15 December 2010

Got Your Nose

I now ride a different bus home from school, sometimes. All in all, this is a pretty good solution to the whole Bus-Driver-Who-Hates-Us thing. Because we end up actually closer to our house, in town (where we can buy food if we so desire) and have the added bonus of getting to sit with segundo de basica students.

These 6 year olds are my favorite. Jharyf and Joel are very energetic, and they sit with me and offer me licks of their lollypops and ask me to do magic (Dad, the taking off of the finger trick works wonders, let me tell you). They get extremely excited about EVERYTHING, for instance when I do the whole "Got your nose" trick. And sometimes, they say very random things like "I'm hungry, I think I'll eat your ear". But all in all, I really like that these students like me, and sit with me on the bus, and wave frenetically when I get off and say "No te vayas...Bye profe bye profe!"*.


I think I actually like kids now.



*Don't go...bye teacher bye teacher!

14 December 2010

Reading makes me think, which makes me miss government.

This morning I missed the bus. Sadly, this means that I don't get to spend 40 minutes with 10 just-waking-up jardín students (possibly the time where they are the cutest, and easiest to handle) and I walk 20 minutes to the bus stop just to pay a taxi so I could get to school. But there are sometimes perks, such as having a chat with the woman who owns a shop near my bus stop. And getting to eat breakfast at a small cafe, which had PIE. Pie de mora (blackberries) which was $1.00 (less than half then at the name brand "Pie Shop" around the corner) made it almost worth missing the bus. And reading the Universal House of Justice's Statement on Individual Rights and Freedoms made me an incredibly happy camper this morning.

This post is mostly dedicated to the Universal House of Justice, and how amazing this Supreme Body is. For those of you who don't want to click on the link above, the UHJ is a body of 9 members elected by the Bahai's every 5 years. They guide the Bahai's on a global level, both spiritually and administratively. The statement I read this morning was written in 1988, and addresses the role of individual rights and freedoms in the New World Order. And I understand that this may be gibberish to a lot of the people that are reading this, but if you have some time on your hand, I encourage you to read it. It has an eloquence that I aspire to write with, it is about a topic that is truly relevant to everyone, and makes you think: about our state of the world, and the potential we have been endowed with to create a better one.

Anyways. I am becoming more interested in the Administrative Order of the Faith since I've been here. It brings what I love about government (I'm still not actually able to define what I love about government, though...) with the harmony and...(can't find the word, but its the feeling you get when you see a plant under the microscope and understand how all the cells work on a microscopic--no, molecular--level, and just have this overwhelming awe at the dual complexity and simplicity of the world) of the Bahai Faith. And I just wanted to share that with you.

Also, in this statement (Paragraph 21, to be exact) it mentions Hobbes, Locke, Jefferson, and Mill. And I was thinking, I kind of miss We The People, and government class. But don't tell anyone I said that.

Oh, and in other news: Yesterday I had my ear eaten by two segundo students. More about that later...