I Discovered the Purpose of Valentine's Day!

That is right...I finally understand what Valentine's Day is good for. But first, I will tell you about my day. And then you will understand.

I volunteer at a school that has kids from ages 3 to 5. I'm working with the oldest kids. Our classroom has maybe 15 and one teacher. You can tell she is so overwhelmed by how energetic these kids are, so I'm really excited to be able to help her out a little bit. For the first few classes I'm mainly just observing, and eventually I will be giving English classes.

Today was my first day working at the kindergarten. It was possibly the hardest day I have had in Mexico so far. Adults don't come running up to you in tears because someone stuck out their tongue at them. They don't lock themselves in the bathroom because they didn't get the same amount of candy in from the piñata as their best friend, and they don't poke and prod at you. That being said, I'm totally used to little kids from babysitting and working at Buckman. But dealing with little kids in English and then in my second language is a completely different story. When the kids come running up to me bawling, I have absolutely no idea what they are saying. Or if I do, I have no idea what to say back.

BUT, today was nice and easy thanks to good old Valentine's Day, also known in Mexico as the Day of Love and Friendship. Patricio stuck out his tongue at you? Patricio, we don't do that on the Day of Love and Friendship! Now hug and make up. Oh, Evelin, we don't throw our lunches at our friends on the Day of Love and Friendship. Now hug and make up.

Seriously, this whole Day of Love and Friendship thing is quite possibly the best thing ever. Not a single fight drug out for more than a few seconds, because no one wanted to be a bad friend during the Day of Love and Friendship. It was so adorable to see all the little kids immediately think about how their actions affected others, and want to say sorry and hug right away.

So, I have come to the conclusion that Valentine's Day was really invented by schoolteachers who needed a break.