This week I went into Zoё's class as one of five guest speakers to discuss our home countries. I spoke to four groups of students for about 10-12 minutes each. It's funny what you focus on in a short time about such a huge country. I covered landscapes, sports, animals, people, food, and music. For all categories I basically said we have a HUGE range and diverse options. I LOVED talking about the statue of liberty and how she represents the foundation of what USA is.... "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" I am not sure if the majority of Americans still see the USA in this way but it's our history; our foundation. I often feel that people who don't know the USA (particularly kids) think of it as all Caucasion - so it's great to dispel these myths.
You wouldn't believe how many kids talked to me about Trump. Every single group of seven year olds asked me about him in one way or the other. They all asked me if I liked him. I heard, "Does Trump hate women?" "Why does America love guns?" "Why can't Trump stop all of the guns?" "Does Trump hate black people?" "Why does Trump hate Muslims?" "How did Donald Trump win the election?" "Why is he your president?" (None of the questioners were American children). Some of these questions were quite difficult to answer to young children. I was there in my striped American flag knee socks, my cow girl hat, sporting USA temporary tattoos and blasting American music - stumbling over the world's view of our country. I get it. I really do. It's just hard to explain to kids because I have trouble accepting it myself.
It was still fun and the kids loved their temporary tatoos and salt water taffy passed out at the end of our session.
Liz's sister, Kate, also came in as a guest speaker with year four to talk about child slavery (pertinent to their current studies of children's rights). She said she was blown away by the knowledge and questions of this year group. Andie told me all about it and again I was proud of her passion in this field. Here they are on the day of Kate's presentation.
One of my favorite parts of my job is the girls' group I run. I LOVE it. I love the conversations. I love the girl's passion and how it keeps me up to date with the kids. I love how we have real talk about being a girl and all that it means to fully develop to our potential. This year's group has started out awesome. This week we played the m&m game which led to lots of laughs and some insight too.
Here is a photo of my typical ride home in a taxi cab. This one has it all; the palm air freshener, the bula shirt, the Fiji flag, the plastic seats. Love it.
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Good Morning little crab on the front stoop....
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This has been another week of fabulous sunsets. Soaking in all of them!
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