Good thing the walking club is in full force because I think I'm still recovering from Teacher's Day last Friday. Miss Dorin had the 7th grace Social Studies class redo their classroom and transform it into a Honduran cultural arena. The students were dressed in traditional clothes, the room had many wonderful decorations and best of all was the piles and piles of food. We had elote (corn on the cob), tamales, catrachas, baleadas, plantains stuffed with beans and cheese, various breads (corn bread, coconut bread and women's bread), etc. They also had coffee, horchata and atol to drink. Did I say that this was at 9:15 a.m. and was the day after a huge dinner Profe Mabel fixed for all 14 of us at her house? Another parent brought in a huge tray of pastelitos. A student gave me a dessert her mom had made. The food didn't stop. One teacher even got a card that wished him a great teachers day and said he deserved it because of his hair, the way he walks and other beautiful reasons. It was really cute.
Later on Friday evening, Don Wil (a wonderful SJBS father who does nothing but give to the school turned 50. His family had all 14 of us over for baleadas, cake, ice cream and a pinata. It was great conversation until late into the night (ha ha I was home by 10:30 but I lasted hours longer than others:)
This week continues the food fest as we're all going to another SJBS students' house on Thursday for dinner. Friday is a half day for teacher in service and we're having a meeting and then a social for the Honduran and US teachers to mingle. Miss Danelia is making food and we're going swimming - should be fun. On Sunday, I will again be visiting a student's house.
Life is good and things are busy. Student behaviors are changing and more students are being sent to the office for discipline issues. It is interesting to see how parents react when they are called into conferences at the school, even more interesting is to see their children's reaction when the parents are there. I subsituted for a sick teacher for a period today in sixth grade. I'd just come from the pre-kinder room. Boy what a difference in behavior. It was great to see the 6th graders working through the writing process. They were finishing the pre-writing (brainstorming stage) and starting their first drafts. Looked like the start of a lot of good material.
Its crazy to see pictures of people back home in sweatshirts and jackets. Its still in the mid 90s here on a daily basis (actual temperature), let's not even talk about the what it feels like temperature. Two pairs of shoes have died on me in my short three months (one pair of chacos - don't worry I'm going to see if the shoe repair man in the market can fix them - and a pair of flip flops). My computer is slowly coming back to life (thanks Giulio) but I still don't know how to download pictures with this new set up. Baby steps I say. I'd heard before I got here that laptops come here to die....I'm going to challenge this and hope my laptop is still going strong come July 2011.
Tomorrow I'm off to renew my visa for one month. Hard to believe that I've been here for 3 months already!
Fun With The Parents December 2010
Fun With The Parents December 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Honduran Independence Day
Today has been a great day! Started the day off right by doing a load of laundry (crazy when your whole wardrobe fits into one load of laundry!). I then went downstairs to the main square and watched the independence day parade. There was a great marching band and some of our students in attendance. Great fun. This was followed by an 1 1/2 hour hike to a waterfall. One of our scholarship students studying in San Pedro took us to the waterfall in Naco (a nearby town). The water was cold - which was perfect to wash away all the sweat from the hike. Then got all sweaty again on the hike back. Best part of the day - the one lempira topgigio I got when we got back to Naco. Its a frozen popsicle in a bag - it was pineapple and delicious! Here are pictures of the day. Just kidding about the photos. My computer had to be wiped clean the other day because it was very virus infected (the internet guy came and told me to stop using the internet with my computer until it was cleaned properly). Fortunately enough one of the teachers is very smart when it comes to technology so he cleaned my computer properly; now I don't know how to download my pictures from my camera. Hopefully, it will be an easy process to figure out (and for those who know me well can you believe how many photos I've actually posted?)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Dia del Nino (Kids Day) and the weekend
Dia del Nino
It is a holiday taken very seriously in Honduras. It is a day to celebrate kids. There were several disussions amongst the parents of each grade and plans made to celebrate the day. The school day was from 9-12 and all of it dedicated to celebrating kids. At 9:00 we started with some fun skits/dances by the teachers. The Honduran teachers went first, then all the teachers together did a skit (ending with some of us getting punished by the students and having to dance alone in front of the whole school - yes I had to do this!), and finally a dance performance by the US teachers. Students and parents laughed a lot. Then each class went back to its classroom where the rooms were decorated with balloons, pinatas, games and tons of food (pizza, chicken, garlic bread, cake, ice cream, candy, etc.). We only had one pinata accident (they scare me with blindfolded kids swinging sticks and everyone clammering to the ground when candy starts to fly). Overall, the day was a success and several sugar high kids went home happy at noon.
In terms of the start of the school year, families take a financial hit. They are required to buy uniforms (for everyday and one for PE), pay their matriculation and monthly payment (this amount varies from kinder/prepa, primary school an secondary school), 50 lempiras for drinking water, school supplies (each student isgiven a list of items to bring to school for the school year (notebooks, poster paper, toilet paper, hand soap, markers, crayons, etc.) torches (if they want their student to participate in the torch parade) and each class buys all the treats for Dia del Nino (some parents were required to pay 100 lempiras or more per student for the festivities). I know for our scholarship families that this can be quite a burden. I hope costs go down in the coming weeks.
I left for Teguc after the festivities ended to visit friends for the weekend. On Saturday, there was a free concert "Orgullo Catracho or Honduran Pride" in the central park. I went with my friend Ana (a single mom who works a lot but she took the day off to hang out with me - she's my hair stylist :)) The concert had all of Hondurans most famous musicians (our friends from Montuca Sound System played first), there was a bachata band, regueton, Guillermo Anderson and Paloche. Ana and I had a great time. I got really sunburnt and we also got soaked as it poured for about 15 minutes. The concert was free and it was so great to see Ana out and enjoying herself. It was a well deserved break for her. I spent the rest of the weekend introducing my friend Mando to the world of facebook. I think we will soon need to do an intervention to get him off the computer but it was great to see him connect virtually with friends from years past.
Our soccer team lost its first game by one goal in penalties on Thursday. I went on a home visit on Thursday to a very pleasant family and had a wonderful chat with the mother. It is great that families are so open and kind inviting us into their homes and sharing their food and ideas with us. It is great to get so many families perspectives on the school and what they want to see happen with the school. In my busyness of the week I did not get to skype with my dad before he left for Minnesota. I hope he catches tons of fish and hope he knows that I love him (love you too mom - we'll talk this week). Mom informed me today that her Aunt Karen died last week. Heaven has received another good one.
Off to bed, but will post some Dia del Nino pictures first. And a final shout out to Katie Saur and Mary Russell - thanks for the awesome care package - you guys are the best!
It is a holiday taken very seriously in Honduras. It is a day to celebrate kids. There were several disussions amongst the parents of each grade and plans made to celebrate the day. The school day was from 9-12 and all of it dedicated to celebrating kids. At 9:00 we started with some fun skits/dances by the teachers. The Honduran teachers went first, then all the teachers together did a skit (ending with some of us getting punished by the students and having to dance alone in front of the whole school - yes I had to do this!), and finally a dance performance by the US teachers. Students and parents laughed a lot. Then each class went back to its classroom where the rooms were decorated with balloons, pinatas, games and tons of food (pizza, chicken, garlic bread, cake, ice cream, candy, etc.). We only had one pinata accident (they scare me with blindfolded kids swinging sticks and everyone clammering to the ground when candy starts to fly). Overall, the day was a success and several sugar high kids went home happy at noon.
In terms of the start of the school year, families take a financial hit. They are required to buy uniforms (for everyday and one for PE), pay their matriculation and monthly payment (this amount varies from kinder/prepa, primary school an secondary school), 50 lempiras for drinking water, school supplies (each student isgiven a list of items to bring to school for the school year (notebooks, poster paper, toilet paper, hand soap, markers, crayons, etc.) torches (if they want their student to participate in the torch parade) and each class buys all the treats for Dia del Nino (some parents were required to pay 100 lempiras or more per student for the festivities). I know for our scholarship families that this can be quite a burden. I hope costs go down in the coming weeks.
I left for Teguc after the festivities ended to visit friends for the weekend. On Saturday, there was a free concert "Orgullo Catracho or Honduran Pride" in the central park. I went with my friend Ana (a single mom who works a lot but she took the day off to hang out with me - she's my hair stylist :)) The concert had all of Hondurans most famous musicians (our friends from Montuca Sound System played first), there was a bachata band, regueton, Guillermo Anderson and Paloche. Ana and I had a great time. I got really sunburnt and we also got soaked as it poured for about 15 minutes. The concert was free and it was so great to see Ana out and enjoying herself. It was a well deserved break for her. I spent the rest of the weekend introducing my friend Mando to the world of facebook. I think we will soon need to do an intervention to get him off the computer but it was great to see him connect virtually with friends from years past.
Our soccer team lost its first game by one goal in penalties on Thursday. I went on a home visit on Thursday to a very pleasant family and had a wonderful chat with the mother. It is great that families are so open and kind inviting us into their homes and sharing their food and ideas with us. It is great to get so many families perspectives on the school and what they want to see happen with the school. In my busyness of the week I did not get to skype with my dad before he left for Minnesota. I hope he catches tons of fish and hope he knows that I love him (love you too mom - we'll talk this week). Mom informed me today that her Aunt Karen died last week. Heaven has received another good one.
Off to bed, but will post some Dia del Nino pictures first. And a final shout out to Katie Saur and Mary Russell - thanks for the awesome care package - you guys are the best!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Week 3
Its hard to believe that today is only Wednesday, its been a long week. Monday started by going to school and starting with our normal acto civico AND then out came the traditional folkloric dancers. Fun...they performed four or five songs and then got all of the US teachers out in the middle to dance punta (a lot of fast hip and butt movements). Kids all day long kept coming up to me and saying that I danced well. How kind of them. After school I had two meetings and didn't get home until 9 p.m. I had my first meeting with the scholarship parents. We covered a lot of information and even held elections. This is the meeting where I was to be mean. I got applause after the meeting and accomplished all I wanted to so, so far so well. The board of directors meeting for the school is always long and starts 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour late but we covered a lot of important information.
Tuesday, I helped in the kindergarten and first grade classes for most of the day. Then came home and cooked a stir fry for fourteen people and led a team meeting.
Today, walking to work I saw three teachers from the other bilingual school here in town get mugged at gun point. A car sped past me, stopped where they were walking, two men got out and took the teachers backpacks, etc. No one was hurt but everyone was badly shaken up. After reporting what happened to the police and making sure the other teachers were ok and got where they needed to go, I helped again in first grade. In the evening we attended the annual desfile de antorches (parade of torches). Its an annual tradition for schools to participat in. We got there early and were the first to parade. I've added some photos from the parade to this page. It was followed up by eating baleadas at the 6th grade fundraising stand! Excellent food and I think they made a fortune on their sales.
Tomorrow, we have school as normal and then our first soccer game of the year. Its confusing as some think its an 8 and under game while others think 3-6 grades can play. Guess we'll find out tomorrow. I am then helping tutor a student studying in San Pedro Sula through our scholarship progam from 4-5. At five I'm going to do a home visit (and hopefully get some really good food out of the visit :)) Then we have dance practice.
Friday is Dia del Nino (Kids Day). We are having a party at school from 9-12. School gets out at 12. The parents of each grade organize a huge party for their kids (I'm talking pinatas, cake, ice cream, pizza, juice, etc.) It starts with an all school assembly where we have to perform and make fools out of ourselves. That is why we have dance practice tomorrow night. I plan to take pictures of all the sugar highs on Friday a.m. as well. Friday afternoon I'm headed to Teguc to see some friends and relax.
Tuesday, I helped in the kindergarten and first grade classes for most of the day. Then came home and cooked a stir fry for fourteen people and led a team meeting.
Today, walking to work I saw three teachers from the other bilingual school here in town get mugged at gun point. A car sped past me, stopped where they were walking, two men got out and took the teachers backpacks, etc. No one was hurt but everyone was badly shaken up. After reporting what happened to the police and making sure the other teachers were ok and got where they needed to go, I helped again in first grade. In the evening we attended the annual desfile de antorches (parade of torches). Its an annual tradition for schools to participat in. We got there early and were the first to parade. I've added some photos from the parade to this page. It was followed up by eating baleadas at the 6th grade fundraising stand! Excellent food and I think they made a fortune on their sales.
Tomorrow, we have school as normal and then our first soccer game of the year. Its confusing as some think its an 8 and under game while others think 3-6 grades can play. Guess we'll find out tomorrow. I am then helping tutor a student studying in San Pedro Sula through our scholarship progam from 4-5. At five I'm going to do a home visit (and hopefully get some really good food out of the visit :)) Then we have dance practice.
Friday is Dia del Nino (Kids Day). We are having a party at school from 9-12. School gets out at 12. The parents of each grade organize a huge party for their kids (I'm talking pinatas, cake, ice cream, pizza, juice, etc.) It starts with an all school assembly where we have to perform and make fools out of ourselves. That is why we have dance practice tomorrow night. I plan to take pictures of all the sugar highs on Friday a.m. as well. Friday afternoon I'm headed to Teguc to see some friends and relax.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Week 2
Its funny how in some ways time seems to fly by and in others it lasts forever. Week two of school was a bit like that. I've continued observing some classes, co-taught and taught a course and felt very overwhelmed at times. I also had my first meeting with the elected group of representatives from the scholarship families. I learned a lot from them that will help me with Monday's first general meeting with them but also felt a little deflated. The basic jist of what they kept telling me was that since I'm a woman everyone will try and take advantage of me - I need to be mean. I don't want to be mean. I've continued following the policies and procedures put in place by the last administrator but for some reason everyone thinks I'm inventing my own feminine way of doing things that is not as good as the manly way it was done before. There is also a food war going on at school between the glorieta "cafeteria" we have and a rival pulperia "store" that's selling our kids junk food. Got to figure out a way to solve this as well.
In terms of the classes, they are great to observe. I spent some time in our middle school classes and am impressed by their levels of English and the books that they are reading. The first grade teacher was a bit under the weather this week so I was her voice for several classes - I'm learning a lot of kid songs. The Honduran Civics teachers went home sick on Friday so I was her replacement for 1.5 hours yesterday afternoon. That was fun since there wasn't much work for the students to do.
A highlight of the week was a trip to San Pedro Sula for some supply shopping. We purchased a new lawn mower for the school as well as some new mattresses for our apartments. All went well. The school guard who helps a lot with the cutting of the grass was like a little kid on his birthday when he saw the new mower. He often just sits and stares at it in his spare time and has spent several hours mowing already.
Tomorrow we have our first PTA like meeting - should be very beaurocratic and interesting. Today is a down day finally and I think I'm going to SPS to a movie and to check out some air conditioning. Next week we begin getting some time off for holidays. Friday, Sept 10th is the dia del nino (day of the kid). It is a party with the families at school in the a.m. and we get out at noon (think I'm going back to Teguc for that weekend - also some band friends of our are playing in Teguc that weekend). September 15th is Honduras' independence day. September 17th is dia del maestro (day of the teacher); we're not sure if we get that day off or not yet :)
I think the hardest part of my job so far is hearing the families talk to me about their economic hardships. One parent closed themself in my office yesterday for about a 1/2 an hour and talked about all the debts they have, how they may have to remove their daughter from school and how neither of the parents in the family are working right now. I don't know what to do in these situtations. The person gives so much to the school and works occasionally for the school but since the daughter goes to the school the person feels bad charging the school what they should for the work completed. Since the daughter gets a scholarship this person wants to thank the school by helping out but in the end its compromising the livlihood of the family. Heartwrenching.
Last night I went on my first home visit with another teacher. We learned how to make flour tortillas (I know how to make the dough - we learned how to slap them out into cirlces with just our hands - no plates or rolling pins). The food was great and the company very fun. Its great to see the kids in their natural environments.
Everyone in the US enjoy your labor day weekend. I'll celebrate that day in May with the rest of the world. Until next time.
In terms of the classes, they are great to observe. I spent some time in our middle school classes and am impressed by their levels of English and the books that they are reading. The first grade teacher was a bit under the weather this week so I was her voice for several classes - I'm learning a lot of kid songs. The Honduran Civics teachers went home sick on Friday so I was her replacement for 1.5 hours yesterday afternoon. That was fun since there wasn't much work for the students to do.
A highlight of the week was a trip to San Pedro Sula for some supply shopping. We purchased a new lawn mower for the school as well as some new mattresses for our apartments. All went well. The school guard who helps a lot with the cutting of the grass was like a little kid on his birthday when he saw the new mower. He often just sits and stares at it in his spare time and has spent several hours mowing already.
Tomorrow we have our first PTA like meeting - should be very beaurocratic and interesting. Today is a down day finally and I think I'm going to SPS to a movie and to check out some air conditioning. Next week we begin getting some time off for holidays. Friday, Sept 10th is the dia del nino (day of the kid). It is a party with the families at school in the a.m. and we get out at noon (think I'm going back to Teguc for that weekend - also some band friends of our are playing in Teguc that weekend). September 15th is Honduras' independence day. September 17th is dia del maestro (day of the teacher); we're not sure if we get that day off or not yet :)
I think the hardest part of my job so far is hearing the families talk to me about their economic hardships. One parent closed themself in my office yesterday for about a 1/2 an hour and talked about all the debts they have, how they may have to remove their daughter from school and how neither of the parents in the family are working right now. I don't know what to do in these situtations. The person gives so much to the school and works occasionally for the school but since the daughter goes to the school the person feels bad charging the school what they should for the work completed. Since the daughter gets a scholarship this person wants to thank the school by helping out but in the end its compromising the livlihood of the family. Heartwrenching.
Last night I went on my first home visit with another teacher. We learned how to make flour tortillas (I know how to make the dough - we learned how to slap them out into cirlces with just our hands - no plates or rolling pins). The food was great and the company very fun. Its great to see the kids in their natural environments.
Everyone in the US enjoy your labor day weekend. I'll celebrate that day in May with the rest of the world. Until next time.
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