Yesterday was crazy. It was the last day of school before Valentine's Day, so naturally all of the fun Valentine's action, by default, fell back onto Friday. This included noisy carnivals complete with Hannah Montana karaoke right outside my classroom, seniors coming into my room selling cotton candy, students walking into class to pass out roses purchased from the rose sale fundraiser, and shockingly, very little teaching/learning going on in such an environment. Being one step removed from the holiday celebration was interesting and made me realize that Valentine's Day in school is nothing more than a dignified popularity contest disguised in holiday form. Students carried around an armful of roses sent to them by friends, constantly comparing who had the most, showing off candy and gifts received, and constantly judging each other. Others hung their head when they realized no one thought to send them a single rose. Quite frankly, it was disgusting.
By the end of the day, I was extremely frustrated and a day behind on lessons.
Yet, I was so excited for the day to come, but for different reasons - it had been 2 weeks since seeing my street boys and I missed them SO much! I could not wait for the day to end so I could go play some soccer with them and get my weekly hugs. It was a relief when the school day ended and I packed up to head downtown....but then things got interesting. A couple of us decided to ride with our friend Kristi to the field, but after a miscommunication, we were left without car keys and got delayed quite a bit, meaning we were not able to follow our friend Eduardo to the field. Consequently, we had a little trouble finding the field through the confusing downtown, one-way streets. We missed our turn, which took us clear past Parque Central, through the busy streets and eventually found us in the middle of a fight breaking out in the street. Our car came to a stop in traffic and a man ran out in front of us wrapping his belt around his hand ready to fight while a mob of angry people on the other side of the car picked up rocks and bricks. Fortunately, the line of cars started moving again right as the first rocks were thrown and the police came sprinting down the street.
We gained our bearings and made our way to the field......only to be stopped again. This time, there was a large truck and tow truck blocking off the street right in front of the field. They told us they were destroying a car (not sure what that means) and we couldn't pass. It took some convincing to get through, but we made it.
We were relieved to be there by this point, but didn't realize the fun was just beginning. The field was engulfed in smoke coming off of piles of burning garbage right next to the field. Every one's lungs and eyes were burning as we played, constantly inhaling the putrid fumes. Two of the boys there had been in knife fights earlier this week and Jose Daniel (one of my favorite boys) had cuts on top of his head while the other guy got his hand sliced open. After we were done playing, fights began breaking out everywhere. One guy reached to shake Kristi's hand, accidentally bumped another guy, and a full out fight began with Kristi in the middle. They broke them up, but another fight broke out soon after. Next, Rosa, the only girl, started a fight and had to be held back by 2 men as she frantically groped for jagged pieces of brick to throw. She was not allowed to eat because of this and cried and cried - it was heartbreaking. As we were wrapping up the night, everyone began hurriedly running over to the wall surrounding the field and peering over. Curious, we ran over as well. We discovered people were watching the aftermath of a fender-bender as 2 men jumped out of their car, ready to fight the people who hit them.
Like I said, something was in the air last night -- and it definitely wasn't love!!
To make up for all of the chaos and frustration of the day, we headed over to The Micah House to see the boys and celebrated 3 birthdays with them. Nelson (11 years old) would not sit down for dinner because he didn't want to leave me, so he told me he would eat if I ate with him. We took turns taking bites off of his plate, laughing the whole time.
Next, after many goodbye hugs and fake tears from Moises, the girls who went to The Micah street project headed to Chili's for dinner. We then headed over to the Marriott Hotel (very fancy) where our friends Al and Edwin joined us to sing a little karaoke of our own (don't worry, Hannah Montana was not included in the play list!) and then afterwards to McDonald's for ice cream cones. We got home at 1:00 a.m. and happily ended this oddly eventful Friday evening.
Not a very traditional Valentine's weekend, but definitely not boring!
Happy Valentine's Day to all of my family and friends back home --- especially you, Mom and Dad!! Miss you and hope you have a great day!
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