Week two

 

....and may I add the second week of school, as well, especially for new PreK teachers.  I will admit, I like them.  They're cute.  They're little.  They all have sweet little hearts that want to please.  But I have so much to learn about how to corral them, how to get and keep their attention, and how to relate to them right on their four year old level.  I'm pleased with how far many of them have come already in just two short weeks.  We've got a good routine going on now, so I'm not quite as panicked every morning when I go in to work. I am, however, still pretty exhausted.  This all day Spanish makes my brain hurt (I can tell when I'm overly tired because I don't seem to finish my sentences), and then I go home and have to keep it up with Juan David all evening.  He's working a little harder on the English now, but bless his heart, he just has too much to say so he reverts back to Spanish and talks all night long. 

This week we ventured out for his first hair cut.  He said he'd gotten so many bad hair cuts in Colombia that he was a little afraid of what they might to do his hair here.  He's got a head full of curls when he lets it grow out, but that takes a lot of patience to get through the "frizzy, afro stage", plus a lot of gel to keep it looking good.  So he and I went to this little place that I always go to, and the lady did quite a good job on his hair.  She left him enough hair on top to still be able to style it in several different ways, so he's happy. 

Soccer officially starts this coming Saturday, and Juan David finally has a team.  It is a brand new team that's forming for his age group, and they decided to call themselves FC Garland.  We should hear any day now when they will be practicing, what color their uniforms will be, etc.  This is what he's been waiting for--a chance to "show his stuff."

David is catching on to middle school and doesn't seem quite as overwhelmed as the first week.  Juan David still loves absolutely everything about his school.  He had made friends with a Colombian girl a few years older than him, but now he's bonded pretty well with his buddy that rides the bus with him.  He's trying to arrange a way for us to meet him and get to know him so we might let him start spending some time with him.  He's a newcomer to the country, as well, and has been here for about the same amount of time as Juan David.  

Today David had a practice scrimmage on the main soccer fields where all of the games are played.  As I sat on the bleachers with Mike and Juan David, I looked across to the field right in front us and remembered calling Juan David from there on his birthday last year.  What a neat feeling to be able to say, "Hey.  Remember when I called you on your birthday and told you that I was at David's soccer game?  I was standing just over there......."