So… I realize it has been a while since I have last posted. My apologies. It is easy to fall into the trap of my life being like a bubble and forgetting to make contact with the outside world. I am alive and well, and continuing to try to take things one day at a time.
We just finished our fourth week of school. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on my students, my classroom, and the material that I am teaching. Everyday is still an adventure. I never can quite guess what will make complete sense to them and what will take three or four different explanations. I am getting pretty good at re-explaining things in many different ways though. My paraphrasing skills are pretty top notch.
My classroom got a bit of a make-over last weekend which has been a blessing! The classroom pre make-over had a very high ceiling that was basically just the metal roof with the exposed metal beams. The lights were also very high. This made the room quite hot, especially in the afternoon as the sun heats up the metal and rather dark. The parents of my students were in our classroom for a meeting a few weekends ago and decided that it was too hot and too dark to work in there. Thus, they raised money to make a drop ceiling (the typical ceiling we have in most schools in the US with the styrofoam like rectangle tiles that slide into a metal grid). On Monday our classroom was very nice and cool, however very dark because the lights had not been moved yet. Tuesday we had lights and coolness. The classroom is like a completely different place. I feel quite spoiled, but I love it!
In other news. We have had many celebrations as of late.
Día del niño Last Friday we celebrated Diía del niño(Day of the children). Students came to school just from 9-12 and had a party all day. The teachers (Honduran and American) did a funny skit as if we were all students in a classroom. We all picked things to mock that happen on a daily basis in our own classrooms. We were quite unruly. Afterward the American teachers did a dance. Us female teachers did a dance to Flo Rida’s Low and the male teachers did a dance to Beyonce’s Single Ladies. The guys were in dresses and everything. It was quite a hit with the students. they loved it.
Día de Independencia
On Wednesday of this past week was Honduras’ Independence day. We did not have school, so we were free to enjoy the day by watching parades, sleeping in, etc. I got invited to go to spend the day with a student’s family. They are Jehovah’s Witnesses do therefore they did not celebrate Independence Day. Instead, they picked myself and another teacher up in the park , drove us to their house (30 min away) where we had the girls show us their rooms, and of course started watching The Princess and the Frog. Then we all (11 of us total: 9 family members and 2 teachers) piled back into the back of the pick-up truck and headed for a river. We got to the place in the river where they wanted to take us so we pulled off to the side of the road and hopped in. It felt soooooo nice to be cold. We splashed and played and ate some lunch and splashed and played some more. Then we went to my least favorite part of the day: the cave. We got to a place further down the river where there was this cave. We began to enter and right away it smelled awful. The wonderful smell of bat poop wafting through the air. We proceeded to go further into the cave and then we had to step in water as the whole floor of the cave was ankle deep in water. I was pretty disgusted as it was from the bat poop which covered all the walls and now I was afraid there would be snakes in the water. Not to mention that now there were bats flying all around me and touching me as they flew by. It was an experience, however I was quite glad when we left. I had bat poop all over me.
Día de la maestro
On Friday it was day of the teacher. Students showered me with cards and gifts. I got numerous cards about how great of a teacher I was and how I was so nice and how they love me. It was quite the ego boost. I also was given some pretty sweet wooden earrings, and snickers bars. Sadly, the boys in my class were up to their same shenanigans and had to have a good talking to on several occasions.
Most importantly though is what I discovered yesterday: Las Rocas. It is this swimming pool that has been created by some gringos from the other bilingual school here in town. They have basically taken a whole bunch of rocks and cemented them together to form this awesome pool. They have a couple high places to jump off of, a place long enough to swim laps, and good food and drinks. They pump the water in from the river and then add some chlorine to it. They drain it out and scrub it down once a month. I feel we will be frequenting Las Rocas quite a bit.
Overall I am still doing well. I still have not stopped sweating. I don’t know that I ever will, but that is something I am getting used to. The water situation is also getting more normal to me. I barely even notice when we don’t have water. I am preparing myself for another week of school. Friday we have a half day for a teacher institute day, so that will be nice. For a late Day of the Teacher celebration we (Honduran and American) are all going to a pool and restaurant on Friday afternoon. I’m looking forward to it already!
