Where to poop, where not to poop

Yes, I was recently privy to this topic at jardin.  Working with 4-5 year old children in another country has introduced me to a new level of energy and equally exhaustion!  Walking into the classroom yesterday I entered a manic scene with the children learning how to use scissors.  There were newspapers everywhere!!  Newspaper clippings up high, clippings down low, clippings in shapes and sights never seen before!  Some of the students took to the lesson quite well and cut all the paper they could, whereas other students struggled.  I was immediately thrown into the day´s lesson and trust me it took all of my internal resources to help teach them how to properly hold scissors in their pint size hands.  It dawned at me that there was a place and time when I did not know how to use scissors and how awkward it is to develop those important motor skills.  When I say awkward I mean awkward.  It is facinating how children can miscontort their hands in such a way that does not even remotely lead to the task at hand.  Let alone having them open and close the scissor enough to cut the newspaper straight is really unrealistic!  I was working with these twin girls and they had a difficult time with my instruction to them.  If they weren´t spacing out then their hands would go limp or fingers would slide out and I only had so many hands to hold the newspaper and show them how to cut.  This process repeated several times and I got interrupted because Diego, my little precious nino, decided he preferred to have his scissors in his mouth!  AY!  Once I safely removed his scissors I had to continue with my other duties in the classroom.  I am not sure if the teacher is really behind with her work, but she gave me a lot of assignments to help her with the childrens´activities.  She kept shoving mucho cuadernos at me and pointed to the task at hand.  With one of the tasks I had to draw an infinite amount of straight lines that the children would later cut.  I started spacing out on the task after my 20th cuaderno because I was tired from the multiple assignments.  She caught me when my lines were crooked!!  She corrected me right away and I was slightly embarrased that she caught me.  But that´s what makes her a good kindergarden teacher she catches people in the important moments and lets the rest go.  I asked her if my work was better and she said, ¨Muy bien!¨ I felt like one of the kids with her praise! Her next activity had the children walking on lines that she drew on the floor.  The lines were straight, curved, and jagged.  She had them walking on the lines together as a class which turned out to look like a mini wrestling session because pushing and shoving occurred once they started bottle necking!  Trying to herd these cattle is a talent that I am still in the process of developing.  During the morning though I heard some of the children mentioning the word caca.  I have gotten better with my comprehension of the Spanish language, however it is bits and pieces.  The word caca is something that I can readily understand.  I was curious as to the rest of the conversation, but didn´t have enough comprehension or vocabulary to inquire more.  Those moments are challenging for me with my gaps in language because I am inept at my job because I can´t speak and instruct to the level that I need.  I had to let it go because there was nothing else I could really do about it.  Later on in the day the teacher got in front of the children and starts speaking.  One of the first phrases that I caught was, ¨No caca afuera.¨  No pooping outside!  She continued on with her instruction on where to poop, and more importantly where NOT to poop.  As I have mentioned I don´t know a lot of Spanish but what I did catch were the words: caca, sanitary, bad, good, toilet, & NO!  Norma continued with the rest of the day´s instruction like it was nothing and the children hopefully absorb her words.  When I got on the cambio that day I was truly exhausted.  I wound up going to bed last night at 8:30pm because they wore me out.  Before I went to sleep I sent out prayers that the ninos that I love and adore have a much better understanding of where to caca, and where not to caca!