fill you in on soon (Galapagos shenanigans!).

Here is a quick post to catch you up on some Colegio Menor events.  I know what you're thinking...does this school ever have just a school day (not a 'here's a bouncy slide and bunch of games and crazy dressed up nonsense' day....), but keep in mind we have 200 days of school to fit in.  (That's right...200 school days.  Which is a whole 20 more than is required for public schools in the US...so we're fitting in some fun to maintain some sanity...)

I've included some pictures below from our Goofy Games day and Juegos Internos.  Goofy Games finished off our spirit week and consisted of....well...goofy games.   My 9th graders were competing against the 8th and 7th graders which made for a little pressure... 

Goofy Game #1 had two students from each grade eating as much watermelon as they could in 3 minutes.  It was messy.

Goofy Game #2 had 3 students from each grade listening to music that was played so that they could provide the next line of the song once the music stopped.  To add to the 'goofy' the student had to run to that crate of balloons, select one and pop it by sitting on it, before producing the next lyric to the song.  Quite entertaining.

Goofy Game #3 included an obstacle course (not that goofy right?).  But each student traveled through the course with another student riding their back (piggyback style) which made some of the obstacles more challenging.  (And from a teacher's perspective, more dangerous....I did not love this game)

But if I thought the piggyback obstacle course was bad....I was in for a shock with Goofy Game #4 - The Human Pyramid.  When my kids told me this was the last game, I was expecting a standard three man pyramid, but no.  Apparently points were awarded for 1) the number of people included in your pyramid and 2) its height.  I didn't get a picture of it, but that girl on the right does climb this human pyramid (to the top) and then proceeded to stand up on top of this human pyramid making the 9th grade's the tallest by far.  (I'll be adding this to my list of 'things that would never happen in a US school'...)

Some teachers got involved in Goofy Game #5 by beating egg whites for 3 minutes each (hoping to turn them into stiff peaks before time was up).  (Random, I know....and sort of.....goofy.)

While we didn't win every game, my 9th graders were victorious in the end.  (Which resulted in a trophy and this exuberant celebration on stage.)  I was so proud (and they refused to focus the rest of the day...)

Juegos Internos is an annual day of friendly competition between the upper school grades in basketball, volleyball and futbol.  It occurs on Saturday (this was our second Saturday of work so far....) but counts towards those lovely 200 days required.  Each grade designs and wears their own t-shirt for the day to help unify and build team spirit.  My students selected olive green for their shirt this year and then were disappointed when their camouflage design was not approved (because we are not a military school and administration did not feel comfortable with a class displaying that type of uniform).  But my kids, in their own sort of rebellion, wore camo head and arm bands for the day.

Here they are in the parade of teams that starts the day.

It was a really cool day and the kids (and teachers) got very into it.  (You can see Susanita on the right sporting her camo headband as a sign of unity for the 9th grade!)

My kids listening to opening remarks.

Colegio Menor's mascot is the spectacled bear (native to Ecuador) and the students had a competition to draw the school a new mascot.  The winner was revealed at Juegos Internos!

And here is our attempt at a group picture....a bit of a fail, but keep in mind I have almost 90 students...it was never gonna happen.

I was in charge (someone used the word coach, but I will not because it doesn't seem accurate) of the basketball teams for the day.  My boys did well, beating the 7th graders by a mile, but losing a heartbreaker to the 8th graders in the end.  My girls kicked butt, massacring both 7th and 8th grade teams.  Overall, the 9th graders performed well, winning all of our volleyball matches and all but one soccer game.  I think they were most proud of their defiance of authority through their wardrobe selection.  Either way, I enjoyed the day supporting and rooting for my kiddos!