Ok so the Thursday of Semana Santa was stupidly busy so I just went to Rainbow Cafe (my favourite in Antigua) for the afternoon, ate some lunch there and wrote a few letters. On Friday, it was the busiest I've ever seen Antigua. It was absolutely heaving, the processions started at 4am and didn't end until 1am on Saturday morning! You could barely walk down the streets for all the people who were there to see the processions. I guess it was interesting and I don't really feel like there's anything else quite like it in the world, but I didn't particularly like it myself, I prefer a more tranquil Antigua. I ended up just relaxing for the weekend but going out on Friday and Saturday night with the waitresses from Rainbow who I'm now friends with, they are both so sweet! Love them. It was really good fun and really random.

This week has been a tough one, I told my kids on Monday morning that it was my last week and they were all like nooooooooooo and really sad and some of them were moody and angry with me and didn't work. On the whole though this week has been good fun, I've been getting Alex to do the lesson planning so that I could spend the evenings how I wanted for my last week, and we have generally be doing more fun things during the week for them. I was getting pretty sentimental all week though knowing that I had less and less time with them. On Wednesday night I ended up going out randomly, planning to go home early and get a good night sleep. Got in at 1am, OOPS!

Friday, my 19th birthday, a day which should be good fun, was one of the saddest, hardest days that I've yet had in my life I think. It started off good, I got to the school and they set off fireworks (not ones that go in the air, just really loud ones that go in the streets) and it nearly gave me a heart attack, it was so funny! I screamed and everyone laughed at me. On Thursday, Pedro (aka God's gift to the world, literally the best child known to man) wasn't at school and I was panicking that he wouldn't be there on Friday. I absolutely love that boy to pieces, luckily he was there on Friday morning before everyone else, so I just hugged him and refused to let go, argh I love him. I almost started crying at various points during the day, Chelsea and I were both a wreck (it was her last day too). My kids kept telling me not to leave and asking when I was going to come back.

So let me tell you about Sandra. When I first came I thought she was really sweet, that was when Jenny, Clase Atitlan's old teacher, was still there. She just sat at the back of the classroom and got on with her work and is pretty intelligent. When Jenny left, she became my nightmare, she was by far the worst behaved in the class. She sat there and refused to work because she didn't want to, ran out of the classroom, constantly asked to go to the toilet, distracted the others, etc etc. Gradually she warmed up to me, and became the sweetest thing. It was still hard to get her to work, but as she liked me she wanted to work for me, she brought me flowers and came and sat on my lap all the time. She is the one who told Alex that she wasn't going to work the day when I was ill because I wasn't there and he wasn't her teacher. The letter/card she made me translates as this:

To Joelle,
Thankyou so much for coming here and for teaching me many things, you are a very beautiful and very kind teacher. Please don't leave. Thankyou for coming into our grade to teach and I will miss you very much, this is the most sad day of my life because you are leaving and you're never going to come back.

That made me absolutely ball it. I had to wear Sarah's big celeb sunglasses when Chelsea and I went to sit on the seats by the door for all the kids in the school to hug us goodbye because I knew that when it came to my class I wouldn't be able to hold it together. They saved mine and Chelsea's classes til last to leave, and I am also really close with some of the boys in Chelsea's class. As soon as the first kid in my class came up and gave me a letter and a hug I started crying. I wanted to say goodbye and to look after themselves to each of them but I could barely talk. When Cesar (absolute legend who I adore) came up I was shaking and when Pedro gave me a hug I never wanted to let go.

Also, let me just mention Yoselin. She is a little madam to say the least, but she is always full of energy and always happy (other than when she's having tiffs with other girls in the class), and I really really love her loads. All day yesterday she was really quiet and weird, and I asked her what was wrong and she would smile and say "nothing" then carry on just sitting quietly colouring. Her letter made me cry too. Anyway, she was in the line to hug me and her eyes looked all watery. I still had quite a few kids to hug goodbye, and whilst I was saying goodbye to them I glanced up and saw her sitting in a chair in the classroom. When everyone else had gone she came and gave me a second hug and she was crying and said how much she was going to miss me. I couldn't even speak. It really was the hardest thing I've ever had to do to say goodbye to my morning class I think.

After they all left I went other to Elena's house over the road (the woman who pretty much runs the school, cooks for us etc) to go to the loo and Greyci (her daughter) saw that I'd been crying loads and she started crying too and gave me a hug and told me that she didn't want me to leave. When we had lunch we got given cousha (reeeeeally strong shot) and afterwards a big delicious birthday cake and everyone sand happy birthday to me which was nice. We also listened to the Backstreet Boys whilst we were eating, which naturally made it all the better! Haha. The afternoon was a bit of a drag because I felt so emotionally drained from my class, but it went pretty much the same as the morning, with me a hysterical wreck by the time all the kids had gone. I love all my kids in both classes to bits, but I feel a lot closer to my morning kids than the afternoon ones, so I was able to hold it together pretty well. That was until Cindy came along. She is an absolute sweety who I love to bits, she is sooooo kind, she really does not have a bad bone in her body, sweetest thing ever. I was giving my boys hugs goodbye and they left, she was next in the line, stood there for a second and looked at me. When I saw how sad her face looked I just burst out crying for the millionth time that day and she started crying too and gave me a hug. I know that Chelsea found the afternoon harder than the morning.

After all that, we went over to Elena's house again and they gave us presents and said how grateful they were to us for coming and giving our time to be with the kids. I feel like they were really sorry to see us go because we had been there the longest there by then apart from one other girl, 3 and a half months is a long time and we know them really well by then. We were both crying and so were Elena's daughters. On Thursday night Chelsea and I made a big photo montage on an A2 piece of green card with photos of us and our classes, we both wanted to keep it but we gave it to Elena and her family, and I think they really appreciated it. Volunteers normally give them some alcohol or something similar, but this was really personal and I think it meant a lot to them. I can't begin to describe how difficult the day was. My head was throbbing by the end of the day from crying so much.

On the upside, we went out in the evening and had a good time! I just couldn't help being a little bit upset though throughout the night. Today has been weird, I've had to pàck up all my things ready to leave for Honduras at 4am. Chelsea and I are about to go out to eat together one last time, the last time we'll be able to see each other alone for a long time. Then I'm going to Rainbow to watch Luke and his band play one last time and to say goodbye to him, his parents, and the waitresses. I think I'll probably definitely end up crying again.

One thing that is for sure is that my time here in Guatemala has been absolutely incredible and I'm never going to forget it. I really hope I can return one day soon, I expect next summer, if I can get the money together. Honduras really does have a lot to live up to. I guess only time will tell, but I'm sure I'll enjoy myself no matter what, even if I am sad to leave here.

Hasta la proxima vez,
Joelle
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