A FULL week of work

12 Dec 2011

Typically, I don't work on Mondays. However, I traded this Monday for last Friday so I could go to Barcelona with my friends.

Since I don't work on Mondays, I wasn't exactly sure what classes I was going to be working with and what the teachers would want me to do. During the first hour, I scrambled to put together a PowerPoint about Christmas in the United States for the 6th graders.

This was easier said than done.

Since Christmas is celebrated in both the United States and Spain, it was tricky for me to guess what things were going to be different. Plus, Christmas in the United States is celebrated in such different ways depending on your heritage.

We ran into a few cultural problems during my presentation.

I was explaining to my 6th graders that children in the United States go and sit on Santa's lap in order to tell him what they want for Christmas. Good children get presents and bad children get coal.

One student asked, "Coal? Is it a sweet?"

I was flabbergasted. "No! Of course not! Coal is a punishment for bad children. It's not sweet."

To which the student replied, "No. I had coal once and it was sweet. It's just black sugar."

This, of course, just made me feel old. They are so YOUNG that they've never seen real coal and only know it in the form of a candy.

Later, as I was describing what Santa does on Christmas Eve, one student asked, "Bobbi, do you believe?"

"In Santa Claus? Of course, I believe in Santa! I'm a good kid so he brings me presents."

The student, with a face that said that he thought I was crazy, said, "Bobbi, you know it's the moms and dads..."

"No way. Santa brings me my gifts. He's magic!"

Then, the students started to whisper to each other--giggling that I believe in Santa.