ALL OTHER EVENTS.......................

Rather than write a post about each event separately, I am throwing them all together in one. Writing chronologically, after the pool party and final exams we went directly into the "alumno de calidad" event on the afternoon of Wednesday 14th May. This event honours the highest achieveing students across a range of categories.

Elizabeth Laredo Castro, congratulated in her distinction as a high quality student by her tutor Rozenn.

Mauricio comes to the stage to collect his award.

Then, that same evening was the official "ambigu" (this is a word to describe a formal meeting with light food and refreshments served afterwards) with parents. It was a pleasant evening that involved various speeches from the Director of the Campus, and two selected students from the graduating year. It was a chance to celebrate student achievements before the official day of graduation, which is more of a formal event where their diploma is received rather than a time to contemplate and reflect. No pictures from the ambigu I'm afraid.

The official graduation photo came the following morning, Thursday 15th May. I don't have a copy of this electronically but below are some informal photos that I took with students.

Girls-only photo, and I will write their names for the benefit of my future memory - Left to Right (Top) - Darinka Beltran, Jessica Torres Haro, Alejandra Garcia Durazo, Galia Reyes Bernal, Maria Laura, Carolina Felix Robles, (and at the bottom) Georgina Navarro Rojas and Daniela Felix Ramonet.

Boys-only photo, and I will write their names for the benefit of my future memory - Left to Right - Carlos Guerrero, (Warrior) Alejandro, Mario, Carlos Efren, (Carlos II) Oscar Toledo and Narciso.

The "political" couple Ana Madrid del Rio and Diego Ballasteros.

The offical graduation came next, Friday 16th May. I was sitting up on stage behind the Directors of the School anf invited guests, to proudly watch all of my students receive their diplomas one by one. I also had the honour to watch some ex-students from the University also graduate and receive their degrees, as well as 3 of my students in the University from this semester who were finishing.

Graduation Photo with Juan Pedro Cota, Fernando Biebrich and Narciso Romero Pineda.

Next, and finally, was the official student-organised party, held at the Casino building in Hermosillo. I went along with another John from LA who teaches English here, and stayed until the end. It was a good party although I didn't realise that I would be so encouraged to dance and participate by the students! All in all a really nice night and a fitting way to congratulate them on the next stage of this journey called life.....



John

End of the Semester Events 2 - Final Exams

Final exams, ah don't they hate them! With good reason too, for I don't make them easy. However I decided this time to have mercy and apply exams that were relatively easy in their requirements, with the exception of an analysis section at the end.

Grading the exams were easy, the real problem this semester were the essays that I set - must remind myself not to ask for 140-odd essays and expect to have them graded in a week - what a nightmare!

End of the Semester Events 1

Finally I can begin to note the various events at the end of the semester. I will begin with the pool party on the last day of classes. This was a nice event that took place before the students' final exams, and it is also a traditional event - not only for both students and teachers to relax in a more informal atmosphere, but also for the students to realise the tradition of throwing the teachers into the pool! This is of course the form in which revenge comes for all of those semesters where teachers were screaming at students to be quiet!

It was all in all a nice affair; I resisted getting thrown in until quite late, because I didn't arrive until 3.45pm because of an English class in university. One of the French teachers here also contributed to the conspiracy to find me and throw me in the pool by alerting a group of male students to my impending presence in the sports building next to the pool - hmmm thanks for that! I will remember for quite a while a group of 10 guys waiting outside one of the sports offices for me to exit. I finally resigned myself to my fate and allowed them to carry me down to the pool and throw me in, all in full public display. To top off a nice afternoon, I didn't waste any time getting out of the pool to indulge myself in the pizza of which there must have been about 50 or more! I also had the good fortune to take a pizza home that fed me for 2 more days.

This was event number 1 to celebrate the end of the semester.

End of the semester, so much happening.....more to come

Well I haven´t written for a while precisely because so much has been going on!! In a nutshell, final exams, the swimming pool party, a meeting with parents to celebrate the impending graduation, the graduation photos, the actual ceremony, the student party afterwards, and Jana´s wedding. I will comment on all of these ASAP and post some pictures too. Also I´m due to visit the UK in a couple of weeks and I look forward to it!