Land of the Poop Log

Sending your child to a school in a foreign country is always an interesting experience.

Girona is now our home for the next ?? years, so certain things no longer phase me like they once did.

The school-home communication is very different here, but I am used to it now.

Imagine my delight when a huge folder of work arrived in Eston's backpack yesterday!

I was so excited to get home and read and look at everything.

Crazy, I know.

Inside the folder was an envelope containing his progress report.

All in Spanish, which was fortunate as it would have taken me hours to read it in Catalan.

I had a conference with Eston's teacher last year, but this is his first "real" progress report.

I quickly scanned it to be sure there was nothing we should be super concerned with.

As expected, the report was incredibly positive and Eston is just as fun, respectful and focused at school as he is at home.

The only comment that freaked me out (well, I am a teacher) is that Eston does not always start his math work on his own.  His teacher has to ask him and she does not have to do this with him with any other area of study in the Montessori classroom.

She wrote that she was not worried because his math skills are solid and where they need to be, but of course I was downloading math activities on the Montessori Print Shop website this morning.

Well, he does have over two weeks off from school and he asked if we could have "Mommy School."

No reason not to throw a few extra math activities in the mix to get him excited about math!

Anyway, I was super proud of his progress and I feel very confident in the school choice we made.

The children often draw and write about emotions in his classroom.

Here are a couple of Eston's drawings that were included in his portfolio:

 I particularly like the day he seems to be wearing glasses.

These are Eston's addition cards:

Here in Girona it is not the norm to give teachers presents for the holidays.

I struggle with this, so Eston made each of his teachers a card and a little craft.

 Okay, do you see the way Eston made his letter "C?"

Have I blogged about this before?

I can't remember.

Anyway, the Catalan alphabet is a little different and he keeps using their "C" which is actually not a "C."

I know, I know…can we confuse him any more?

We are going to work on this during vacation as well.

Eston does not return to school until January 8th.

A lot of parents send their kids to casals, which is like a camp/day care during school breaks.

I am actually excited to have Eston at home.

He is at school from Monday-Friday from 9:15-5:15.

We leave our apartment at 8:45 and in the evenings we don't arrive home until nearly 6pm.

Eston goes to bed at 7:30, so I don't spend a lot of time with him during the week.

We have a whole list of fun things we are going to do and I am very excited.

One thing I won't miss these next two weeks…the crazy drop-off and pick-up situation at school.

Parents park everywhere, often illegally, and I am so over it. 

Very few things frustrate me, but this does.

I tried patience and acceptance, but now I park two blocks away and just walk so I don't have to deal with people who are not courteous to others (and children)!

Evidence can be found below.

This person parked in the scooter parking, making it nearly impossible for any of the high school kids to get their scooters out on the road safely.

They are also blocking half the sidewalk, making it tricky for families to get to their parked cars.

 Most of our friends back home in the USA have their "Elf on a Shelf" at this time of year.

Well, here in Catalunya we have Caga Tio.

He comes out every year on December 8th.

The kids feed him orange peels and keep him warm with blankets in hopes that he will grow (and need to relieve himself from all the citrus).

Some parents go as far as starting with a small Caga Tio and slowly replacing him with larger ones, but we keep it simple around here.

On Christmas Eve we will literally beat him with a stick (we use a wooden kitchen spoon) as we sing the traditional song.

"Caga tió,

caga turron,

avellanes i mató,

si no cagues bé

et daré un cop de bastó.

caga tió!"

And the translation…

Poop log,

Poop nougats (turrón),

hazelnuts and mató cheese,

if you don't poop well,

I'll hit you with a stick,

poop log!

So once poor Caga Tio has been beaten enough, he has to "relieve" himself and will poo some candies and a small gift.

Makes Elf on a Shelf look tame, let me tell you.

And this afternoon at school Eston and his pals will be beating the Caga Tio on their playground and enjoying a little sweet treat afterwards.

Because nothing says "appropriate classroom holiday party" like a bunch of kids hitting a poor log with a painted face.

Aaah, Catalunya, I love you.

Yes, this is NOT a Spanish thing…Caga Tio is only appreciated here in Catalunya, thank you very much.

 Our Caga Tio is keeping himself warm behind some presents.

And yes, he will be ready for a potty break on Christmas Eve.