Haley and Zoe each have one of these water bottles that they use at local school. Water bottles are a must-have because most classrooms have no AC. The other students are very intrigued by these fancy water bottles, in addition to the fact that they are called “contigo” which means “with you” in Spanish. Most kids just bring a plastic water bottle in a sock or wrapped in aluminum foil.
Sometimes the fancy water bottles draw a little too much attention. Zoe reports that the other kids in her class like to drink out of it. Without asking, of course. One girl even opens it up, takes out some ice, sucks on it for awhile and spits it back in the bottle. No es bueno.
Personal space is much different here than we are used to and that extends to possessions too. Zoe can’t really ask the teacher to help keep the other kids away because the teacher probably doesn’t see anything wrong with it.
So today I sent Zoe to school with a small combination lock on her backpack, to try and keep her water bottle safe from other mouths. It worked, but evidently it caused a lot of attention as well because everyone was trying very hard to guess the combination. So now there are a lot of fingers on the combo lock. Other than sending Zoe with a CamelBak, I’m not sure what else to do. TIP = This is Panama.
