Me Gustan Tus Zapatos...: Sant Jordi 2013

Sant Jordi is hands down one of my favorite holidays here in Barcelona. It's the Valentine's Day of Spain but better. Streets are lined with kiosks of flower and book vendors. Men give women roses and women give men books. It's a beautiful exchange and you see men and women walking around holding their precious books and roses all day.

But my favorite part of Sant Jordi has always been the festival at the kids' school. Normally it's just the elementary school and maybe some volunteer upper grade students. But this year it was actually grades nursery - 11th. It was a looonnngggg afternoon but well worth it. Every time I see this festival, I get teary. This is a big reason why I'm so glad my kids got to have the experience of living abroad. They are learning about culture when they don't even realize they are learning. And learning goes beyond math, reading and science - it's about the arts, language, culture and more. And every time I see this festival I think, "we are so lucky to experience this and god, I love this school!". Every time. This year was no different.

However, this year, Liam actually participated in the dancing part. The last 2 years his classes only did a little mini parade before the elementary started the performances. But this year he's a big kid and he is in elementary now and it shows. While all the grades did a great job, I have to give big kudos to these kindergarten kids - it's their first big performance, it's a lot of steps to memorize and they were amazing!! I actually think that theirs was one of the best performances of the day just based on what skill sets they have at age 5/6 and the complexity of their dance compared to the other grades. But maybe I'm just biased :)

Liam and his partner, Ruby... she was a take charge kind of gal as you'll see in the video

Liam chatting with his friends before the festival starts

It's kindergarten's turn! Liam is the third group on the right....

Liam and Ruby are the second group on the left

The boys on their knees, soooo cute! Liam is the 2nd boy on the left

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi1W2D0rwmk&list=UUyt6kiLugGYJxi2bfgGMRmw&index=1

Liam's performance - watch for Ruby making sure that Liam is standing "just" right

Aidan was actually pretty excited about his dance this year. Normally he shies away from this kind of stuff. But I think being partnered with his best friend, Max, made all the difference in the world. He was all smiles which melted my heart - I loved that he was having fun with this!! I did notice that the moment he got back to his class he was immediately stripping off the polo shirt and the Vanns. Some things never change I guess :)