Christmas Greetings

My warmest Christmas greetings to all of you. Don't know if I've done 'a day in the life of school' so here is some.
School began the first part of August and goes till the middle of June. Students attend classes either in the morning from 8 till 12 or in the afternoon from 1 till 5. In our school we only have morning classes. We are working this year with Kindergarten and Grades 1, 2, and 3. They are called “Pre-primario, Primero, Segundo, and Tercero’ in Spanish. Most of the time we have 40 students (18, 10, 8, 4 respectively) but attendance for some is very sporadic (pardon the ‘big’ word but I can’t think of what else to call it). Even all the parents don’t appreciate the importance of daily attendance. All the children walk to school from the neighbourhood.
They usually arrive anywhere from 7:15 to 8:15 but most of them are on time. Opening is held outside with prayer, the raising of the flag, singing their National Anthem and then O Canada in French (the founders of the school are from Quebec). The children are also led in a prayer by one of the teacher, which they all repeat. I guess that is the way that children here learn how to pray.
On Monday morning there is the announcement of ‘Student of the Week for each class’. This person is chosen by the teacher from the previous week’s performance in academics and behaviour and they act as the Teacher’s helper for the week that they carry the title. On Friday, they receive a prize from the ‘Surprise Box’.
Each class has their own daily schedule of courses- mathematics, reading, comprehension, art, Phys. Ed., etc. I teach English to Tercero on Monday at 9:30-10:10. After recess, I have Segundo from 10:30-11:10. On Wed., I have Pre-primero at 9:30 –9:50 and Primero from 10:30-11:10. On Thursdays, we have Chapel and on Fridays at 7:30 we have started providing a breakfast that is prepared by Suzanne, Gaetan and myself. Can you imagine being able to walk out in your yard and pick an orange or a coconut for your breakfast?
On the school property we have orange, coconut, and avocado trees and beside my house there is now a poinsettia tree blooming just in time for Christmas.
Like you, we are decorating and singing and preparing for the holidays. We will have a party on Friday the 18th for our final day. We will return to class on Jan. 6th.
Christmas traditions here are different from ours. My Spanish teacher was telling me a little bit about it this week. The Christmas excitement starts around the 12th when the employers start giving the bonuses, which are required by law. Then the spending begins. On Dec 24th in the evening they have a feast, usually pork that has been roasted on a spit. This is usually done now at a shop and people go and buy it by the pound, but if the family is very large they may roast their own pig. Some also have chicken. I haven’t learned about the church services yet but at the Haitian church that I attend there will be a concert on Christmas night with singing and drama.
There is freedom of religion here and most of the people are believers on some level. You can sometimes hear Christian music (I can tell because I hear words like Dios (God) and Jesus or sometimes I recognize the tune) playing loudly in the neighbourhood (remember the living here is all done out doors and not inside your house).
The excitement for the children comes on Jan 5th when before bed they put grass and red soda pop under their bed because the Wise men will come and their camels will need to eat and drink. Next morning you might find a gift where you left the grass. If not, you can hope that on Jan 7th,the old woman of Bethlehem might come. She visits the poor children who did not get anything from the Wise men. I think that’s how it works although I may have gotten it somewhat mixed up because of the ‘language barriers’.
Because of TV, the influence from the N America can also be seen in artificial trees and flashing lights as well as the usual commercialism in the stores. It may also carry over into the way the gifts ‘arrive’.

Thank you for your prayers. We can actively see the warfare taking place here and the need for constant prayer for every step we take. Have a blessed time of resting and fun and remembering Christ who left His Heavenly home to come and rescue us.