Sunday Snapshot: Dia del Cariño

Well, I must say that Valentine's Day 2013 was by far the most interesting Valentine's Day I've ever had. It even made up for the fact that I couldn't even be with my Valentine back in the States. (Yeah. It was that entertaining.)

We started off with Central Primaria. We knew we were doing a gift exchange... but upon our arrival we realized that it was only between the teachers, rather than with the students too. Oops. So that was awkward. Fortunately, I picked Jess so my kid-appropriate frisbee and bubbles stayed in the family. (Don't worry, we played with the bubbles after the event.) From the receiving end, we got some pretty great gifts. I got a purse made of recycled traje! And Julie got this amazing wallet with her name on it. The teachers were hilarious, shouting "beso! beso!" (kiss! kiss!) every time someone got up to present their gift to their "secret friend" (sounds much less sketchy in Spanish).

After that and a few meetings, Ja, Jess, and I stayed for the event at Central Basico.

Here's where it gets good.

The event started out with the most brilliantly awkward dance competition I've ever beheld. The teachers literally had to force kids out of their seats to dance with an opposite sex teacher. (Would that happen in the States? Never.)

Flori looks like she's sentenced to death, but really she is just asked to dance. 

Lydia (the principal) and her primero partner, rocking some moves.

Woohoo!

My personal favorite: Alba & Romeo

After an excruciatingly long time, a few couples were finally selected (as you can see above). The couples were eliminated one by one based on crowd votes. When couples were eliminated, they smiled and jumped for joy. Clearly, no one wanted to be part of it. Finally Lydia and a different partner won. (There was some awkward shuffling of partners after the first round.)

Following the dance competition, there was a gift exchange among the entire school (teachers and students alike). Every time two of the students came up to exchange gifts, the teachers would yell "abrazo! abrazo!" (hug! hug!)... but the students were just not into that, either. Watching how awkward they were in presenting their gifts to their secret friends was just priceless.

Notice they won't even make eye contact.

I'm pretty sure Ja, Jess, and I were laughing more often than not. It was so fun to sit back and watch Middle Schoolers be their awkward selves. And laugh about how hard the teachers were trying to make it even more awkward. :)

____

IN OTHER NEWS, today Ja, Julie, and I slaved away at our living room. Prior to today, this room was basically uninhabitable. It was so dirty and disorganized that no one ever wanted to set foot in that room. But now, it looks beautiful!

Julie and I scrubbing like crazy!

The final product!

So there you have it. Lots of awkward photos of middle school kids and a clean living room. I'd say it's been a pretty great week here at MPI-G!

-Nicole