Barf and Birthdays.

Today was quite an eventful day in second grade.
It was one of my students' birthdays. And birthdays are a big deal here. We had been counting down on our class calendar for probably two weeks. So we all were excited and sang the birthday song. With the Guatemalan/Spanish verse that gets added on at the end. It goes something like "Queremos pastel, chocolate tambien, da da da da da da da (I forget this part)... y queremos pastel!!" Which means "We want cake. Chocolate too. (Part I forget that means something like "even if its just a little piece") We want cake." And then they count from one to however old the person is turning. Thank goodness my kids are young, so we only counted to eight. It was pretty fun.

Later in the day we had a little party. And here's where things get exciting (and a little graphic. Consider this your warning). First of all, the first class party is a big deal in and of itself. There was cake and candles involved. The parents were there. Good times. Until one girl says to me, I don't really want cake. And I was responded, that's okay. Just don't eat it. Clue number 1 that something was wrong.
Clue number 2: 5 minutes later she comes up to me and says "Miss Tusing, I don't feel well." And at this point, I didn't need any more clues. She looked like she was going to puke. Oh crap. What do I do? I have a class full of students with a party, and a girl that's probably going to hurl at any moment. I asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom and sent her on her way. As she covered her mouth. Oh Lord. I looked out the window to make sure she made it to the bathroom okay, not really knowing what to do at this point. Probably a teacher fail moment for me, but I'm learning, okay.
Two minutes later a high school student knocks at my door, and informs me of what I feared. Yes, indeed, my student was puking in the bathroom. At this point I went to get her. I didn't leave my class completely unattended-- I asked the 1st grade teacher to listen for them. And the party continued during all of this.
So I find her, and she has splattered vomit all over her. Gross. But the saddest, most terrified, "I feel awful" eyes you've ever seen. I felt terrible, and I wanted to give her a hug, but that was not about to happen. I took her to the office and made several trips back and forth to my classroom to get her water, wet wipes, and belongings. I must have looked like an idiot. I was freaking out. Internally of course.
I'm just glad that this did not occur inside of my classroom. Lord knows what I would have done. I probably would have thrown up too. But alas, I survived the throw up/party! Check and Check.
In other news, I got invited to the student's "real" birthday party on Friday after school. That's common here, but it will be my first one. Oh, the social life of an elementary school teacher.

In other news, some of the girl teachers have started a small group. We are reading through Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I've read it before, but it was a while ago. And for me, I'm honestly just enjoying the community aspect of it. It was great for me to go and just talk about the Lord for a while.

And this is completely unrelated but I have a new goal for this year.
Don't be a pushover.
More to come, I'm sure, but I just wanted to write that one down.