15th February 2009

I had the world's worst farewell party the last time I was here.  This time, I manage to organize the world's worst reunion.  Thankfully, no small children were concussed.

I had been planning to have a reunion disco party with all the students I use to teach here.  I hired a sound system and managed to inform all the students through the texting network here.  All was set and ready to go.

But then the rain came.  Lots and lots of rain.

Poot.  I tried to delay the event to the next day, but it rained then as well.  Double poot.

It was such a shame because I was so much looking forward to seeing all the kids again.

I did manage to catch up with some of them though.  I got a photo with the Dubos family for Anngee's sponsor as well as one of the too cute Lorren Joy holding up a photo of the photo I took of her holding the photo she gave me.  And there is always the ubiquitous goofy group shot with kids I don't really know.

I also visited Gilgelyn's and Joccy's church as well as visiting former Pulao Elementary students who are lucky enough to attend the private St. Agustine school.

I ended up spending most of the planned reunion time hanging out at Ma'am Thercy's house and belting out songs in a dodgy little kareoke hut as the rain pounded down outside.

It was fun singing songs again, but it would have been much better if I could of just hang out with the kids like the last time I was here.

Oh well...

17th of February

But wait!  There's more!

I was resigned to the fact that there would be no disco.  Hence the above piece.  I assumed that we couldn't have it on a Monday night, being a school day and all.  Turns out I was wrong.  Discos on Monday are perfectly acceptable!

Much like the graduation I attended the last time I was here, there were token officials present giving token speeches.  "Token" is a harsh word to use, but of the three officials present, I had only ever actually met one of them.

The kids put on a program for me which was anything but token.  Rovel and Jamaica were the MCs. One kid (who I didn't know) sang a song for me; Jamaica and Kristine Joy did a dance; my used-to-be-Grade 5 also did a dance and student after student after student gave a speech thanking me.

The speeches were all pretty much the same.  They thanked me for teaching them and called me the best teacher they ever had.  The thing is though is that I didn't do a good job of teaching them.  I did a terrible job.  (I did turn up though, which is half the battle.)  After all my gallivanting around the globe teaching in developing communities, reading about volunteerism and thinking long and hard about meaningful activities - I know that I could have done a much better job with these kids.

Volunteers often say that they benefit more from the experience than the people in the developing communities.  I didn't help very much during my first stay here, but I did learn a lot about volunteering and the type of questions I need to ask.

After the official stuff was over, it was all about dancing and just hanging out with the kids.

Not everyone could be there.  I learnt that Reegine's mother had passed away and that Reegine had to move to a different province as a result.  Reegine always seemed to be attached to me at the hip whenever I walked around and I am sure she is sad that she could not attend.

Beauty - one of the former student teachers - is working in Singapore and is terribly homesick.  I hope this picture makes her happier.

A nod also goes to April Grace who travelled all the way from Guimaras to attend.  She had to go home on Sunday and so missed out on the disco.  I made a special effort to talk to her a lot when I was at Ma'am Thercy's (her aunt).

Some days are beautiful and nothing hurts.  On the 17th of February 2009, everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.