Maestro Thomas

As I went to the ATM machine by the Jardin today, I noticed that one of the teachers from Laurel and Bryce's school was sitting on a bench by himself, so I went over to say hi and talk to him. This was Maestro Thomas, the third grade teacher. When I first saw him at the opening day picnic at school, I thought to myself "this is a really cool dude." So I was excited to be able to talk with him one-on-one, and I sat next to him on the bench for a while.

Thomas is originally from The Netherlands, but hasn't been there for 24 years. He has taught in Africa (Tanzania, South Africa, Rwanda and other places), Egypt, Lebanon, France, Costa Rica, and now Mexico (and maybe some other places I have forgotten). He has done Waldorf for fourteen years. At the school event last week, we saw that he is an accomplished saxophonist and flautist. His twenty year old daughter is living in Tanzania right now, and we had a discussion about white people in Africa - and in particular young women - and how she almost got in trouble while talking to him from Africa on her cell phone, were it not for the police. Thomas told me that working in Mexico is cake compared to the other places he has been.

(I'll try to get a photo of Thomas later...)

Our conversation was entirely in Spanish, and while I could have slipped into English (since he speaks four languages), I have found that school teachers here are the easiest to understand. Taxi drivers and Margarita can be the most difficult. I don't get all the words, but usually there is enough context so that I can figure out the conversation. And everyone here is patient enough to explain words I don't understand.

I'm envious of those kids that get to hang out with Thomas every day.