Pablo's a sweet, quiet, Dennis the Menace-looking eight-year-old Spanish kid. He likes great white sharks and aliens, and every Monday I get to hear how much he enjoys playing Xbox, football and pilla pilla (tag) on weekends. He wants be a fighter pilot when he grows up, loves Italy, and is on his way to being great at English.
During our weekly lessons over the past few months, what was going on in Pablo's head was usually a mystery to me. He's got this cool, unaffected thing going on that makes him so hard to read. His reactions (or lack thereof) to my sometimes outlandish conversation starters often left me wondering things like 'was that a ridiculous question to ask? Does he not want me to be here?' and 'who is the most mature person in the room?'
I didn't expect it, but tonight's farewell left me feeling sentimental! After spending our usual hour talking about bodies of water, animals, UFOs, and aircraft, Pablo's Mom came downstairs at 7:00 p.m. to say that our time was up. To my surprise, before I started to say my goodbyes he looked at me as he searched for the words to ask "what is your...number phone?" I told him through my ear-to-ear grin that his mom had it if he ever wanted to send me a message.
That gave me reason to smirk all the way home and reminded me how awesome my jobs are. I'm going to miss this kid!
So in honor of Pablo, please enjoy his favorite video of the Eurofighter Typhoon in action. You'll see him flying one of these in about twenty years.
