It is THE DAY and all I wanted to do at school was curl up in a ball under my desk, but they expected me to work in that place!  The nerve.  So I will tell stories of my kiddies to stop thinking about what is happening over that-a-way.

One of the little kindergartners told me the other day that she came from Boston.  As she is Italian and barely speaks English I'm thinking she may have spent some time in Boston but is not exactly a native to Bean Town.  I asked her if she had liked it and in her broken English she said, "A koon scratch me and bite my head!",  all the while scratching at her arms.  "A KOON?" I asked. (I must admit at this point I was a bit worried.)  "Yes a KOON!. He scratch me and bite my head!"  "A big koon!".  So I asked, in a hopeful voice, (other options would have been too dreadful to consider), if it was an Orsetto Lavatore, the Italian word for raccoon. (translates into "Little washer bear", ain't that adorable??)  And she said YES!  So this is the only memory the poor kid gets out of time spent in Boston.  Being attacked by a raccoon. 

I teach reading to a second grade Italian girl from a massively wealthy, important family.  They own I****, a company that designs autos as well as other stuff for companies around the globe. Her family are all engineers and hoped that she would also do well in maths and sciences.  Not so much.  She is sweet but in a whole world of her own.  I often find her hiding in corners around the school "praying" or "talking to angels" or "just thinking".  Her birthday is in late December and that makes her "almost like Jesus".  Gotta love it.  Tuesday I read a book about Evolution to her class, (always a risky subject as many of the Americans here a "Christians"), and she told me that she was descended from Fairies.  Good to know.  Explains a lot.

 

Parents would be mortified to know the things children tell their teachers.  Since coming back from break my kids have told me:

 

His dad sent mom and the boys to live in Italy to keep them safe.  Yikes. (A Russian second grader)

 

Dad met mom in a bar where she danced with a pole and he brought her home.  They say it's great exercise. (Italian/Eastern European 4th grader)

 

Uncle lost everything, job, house, car and now lives in her basement.  (Italian/American 2nd grader) 

Mom is out all night at the club and sleeps all day so it's the nanny who does her hair.  One of the many mothers much younger than dad.  (Italian/Russian 3rd grader)

From the mouth of babes.

xxoo me