On Saturday, SJBS got in the Christmas spirit with its annual cena navideña (think Christmas pageant). All staff arrived at 9 a.m. to begin the decorating process (that was started earlier by Miss Amarilys and I). We proceed to make candy canes out of PVC pipe, a balloon arch, set up seats for about 500 people, and decorate a chair for the school’s queen (a 5 year old in kindergarten). Everyone dispersed to their houses to get dressed up. It was great seeing the teachers all look so nice as well as the students. Around 4 p.m. the fun began. In true Honduran fashion we began with a prayer and several opening remarks. We then moved into the student performances. Imagine the following program:
Kinder- If You’re Happy and You Know It
Prepa – Jingle Bells
1st- Rudolph
2nd – Frosty the Snowman
3rd – Dance mix to three songs
4th – Own version of Jingle Bell Rock
5th – California Dreaming
6th – Little Drummer Boy
7th – Home
8th and 9th – No Woman No Cry
US teachers – Carol of the Bells followed by Feliz Navidad
We also had a great performance singing by a 4th grader, a 4th grade ballet solo, a choregraphed dance by two 9th graders and a song composed and sung by a 9th grader. This mixed in with Santa Claus, several gift raffles and a nice dinner.
Today, began the last week of 2010 at SJBS and is the beginning of a very festive week. On Wednesday, we are having a bachelorette party/bridal shower for our Honduran Director who will wed on December 19. On Thursday, one of the families is inviting us over for karaoke, dinner and drinks. On Friday, we celebrate the service of two teachers leaving SJBS (one Honduran and one US). Most teachers take off for the US later in the a.m. on Friday but those who stay may be invited to a welcome home party for a much loved SJBS student. All the festivities and plans make it seem more like the holidays (since we don’t have the snow on the ground to remind me its winter).
Fun With The Parents December 2010
Fun With The Parents December 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
A long time coming.....
Things have been crazy to say the least. The last couple of months have been filled with malaria, traffic jams, visits from the states, trips to Tegucigalpa, new babies, handing out of grades for the first quarter, school soccer games, community backlash about kinder enrollment, dead rats and fumigation, an engagement, many and I mean many arts and crafts. We also successfully celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving and we enjoyed a Hanukkah party last night. I’ll do my best to explain in more detail, but first I want to share my favorite sign in all of Cofradia – it is hand written and taped to the outside of a house I pass every day on my way to school. It says “Leña, platanos, conejos y mas” or “Firewood, plantains, rabbits and more”. Interesting, no? Kind of makes me wonder what the more could really be.
Not long after our return from Belize one of our teachers was diagnosed with malaria. He is fine and fully recovered but when he received the lab results from the local clinic he and I decided it would be good for him to get those lab results confirmed at a clinic in San Pedro Sula. We left around 2:30 in the afternoon and noticed a car accident on our way into San Pedro. Little did we realize that that small accident would turn our three our tour into an almost 24 hour ordeal. I have never seen such a traffic jam. We got the teacher the needed meds and hopped into a cab to get back to Cofradia. Three hours later (by this time 9 p.m.) we were stuck in the traffic jam with no out. It was dark, we were far from Cofradia and our cab driver told us he was returning to San Pedro. Fine we said. We’ll find a hotel and return in the a.m. We get to the hotel and the cab driver wants to charge us three times what we had originally agreed upon. Fortunately, the hotel owners were very kind and helped us out greatly. The hotel was cute and was quiet (we both slept a solid 11 hours), clean, had hot water and included a really good breakfast. So in the end it ended up being fine and we returned to Cofradia in the afternoon of the following day.
Not long after that we had several visitors from the US. Last year’s administrator, who currently works for BECA in the US visited and helped in so many areas. We also had two mothers visit and spend time at SJBS.
The first parcial (quarter) ended and we handed out grades. It’s hard to believe that it’s December already and that we’re now almost done with the second quarter.
Late October graced us with an invitation to a Halloween party in San Pedro Sula hosted by teachers at another bilingual school in San Pedro. Costumes were elaborate (those who know me from last year’s Halloween party don’t worry I did not dress up this year either). I think what was mostly noticed by BECA’s teachers was the difference in life style between teachers (and students) at EIS and SJBS. They make the equivalent of a US teachers’ salary, they have fingerprint scanners to get into their school, and their students have bodyguards. The teachers live in great condos, have air conditioning, hot water, and they can afford to buy real Halloween candy, etc. Needless to say, we were like country cousins coming to the city. But the teachers are awesome and have invited us several times to play ultimate Frisbee and hang out so I guess we did not make such a bad impression.
There were a couple of weeks in early November that were not pretty. It all stems again from the list of students who were accepted into kinder next year. Families not on the list were complaining and bad blood between differing sides was aired for all to see. It was a very tense and often uncomfortable time for me, but thankfully those who had their doubts reviewed the work that we did and have not been back.
The rest of November moved along quite quickly. We had a local school supply store come and teach our students manualidades (arts and crafts) – and I mean only the ones who paid to participate in the activities. This was divided up by grades (kinder and prepa), (1st-3rd), (4th – 6th) and (7th-9th) over a two day period. This was to be a two hour project for each grade. Not nearly so. The organization was not prepared at all. Supplies weren’t ready (nor were there enough), no one really led the activities, and one project even took about 6 hours to complete (the lucky ones who finished). I had glitter all over me, glue everywhere and a short-liveed hatred for art projects after those two days. From now on our own Honduran teachers will be teaching the US teachers how to do manualidades so the teachers can incorporate them into their classrooms and we don’t have to worry about cost or lack of preparation.
A lot of my spare time in November was spent figuring out how to prepare a turkey (we had no meat thermometer nor did the turkey come with its own pop up thermometer). It is tradition for the BECA teachers to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal and invite the Honduran staff. We worked until noon on Thanksgiving Day and then set off to cook and boy do I mean cook. The Honduran Director was nice enough to buy the turkey for the meal. I and one other teacher volunteered to prepare the turkey. I am proud to say that this turkey was so juicy and tasty (others agreed because there was nothing but bones left at the end of the night). We basted the darn thing every twenty minutes while it cooked but it was worth it. Everyone contributed wonderfully – we had turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, corn pudding, homemade cranberry sauce, carrot salad, crescent rolls, jello, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, banana cake and two types of cooking. I think it ended up costing us around $5 per US teacher for the meal and we served 30 people. I think most of the Hondurans enjoyed it but some I think would have preferred their rice, beans and tortillas. Nonetheless, it was great to spend the evening socially with our Honduran co-workers and give back to them a small portion of the hospitality that they show us daily.
Another great benefit of the Thanksgiving holiday was that they gave us Friday off. I left really early and caught a bus to Teguc to see friends. It was so nice to be back in their homes and sharing laughs with them. Fabiola was preparing for her graduation to be a primary school teacher. She wants everyone to start calling her profe. It’s hard to believe that I met her when she was 5. Spending the day with Luz’s family was great as always - Ana gives me stylish haircuts. Her daughter makes me laugh. Mayra shows me great music videos. I also on this trip go to meet two babies under 2 weeks old. I spent hours holding them and being amazed by all that they do at such a young age. Did I mention how cute the babies were? Though one still did not have a name (common here as that's the second 2 week old I know without a name). I also spent a much needed night hanging out with Mando. I laughed until I cried – it’s great reminiscing with friends that you’ve known forever. Inside jokes are great too.
During our time away after Thanksgiving we had our households fumigated as some places had mice and cockroaches (my place had neither). So far the fumigation has worked. Now we just have a cat that likes to have kittens in boxes in our 1st grade classroom.
We’ve had some awesome soccer games scheduled at school. We had a girl’s game against another school, a teacher’s game against teachers from another town and a boys game against the other bilingual school here in town. After school activities are not that common in Honduras so it’s great to see the students get permission to stay after school and root for their classmates or teachers. My role is crowd control and ensuring that we are being sportsmanlike. There was a glitch in one game for me when a parent called me and told me that their daughter did not make it home. I searched the school over and called I could think of to look for the girl as her normal means of getting her home didn’t make it. Come to find out the neighbor knew the mototaxi was broken and borrowed a car to come get her kids and this persons as well (without telling the other parent). As the neighbor was driving home she did not answer her cell phone. I was so happy when the mom called back to tell me that her daughter had arrived at home.
The Honduran Director of SJBS is getting married on December 19. I’ve had the fortune of going with her to a seamstress to pick out her wedding dress (an amazing dress and will only cost about $40 to make - unbelievable). I also helped her pick out wedding cake designs - cake will cost more than the dress. It’s been great helping her and seeing her so excited. Sadly, none of the US teachers will be in the country for her but hopefully we’ll celebrate with her upon our return.
I’ve had some great home visits lately. Tonight we all went to a 4th graders house for her birthday. We had great food, danced a lot and shared in a special moment with the student and her family. It was a great way to spend the evening. At another family’s house we talked a lot about our volunteer house and how it had mice. The family laughed and said they’ve never had mice when their dog ran up behind the table we were sitting at on their front porch and dropped a huge dead rat. It smelled so bad and gave us all sore stomachs from laughing so hard. That dog had great comedic timing. On Sunday I visited a house (still not sure if the girl had told her parents I was coming or not) and had a great time. The student entertained me all afternoon talking in English and showing me all her toys. She was excited because that afternoon her 15 year old half sister (who she’d never met) was coming to live with her. All she talked about was her sister and how excited she was to meet her. It was cute to see how shy she became when the sister arrived. She ran away and later told me she didn’t know what to say to her. I asked her on Monday how things were going and she said great and that her and her sister talked a lot after I left. That makes me happy!
The 2nd grade students have been rock stars lately about school trash pick up. For the last few weeks they have gone around the school on their own during recess and lunch and picked up discarded trash. Its amazing the amount of trash the collect daily and to see them doing this with a smile on their faces.
All classes are in preparation for our annual Christmas Dinner (this Saturday from 4-7). Each class will perform at the dinner (as will the teachers), gifts will be raffled off and I hear Santa may stop by. Should be fun. On a final note, we had a Hanukah party last weekend and all dressed up as famous Jewish people. It was good fun.
I’m excited to see my parents in less than two weeks. The weather here needs to cooperate a bit more. It’s been chilly (I know not freezing cold with snow) and rainy. I’ve even started heating up my bath water because it’s hard to shower in the a.m. with ice cold water when its 60 some degrees out. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Take care and I’ll try and be better about posting to my blog in 2011.
Not long after our return from Belize one of our teachers was diagnosed with malaria. He is fine and fully recovered but when he received the lab results from the local clinic he and I decided it would be good for him to get those lab results confirmed at a clinic in San Pedro Sula. We left around 2:30 in the afternoon and noticed a car accident on our way into San Pedro. Little did we realize that that small accident would turn our three our tour into an almost 24 hour ordeal. I have never seen such a traffic jam. We got the teacher the needed meds and hopped into a cab to get back to Cofradia. Three hours later (by this time 9 p.m.) we were stuck in the traffic jam with no out. It was dark, we were far from Cofradia and our cab driver told us he was returning to San Pedro. Fine we said. We’ll find a hotel and return in the a.m. We get to the hotel and the cab driver wants to charge us three times what we had originally agreed upon. Fortunately, the hotel owners were very kind and helped us out greatly. The hotel was cute and was quiet (we both slept a solid 11 hours), clean, had hot water and included a really good breakfast. So in the end it ended up being fine and we returned to Cofradia in the afternoon of the following day.
Not long after that we had several visitors from the US. Last year’s administrator, who currently works for BECA in the US visited and helped in so many areas. We also had two mothers visit and spend time at SJBS.
The first parcial (quarter) ended and we handed out grades. It’s hard to believe that it’s December already and that we’re now almost done with the second quarter.
Late October graced us with an invitation to a Halloween party in San Pedro Sula hosted by teachers at another bilingual school in San Pedro. Costumes were elaborate (those who know me from last year’s Halloween party don’t worry I did not dress up this year either). I think what was mostly noticed by BECA’s teachers was the difference in life style between teachers (and students) at EIS and SJBS. They make the equivalent of a US teachers’ salary, they have fingerprint scanners to get into their school, and their students have bodyguards. The teachers live in great condos, have air conditioning, hot water, and they can afford to buy real Halloween candy, etc. Needless to say, we were like country cousins coming to the city. But the teachers are awesome and have invited us several times to play ultimate Frisbee and hang out so I guess we did not make such a bad impression.
There were a couple of weeks in early November that were not pretty. It all stems again from the list of students who were accepted into kinder next year. Families not on the list were complaining and bad blood between differing sides was aired for all to see. It was a very tense and often uncomfortable time for me, but thankfully those who had their doubts reviewed the work that we did and have not been back.
The rest of November moved along quite quickly. We had a local school supply store come and teach our students manualidades (arts and crafts) – and I mean only the ones who paid to participate in the activities. This was divided up by grades (kinder and prepa), (1st-3rd), (4th – 6th) and (7th-9th) over a two day period. This was to be a two hour project for each grade. Not nearly so. The organization was not prepared at all. Supplies weren’t ready (nor were there enough), no one really led the activities, and one project even took about 6 hours to complete (the lucky ones who finished). I had glitter all over me, glue everywhere and a short-liveed hatred for art projects after those two days. From now on our own Honduran teachers will be teaching the US teachers how to do manualidades so the teachers can incorporate them into their classrooms and we don’t have to worry about cost or lack of preparation.
A lot of my spare time in November was spent figuring out how to prepare a turkey (we had no meat thermometer nor did the turkey come with its own pop up thermometer). It is tradition for the BECA teachers to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal and invite the Honduran staff. We worked until noon on Thanksgiving Day and then set off to cook and boy do I mean cook. The Honduran Director was nice enough to buy the turkey for the meal. I and one other teacher volunteered to prepare the turkey. I am proud to say that this turkey was so juicy and tasty (others agreed because there was nothing but bones left at the end of the night). We basted the darn thing every twenty minutes while it cooked but it was worth it. Everyone contributed wonderfully – we had turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, corn pudding, homemade cranberry sauce, carrot salad, crescent rolls, jello, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, banana cake and two types of cooking. I think it ended up costing us around $5 per US teacher for the meal and we served 30 people. I think most of the Hondurans enjoyed it but some I think would have preferred their rice, beans and tortillas. Nonetheless, it was great to spend the evening socially with our Honduran co-workers and give back to them a small portion of the hospitality that they show us daily.
Another great benefit of the Thanksgiving holiday was that they gave us Friday off. I left really early and caught a bus to Teguc to see friends. It was so nice to be back in their homes and sharing laughs with them. Fabiola was preparing for her graduation to be a primary school teacher. She wants everyone to start calling her profe. It’s hard to believe that I met her when she was 5. Spending the day with Luz’s family was great as always - Ana gives me stylish haircuts. Her daughter makes me laugh. Mayra shows me great music videos. I also on this trip go to meet two babies under 2 weeks old. I spent hours holding them and being amazed by all that they do at such a young age. Did I mention how cute the babies were? Though one still did not have a name (common here as that's the second 2 week old I know without a name). I also spent a much needed night hanging out with Mando. I laughed until I cried – it’s great reminiscing with friends that you’ve known forever. Inside jokes are great too.
During our time away after Thanksgiving we had our households fumigated as some places had mice and cockroaches (my place had neither). So far the fumigation has worked. Now we just have a cat that likes to have kittens in boxes in our 1st grade classroom.
We’ve had some awesome soccer games scheduled at school. We had a girl’s game against another school, a teacher’s game against teachers from another town and a boys game against the other bilingual school here in town. After school activities are not that common in Honduras so it’s great to see the students get permission to stay after school and root for their classmates or teachers. My role is crowd control and ensuring that we are being sportsmanlike. There was a glitch in one game for me when a parent called me and told me that their daughter did not make it home. I searched the school over and called I could think of to look for the girl as her normal means of getting her home didn’t make it. Come to find out the neighbor knew the mototaxi was broken and borrowed a car to come get her kids and this persons as well (without telling the other parent). As the neighbor was driving home she did not answer her cell phone. I was so happy when the mom called back to tell me that her daughter had arrived at home.
The Honduran Director of SJBS is getting married on December 19. I’ve had the fortune of going with her to a seamstress to pick out her wedding dress (an amazing dress and will only cost about $40 to make - unbelievable). I also helped her pick out wedding cake designs - cake will cost more than the dress. It’s been great helping her and seeing her so excited. Sadly, none of the US teachers will be in the country for her but hopefully we’ll celebrate with her upon our return.
I’ve had some great home visits lately. Tonight we all went to a 4th graders house for her birthday. We had great food, danced a lot and shared in a special moment with the student and her family. It was a great way to spend the evening. At another family’s house we talked a lot about our volunteer house and how it had mice. The family laughed and said they’ve never had mice when their dog ran up behind the table we were sitting at on their front porch and dropped a huge dead rat. It smelled so bad and gave us all sore stomachs from laughing so hard. That dog had great comedic timing. On Sunday I visited a house (still not sure if the girl had told her parents I was coming or not) and had a great time. The student entertained me all afternoon talking in English and showing me all her toys. She was excited because that afternoon her 15 year old half sister (who she’d never met) was coming to live with her. All she talked about was her sister and how excited she was to meet her. It was cute to see how shy she became when the sister arrived. She ran away and later told me she didn’t know what to say to her. I asked her on Monday how things were going and she said great and that her and her sister talked a lot after I left. That makes me happy!
The 2nd grade students have been rock stars lately about school trash pick up. For the last few weeks they have gone around the school on their own during recess and lunch and picked up discarded trash. Its amazing the amount of trash the collect daily and to see them doing this with a smile on their faces.
All classes are in preparation for our annual Christmas Dinner (this Saturday from 4-7). Each class will perform at the dinner (as will the teachers), gifts will be raffled off and I hear Santa may stop by. Should be fun. On a final note, we had a Hanukah party last weekend and all dressed up as famous Jewish people. It was good fun.
I’m excited to see my parents in less than two weeks. The weather here needs to cooperate a bit more. It’s been chilly (I know not freezing cold with snow) and rainy. I’ve even started heating up my bath water because it’s hard to shower in the a.m. with ice cold water when its 60 some degrees out. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Take care and I’ll try and be better about posting to my blog in 2011.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Catch up time
Sorry its been so long since my last post (the early post from today was something I started in September and never finished and I couldn't remember what else I wanted to say so I just posted it). So much has happened since my last post I don't even know where to begin.
At school...
We're in review week as our first quarter ends next week - we have exams throughout next week. We sadly had a teacher return to the US last week so we've had two great team members step up and take over her classroom until a permanent replacement can be found. This means that I've also been spending more time with second grade as well. I notice a huge difference between attention spans of pre-kinder and kinder students and 2nd graders. I'm having fun working with the students on their independent reading. Today was the first day I took the students to the library...what an experience.
A funny thing about working with students is that they say things without a filter. In one day I had two students (independent of each other) say the following to me:
1st student - Miss Andrea you look a lot older today.
Me - why?
student - The wrinkles in your forehead are a lot worse than they were before. But don't worry Miss Andrea, everyone gets old.
2nd group of students at lunch
Miss Andrea, can we guess how old you are?
Me- sure
One student - 26
Me - I like the way you think but I am older than that
Second student - 36
Me - great job, how did you know how old I am?
Second student - because of the wrinkles in your forehead.
Nice huh? I find it all very funny and I don't think my wrinkles are that much worse.
The new classroom is all built. Now we are just waiting for a whiteboard, chairs, paint and electricity to be added.
Enrollment for next year's pre-kinder class. This consumed so much of my time and was a HUGE headache. Its done now and we have the list of the 20 students who will enter our school next year. Our school board of directors wanted to change the process mid stream (several meetings and discussions about this - not happening for next year but a conversation that is still happening), people called to ask favors, stopped by my house to see if I could get their neighbors kids friend in, and people slept outside the school to be first in line for open enrollment. I have learned a lot from this process and have many suggestions to make next years process less hectic and stressful.
Bee season seems to be upon us as this week they have been out in full force. I hope they go away. The weather has been somewhat pleasant lately as well.
Visa
As I posted earlier, I went to San Pedro Sula to renew my visa and was told to go to Teguc as they no longer processed extensions in SPS. I did and got the extension needed - I did have to wait for 3 hours because the one director authorized to sign the extension was at a long lunch. It was a hectic trip - there in one day and back the next - but I got to stay with friends and see my friend Celin who I haven't seen in almost 3 years. We had dinner and talked school as he's a 3rd grade teacher.
Last week on Thursday, we left for Belize to renew our visas. I'm excited to explore Belize more with my family in December. It is beautiful. We stayed right on the beach in Placencia. The food was fantastic (fish, shrimp, rice, beans, chicken, banana bread, and tons of icecream - think cholocate banana and peanut butter - my mouth is watering right now thinking about it). The trip took about 12 hours to complete and on the way there consisted of the following modes of transportation:
1. a mini van that drove us past the Honduras/Guatemalan border - actually took us to where a bridge had been washed out
2. a boat to cross the river
3. another mini van to a point in the road covered with water
4. the back of a pick up truck to immigration in Guatemala
5. the back of another truck to the port city of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala
6. 1 hour boat ride to Punta Gorda, Belize
7. 2 hour bus ride to Mango Creek
8. 10 minute boat ride to Placencia
9. walk to hotel
Same in reverse on our way back. My back has some huge knots in it right now due to the travel, but worth it. We're all legal until we leave for break in December. The hardest part of organizing this trip was working with US dollars, Lempiras, Quetzales and Belizian Dollars. I need more practice with exchange rates. Also, this trip helped me figure out how to travel in December to meet my family in Belize City.
Friends
I'm excited to have made a new friend. She was a neighbor from a home visit. We've gone to the movies and this weekend we're going hiking to the Coca Cola sign in San Pedro Sula (its in the mountains and will overlook the entire city). Its hard making friends here that do not have a connection to the school. Not that having a connection to the school is bad but making friends and getting away from work is nice. I'm happy to have a new friend. The Director and I are still in our walking club...we actually went for a walk today. I'm glad to spend time with her outside of school as well as she has a great sense of humor and she laughs at my awful jokes.
Our staff decided to celebrate dia del maestro at the end of September. We normally have an all staff meeting the last Friday of the month (school gets out at 11:15) and we meet. We decided to have that meeting at a student's pool and have Miss Danelia cook a wonderful meal for all of us. It was a great day to get to know each other well and share great food. We also celebrated Miss Amarilys' (director of the school) birthday. My favorite part of the story was when we asked the mother if we could borrow there pool for this teachers' meeting. She enthusiastically said yes but that a bit of help would be needed to get things in order at the pool (its not at the property where they live). She pulled up in front of our apartments and started honking and yelling for me and the teachers. I thought this would be a small feat and all the other teachers were busy with other commitments. She and I (and Don Ramon - the school guard who loves the lawn mower - and the lawn mower as well) arrive at the property. The pool was empty and very dirty. The grass around the pool was at least 2 feet high. The house is partially constructed. No worries though. In two hours the pool was clean and the grass around it cut. When we arrived the next day, there was space enough for a small soccer field, the pool was full and we had a wonderful day.
My boss arrived today from the states. He will be staying in my apartment for the next 10 days or so. It will be nice to have him here to explain a few things to me and to help with some team discussions.
At school...
We're in review week as our first quarter ends next week - we have exams throughout next week. We sadly had a teacher return to the US last week so we've had two great team members step up and take over her classroom until a permanent replacement can be found. This means that I've also been spending more time with second grade as well. I notice a huge difference between attention spans of pre-kinder and kinder students and 2nd graders. I'm having fun working with the students on their independent reading. Today was the first day I took the students to the library...what an experience.
A funny thing about working with students is that they say things without a filter. In one day I had two students (independent of each other) say the following to me:
1st student - Miss Andrea you look a lot older today.
Me - why?
student - The wrinkles in your forehead are a lot worse than they were before. But don't worry Miss Andrea, everyone gets old.
2nd group of students at lunch
Miss Andrea, can we guess how old you are?
Me- sure
One student - 26
Me - I like the way you think but I am older than that
Second student - 36
Me - great job, how did you know how old I am?
Second student - because of the wrinkles in your forehead.
Nice huh? I find it all very funny and I don't think my wrinkles are that much worse.
The new classroom is all built. Now we are just waiting for a whiteboard, chairs, paint and electricity to be added.
Enrollment for next year's pre-kinder class. This consumed so much of my time and was a HUGE headache. Its done now and we have the list of the 20 students who will enter our school next year. Our school board of directors wanted to change the process mid stream (several meetings and discussions about this - not happening for next year but a conversation that is still happening), people called to ask favors, stopped by my house to see if I could get their neighbors kids friend in, and people slept outside the school to be first in line for open enrollment. I have learned a lot from this process and have many suggestions to make next years process less hectic and stressful.
Bee season seems to be upon us as this week they have been out in full force. I hope they go away. The weather has been somewhat pleasant lately as well.
Visa
As I posted earlier, I went to San Pedro Sula to renew my visa and was told to go to Teguc as they no longer processed extensions in SPS. I did and got the extension needed - I did have to wait for 3 hours because the one director authorized to sign the extension was at a long lunch. It was a hectic trip - there in one day and back the next - but I got to stay with friends and see my friend Celin who I haven't seen in almost 3 years. We had dinner and talked school as he's a 3rd grade teacher.
Last week on Thursday, we left for Belize to renew our visas. I'm excited to explore Belize more with my family in December. It is beautiful. We stayed right on the beach in Placencia. The food was fantastic (fish, shrimp, rice, beans, chicken, banana bread, and tons of icecream - think cholocate banana and peanut butter - my mouth is watering right now thinking about it). The trip took about 12 hours to complete and on the way there consisted of the following modes of transportation:
1. a mini van that drove us past the Honduras/Guatemalan border - actually took us to where a bridge had been washed out
2. a boat to cross the river
3. another mini van to a point in the road covered with water
4. the back of a pick up truck to immigration in Guatemala
5. the back of another truck to the port city of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala
6. 1 hour boat ride to Punta Gorda, Belize
7. 2 hour bus ride to Mango Creek
8. 10 minute boat ride to Placencia
9. walk to hotel
Same in reverse on our way back. My back has some huge knots in it right now due to the travel, but worth it. We're all legal until we leave for break in December. The hardest part of organizing this trip was working with US dollars, Lempiras, Quetzales and Belizian Dollars. I need more practice with exchange rates. Also, this trip helped me figure out how to travel in December to meet my family in Belize City.
Friends
I'm excited to have made a new friend. She was a neighbor from a home visit. We've gone to the movies and this weekend we're going hiking to the Coca Cola sign in San Pedro Sula (its in the mountains and will overlook the entire city). Its hard making friends here that do not have a connection to the school. Not that having a connection to the school is bad but making friends and getting away from work is nice. I'm happy to have a new friend. The Director and I are still in our walking club...we actually went for a walk today. I'm glad to spend time with her outside of school as well as she has a great sense of humor and she laughs at my awful jokes.
Our staff decided to celebrate dia del maestro at the end of September. We normally have an all staff meeting the last Friday of the month (school gets out at 11:15) and we meet. We decided to have that meeting at a student's pool and have Miss Danelia cook a wonderful meal for all of us. It was a great day to get to know each other well and share great food. We also celebrated Miss Amarilys' (director of the school) birthday. My favorite part of the story was when we asked the mother if we could borrow there pool for this teachers' meeting. She enthusiastically said yes but that a bit of help would be needed to get things in order at the pool (its not at the property where they live). She pulled up in front of our apartments and started honking and yelling for me and the teachers. I thought this would be a small feat and all the other teachers were busy with other commitments. She and I (and Don Ramon - the school guard who loves the lawn mower - and the lawn mower as well) arrive at the property. The pool was empty and very dirty. The grass around the pool was at least 2 feet high. The house is partially constructed. No worries though. In two hours the pool was clean and the grass around it cut. When we arrived the next day, there was space enough for a small soccer field, the pool was full and we had a wonderful day.
My boss arrived today from the states. He will be staying in my apartment for the next 10 days or so. It will be nice to have him here to explain a few things to me and to help with some team discussions.
Food, food and more food (from September 26)
Due to the very generous hospitality of our Honduran hosts we have eaten very well this week. We have all been doing home visits (visiting our students at their houses to get to know the students families and to see the students in their natural environment). Many families have been nice enough to invite all 14 of us over. All visits usually entail very good food (baleadas, pastelitos, carne asada...and at one house three desserts). Oftentimes, food is followed by fun; recently we've played cards and had modeling competitions. The families are extremely giving and open to sharing what they have with us.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Dia del Maestro (Teacher's Day)
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!
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!
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?)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)