First of all I�d like to thank all of you who wrote such delightful comments on my worksheets. 
I am very happy to be a member of this community, and currently I�m encouraging all my colleagues to join since this has been a fantastic experience for me.
I am a 36 year-old-teacher, working at public schools for 16 years now. I must say that in my country many times after so many years you get to feel that what you do is no longer valuable. This is due to the fact that the roles have changed, and I believe they have changed not only for us- uruguayan teachers- but for most of us all over the world.
This is the first time I address all of you, and this is because we are about to go on summer break, thus I have more spare time.
The other night I was reading a message left by an Argentinian teacher and she felt really sad because of her class behavior after she had prepared something special for them. This happens a lot at my school. Students have changed, values have changed, people have changed, and sometimes we wonder if what we are doing is making any difference at all. Well, the answer is simple: if you manage to touch one life at least, it does make a difference.
My tutor used to quote someone (I can�t recall who exactly) : "To teach is to touch lives forever", and really, when you see the smile on their faces when you bump into them in the street after years, and they still call you "teacher", though they don�t remember your name, it proves that you touched their lives somehow.
In poor countries like mine, especially in poor schools like the ones I choose to work at, that is what makes being a teacher worth all the effort, tears and exhaustion it may cause throughout the year.
So, there are two things I�d like to say to wrap this up. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of something as great as this community. And dear Spanglish, if you need someone to talk to,who has been in the exact same position as you were the other night, please feel free to contact me.
Once more thank you all!!!! and special thanks to Victor for making this possible
Greetings from Rivera, Uruguay!
