SO, the other day we were celebrating a little girl's birthday in my classroom. After singing Happy Birthday to her "opera style "(they get to choose----that's my personal favorite) she mentioned that she had chocolate to share. Woohoo! At that point my co-teacher said that Sanaya's mom and dad ran a chocolate shop. HMMMM....SO I asked her what type of chocolate that they had and she pulled out of her bag...........LEONIDAS tablets!!!!!!!!!! At this point I was down on my knees, 
okay not really, but I was doing a little dance and gushing to Sanaya how Leonidas is the best chocolate in the world and that I had been to her parents' shop MULTIPLE times (there's only one in the valley). This poor little girl just stood there with her chocolate-deadpan-and watched me do my silent cheer. Yes, Sanaya, I am a nutter......and a HUGE fan of Leonidas chocolate. Don't blame me, I'm merely a victim of having lived in Belgium and tasting the TRUE chocolate.....Now, no other will do!!!!!! I then proceeded to traverse the room and tried to persuade the other students to give me theirs or trade me for a 3-D sticker or good grades or whatever. Just kidding about the grades........hee, heee!
okay not really, but I was doing a little dance and gushing to Sanaya how Leonidas is the best chocolate in the world and that I had been to her parents' shop MULTIPLE times (there's only one in the valley). This poor little girl just stood there with her chocolate-deadpan-and watched me do my silent cheer. Yes, Sanaya, I am a nutter......and a HUGE fan of Leonidas chocolate. Don't blame me, I'm merely a victim of having lived in Belgium and tasting the TRUE chocolate.....Now, no other will do!!!!!! I then proceeded to traverse the room and tried to persuade the other students to give me theirs or trade me for a 3-D sticker or good grades or whatever. Just kidding about the grades........hee, heee!If you think I'm bad, I was so excited about it that I called my brother Chris (who had been on Leonidas store opening countdown for me for the past year, since he lives near there). He immediately responded with "The church is true!!" and "Man, their Gelatto is the bomb- I need to go down there and work my connections...!" See- I'm not the only one........It's amazing how a little thing can make your day!
On the downward turn, I had a student leave because his parents felt that I was racist and because they did not like the demographics in our classroom. Aside from the slur, that idea is laughable because out of 34 students, I think 8-10 of them are Caucasian. The whole scenario played out when we had a Social Studies lesson about different cultures. We then discussed heritage and ancestry. I explained that some of my ancestors came over on the Mayflower-obviously a very long time ago- and that even though I, my parents and grandparents had been born in America, my people originally came from England and Ireland. I then proceeded to ask them if they knew what their heritage was or where their ancestors came from. I put their names on the board and wrote down the different countries.
A little boy named Carlos said he was born in Chandler and didn't know where he was from- but then mentioned his great-great grandpa came from Mexico- so I put Mexico on the boar
d under his name. I immediately got a message from his parents the next day- angry that Carlos had told me he was born in Chandler and that I told him he was from Mexico. I tried to explain that we were celebrating heritage and culture and that it was about our ancestry, but they would have none of it and pulled their child. I felt bad for days that what started out as a celebration of differences, turned into a lambasting for differences. I don't consider myself a racist. I love to try and figure out people's heritage from their last names-but I don't do it to say "Hey you, make me a burrito or do my nails, would ya?" It's more because I find different people and cultures intriguing and love learning about new foods, traditions and places. I think the world is an amazing place and would not be half as interesting if we were all the same. Vive la difference!
d under his name. I immediately got a message from his parents the next day- angry that Carlos had told me he was born in Chandler and that I told him he was from Mexico. I tried to explain that we were celebrating heritage and culture and that it was about our ancestry, but they would have none of it and pulled their child. I felt bad for days that what started out as a celebration of differences, turned into a lambasting for differences. I don't consider myself a racist. I love to try and figure out people's heritage from their last names-but I don't do it to say "Hey you, make me a burrito or do my nails, would ya?" It's more because I find different people and cultures intriguing and love learning about new foods, traditions and places. I think the world is an amazing place and would not be half as interesting if we were all the same. Vive la difference!
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