Our House

 August 26, 2012

I have had many requests for pictures of our living accommodations.  So here they are:

This is the front of our house.  Since I took this picture they have painted the white part lime green.

 

This is what the river beside our house looks like after a big storm or rain.  And yes that is what the water coming out of our faucet looked like too!

My bedroom, its very small but I don't have much stuff haha

This is the pilo where we wash our clothes...by hand.  For this reason we hire someone to do it for us.

The kitchen plus my roommate Cassidy :)

The river that runs through our back yard, except I had to stand on a chair to look over the cement wall to take the picture.

First Week Done!

August 26, 2012

The first week of school has officially come to an end and boy was I exhausted!  As soon as the bell rang at 2:40 I was ready for a nap, but we had other other plans.  We met the students at 4 on the volleyball court for a friendly game.  Of course they managed beat to us…twice.  The second time the score was closer though and I am hoping that with a little practice we will soon be able to back up the trash talking we had done all day.  All the time I spent playing beach volleyball with my friends this summer really payed off though because I was less rusty than I would have been otherwise.  Of course, I don’t really dive here because the court is cement and not friendly to my knees, yet another reason to miss the beach!

After our butt kicking it was getting dark and a student had brought his truck so he offered to drive everyone home.  Just like any other group of high school students this meant a joy ride.  We drove through the streets of La Union with the music turned up and about 10 people in the back of a pick-up truck.  We were beginning to wonder what our school director would say if he witnessed such a thing or heard about and believe me he would hear about it (he seems to know everything).  The students took us up to the tower seen below and we spent some time chatting and getting to know them better.  It made for a great TIH (This is Honduras) evening. 

I spent Saturday morning lounging around and was able to finish reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  We stocked up on some groceries for our house and then we met the students at the church for some more volleyball.  This time we mixed up the teams and had a 3 team rotation going.  We played for awhile but had to leave because we had plans for dinner.  I made spaghetti with fresh veggies for all of us teachers, and Harriet and Beth baked a chocolate cake (it was AMAZING!!!).  After we had all stuffed ourselves we went over to the community center and spent the evening at a karoke event.  Not only did we sing, but we got to see a couple students sing and enjoyed an evening of entertainment.  We have been told though that most events there are a bit awkard and quite lame.  Apparently we picked the right one though!  This morning we attended church, although I have no idea what the message was.  I am spending the afternoon catching up on things (including this blog) and then I plan on playing volleyball again and finishing up my planning for the week.   

On to week 2 I go!  The good news is my classroom is basically done (its only missing a doorknob).  I have windows and a door though and a ping pong table haha! 

We had been worried about not having enough to do in a place like La Union, but it is turning out to be quite the adventure.  We are definitely looking forward to the trips we get to take to other parts of Central America and Honduras though and have begun planning the first few breaks we have from school. 

Thoughts of the First Two Days

August 21, 2012

I have now completed 2 full days of school and am ready to head straight to bed except for the fact that I have to get everything ready for all 5 of my science classes tomorrow.  Today and yesterday both went well though and I am enjoying getting to know my students, I definitely have some real characters.  I have realized more differences in American and Honduran schools/students though.  The first being that in the states even the smart and driven students hate doing extra work and aren’t welcoming to the idea of school.  Here though in the upper levels, the students who do well and have dreams of studying at universities in the states or other countries love coming to school, respect you for helping them reach their goal and welcome the chance to study.  This makes me think back to the days I spent in school and realize how much I took advantage of the opportunities handed me.  It wasn’t as big of a deal to go to college, in fact it was just expected of me and so I did what I had to in order to get there.  I didn’t really enjoy the process of learning though and was always depressed at the thought of a new school year.  I find this about not only myself but I can see it in many of my friends too.  It is crazy that something as simple as education can be a reward here, when many consider it a punishment in the states. 

Working in a bilingual school presents even more issues than I would have expected.  After talking with all my fellow teachers it seems that we have all come to the same realization that our students’ English is not as great as expected.  Basically the 10^th and 11^th grade students have decent English and the rest are below what I was expecting.  Because of this I am already rewriting a lot of my plans and lessons take longer because I often have to stop to explain words that they do not yet know.  My other difficulty is in the fact that when I turn my back the students instantly start speaking Spanish and I have no idea if they are talking about the subject matter or something completely unrelated.  This makes it hard to keep them on track and even more difficult to connect with them.  I am used to using the bits of information I hear about their personal lives as a way of connecting and reinforcing relationships with the students.  A bilingual school setting is probably most effective if all teachers-and administrators- speak both languages that the school uses.  Which brings me to another point, the administration and secretaries speak only Spanish, and so I have difficulty getting information from them and always need to have someone around to translate for me.  Being here though is providing me with a lot of ideas about the schools I would like to work for in the states and even potential ideas for work towards my masters or doctorate.  

Since school has started I have also acquired someone who will cook lunch for me.  I pay her 35 Lemps a day ($1.75ish) and she brings me a hot lunch to school at noon.  I am so happy about this because 1. I don’t have to eat PB&J and 2. Her food is delicious.  Yesterday she brought us grilled chicken with rice, potatoes, veggies and mora juice (its like a blackberry flavoring) and today she brought rice, potato salad, tortillas and slow cooked beef in sauce with lemonade.   This guarantees me 1 great meal throughout the day and means I am less hungry at dinnertime and don’t have to worry about cooking anything too extravagant. 

Here’s to hoping that the week ends quickly so I can rest up for another :)

No Internet All Weekend!

 

August 18, 2012

This past week wasn’t anything too exciting; we spent numerous hours at school preparing for this coming week and the arrival of the students.  I worked on a scope and sequence for my five science classes and then began planning the first 2 weeks of classes for them.  I was also able to get my classroom mostly set up.  My decorations are up and I now have desks in it.  Today it is supposed to get windows and on Tuesday the door should be put up.  I will put up some pictures once it is finally done!  The interesting thing though is that it is not really my classroom; instead it is the 10^th grade classroom, which I am the homeroom teacher of.  The teachers are actually the ones who rotate or move throughout the day while the students remain in the same classroom all day except for computers class.  This seems very backwards from what research and American customs have taught me, but it apparently works for them here.  I have made a mental note that my materials must be transportable between classrooms and that I need to get my students up and moving as much as possible including quick breaks or games during class. 

This is my first teaching job and I have no idea what to expect from the students because I have no background here.  With those things facing me, you would think that I would be freaking out knowing that I start school in two days.  Instead though, I have this unusual sense of calm about me.  I am not sure why or if it is a sign that despite the “building character” qualities of the lifestyle here in La Union, I am in the right place.  I am very aware of and have heard all the horrifying stories of first year teachers and am expecting a challenge, but I feel that being here may offer a great reward that makes everything worth it…only time will tell.  Its not that I couldn’t get such a challenge in the states or find the same reward, but that I am here for a reason, a reason that will hopefully be discovered soon. 

Last night was parent orientation night.  The primary grades started at 4 and the secondary at 5.  There are 9 tenth graders in my homeroom and I believe that I had 3 or 4 parents show up.  Since nearly all the parents speak only Spanish and many can’t even read or write Spanish all I had to do was introduce myself while one of the Honduran teachers translated for me and then she continued on with all of the important information.  After the meetings the American teachers all talked for a bit about the questions the parents were asking and came to the conclusion that the concerns of the parents were very similar to those of the American parents.  They told many stories of their children lying about homework and group projects (which we don’t ever have them do outside of the school).  No matter how different the cultures are the kids still have the same innate determination to play their parents in order to get away with things.  Imagine that!

Last night our way back from school we stopped off to eat our favorite comedor (restaurant).  I had the tacos for the first time and they were delicious! It was nice to get a really good meal in, and we had the entertainment of a storm rolling in.  The clouds were some of the darkest I had ever seen and it turned out to be quite the show of lightening.  Of course the heavy rain that accompanied it made conversation difficult as we were sitting beneath a tin roof.  Lucky for us it moved past quickly and it was only lightly raining when we made our trek home for the evening. 

Today is a nice relaxing day.  I am going to continue working on my plans since I just got a copy of the chemistry book yesterday so I have some planning left to do in that class before the week starts.  I also plan on sitting on our back porch enjoying the sun and getting some reading in.  Tonight we will come together again for game night and dinner at Jakes, which means another round of Settlers is in my near future.  I think I could get used to this.

Many people have been asking for this so here is my address.  It is actually the hotel we stayed at in Gracias, but they are accustomed to having packages sent there by the American teachers and we can just pick it up whenever we are in Gracias. The post office doesn’t actually usually deliver them anyways so we just have to go there. J

            Lori Zimmerman

            Hotel Guancascos

            Barrio San Sebastian

            Gracias, Lempira

            Honduras C.A.

If Only Someone Had Told Me

I arrived in Honduras with 2 large suitcases, 1 carry on size suitcase and a large backpack.  Even with all of those things packed full I have been mentally developing a list of things I wish I had brought…so here it goes:

Food- basically any kind of snack food or non-perishable!

Spices and Sauces (for stir-fry, spaghetti, soups)

Tupperware

Can opener

Plastic table setting (plates/cups/bowls)

Cutting knife

Slippers

More tennis shoes (the terrain is a bit treacherous and because of that shoes wear out fast)

Long skirts/Dresses

Books

Classroom decorations

Any resources that could be used to teach science (there is nothing here)

Headlamp- they weren’t kidding about the power; as a matter of fact I was just about finished cooking dinner tonight when the power went out. 

First Weekend

13 August 2012

After a fun and relaxing weekend settling into our new surroundings we are back at school preparing for the arrival of our students and parents.  This weekend we took sometime on Saturday to hike up to campo del cerro.  This was only about a 45 minute hike but was very steep.  Upon arrival at the top of the mountain we found a flattened field that was perfect for soccer, or in our case frisbee.  It is amazing though that the forest just clears out and there is an open field.  We ate lunch in the shade of the trees and then tossed a frisbee around.  In the evening Lenny and Kara were nice enough to make us a wonderful dinner of stir fry and we hung out and played games (settlers catan and catchphrase).  Sunday was a lazy and relaxing day.  After attending Vida Abundante Church where the sermon was in Spanish we visited the fruit stand.  Brooke and I made a fruit salad which we enjoyed for lunch.  Many of us had coffee and visited with each other in the evening and then later played some cards.  It is interesting here though because the natives here don’t play card games or anything like that because they automatically associate it with gambling.  The same thing is present for drinking; they don’t believe in casual drinking, but rather only see it as 2 extremes (none or alcoholic).  Luckily we have already decided as a group that a trip to Honduras’ largest inland lake where there is a microbrewery is a must.  This is actually more for the fact that they have good burgers than it is for anything else. 

Today we are back at school though.  We are all working on finishing our decorations for our classrooms and have begun planning out our year.  Unfortunately for me, I will be in the new classroom and that means that it is not yet finished so I haven’t been able to get in my room or hang anything up.  Currently, I don’t have windows or a door, no electricity and no desks or whiteboard.  Fortunately, my room is the 10^th grade classroom and they only have 9 students so that will make it easier to be flexible. 

Tonight we have been invited to dinner at the church Pastor’s house.  We are looking forward to this as it is one less meal we have to make for ourselves.  In the past few days we have found that cooking here is very time consuming and quite the process.  Hopefully we can become accustomed to this because planning for my 6 preps is going to take a lot of time out of my day. 

Building Character

11 August 2012

I wanted to give you all an idea of the lifestyle we live here in Honduras.  While I was enjoying my lukewarm shower yesterday evening (the last few have cold so I really was enjoying it), a phrase that my father used to use often came to mind.  When things were difficult, different or out of the ordinary for us girls he would tell us that whatever we were doing “builds character.”  My experiences here in Honduras have been just that and it does not surprise me that this realization came today, as it would be his 60^th birthday.  I take comfort in knowing that he is not only watching over and guiding me, but that he would get a good chuckle out of my life and say that I’m building character!

So first of all, the showers are normally cold or lukewarm at best.  This sometimes isn’t so bad since it is about 80 degrees and quite humid.  Currently we are in the rainy season so it rains most evenings, but it still quite warm making a cool shower feel not so bad.  We have been told that in the spring when there is a water shortage in the natural supply (mountains), water rationing occurs and the water is only turned on in the evening to make meals, clean and shower!  This is certainly enough to build quite a bit of character.  I have also realized that it is a good thing I brought my rain boots because the roads have been quite muddy.  Our house (Cassidy and I) is quite small, but comfortable for the time we spend here.  There isn’t really a living room but rather a space with a table and chairs, a small kitchen that has a refrigerator, stove and oven, which we are quite lucky to have, there is also 2 small bedrooms and a bathroom.  The good thing about it is the patio and the river we live by, although there is a cement wall blocking the view you can still here it.  I’m not sure you would want to see it anyways because it is usually trash filled.  We bought hammocks while we were in Gracias so we are excited to hang them up and relax like we’re on a vacation or something.  The food here is very limited.  I may end up living off of PB&J as the ingredients for that can actually be found here.  Other than that I have found cornflakes, fruit cocktail, ramen like soup, snickers and pasta for American like food.  The normal meal here is some type of tortilla with beans and rice and these aren’t the quick cook kind.  They also often have queso but it is a very strong/sharp type and not very good.  The meat is very tough and often eaten only on occasion.  The water is not drinkable so we must use purified water for everything, which is easy to get.  They sell culligan like water jugs at most pulperias. 

I am looking forward to the challenges that this lifestyle may bring and understand that it is only “building character.”  I have a feeling I will have a lot of character by the time I make it back to the states J

Welcome!
Our group of American teachers has arrived in La Union (Lenny, Kara, Brooke, Cassidy and myself).  We also have two girls from England who will be teaching some and tutoring (Beth and Harriet).  After arriving in to San Pedro Sula we all met each other and the other teachers who will be teaching at other Abundant Life Schools in Honduras.  Our whole group took a bus ride to Gracias and checked into a hotel.  For the next few days we spent time exploring the city and having orientation at the Abundant Life School.  The school there was built right at the base of the tallest mountain in Honduras and the view and grounds are beautiful.  The group of La Union teachers then made their way to their home (3 hour bus ride on rock/dirt roads through the mountains).  The ride was a bit bumpy but offered spectacular views of the land and mountains.  We passed numerous coffee farms on the way out as it is the main source of income for this area.  Upon our arrival we had dinner at the Abundant Life Church with a mission group from one of the churches in Holland, Mi.  The food was great and it was awesome to hear about the work they had done while here- build a new classroom at the school.

The next day, we made our way up to the school (15 min walk) and were given a tour of where we would be teaching.  We began work on our classrooms, decorating and sorting books.  One of the teachers I am working with, Brooke, said it best when she said "I never want to hear a teacher in the States complain again!"  This is very true, our books are barely held together and all we have to decorate with is construction paper; the desks are small and very uncomfortable and there is only a bookshelf and maybe a table for a teachers desk.  Despite these things we are enjoying the opportunity to begin our careers as teachers and can't wait for the students to arrive.