International Bazaar '13

The countdown has seriously begun around here for me. I have now planned every classroom day until we leave, as well as every home day until we leave. Basically, it's a whole lot of exam prep and grading. So, don't be too surprised if I'm even more quiet than normal over the next couple of weeks. Though, to be honest, it is really hard to stay focused during these last few weeks, too. The weather is beautiful--a high of 80 today, we are SO excited to get back to the States, and SO excited for school to be out!

This past Saturday was the International Bazaar at school. After two days of rain, it was beautiful out on Saturday...maybe even a little too warm! Eric was only there for a couple of hours...long enough to play a silly game with one of the clubs. He had to try to speak in an Irish accent, so that she could guess what accent he was using.

There was quite an assortment of food. Eric had food from Braii Republic. I sampled some Kenyan and Brazilian, but inevitably ended up with my favorite, Turkish. The kids had good 'ole American pizza, but at least it supported one of my students' clubs. Afterwards, they were excited to have popsicles, while I had the world's most amazing French croissant.

I knew I wouldn't have a very good vantage point once the parade actually started, so instead I took this picture of the kids lined before the Parade of Nations began. More than 38 countries were represented. The kids were so cute. My kids wore their (two year old) American flag shirts (Kennedy insisted), but they didn't want to walk in the parade.

After four hours in the sun, we were ready to cool off, and I needed to get some work done, so we headed up to my classroom.

There, the kids stood and watched the remainder of the cultural performances for another hour while I printed, made copies, and prepped for the week. They were perfectly content to watch from above!

After an exhausting day, we finally got home around 4:30 or so. The kids really wanted to go to the musical put on by the fifth graders that evening, but I told them that we could only go if they took naps, since it didn't even start until 7pm. Cade was out when I went in to wake him up around 5:30. We had a quick dinner, and then headed back to school once Eric got home from his baseball game.

I think the kids and I spent about 7 hours at school...way too long for a Saturday! But, the bazaar was fun, and the fifth graders did an amazing job putting on Annie. We are so blessed by all of the amazing opportunities we have here!