Yesterday was Teacher Appreciation Day. It meant we spent the morning sitting outside watching a parade of students present flowers to the school administration. They walked up in pairs of boys and girls with massive flower creations (some shaped like eggs, some shaped like chickens, some just crazy flower creations that I've never seen the like of before) and bowed to St. Peter and then to the adminstrators and then to the teachers and then scooted off stage on their knees. There were prayers and speeches and songs (I even got to sing "Shine Jesus Shine" with my fellow teachers) and the ceremony took all morning. Then yesterday afternoon, I didn't have to teach any classes.... because the kindergartners were practicing for their special ceremony for us that would happen today.

So today, I was appreciated again! And this time was simply so much more adorable than yesterday. Because tiny little four year old girls stood up and gave speeches and the flower arrangements were often bigger than the student attempting to carry them. And, today, I actually knew the students who were up on stage and man.... they may be hugely frustrating sometimes, but they are also absurdly adorable. When kindergartners sing they basically cover their ears and then yell as loudly as they can. They don't sit still well, unless they've fallen asleep and a couple of them spent the entire ceremony fascinated by the ceiling. So damn cute.

We never had a celebration like this back home. We never had a day that was absolutely about students appreciating their teachers . I like that they do that here. Before the ceremony, I was afraid the students would actually be bowing and presenting flowers on their knees to me personally, and the idea of that was a little intimidating. I don't feel enough like a teacher to deserve that yet. But as it was, I got to watch from the sidelines, included at a distance, and know that the ritual being enacted on stage was for me, but more for teaching and education in general. Certainly something worth commemorating.