A Long Overdue Update

 December 11, 2012

I know it has been awhile since I have posted any updates so here is what has been happening.  I also must note that after long days at school the last thing I want to do is write blog posts so I apologize that my posts have become so sporatic. 

Since Thanksgiving, I have been counting down until Christmas.  I am beginning to feel a bit burnt out and am ready to see all of my loved ones.  Teaching 6 different classes has really taken a toll on me but I know that challenging myself is the best thing I can do at this point.  The kids seem to also be ready for break because their behavior has been heading down the slippery slope.  Each class seems more difficult to keep engaged and they seem to be putting less effort into their studies.  I am hoping that coming back from they will all be renewed and ready to finish the school with a lot of motivation. 

The 9^th graders have been the best example of this.  Over the last couple of weeks they have begun to consistently talk over me and use class time to discern their social standing with others rather than do their work.  Yesterday it all became too much.  I heard from Brooke that they had been the same way in her class and that she snapped with them in the morning.  She abruptly ended the lesson only 1/3^rd of the way through and told the students to do their homework.  So when they were acting out in my class I figured I would be consistent in punishment and did the same.  I knew this alone wouldn’t fix the problem though so today after their quiz we built a web where we brainstormed what it means to be a good student.  Tomorrow they will write me letters about their behaviors and how they can become a really good student…including what I can do to help them.  I will have to let you know how this turns out and if I see any changes. 

On top of everyone being ready for break we have 3 other headaches that have been plaguing us.  First off, we have not had a copier for over a month now, which isn’t a big deal because we can have them sent out (you just have to be really on top of things and a couple days ahead).  But then last week our printer also ran out of ink so now we have no way to print things to send to the copier.  I have made more worksheets by hand than I ever thought I would have to since I was teaching in the 21^st century.  Although this isn’t the ideal situation we have been making due and have only increased our creativity in our teacher toolbox. 

The second disruption has been a lack of internet.  For some reason our download allowance has been severely decreased.  We have been running out of it quite often and rarely have internet at the school.  Luckily we can still visit the church to borrow those when necessary and to keep in contact with our friends and families. 

The third thing is the Christmas play that the school is putting together.  Unfortunately they started very late and because of that have been trying to make up time.  So they decided to use the last two class periods of everyday to work with students.  Unfortunately communication hasn’t been that great and some classes are needed on certain days while others are not.  This has made planning, which is already a challenge around a break, very difficult. 

These things have really taught me flexibility.  I thought that student teaching had taught me that, but that was just a minor step to what I would eventually learn.  I realized this is a great talking point for future interviews as I know that my experience here will be brought up.  So far my major learning experiences have been flexibility, creativity, and learning about myself. 

I have spent the last couple weekends just hanging out and getting a lot of school work done…making worksheets by hand takes extra time!  Girls nights have increased from once a week to sometimes 3 since our frustrations have also increased.  We have been getting very intrigued by season 2 of Downton Abby and I would suggest the series to anyone, I have heard it is available on Netflix.  The weather has been beautiful here and while I miss the snow that I have heard about and seen pictures of, I am happy to be enjoying sunshine and dryness.  I am sure though that rain is coming this week and we will once again be in a muddy place where I have to wear my rain boots (which now have holes in them) constantly.  Today our laundry was done and since it was so beautiful out most of the clothes dried (which hasn’t happened in a couple months).  I am even more grateful for the fact my sheets got clean, are dry, and smell nice.  I am looking forward to crawling into bed with clean sheets, my book and my Christmas lights! 

I would also like to mention with the holiday season upon us, if anyone is interested in gifting to the school or students I would be more than happy to talk with you.  They can always use materials and sponsors are always desired so that more students can experience the gift of education.  There is also another company here who is a microfinance group that works with coffee farmers.  They do some amazing things here and can always use support, which you can do by purchasing their coffee.  The follow is a link to their main order page…

They are also working with our Abundant Life Christian School on a coffee that is grown at a farm owned by some of the teachers and they are offering to give some of the profits back to the school… here is a link to that page:

I hope you are all looking forward to a special holiday season where we can spend time with our families and take part in the traditions of gift giving.  9 days until I arrive back in Michigan and yes I will be welcoming the snow!

An American Thanksgiving in Honduras

November 29, 2012

Thanksgiving break arrived upon us in what felt like record time.  While August, September, October and the majority of November has gone by quickly we were still exhausted as teachers and ready for a break.  We were also stoked because we would get to travel to a real city!  We spent weeks preparing/reminding each other of all the great things we would get to experience and see and more importantly all the wonderful food that we would have. 

On Wednesday morning we met at our principal’s house who was going to drive us in his truck to Santa Barbara where, if we were on time, we would catch a direct bus to Tegucigalpa (known to Hondurans as Teguc), but we would actually get off at a rest stop about halfway where the Gracias teachers who were traveling on an Abundant Life bus would meet us and pick us up.  This was a great plan, but things quickly ran off course.  First, Jake accidentally slept in so when we were all ready to leave at 6 am we were missing him and had to call and wake him up.  He got ready quick though and we were on our way to pick up a few people and things on our way out of town.  Just as we got everything and everyone loaded in the truck started smoking and when the hood was opened we found that the truck had actually lit on fire.  The next best option was to walk to the main road and catch the 7ish bus out of town to Santa Barbara.  We did this and the ride wasn’t too bad, but since it left later we had missed our direct bus so we took a packed mini-bus.  There were no seats left and so we stood in the aisle basically on top of each other staring at the floor because the bus was just a bit short.  This took us to an intersection where we got off and waited for a mode of transportation that was heading in our direction.  A few minutes later a large van stopped and said they would take us to the rest area to meet our group.  We once again piled in to a tight space, but we arrived to meet the Gracias teachers…and Surprise! Their students too.  This meant another very full bus and with loud students, but the good news was they had gotten us all chicken sandwiches and fries from Wendy’s.  We finally arrived at our hotel in Teguc to discover that all of the girls (students and teachers) had been placed into one large bunk room that was just packed with bunk beds…and had only 1 bathroom.  After the frustrating day of travel we had and the screaming students we couldn’t handle it so we had a conversation with Jake who, bless his heart, was able to get the La Union female teachers their own room.  We took quiet naps and relaxed before we met for some Pizza Hut and got ready for a benefit concert at the Vida Abundante church.  Of course as a side note, this is when my body decided to rebel against me and I was stricken with a cold. 

The evening was spent at a concert that was actually a benefit for our La Union school.  I don’t remember the name of the group but it was 4 young people who played guitar together and had dancers that danced to a few of their songs.  Unfortunately for us it had been a long day and the concert was not of the super exciting kind so it nearly put us to sleep.  We gratefully retired to bed after it. 

On Thursday we went the Abundant Life School in Teguc and had breakfast.  We also got to see a bit of the school which was pretty cool and made us La Union teachers a bit jealous.  After the school we went to the Vida Abundante clinic and received a tour.  Many teachers, including myself, also had our eyes checked.  Glasses here are much cheaper even for designer frames like 50-100 dollars including exam, lenses and frames.  Unfortunately since I am so blind my lenses are very thick and they don’t have the lens thinning here so I decided to wait for a new pair when I get back to the states.  Once we had seen everything we went on to lunch at a local pizza place which was really good.  In the afternoon we stopped by a cultural fair that was being set up and took a look around; it was fun because it was taking place in this really old prison so it was quite unique.  We then went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. 

The table was all set

For us La Union teachers dinner was an exciting affair because we haven’t dressed up for anything and rarely put make-up on or do our hair.  So we got ourselves all dolled up and joined the whole group for dinner at one of the directors’ houses.  It was AMAZING! Her house was up in the mountains around Teguc and was absolutely gorgeous even by American standards and was all decorated for Christmas.  We spent time talking with everyone and thanking God for all of the wonderful gifts we have been given in our lives.  The food was great and much like a typical Thanksgiving at home.  We had turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, fruit salad with candied pecans, wine and pumpkin flavored flan for dessert.  My stomach and I were very content and I was able to sleep well that next night. 

The water cycle exhibit at the Chiminike

On Friday, we went to Chiminike in the morning.  This is a children's science museum and yes I was in heaven.  It was like having a kid in a candy shop, everything was soooo cool.  I even climbed my way through the digestive system and got sneezed on in a giant size nose.  I have decided one of my life goals might just have to be to own/direct/design exhibits for a children's museum.  After the museum we went to lunch at a local place in the what is known as the District.  This unfortunately was not the best experience.  There were 3 choices on the menu and we still waited over 2 hours for food and still they forgot about one of our orders so we had one person not get food at all (we shared of course). 

The afternoon was spent paint balling, which many of the teachers skipped out on, but our whole La Union crew was prepared for some domination.  Unfortunately we had 8 people and all the other schools combined only had 6 that wanted to play so we decided we would give them Jake (he wanted to shoot at all of his teachers anyway).  The others were worried this would be unfair because it meant that the La Union team had 6 girls and 1 guy while they had 5 guys and 2 girls.  Lets just say that we shut them up quick and while we let them win a couple we dominated in the rest.  This was my first time paint balling and I had blast; I even came out with a nice battle wound bruise on my leg where the ball hit and bounced off, not breaking.  After our domination they let us go back to the hotel and change which was good because I had also gotten shot in the head a few times and had paint all over my hair, so I was able to shower.  We then went to a Mongolian type restaurant and had a great family style meal.  The food was great including a curry, rice dish, beef in oyster sauce and chicken in peanut type sauce. 

After dinner the group was going bowling, but the La Union teachers decided to go back to the hotel.  We wanted to keep with our Friday night traditions of watching Downton Abby, so we took a cab to McDonalds and got McFlurries then cuddled up and watched an episode of our show, retiring a little early to bed. 

This is Otis the Owl, Kara and I deliberately acquired him from a special place and he spent the rest of the trip traveling around with us, this is just one of the many pics we got with him around Teguc.

Saturday morning we ventured out of Teguc to a place called valle de los angeles which is a tourist town that has lots of shops selling local artisan crafts, pottery and other goods.  We wandered around a bit and finished our Christmas shopping.  We then headed for the mall where we had our choice for lunch as McDonalds or Quiznos.  I ate at Quiznos and then headed straight for Wal-Mart.  I filled a cart with practical items that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else, powdered sugar, febreze, brown sugar, some wine, granola bars, Christmas lights…all the good stuff.  After the shock of WalMart wore off I ventured through the rest of the mall, but didn’t find much that caught my eye.  We had a late lunch so at dinner we just ordered a bunch of appetizer sampler plates and shared those before we all headed to the movies.  Some people went to see the last installment of the Twilight series but I went with a group to see the new James Bond film and I was quite impressed.  I liked the movie a lot and was happy to be in a real theater with comfy seats and it only cost me like 4 bucks!

Sunday morning we left the hotel early to catch the 7am direct bus to Santa Barbara.  Of course as plans go, the bus we thought left at 7 actually left at 8:30 so we spent some time waiting around.  We eventually arrived back to La Union safe and sound but tired from traveling.  I unpacked and went to bed early arriving at school the next day a little unprepared but I didn’t worry much because the break was all worth it.  Little did I know though that this week would be crazy…I’ll explain this weekend with some pictures of the fun things my students have been doing in science class. 

Parent Teacher Conferences and More

November 19, 2012

Good morning!  I know it has been awhile since I put up any type of update, but life has been pretty normal for the past couple weeks.  I’m taking the time and opportunity to write this because our internet is currently down and writing this is better than that stack of 8^th grade science papers that have been staring at me all morning…They can wait a little while longer!  After my birthday things returned to normal for a couple days and then on Saturday November 10, we had parent teacher conferences.  I had a good experience with parent teacher conferences when I was student teaching except for one parent who went off on me.  I was not very worried about that because all of my 10th grade students are really great people and their grades are all quite good, plus I wouldn’t understand a word they were saying.  So I went in to them feeling pretty confident. 

The way they do parent teacher conferences here is a bit different though.  Instead of visiting all of your childs teacher you only visit their homeroom.  So I represented all the teachers who taught the 10^th grade.  Likewise, I had to give my recommedations and comments for students to their homeroom teacher.  I also was in possession of the only copy they could get of their report card so it was incentive for the parents to show up because their kid was very interested in what their grades had totalled out at.  One of the volunteers from England sat with me and did my translating throughout the morning and we enjoyed hanging out between parents because I only have 8 students so I had a lot of extra time.  The one thing I experienced that I didn’t in the states was the pure gratitude from the parents that I was here and working with their children.  They were so thankful that I had chosen to come here and that I am a part of their child’s life; it was a great reminder of the reasons I’m here.  The last difference I will make note of is that the parents were less concerned with their students actual grade than they are in the states, but every parent asked the same question…are they well behaved in class?  I found this very entertaining, but a sign of a cultural difference.  Here they concern themselves a lot in showing respect and conducting yourself in a proper manner (atleast in school) and it would be very troubling for a parent to hear that their child was disrespectful or rude. 

Waking up early to go to conferences really put a damper on our Saturday and didn’t help that the weather was cold and rainy and we were all completely freezing!  We decided to do what we know best and we plopped ourselves on the couch with our down blankets, a bucket of popcorn, and a bowl of cookie dough and we spent the afternoon watching movies cuddled together.  Cassidy and David then cooked a spaghetti dinner for everyone and we played games…more Settlers of Catan.  Sunday we went over to the Brits house to watch football because the Lions vs. Vikings game was being shown.  It was a disappointing loss for the lions but I was able to get some work done while watching so atleast I had been productive. 

Last week went smooth and many of my students had tests which they all did quite well on especially Chemistry.  I was concerned because it was a difficult unit on molar mass, limiting reactants and percent composition, but they proved to be the wonderful students I have come to see that they are.  I did several demonstrations with multiple classes and they enjoyed actually getting to see and experience science rather than just hear about it.  My creativity skills have been greatly improving as I constantly look for things that I can do with the few materials have in my teacher toolbox here. 

This weekend was a rather relaxing one once again.  Lenny and Kara ventured back to New York City for a wedding they were both in.  So we were short a few people from our group plus Cassidy and David left Saturday morning to take him back to the aiport for an early Sunday flight.  We had girls night Friday and watched a couple episodes of Downton Abbey complete with more cookie dough.  On Saturday Brooke and I came up to the school and got a lot of work done for the week when we come back from Thanksgiving, so that we have less to worry about over our break.  It also helped that the internet wasn’t working then either so we had no other choice but to work on stuff.  We then ventured over to the Brits and watched some wedding shows including Say Yes to the Dress and then went out for some fried chicken for dinner.  Sunday consisted of church and then a nice brunch of omelettes that Brooke and I made.  We then laid on the couch and watched a couple movies while eating popcorn.  Since we had time we decided to cook a nice dinner and enjoy some wine that I had gotten the last time I was in Gracias.  I helped her grade papers while our Cajun shrimp cooked and then we enjoyed this fabulous meal while we awaited the election results. 

Yesterday was election day here.  Which is why we had planned a lazy day Sunday because we didn’t want to go out since the parties were supposed to get pretty intense.  We were told it was actually calm all afternoon and things didn’t get crazy until the results were announced.  At which point we could hear the celebrations and there were tons of fireworks going off well into the night which made it difficult to fall asleep.  Last night was also one of the colder nights we have had.  I woke up several times and was quite cold, I was told this morning it was less than 50 degrees.  This seems like I have become a wimp for cold weather, which might be partially true, but then you can consider the fact that I have no heat and no insulation in my house.  Not only that but our roof is tin and the walls cement so the cold just surrounds us. 

I am looking forward to a shortened week.  We were supposed to have school on Wednesday but after asking our permission they decided to cancel it.  Us teachers were probably more excited than the students because not only do we not have to teach that day but we will get to leave a day earlier for Tegucigalpa and will get to see a concert that is being put on as a benefit for the La Union School.  We are all very excited for our trip to Teguc and I’m sure I will have an exciting blog post when I get back that will include lots of Thanksgiving food, Thai food, paintball, bowling, movies and the best yet, WAL-MART.  I never thought going to Wal-Mart could be so exciting but I have been feeling deprived of such American things and I have a list of things I can get to help with my science experiments a bit. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and is reminded of all the wonderful things they have to be thankful for, I sure will!

Birthday Blessings

November 7, 2012

Today was such a great day and provided the lift I needed in order to survive the next 7 or so weeks until Christmas.  I had the experience of celebrating my birthday in a new country with some amazing new people.  I am somewhat of a traditions person and I was a little disappointed to not get to spend my birthday with the people I love back home, but boy did it get celebrated here. 

I woke up to a plate full of candy and goodies along with a wonderful note from my roommate and her boyfriend who is having the pleasure of visiting and getting to know La Union.  We made our way to school where I was greeted with lots of Happy Birthdays and even hugs.  The day started in my homeroom with the 10^th graders, they of course sang and asked me all the usual birthday questions.  We read our bible verse and discussed the message and I went on my way.  I had the next two periods free during which the primary grades have their chapel, and no they could not forget about me.  They called me over and all of the 1^st – 6^th graders sang to me and I got more hugs than a person could ever need.  I was feeling very loved and took note of the fact that even though I wasn’t with my loved ones from home, I was with some pretty special people and kids who love me! 

Much more happened throughout the day including each class I walked into breaking out in song and the 3^rd graders singing and giving me hand made cards.  My 10^th grade bio students had a quiz today and when I arrived after morning recess they were all ready to take it and asked me to hurry up…very unusual, usually I am begging them to put their materials away and get ready.  After the quiz they all ran outside and when they returned they had a big cake, chips, candy and pop.  We spent the rest of the time listening to music, chatting and eating (some of my favorite things).  I also managed to get one of the class clowns with a facefull of frosting and despite my attempts to run away he was able to return the favor.  I left class with a full stomach and a face that was caked with frosting!  They sure do know how to celebrate J

After lunch I headed down to the 9^th grade classroom where I was politely asked to wait outside.  When I was allowed to enter they busted out in song and displayed a table of food including 2 more cakes (yes they made me eat a piece of each).  I was overwhelmed and couldn’t believe how generous all my students were throughout the day.  We spent another hour eating, laughing and of course chasing each other with frosting and yes I got frosting in the face again!  When the school day came to end I had the chance to FaceTime with my mom and shortly after the power went out so it was home for us.  Luckily the power came back on quickly and I was able to get some school stuff done for the day. 

I was told dinner was going to be at Kara and Lenny’s but that I could not be there before 6:30.  When arrived though the smell was amazing Kara and Brooke had cooked an amazing birthday dinner of lasagna, garlic bread and homemade applesauce.  I was in heaven and couldn’t believe all that they had done for it to be special for me.  Everything was delicous!  Since I had so much cake at school we decided to save cake for Saturday and instead had cookies made by Kara and Cassidy.  It was all so yummy, I had to make myself stop eating haha.  It was a great break from the usual evening school work we do and a great time spent with the people here that I have gotten to know and love…Their my La Union family! 

Reminders

October 31, 2012

First of all Happy Halloween!  I wish I was in the states so that I could overdose on candy and see all the fun costumes, since Halloween is viewed very negatively here.  This week has been a pretty calm one so far, but has provided me with numerous opportunities for reminders about the beauty and uniqueness of where I am.  I finished calculating my grades over the weekend and put them in the books today.  I was pleasantly surprised at the success of my students.  It is not that I expect less from them, but it always seemed like so many of them were failing tests and quizzes that it would be hard for them to pass.  I must say somehow they pulled it off.  I would also like to take the chance to tell you about two of my favorite students (ssshhhh don’t tell).  They are siblings and this is their first year at the school.  One is in the 10^th grade and the other is in 8^th grade.  During the first week of school I saw their blank stares and thought uh oh, this is going to be a long hard year for them; it was very apparent that their English just wasn’t at the level of their fellow students.  They slowly began to improve and their grades were awesome!  I talked with both of them a bit and was told that the 10^th grader works hours every night studying and reviewing material and forces his sister to do the same by reminding her of the great opportunity they have.  They also have an hour each night where they talk only in English about anything they want just to practice some more.  I am so impressed with their dedication and determination that I can’t help but appreciate their presence in my classes.  They are a great reminder of why I am here and the good things I am doing. 

On funnier note, on my walk home from school today with two of my fellow teachers we happened to see one of our 9^th grade students driving.  Now that is not abnormal since we have seen 5^th graders driving pick-up trucks and several 7^th graders have motorcycles (more like dirt bikes).  What was so weird was that he was driving a giant back hoe down one of the main streets of La Union, and I am talking giant.  He just looked at us, smiled and waved as if this was to be expected.  We were flabbergasted and just laughed, saying TIH (this is honduras).  This served as a reminder to not take life so seriously, sometimes you just have to enjoy the odd things in life.  It also reminded me that La Union is different, especially from anywhere in the states, but that those differences make it all the more challenging, humerous, and enjoyable.   There somethings you can do here that you just can’t do in the states.

A few days ago I walked home from school by myself because I was ready to leave while others were still working.  I enjoy my time alone while I walk and had the chance to think about my time here so far.  Yes, there are A LOT of things and people that I miss back home, and yes I think about them all the time, but I am enjoying myself here.  At first I thought the only fun times were when we got to travel, but the more time I have spent here in La Union, the more fun it gets.  Although sometimes sensory deprivation sets in, I find myself extremely content in my life here and overjoyed with the new friendships and blessings that have been placed in my life, I couldn’t ask for better people to spend this adventure with.  I also got to think about how beautiful and undeveloped La Union is just nestled in the mountains.  Space such as this would easily be bought and begun to be developed in the states taking away from much of the raw beauty.  The best way to describe it is simple.  Life here is simple, the people tend to think in simplistic ways, the living situations are simple and the scenery is simply beautiful.  My walk home reminded of the simple things and beauty I wouldn’t be experiencing if I were in the states.  It also served to remind me of the things and people I will miss when my time here ends. 

I think it is important to try and spend time every so often reminding ourselves of what we have in our life, who we have in our life and those things that just can’t be described or forgotten. 

Back to Routines

After all the travel we had done within a few weeks, we have spent the last two weekends here in La Union and have been back to full weeks at school.  Last weekend I spent a lot of time laying around and watched a few movies.  At first I was extremely bored and then I was reminded that I haven’t had a chance to relax at home in several weeks so I decided to seize the opportunity while it was there.  We had our typical Saturday game night and 4 of us girls decided to paly euchre.  The others were playing Settlers, which of course took longer so we snuck away and had some girl time (including a bottle of wine).  Over the weekend I also had the opportunity to Skype with one of my dear friends who told me the news of her engagement and plans for a January wedding.  I am very excited for her!

This week at school was much of the normal.  It was the end of the partial though so the kids were a bit on edge about what their grade was like.  I even had a girl ask me on Friday in the 2^nd to last class of the day if there was something she could do to raise her grade.  I just said it’s a little too late since today is the end of the partial.  Since this is Honduras and we have basically no technology we have to compute all of our grades by hand so that is what I have spent the weekend doing.  I am pretty happy with the way they turned out especially in my biology in chemistry classes because the grades were quite high.  I gave my biology students the task of creating a play about meiosis that they had to show me on Friday.  They had Wednesday and Thursday of class to plan and what they came up with was great.  We videotaped it and I did some editing this weekend with it.  The final product turned out pretty cool and I am excited to show it to them. 

On Monday we got to see the presidential debate.  We started out listening to it through internet radio and once we realized we had enough download allowance status to stream the video we did that.  We are very anxiously awaiting the election.  It is also election season here in Honduras except that November will be voting just for primaries and then next year they will elect their new leadership, so they actually have a whole year between primaries and actual elections. 

We have also been playing in a fundraiser volleyball tournament put on by the colegio (local high school).  We are currently 3-3.  Yesterday we played twice and won 1 and lost 1.  The loss was a tough one, it went into the 3 games and we lost the third 16-14.  We recovered and won the afternoon game though.  Last night we all got together and had someone make us dinner.  She made what she calls gringas, which are delicious but hard to describe.  It’s a tortilla with chicken, pico de gallo, cheese and a white sauce in it.  We also had a delicious cake complete with nutella frosting for dessert to celebrate Cassidy’s birthday, which is on Wednesday. We were all exhausted from the day and had more work to do, so we decided to forego the games for the night and we all went home to relax. 

Today will be a day filled with lesson planning and preparing for the week, as well as doing the double checking on the grades I calculated yesterday.  Next weekend we are planning a trip to Gracias to venture out and to make a trip to the post office.  I am hoping that the packages I have been sent will have arrived by then :)

Mitosis Cookies

 The highlight of my week occurred with my 10th grade biology.  I made sugar cookies and got frosting and sprinkles for them to decorate with.  Their instructions were to use the materials to show the steps of mitosis.  I have to thank my cooperating teacher from last year for this idea!  I was surprised at how detailed they were with their decorating and they turned out awesome.  Here are some pictures...including the fun frosting fight that followed the academic learning :)

  The 4 stages of mitosis (backwards because the picture is upside down)

They even all used different methods with how they did it!

Cookies that are ready to eat!

Hard at work! Followed by the fun...which created a little extra clean-up.

Pictures from the last 2 weeks

The resort in Tela, it got a little cloudy in the late afternoon, but the rain held off :)

A burial from the one of the residential sites complete with replicas of the offerings made.

The base of one of the residential buildings, they are still working on rebuilding these, but the house would sit up on the platform.  Each house was used only for storage and sleeping everything else was done in the center of the residential area.

Just arriving into the ceremonial center.

Sculpture side of the ceremonial center.  It was lined with stairs for seating all around to that the rulers could address the public.

Our guide and one of the sculptures built by King 18 Rabbit, it is also in the sculpture area.

This is the sacrificial rock.  The heart of the sacrificed person would be put on the top and the blood allowed to drip down the grooves to the ground. The shape of the carving resembles that of the ball they used in their game, which is how they decided who to sacrifice.

The ball court: here teams of 5 would line each side and try to get the ball to hit a target on the other side (sculpture of a macaw head).  The MVP was most likely sacrificed at the end.

This is the largest continuation of heiroglyphics anywhere.  They extend for 64 steps, each carved very intricately.  Step 10 is actually at Harvard, given as a gift to them for the work they have done at the excavation site.

One side of temple 11 which is built in honor of the heavens

The backside of temple 11, and our group!

This has all of the rulers of the Copan Mayans on it (18) all the way around.  How the last ruler who built it knew he would be the last is still a mystery to me.

One of the tunnels we went inside.  I believe this wall is part of Rosalita which was covered by the temple to the underworld built by a later king.

One of the sculptures in the museum that has been excavated from the site.

This is a replica of Rosalita from what they uncovered by building tunnels through the temples.

This little guy has found a home near our door...luckily he likes the outside and hasn't ventured inside.  He did give me quite a scare though when I first saw him in the dark.

Oh the Places We Go

October 15, 2012

Two travel weekends in a row leaves little time for updating the blog, which means you have no idea what I have been doing.  Well here it is a long-winded update of my most recent adventures.  We have been lucky enough to have today and last Monday off so the teachers decided we better take advantage of both the long weekends.  We also realized that this is our last long weekend like the ones we have been spoiled with so far.  From here we don’t have any breaks until Thanksgiving, when we will be going to Tegucigalpa, and then Christmas.  Even after Christmas our only breaks are a 4-day weekend in February and Holy Week (spring break) at the end of March, which I am very excited for because my mom, sister and best friend will be visiting :)

Last weekend we had reached that point where we were burned out and a bit stressed from the beginning of the school year so we decided we needed a relaxing weekend.  We traveled to Tela, which is a Caribbean coastal city.  Since it is the low season the nicest resort there was offering a deal, buy 1 night get the 2^nd free.  We thought it sounded perfect!  So for $35 a person we stayed for the whole weekend at Telamar resort.  We even met up with many of the teachers from Gracias and got to here about their experiences so far.  We left La Union at 5:30 am, although we had been awake since 4:07 when the fireworks went off to remind people that there was a political rally going on since one of the presidential candidates was coming into La Union.  We spent 6 hours on 3 different buses but we finally made it to Tela in the afternoon and all of us ran to our rooms, ripped our swimsuits out of our bags and ran to jump in the pool.  It felt amazing and what was even better was the swim-up bar.  We spent the late afternoon and early evening basking in this glory.  We met some new friends who offered to buy us drinks…they were intrigued by our teaching in a rural mountain city.  For dinner we visited the poolside snack bar, which was okay but nothing fantastic.  The next morning I woke up early (6 am) as always and decided to go for a walk on the beach, when I got back the others in my room were beginning to wake and we decided we needed some breakfast.  We checked out the buffet restaurant (we had heard it was a bit pricey) but the breakfast was priced reasonably and looked amazing so we decided we could stretch it out into a brunch and justify paying the American price.  Let me tell you, we spent 2 HOURS continually eating.  I’m pretty sure we each had about 5 heaping plates!  They had everything from typical Honduran food to waffles, pancakes, eggs, sausage, ham, muffins and lots of tropical fruit.  We left the restaurant quite full and went to get ourselves into our bikinis and headed for the ocean.  Of course, on the beach they were some people offering rides on a banana boat tube so the girls decided to try it…we had a blast!  The driver was hilarious and he spun us around and took us out pretty far to swim and float in the ocean for a while.  There was one near death incident though where another boat was coming full speed at our tube and missed us by only about 5 inches! After our ride we spent some time swimming in the waves and then headed to the pool.  I read in the shade and when I couldn’t stand the heat I would dip into the pool for a bit.  Since it was Sunday I also retreated into the room for a bit to catch some football.  In the evening we went to the Oceanside restaurant and had some great seafood all together.  It was delicious and time well spent.  On our way back to our rooms we caught a bit of the night show (mostly Honduran dancers) and then headed off to bed.  That weekend was just what the doctor had ordered.  We all returned to school with recharged batteries and a renewed view. 

I had a pretty good week at school, although it didn’t start or end on the best note.    Before we had left for the weekend my students and I set up an experiment where we put an egg in vinegar.  The vinegar is supposed to dissolve the shell of the egg and water should diffuse into the egg through the membrane.  Of course when I arrived on Tuesday the shell was still intact although it was rubber like and had a crack in it…my experiment failed.  Luckily I was able to discuss with my students what could have happened and we deduced that the eggs or the vinegar here are different then the states.  We did some more exciting activities during the week and are getting into more interesting topics, at least for me, so the students are getting more intrigued by science.  On Friday though one of my homeroom students was absent.  This isn’t exactly abnormal as she has had several absences, but she is also the one who I was told has one of the toughest homes of any of the students.  After school Jake came and talked to me to tell me that her family called and said she had disappeared the night before.  When her mom arrived home from Thursday night church service the young girl was gone, but had packed all of her stuff and taken it with her.  I haven’t heard anything yet and I am keeping her in my thoughts and prayers, as I hope you will also do.  I was told the most likely thing is that she ran off with a boy, which means she may not be back or she might, only time will tell.  This experience was a reminder of why I am here and how much these kids really do struggle with.  We discussed as teachers the differences of what the students here deal with compared to the states and I was amazed at how many things I hadn’t thought about and to imagine that they go through it all without a counselor or anything to talk to.  If ever there were a school that needed a counselor it would be here.

After the week we woke up on Saturday and caught the 5 am bus out of town.  We made our way on four different buses to Copan Ruinas.  It is a very touristy town near the border of Guatemala that has one of the largest sites of Mayan Ruins.  We had been looking forward to this all week because a “touristy town” means really good food and it was not a letdown that’s for sure.  We arrived in the mid-afternoon and left our stuff at the hostel in order to find some lunch.  We ate a place called Via Via and I had a fantastic sandwich with real ham and cheese and loads of veggies.  After this we wandered around and did a bit of shopping, the other good part of a “touristy town.”  I did some bartering and managed to get quite a few Christmas gifts for my family.  We then headed to Café San Rafael for a late afternoon snack.  This café is actually a cheese and wine bar so we enjoyed some great cheese and even better red wine.  After a lot of conversation we headed back for showers and got ready for a late, and light, dinner.  We visited a place called Twisted Tanya’s and had appetizers and desserts.  I had a 3-layer carrot cake that was moist and really well flavored with great frosting.  After dinner we all crashed after such a long day!  Sunday we had breakfast at a place called Café Welchez, which is famous for its coffee, which is grown locally in Copan.  I had a ham and cheese croissant that was awesome and very filling with fruit on the side.  After we were all satisfied we took moto taxis out to the Ruins.  We spent most of the day here and had a great guide, Neti; he was young and had excellent English and tons of information on all the sites.  You don’t have to get a guide, but I am glad we did because I learned so much more.  Walking into the site, we saw a bunch of macaws both in flight and perched in the trees, these bright colored birds are well known here.  The first site we went to have just been opened in the past few months and it was 1 of 2 residential areas they have uncovered recently.  Other areas (about 4500 of them) are waiting to be uncovered by archaeologists.  The Mayans had some amazing rituals and typical of their culture was for a man to live in an area with his 2 or 3 wives.  Each wife has a hut for her and her kids and the male has one of his own.  Most of these people were buried with their offerings right by their homes and have been carefully uncovered. 

We then moved onto the city center or center for rituals.  On one end was a number of statues that had all been erected by king 18 rabbit.  What is interesting is that they were more than aesthetic and a telling of his egocentricity tendencies; they actually are a form of astronomical calendar because they align in different ways at different times of the year.  Of course one of my favorite parts was the ball court.  The traditional Mayan game, which I remember learning about and playing in middle school social studies (with Mr. Herbert), was played as a ritual in order to sacrifice someone.  It is believed (but not sure) that it was the best player from the game, MVP that was ultimately sacrificed.  His hear was taken from his body and place on the sacrificial ball (the blood could then run down the grooves).  The game though was played with an 8lb rubber ball covered in leather, a little smaller than a volleyball.  Teams would face off and try to hit the macaw statues on the opposite side.  This sounds easy except you weren’t allowed to use your hands or feet; instead you bounced it off of your hips, knees or elbows. 

While sitting in front of the largest string of hieroglyphics (64 stairs worth) we had a discussion with our guide about the Mayan calendar and the end of the world.  He had a lot of good information about this event that is alleged to take place on December 21^st of this year.  The Mayans have been criticized for saying that the end of the world would be coming on this day, but in actuality that is not what they believed.  December 21^st marks the end of their calendar cycle, not the world.  Since it is a cycle the calendar will start over again.  You could compare this to the panic that people had in 1999 about Y2K coming…it was blown way out of proportion.  They do predict however that the cycle of everything will begin again and this includes natural disasters.  Their belief is that these will occur in the same way and time as they had in the past cycle except that they will be more treacherous and dangerous than before.  I was happy to know that they didn’t actually predict the end of the world on that day because it is the day I fly home for Christmas break…phew!  Our guide did say that they are planning a huge celebration at the park that will include a reenactment by Mayans of the ball game. 

We spent more time wandering the numerous different temples built by all the different kings, some of which were on top of others and we had to go down into tunnels in order to see the older layers.  One of which, Rosalita, has a life size replica in the sculpture museum which Cassidy and I visited at the end.  My favorite temple was the one to the underworld.  So many cultures focus on the heavens and what is up there I found it interesting that the Mayans thought that the underworld was of much importance, plus the skulls on it are pretty cool.  I was fascinated by a culture that did so much with so little and who had so much detail and artistic value in their lives. 

After our tour we spent some time in the gift shop and then headed back to town for lunch.  We ate a place that was known for their pupusas.  These are corn tortillas that have been stuffed or filled with your choice of toppings.  I had combinations of cheese and chicken and beans and chicken.  They were very good, but I still like the baleadas I get here in La Union better, but they were something new from Honduran culture that we hadn’t gotten yet.  After refueling we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, and I have to say I was able to get all of my Christmas shopping done, which is a good thing because we have been told there is basically nowhere else to get gifts, especially Honduran ones.  I also had an afternoon ice cream and spent some time relaxing in a café because a few of us finished shopping before the others.  After shopping we went back and changed for dinner.  We went back to Twisted Tanya’s because their menu had looked so good the night before but we weren’t hungry for main dishes.  I had prime rib and Brooke ordered tequila shrimp with spicy pasta and we switched plates half way through.  It was delicious, the prime rib had an amazing sauce on it and the shrimp were fresh and very large.  For dessert we decided to try the brownie and ice cream which was a great choice as we scraped the plate clean.  We had a rough night of sleep because for some reason there was a lot going on apparently.  One of which was a birthday party that started with a band at 4:30 this morning right next to our hostel.  It wasn’t too bad though since we got up early to get on a bus and begin our journey home. 

I am content that I had a weekend full of cultural learning, amazing food, and great company.  I am prepared to see what the week ahead holds for me.  I have definitely enjoyed all of my travels and am always a bit disappointed to come back to reality and the workweek, but I know that it is grounding and is the reason that I am here.  While everyday has its struggles, I have been enjoying my students and have found many great things happening with them. 

Also, tomorrow Honduras plays Canada in an attempt to keep their hopes of a world cup trip alive which means that town will be deserted.  As a matter of fact the holiday that was today (why we had school off) was changed to Tuesday so that people would have it off to watch the game…apparently our school didn’t get the memo though :(

I will add pictures tomorrow from the weekend...mostly of the Mayan ruins, but they're pretty cool!

A Positive Day

 October 3, 2012

First of all happy October! I am very excited that we have entered a new month, back home this would be one of my favorite months mostly because of Applefest.  This is my favorite festival in Charlevoix and this is the first year I will be missing it L. 

On a more positive note though, I wanted to tell you about my day.  I’m not sure exactly what it was today, but I loved teaching today.  My first class of the day was the 8^th graders and I know that I have said before they can be a bit squirrely and disrespectful so I usually go into class with my game face on.  I did just that today and told them I had a few things I wanted to show them, but it would require them to be on their best behavior.  For the majority of them this excited them and they fell right into line.  I did with them 2 demonstrations.  The first being a glass with an index card and quarter on top of it, when the card is flicked it goes flying and the quarter drops into the glass.  We have been talking about force and inertia so they quickly figured out that the quarter at rest wanted to stay at rest.  They also enjoyed getting to all try it.  This was a good start so I took them outside and showed them that when you spin a bucket with water in a circle over your head, the water will not fall out (centripetal and centrifugal force).  They thought this was amazing and all tried it.  They were laughing and testing its limits while other students and teachers looked on in amazement.  Once we made it back to the class and began discussing what we had witnessed I had several students come to me and tell me that class today was fun and REALLY interesting.  I was feeling really good.  It was great to see such a troublesome class come together and be truly engaged in learning and discovery together.  I now know that I need to continue to challenge myself to come up with demonstrations and materials that require very few or basic materials that I can find here because the smiles, laughter and intrigue were totally worth it. 

The next class was biology and they had a test.  While the test was boring (I didn’t get to catch any cheaters), I did thoroughly enjoy grading them.  All of my typical students that do well did, but what was truly amazing was that none of them failed and I had a few students who normally struggle a bit get As!  I was so happy for them!  Particularly one student who is new to the school and only went through 6 months of English training last year (imagine only have six months of a foreign language and then trying to learn things like biology, geography, and algebra 2 in that language), you can say this kid inspires me. He has struggled a bit on his tests so far because he didn’t understand the questions or the directions, while on the test today he got a 95% and when I excitedly told him he was overjoyed.  I also have his sister in another class who has also only had 6 months of English training and she has said that he studies for hours everynight and makes her talk in only English with him for an hour each night so that he can continue to learn and improve.  He is one impressive kid!

My last class of the day was chemistry and they have been struggling a bit.  I was about to begin class when one of the students said that he wanted to say something on behalf of the class.  He described to me that many of the students were feeling lost and confused in the subject matter we had been covering this week (moles and Avogadro’s number), and that they were having trouble understanding the way I explained things.  I will admit I was a bit defensive about this at first and we discussed things and figured out that I would look into reworking a few things, but for now they needed to work on their practice problems I had made.  I was feeling defeated and negative again until I realized that them standing up and having such an adult conversation with me is very admirable.  Instead of going through the motions and eventually giving up they took control of the situation and their education in a plea for help from me.  So I have spent tonight looking at the subject from different angles and coming up with new ways to present the information and new problems that might help them understand. 

Overall, it was one of my best teaching days here, I didn’t feel exhausted or like the bad teacher from Matilda at the end of the day.  I was content in what I had done and grateful for the way all of my students had behaved and engaged in the learning.  It was these things that made me want to share it with you all.