Merry & Bright.

'Tis the season. :)

Photos from this month’s school events: Dia Internacional de Personas con Discapacidad Parade, Recycled Art Fair, the Clothes and Toy Drive, Christmas Party for Former IDENE Students, and the 2011 IDENE Christmas Party. December has been fun - community events, Christmas celebrations, and a lot of dance parties (even featuring a little dembow from Santa - see video at the end!) 

Dia Internacional de Personas con Discapacidad Parade: Parade organized by the school. Many schools, officials, and organizations from Mao came out to support. As December 3rd is International Day for People with Disabilities, the parade served to raise awareness and support for the students at our school, and for special education in general. A great morning! And the kids had fun carrying the banners and walking through downtown Mao.

theme of the parade: "yo tambien soy parte de el mundo." sign lettering made from bottlecaps by 1ro y 2do Basica students

post-parade sing-a-long

Recycled Art Fair: (Remember our art fair last year?). This year's fair had even more people in attendance! After the parade, many visitors and friends came out to the school to see the crafts made from recycled materials that the students have worked on. It was wonderful to have so many visitors to the school and show off how creative the students and teachers here are! (Note: this activity was funded partially by the Kids to Kids grant we won!)

my favorite craft this year! purple soda bottle octopus (:

3ro y 4to Basica students and their class's art table

PCV friends visited to check out the art fair!

modeling the handmade bags 

Pre-Primaria students and their art table

Clothes and Toy Drive: During the last month, students have been collecting clothes and toys to donate to families in my neighborhood, Buenos Aires for Christmas. Here are photos of sorting the donated items and then presenting them to the families!

organizing the clothes donations 

sing-a-long before presenting the donations

donated clothes and toys from IDENE students to families in barrio Buenos Aires

Christmas Party for Former IDENE Students: This party marked the first use of the new pool area at the school! I've posted pictures here and there of the construction over the past year, but here it is now all finished. Most of the students who came back for the party attended years ago when the school first began. It was great to see what the students are up to now! Many are finishing 8th grade or have started in high school, one is working in the military, and two are working at IDENE. Fun to think of what current students might be doing 10 years from now!

setting up for the party

photos from Christmas parties past 

Simon showed up for the party

a bit of bachata 

pool inauguration! and new half of the school

all of the former students & friends who attended!

2011 IDENE Christmas Party: So much fun! Here are a few photos from the day, and you can see a few more on Mao's website. Lots of dancing, of course!

Alejandro in the Christmas spirit!

more bachata dancing!

...oh! here's something - guess who Santa called up and forced to sit with him first. ay dios mio!

singing and dancing with Santa

Santa gave presents to all the students...

...then got down on the dance floor!

champagne & chocolate Christmas present from the school!

So that’s been Christmas so far! More to come soon, no doubt. 

Have a lovely start to the season - safe travels and enjoy every moment. 

XO