Fifth Graders

It has been the ongoing joke since we got here that we are all in the 5th grade. It started with us waiting to be picked up at school by our moms and having our moms walk us to school the next day. Then, we all proceeded to wear our bookbags everywhere and plastic watches because we don't have cell phones to tell us the time. We ate what was put in front of us and had minimal conversation due to lack of vocabulary. All of our activity pointed to an awkward 11 year-old.

However, in our reading for GST I came across a quote that explains this better. In the story, "The Chumico Tree," boys are playing a game in the dirt. The author writes,"Each hour turns into a whiff of time, a triumphant cry, a wild joy." This has to be the real reason we feel like we are in 5th grade. Our time here is flying by and filled with wild joys. We get excited to go to the grocery store and are proud when we ride the bus by ourselves. How lovely it is to feel free and be continuously excited by the "small things" in life.

Posted with permission of the author, Jessica Dobyns, from her class journal

Rima de Vallbona, "The Chumico Tree," in Costa Rica: A Traveler's Literary Companion. Barbara Ras, Ed. (Whereabouts Press, 1994), 34-36.