Student Council & Valentines Day!

Last year Olivia ran for Student Council, and lost. She was the new kid who moved in 4 days before the school year started. Her teacher said "good risk-taking" which is kind of an understatement when you come home from school and realize no one voted for you but...YOU :-)

With one year under her belt, Olivia has risen to the top. Things kids made fun of her for on the excursion bus (like her American accent- they would imitate it really loud from the back of the bus) she has turned into a strength. Below is her campaign speech, which she gave in front of her new year 4 class. 

 I wasn't sure how it would go over, but she WON by a large majority- and the class is actually giving some American traditions a go :-)

For Valentines day, the task of each person doing a Valentine for everyone in the class was a bit daunting. There are no little card packs in the grocery stores here and Valentines is not really for kids, but for adults. In addition, Chinese New Year always overlaps with Valentines day and with a very large Asian population here in Oz, Valentines takes second place.

To ameliorate this dilemma,  the teacher decided they would put names in a hat and each person would draw one out. The name they drew out was the one person they were supposed to be nice too on Valentines day. Olivia got her friend and not the boy who is mean to her (aka- the boy who has a crush on her), so she was very happy.

When the kids got home from school- we had a Valentine in the mailbox from Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Tengelsen. They were the little Valentine cards sold in the American stores that I had tried to describe to my kids. They were over the moon to see what they looked like and I was happy to see one too!  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

For my Valentines, Stan sent me long stem roses with a beautiful card- his cards are always the best! Happy Valentines day!