The first week of school brings crying three year olds -- because starting preschool is rough, y'all -- but also little people carefully tracing letters into sand trays and wearing the number one on a string around their necks. It brings rainbow colored scarves and watercolor projects that we hang up in the classroom, a dozen stories already read and a 2nd grader who writes that the best thing about flying would be being able to reach all of the mangos.
The PE teacher is teaching them to juggle and jog and toe off their shoes to join him on the mats when it is time to follow a video. The art teacher builds mandalas on the ground and laughs at the three year olds with their armfuls of rocks because, "They are having so much fun!"
Science, History, French, Reading, Writing, and Math fill the rest of the day for the 1st-3rd graders, and they are beginning to be better than I am at knowing what comes next.
Our new ones -- and there are a lot of new ones, 30+ of them -- settle in quickly, and the third graders are all giggles when they get to try their hand at Reader's Theater with a beloved teacher.
It's been two weeks, and, already, our amazing staff have largely worked me out of a job. I help find lost things, occasionally help shell eggs for morning snack, and give out lots and lots of hugs (#dreamlife). The rest, they've got covered.
In fact, they've got it so covered that, on November 30th, I will be bowing out.
I'll take the next six weeks to organize the remnants of summer messes, to train an intern who will keep the papers straight while I am gone, to give out all of the hugs, to walk little people home whenever they ask, and to let the four year old fall asleep on me after school when he simply wants to be held.
And, then, I will be moving back to the States to give everyone the space to fly on their own.
Because, oh my goodness, are they so very, very ready.
The plan is to visit a few times (potentially in January, April, and June) to check in and make sure that the teachers still have everything that they need to be awesome, and, in between time, to jump back in to life in the Tri-Cities.
Which is crazy and exciting and a little bit more crazy, as I begin to look into apartments and super flexible jobs, but also a testament to the volunteer labor of dozens of volunteers; the amazing support that has been given by friends and family in the States; the many, many hours of prayer and years of work that went into this school before I ever showed up; and the teachers who prepare day after day to pour into the "hardest working kids in all of Haiti."
One thousand and ten percent surrounded by rock stars, and excited to see what this next season holds for all of us.
In the meantime, I'll be filing papers, giving out hugs and buying a plane ticket!
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