AMOR

The day before Valentines' Day we just made crafts & set up for: "Dia del cariño."

I hope you will notice the foto on the left of the girl who was in "time out" and just happened to be trapped by the ladder. 























The next day, as almost everyday I didn't know quite what to expect.... 

The children had breakfast as usual. Instead of going back to our classrooms for a lesson, they divided up the whole school with Catholic children and then non catholic. The Catholic children went to mass and the rest were in a classroom watching a movie. 

The Catholic children walking to receive their ashes for Ash Wednesday.

Every week in Antigua during lent a church is picked to offer a scene or "wake" for Jesus' life. The Cathedral close to our school happened to be the first church selected this year. They will also have processions on Sunday throughout all of Antigua. 

Here is a selfie of (L-R) Emilse & Sophia who are student teachers & Salem the lead teacher.   

After church, we marched back to school and collected the rest of our class and had treats. Some parents dropped off snacks and all the teachers brought in a little something to enjoy. We had a great dance party and all the children shared their personal hand made cards from their parents. (They did not pass out individual valentines). It looked like some of the older children around Antigua did pass out Valentines, but hard to tell what is truly practiced. 

One thing I do know is that the love at this school is tangible. What I love in the Latina culture is that they use the word amor very often. Teachers often say "si mi amor." Mother's often also refer to their children as mi hija/ mi hijo. (My son or my daughter). They combine the two words very quickly to just be mija or mijo. 

Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second one is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22: 37-39)

“Ama al Señor tu Dios con todo tu corazón, con todo tu ser y con toda tu mente” le respondió Jesús. Este es el primero y el más importante de los mandamientos. El segundo se parece a este: “Ama a tu prójimo como a ti mismo” Mateos 22: 37-39