School Anniversary Part 2

August 31, 2017

I woke up thinking it was a normal day of school for the most part. I had been told the exchange students were going to be presented to the parents of other students and that I would be singing, but other than that I assumed my day would be pretty normal. Not quite.

After I arrived at school with my camera, my day started slightly different. As soon as I walked past the office, two girls from the Primaria spotted me and started pointing at my jacket. They asked me questions and told me how beautiful it was. They were super cute, and I like to talk with children because their Spanish is more basic/easier to understand. After I had answered their questions, I walked through and sat in the commons. Eventually the morning ritual began and we got into our morning lines. My grade was pretty impressed with my jacket.

Inside "Courtyard" of my school

Once classes began, the exchange students all had gym with Quinto. Except our schedule's were messed up and Quinto didn't actually have gym, they had math. When this had happened before, the exchange students simply went with the class written, not the grade. So after arriving in the math class, I tried to explain to the math teacher what was going on. Except she didn't like the fact that I was trying to get out of her class so instead she just said something I didn't understand and made me sit back down. So instead of getting to go play volleyball with my friends and maybe communicate in Spanish, I had to take a math test. Now I do love math, but with this math teacher (I have 3) she won't allow the exchange students to use calculators. Now I can handle basic math without a calculator, but I can't do trigonometry without one, so I did two problems on my math test before turning it in. After turning in the test, I wasn't allowed to talk (meaning I couldn't practice my Spanish with Peruvians) and I got yelled at when I started going through photos on my camera (not sure why, can't really cheat with it). After I turned in my math test, I went to talk to the teacher again to see if I could go to gym, but I got told/yelled at that I had to wait. By this point, I was done with the teacher so I just sat in silence.

Eventually our first class was done. The exchange students were supposed to have class with Segundo for communications (Spanish). Except Segundo didn't have communications, they had history. At this point, we were all a little frustrated so we went back to the office to talk to the office lady. She told us to go with our grades, which was confusing for me because I am in Cuarto but I am also kinda in Quinto because I have so many classes with them and I get to do stuff with them. I ended up going with Cuarto which meant I got to be with my friends. We did a running drill and volleyball drills. Here I feel very athletic compared to the Peruvians (the gym teacher agrees). After the hour was up, Quinto joined Cuarto for gym. We played volleyball until the gym teacher called all of the exchange students over and people from Quinto.

It was here we learned that we would be walking with the school flag. Jeanne and I nominated Tiia to hold the school flag (as she was much taller than both of us), which meant she not only had to learn the directions we would be going, but she had to learn how to command us in Spanish. We practiced a few times, asked Jesus to tell us the words again even more, and eventually got ready. After that we ate and hung out with our friends. We all took some pictures...

L to R: Me, Jeanne (France), Tiia (Finland)

I love them so much!!

Tiia and I didn't bring our flags...

Con estudiantes en Quinto

y cuarto!

After pictures, I went to ask the office lady what song I was supposed to sing for the school. All I had been told was that I was singing. I didn't really know what or when. I had sung for the competition between grades, so I assumed I would be singing the same song, but I wasn't really sure. After talking with her, she told me I would be singing the same song. I then proceeded to a find a random secluded part of the school. I ended up singing near the stairwell in a room filled with gym supplies. The room has a set of bars that are a kind of window that look out to the second set of stairs. After I began singing, I started to draw a crowd of kids from my school. I talked with some little girls and smiled at the older kids that looked surprised. Eventually I stopped practicing and went back with my exchange students so that we could begin this ceremony.

It was honestly so hard to act serious during this ceremony, but us exchange students somehow managed to make it through. After the flag procession, we just stood there for a while (until the gym teacher got the flags stands). After that, I went and got my camera back from Chumpi. After a while, I went back to my grade and we sat and watched the rest of the ceremony. I talked with my classmates, shared popcorn, and took some pictures. After some time, I went back upstairs to put my stuff in my backpack. After going upstairs, I found out that we didn't have school the next day. I then got invited to go hang out with the Peruvians on our day off. After that, we watched one more dance performance, before school ended. Then, I set off and took the bus home.