Feliz Dia de San Valentin...even in Honduras

So tonight when I went on my regular nightly jog I ran into one of my students and his mom. They live down the street from us. He couldn't wait until tomorrow to give my Valentine's gift. It was so cute. So here I am standing in the street with my Valentine's. But wait! I just started my jog. I couldn't just leave the Valentine in the street. The ants are brutal (and fast) here. And I couldn't very well jog with it. Well, I guess I could have but that would be a little like bragging to all the other people who didn't get an early Valentine in the street. So I went over the big house to drop it off where I knew it would be safe until I was done jogging. Totally love that I got an early Valentine gift in the middle of the night. I heart this place.

This same student decided last week that he would now be called "Richard". His name is "Ricardo". Or actually to his mom he's Andre. Somehow all kids here have two names and the one their families call them is never the one I call them.

I don't have any idea where he learned that Richard is Ricardo in English, but good for him. And how did he tell you that he wanted to change his name? I'm glad you asked. He just wrote Richard on his paper. Like, "There. That'll do it. I feel more like a Richard. It's official. I wrote it on my math paper."

This kid also goes by "Chino" cause he has small eyes and that's what all the big kids started calling him. And to Hondurans anyone even resembling anything Asian is chino. At first I wasn't sure he liked it, but I asked him and he was cool with it. At one point he was writing "Chino" on all his papers.

I think the lesson here is: let the kid be who he wants to be.