See You Later by Gabby Velez

I knew that time would probably go by fast but I had no idea this fast. I feel as if our first day at Thomas Jefferson was yesterday. I have definitley fallen in love with this school. The school environment is like no other that I have encountered. The school did an amazing job at making us feel welcome. I couldn´t have asked for a better match with my classroom. I was placed in a kindergarten class with Miss Annemarie and Miss Fernanda. They were both so welcoming and helped me with anything and everything.

Yesterday I was surprised with a good bye party. It didn´t hit me until yesterday how hard it was going to be. My teachers had planned a party with lots of yummy food and gifts. We sat around the table and talked with the kids. Miss Annemarie then had the kids line up and bring me gifts. I was not expecting this at all so of course the tears started flowing.

My Goodbye Party

Before I knew there was going to be a party Miss Annemarie gave the class directions in Spanish. Of course, me being the oblivious person I am, had no idea what was going. I noticed that when I would walk over to the students that they would turn their papers over and not let me see what was going on. I just thought they were being typical kids and didn´t think that much of it. Later, I found out that Miss Annemarie had told the children to draw a picture for me. I was given a copy of each student´s picture in a folder. This was by far my favorite gift. Now I will be able to always remember each student whenever I look through it.

Hugging Julianna after she gave me the book of artwork

I had no idea whenever I came into this experience how attatched I would get to each student. With today being the last day I was full of emotions. When we got ready to leave we sang the Good Bye song like we usually do. Once we sang that to the students, they sang back to me. We decided to tell each other See You Later instead of Goodbye. I would really like to come back to Chile one day so hopefully I will see Kinder C sometime in the future.

                                                      Kinder C with myself and Miss Fernanda