St Valentine's Day

JKB Bilingual School celebrated St Valentine's Day in a big way.   

As usual,  mainly because of our barriers in understanding the Spanish language, Glenn and I were in the dark as to what was going to happen on the day.   One of my students told me the day before that the children did not have to bring their bags and that all the girls were to wear pink and the boys, red.   This also included the teachers.  No bags at school meant there were no normal lessons.  School officially started at mid-day but we knew that nothing would happen until at least an hour after that.    It was a really hot day and the sun was beating down on the concrete playground.  Most of my boys insisted on playing soccer in the heat while the sweat  poured off them.   The girls stayed inside and chatted under the fans.

We finally got a message at 1pm to say everyone was needed upstairs in the assembly room which was beautifully decorated with pink and red hearts hanging from the ceiling.

A boy and girl student had been selected from each class to take part in a popularity competitions.  The girls were dressed like beauty queens and the boys in casual clothes.  They all had to parade like models, with the boys blowing kisses to the audience and the girls imitating Hannah Montana and other American soapie stars.   The older competitors also performed dances and sang,  advertising their beauty and abilities.  

This nervous little girl from the Prep class was one of the younger candidates.

This was the Grade 1 beauty introducing herself with the help of the Grade 2 teacher.  

This is the female candidate from my class putting on a dance routine while the previous candidates stood behind and watched.  The older girls were very poised in their parading on the modelling catwalk and had learned at a very early age about beauty being a very necessary part of being popular.

  

All the children had to clap loudly to show their approval of each candidate.  My boys were very impressed with the chosen girl from my class.   The 3 boys in red are definitely as hyperactive and chauvinistic as they appear in the photo.

Some of the onlookers were getting rather bored after a couple of hours of speeches and parading.

The week before the special day, the candidates had been handing out sweets and presents to the students in the playground in true political fashion.   The grade 1 student is handing out sweets to improve her popularity with the help of one of the teachers.

Each competitor had a box with their photo attached and the children lined up to put their vote in the appropriate box.   The rest of the day was spent playing well organized games of soccer and basketball in the incredible heat.   Food was for sale and Glenn and I were given the task of selling cups of coke and ice.

My girls who weren't playing soccer or parading spent most of their time playing Uno in the classroom.  

My own feelings aside, I felt the day was a huge success.  There was a wonderful atmosphere in the school on the day, the children were all very well behaved and had lots of fun being friends with each other.  The winning girl and boy, who are both delightful children, were from the Grade 6 class.   The winning boy had handed out basket balls as his bribe to each classroom the day before the event..

I really like the idea behind St Valentines Day in Honduras.  It's known as Dia del Armistad and it's about friends and caring for each other. 

Sunday was the official day of celebrationg in Honduras and we took Vanessa out to tea at our friend's hotel, Grissy's.   We had been promised a big night with a band and a crowd of people.   Unfortunately there were only 2 tables of guests, our's and another group who weren't eating food.   It was still a nice night out with plenty of wine and good food and lots of gossip.