A Fond Farewell

My last day with my students was Saturday, March 26. They arrived in Antigua, arms and heads hanging out the windows of the chicken bus waving and smiling and shouting greetings. The director of the English department, Jeremy, had arranged for a small tour of Antigua for the older English students—to give them a sense of what kind of opportunities a bilingual education will bring them.

Let me back up... to the bed bugs. Upon my return to Guatemala in January, I found my stored things covered in mold and woke up on my second day covered in bed bug bites. What’s more, I had been moved from my old class, whom I had grown to love, at the project. I felt uprooted, a lot lost, and really itchy. My dad once told me that you can’t expect things to change unless you make a change. So I moved. And decided to become an English Teacher.

Now I’ve never taught before. I took on a Kindergarten class, as well as the 5th-6th grade boys. Never quite realized how scary having 30 pairs of eyes, hungry for knowledge and entertainment can be. Or how much fun it can be. To hear the little ones singing “5 Little Monkeys” in the hallway. Or have the boys approach you in the halls and ask excitedly, “English today???” with hopeful smiles. Or have any student answer “How are you?” with “I am happy!”. Suddenly I realized my bug bites didn’t itch any more. I realized I had a place and job and students who depended on me. And just when things seemed to fall into place... it was time to go.

And I ended with the field trip. We took the boys to a Cafe where a Guatemalan waitress explained how speaking English could not only get them a job, but also score them a Gringa girlfriend. The boys went around the table and all introduced themselves in English... “Hello, my name is Alexis. I am in the fifth grade. I like to play soccer.” And so on. And I was choking back tears, trying not to look like an embarassing Mother-type, in the corner-- stupidly proud of them.

We moved on to Hotel Santo Domingo, the nicest hotel and museum in Antigua, where the boys pulled me from artifact to artifact... “did you see this?!” “did you see that??!” and, of course, “how much do you think that is worth?” Their jaws were at the floor. And then it hit me...that it was many of the kids’ first time out of the city.

Finally, we took the boys to the Camino Seguro Hotel, where they hope to eventually train in students from the project to work. We had lunch and soda and ice cream. One of the kids, Jonathan, played guitar with two volunteers. And I could see—these little window...and big doors of opportunities opening for their futures...with English...the hotel...guitar, and of course their education.. So many things becoming possible where they were impossible...the future growing wide.
I can’t explain what it feels like when you realize what it is to be part of a project like this...how my heart lurched-- with some potent blend of selfish sadness and wild hope and happiness for their futures-- when I hugged them for the last time, and they pulled away in the buses, laughing, waving—beaming.