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Published: February 27th 2009
Friday (27) was Día de La Bandera all over Ecuador. Basically it is a celebration of the 7th graders, kind of like 6th grade graduation in the States. Except it's during the year. It is a recognition of the students' academic achievement. A couple schools get together at one of the campuses for the event. We (Susan, Nicole, and I) went to Tangaley, about 35 minutes away from Otavalo, with the 7th graders, Nancy, Lucila (teachers) and the moms of the kids. We weren't really sure what to expect, but it was actually pretty cool. Each school has an Ecuadorian flag that they march with. The top student is the Abandadera (flag carrier) and the next 2 students are Escoldas and walk behind the flag bearer holding ribbons attached to the top of the flag pole. The other students entered first and stood in groups by school facing their flag classmates. Marcos is the top student at Larcacunga, José second, Tarquino third, and then Norma and Anai. Everyone marched in, kind of like at the beginning of a gymnastics meet, except actual marching. First the 5th and 6th graders formed a perimeter around the edge, then the 7th graders, and finally
Día de la Bandera
left to right: José, Marcos (holding flag), Tarquinothe flag bearers. Then there was the National Anthem, some speeches, and then each kid took turns marching up to the flag, kneeling, kissing it, and marching back to line. Then at the end they all marched out.
There were 7 schools there, about 60 7th graders total and about the same number of 5th and 6th together. Some schools (including us) only brought the 7th graders. Out of the top students it was pretty much exactly half girls, half boys.
I probably did a terrible job with that explanation, but oh well. Pictures will help it make sense. It was a pretty neat way to recognize the top students and we were all proud of them. Afterwards there was food, rice and beans in a big tub for each school for the students and parents and then food somewhere else for the teachers. We ate with the kids and then afterwards bought all of them and their parents icecream to celebrate. Then while we waited for Lucila and Nancy to finish eating we initiated a game of freeze tag.
It's nice to have small groups of the Larcacunga students like today so that we can actually get to
Día de la Bandera
Marcos, our flag bearer know them. The 7th graders were the most into the water fight the other week so we already knew them some, but today was really fun! The younger kids are adorable, but by this age (12) they're actually old enough to have a conversation with. We can (and do) joke around with them, tease them, actually get to know them, so it's a lot of fun! Plus they're all good kids with lots of energy and we get along well. Some of my favorite kids! Before the ceremony started (we got there almost an hour early) everyone was just hanging out so it was a good chance to get to know our kids and their moms. The moms all were really nice and seemed really happy to be there and really proud of their kids.
On the way back (all of us piled into the back of a covered pickup truck) we sang lots of songs, in spanish, english, and kichwa, some that we all knew and some that we took turns singing. Lots of laughing and joking.
It was definitely a really fun day and I'm really glad we got to know our oldest kids better!
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doug eby
non-member comment
water
so, did the water all end on Wednesday?