Field Trip #1

Yesterday was my first (and LAST!) field trip with my 3rd graders.  Let me tell you.  It was a doozy!








We all got on the bus fine and it was a fun ride to La Vega, dancing (in the seat), singing, and talking.  We went to see some ruins of La Vega, the city center that had been demolished by an earthquake.  That's when things starting going awry.  Basically, it was a big playground for the kids.  They were going nuts.
 As a teacher, I was freaking out because there were tall rocks everywhere that the kids were playing on, and all I could see in my head was one of them falling and breaking something.  Well, all of a sudden I heard a blood-curdling scream and figured the worst had happened.  When I turned around, all that had happened was a kid had gotten stung by a bee.  DRAMATIC. UGH.  Moms everywhere were comforting this poor child and I just wanted to tell him to suck it up!

Then we made the trip to Santiago, my patience wearing thinner, Jess taking ibuprofen to keep her headache at bay, yelling at kids to sit down and face forward, yelling at moms to be respectful of the teachers' directions, etc.  Diale!  It was insanity.  Then we get to the cultural center, Centro Leon.  We are supposed to see the Modern Art portion (big red flags going up) but then our AMAZING field trip coordinator, Delania, got us in to go see the Anthropology part of the museum.  Super cool and grade level appropriate. Low-light of that part:  right in front of our tour guide, two boys were going back and forth, grabbing each other's private parts in front and in back!  AHHHH!!!  I wanted to die, I was so embarrassed at their terrible behavior. (BTW:  I had to say Anthropology in Spanish about 4 times and it almost killed me.  Tongue twister for the gringa!)  Then we went, for the last 30 minutes, to the Modern Art portion (where the 2nd graders had spent their hour and a half...).  LOTS OF NUDITY.  Jess and I were standing in front of paintings so the kids wouldn't see.  RIDICULOUS.  Delania was so ticked off and it was awesome to see her at work.

Then we finally got to the highlight of the trip:  McDonalds.
CHAOS.
Trying to get kids the correct meals, other teachers being unhelpful, kids running around with their shoes off, playing like crazy, leaving their trash everywhere, being super loud, ay-yi-yi it gives me a headache just thinking about it.
So we're getting ready to leave, I'm cursing the students who just purchased ice cream because they aren't allowed to take it on the bus, and Delania is trying to get everyone out safely to the mothers that she has stationed around the outside of McDonalds to get back to the bus.  All of a sudden a random teenager runs up to me and says, "One of the boys just took off running across the parking lot."  I'm thinking, "I am seriously going to kill the kid that ran in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION of where he was supposed to be."  The teen runs over and sends the little boy back to me, and I am spitting fire.  I cannot even talk I am so angry at him not following directions.  It still kind of makes me a little angry.

We finally all get to the bus.  The ride home is exhausting, hot, and long.  The bus starts pouring water from the air conditioning units.  Parents are getting soaked, kids are getting soaked.  It's a mess.  So the moms end up standing so the kids can sit in their seats.

Seriously, it was a crazy day.

OH:  Story of the day:

 One of the little boys, right as we are getting ready to leave McDonalds, comes over with a soda and an ice cream cone.  "Ezequiel, you know you can't take that on the bus, right?"
Tears pool up in his eyes as he replies, "It's for my mom."
He seriously wanted to take an ICE CREAM CONE back to his mom an HOUR AWAY.
Seriously.   Common sense por favor!

read more about our field trip:  here

at Centro Leon, the cultural center.  (click to make larger)