A few weeks ago we were told that Ella's school would be taking all the kids on a field trip to the Casa de Liberdad. It's a museum of Bolivia's history. I was excited for Ella! I knew of this museum as we had visited it before with John's parents when they visited. I started to wonder, however, how interesting this museum would be for a group of 3-5 year olds AND how they were going to get all the kids there.
If we were in the US I'm sure all the kids would come home with some kind of waver to sign. Then there would be some kind of sign up for parents to come help as chaperons. Finally, for sure there would be some kind of school bus to transport the kids to their destination. Now, I knew it wasn't going to happen that way exactly...but my thinking was more along those line.
As the day approached, I noticed signs up in Ella's school encouraging parents to meet the kids at the school around 10:30 am to be a part of the field trip. I assumed this would be to help keep all the kids on the sidewalk as we ventured to the museum, which was a good 8 blocks from the school. So the big day arrived, and I went to Ella's school just before 10:30 am. There was already a decent crowd of parents outside the school doors. About 10:45 the doors open and out march all the kids, in perfect rows of three, out into the middle of the street. They continued to PARADE down the middle of the street all the way to the museum. Did I mention there was a 15 piece band accompanying them? Of course then you have all the parents walking along with their camera's and video's running. It was quite the spectacle! Not to mention all the traffic that was backed up in the streets.
I soon began to realize that the "parade" was just as much a part of the field trip as the actual museum. It took about 45 min for the kids to get there. They were at the museum for about 15 minutes, got their snack, and then it was time to go home. It was quite the experience, unexpected, but fun!
Front of the parade processional
I think Ella was a bit unsure of what was going on at first.
They were paired in three, in most cases two boys with a girl in the middle. As you can imagine with 3 year olds the pairing changed frequently. By the time the parade got to the museum, Ella was holding the hand of a 5 year old British boy.
After a while, Ella got the hang of it and was enjoying herself.
Here's a good video of the whole parade, from the front all the way to the back where the band was!
5 comments:
She is just so precious in that uniform!
We had a field trip (sadly, no parade) a couple weeks ago, and I thought, too, about all the legalities that would've been required in the states. Nice change :-)
Hey John, Jennie and Ella! Great job on your blog...you are so CURRENT and mine is not. I have no idea where life is getting away to but it is not happening for me on the computer these days. I'll try to catch you on skype to finish our conversation that was really noisy ( because of ALL my children) ! I love you and want to catch up SOON!
So neat to hear about the fun stuff going on! Ella looked so cute too!!
Hello! It's been a pleasure to review your blog. I learned of your work from John's mother, Roseann, when I visited with her at our recent class reunion. You and your family are quite special. You are contributing in important ways. You are blessed!
Sandy (Shaw) Courter, Madison, Wisconsin
Ella is too cute in that little uniform! Looks like she is continuing to adjust perfectly to the Bolivian culture!
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