Frustrations of Teaching in Another Culture

 

The past few weeks have reminded me of the differences in culture and mindsets of Hondurans and Americans.  In the states participating in extracurricular activities is a privelege that students earn by having good time management and leadership.  In other words they have to have good academic standing and record in order to participate in activities.  Here this is not the case.  When outside school activites come up academics seem to take a backseat.  While preparing for fiesta tipica they took students from classes and canceled classes on numerous occasions so they could practice.  While I understand the value in this it seems that other times could be used; for example, after-school or even during PE class.  Now that fiesta tipica is over we are still facing the dilemma because SAG (student annual gathering) is coming in the next 2 months.  At SAG the students compete against the other Abundant Life schools in all sorts of activities including sports, bible trivia, spelling bees, art competitions, singing competitions, crafts and many more.  Our principal has decided that in order to give the students more time to practice for their events they would take out 2 of their classes each day.  So today I arrived to my 11^th grade chemistry class to find out that they didn’t have class because they were practicing.  I couldn’t believe it!  First of all some warning or communicaiton from my administration would have been nice so I didn’t have to find out from the students and second of all they are going to be missing a whole chemistry class each week for the next 2 months.  So much for getting through all the material they want me to.  When I was not happy and went to find someone to ask about it I was told 2 more things.  First off, all of the students participating in sports would have practice before school on Monday and Friday and since they were commiting that time they wouldn’t have to arrive at school until after first period.  I was also informed that the students participating in SAG would be rewarded and have their homework/study load lightened so they had more time to practice.  Basically meaning I have to cut them a break and they would be exempt from some quizzes and tests.  I have never heard of such craziness where academics are so undervalued compared to sports and extracurricular activities.  I am currently trying to creatively come up with a way to handle all of what is happening.  I know that all students will have to take all tests no matter what, for my class atleast, but I am not sure how I am going to handle Tuesday afternoons yet.  My patience and creativity is continually tested here and I am learning a lot about myself and my priorities.  All I can say is I hope all the practice pays off for them at SAG and that they not only have a good time but are succesful in their competitive endeavors. 

Fiesta Tipica

February 26, 2013

2 of my favorite students...they learned English just 1 year ago!

This past Saturday was one of our school’s big fundraisers.  It is a festival that revolves around typical Honduran culture from music and dance to food.  Each grade had a booth that the parents were in charge of running.  The men built the booths and the women were in charge of cooking and selling the food.  I was quite impressed with the booths.  They are called Champas and were built like small huts, made from bamboo, wood and had roofs made from leaves.  The fathers even built small clay/mud woodstoves for the women to cook on.  Since Brooke and I both have small classes our parents worked together to create our booth named La Calabaza (the pumpkin).  Each grade was assigned to cook different types of typical Honduran food and our group had baleadas which flour tortillas with beans and cheese, similar to a quesadilla (they also can have eggs and avocado in them, which is how we generally get them).  We also had oranges and the typical juice called orchata.  The good thing was since Brooke and I had no idea what to do our parents handled almost everything.  The event went great.  Our students had worked tirelessly for the past couple of weeks to prepare a program with classic singing and dancing.  Each grade performed a dance and then a handful of students also sang solos.  The kids did great and they all looked awesome in their Honduran costumes.  The boys wore jeans, plaid or flannel shirts and cowboy hats, while the girls wore the typical dresses that you see in old school Latin American culture.  I spent a lot of time wandering around and talking to students while eating as much food as I could.  It was great to see our students sharing their talents and to spend time with them outside of school.  I am continually impressed with their abilities, work ethic and maturity.  I tried to take lots of pictures so that you could all see what I had the opportunity to experience.  The day was very hot and of course some of us gringas ended up with sunburns because there was no shade.  It was one day that I was very grateful for my usually underwhelming shower, I guess everything has to be thought of in context. 

The 1st graders dancing

Some of the 10th and 11th graders dancing.

One of the 2nd graders

some of the champas

The 2nd graders dancing

The 5th graders preparing to dance

10th and 11th graders dancing.

10th and 11th graders again

Long Weekend Getaway

February 17, 2013
 

Happy Valentines Day!  I know many people had extended weekends recently thanks to midwinter breaks and other holidays.  We were no exception and all of us teachers were very excited to get away from La Union and do some traveling and adventuring.  For one of the first times besides Christmas all of us teachers were not traveling together.  Harriet and Beth ventured towards El Salvador and Guatamela, Kara and Lenny relaxed in Gracias and Cassidy, Brooke and I ventured to Gracias also but we hiked Celaque which is Honduras’ highest point. 

Our sleeping arrangement...all huddled together on the wood floor.

The trail straight up to the top.

We arrived in Gracias by bus and made our way to Hotel Guancascos, where we stayed when we first made it to Honduras and had orientation.  Frony, the owner, had set up a guide for us and transportation out to the national park.  We said our good byes to Kara and Lenny and ventured off.  After the half hour ride, we spent the next 6 hours hiking the most grueling trail I have ever attempted.  The trail to the top is about 5 miles long and covers nearly 10, 000 ft of elevation.  There are 2 camps along the way and we had been informed by previous climbers that the second one is the better option as far as timing and convenience.  When we arrived at the first camp, out of breath and already exhausted our guide, Santos, informed us that the most difficult part was yet to come.  We ate some trail mix and granola bars and decided to continue on.  What we realized was that Santos was not kidding.  Shortly before the second campsite was a section that ventured across a rock face and was nearly a straight vertical.  At this point we were completely exhausted and had no strength left.  I will gladly admit that I may have crawled through parts of this because it was so challenging. 

We finally arrived at our camp though and enjoyed being able to drink water straight from the stream (we didn’t have to have bottled or filtered water).  Santos built us a fire and we relaxed and stretched for the afternoon.  As eveening drew near, another group arrived at the camp which included an older couple from Spain, I was very impressed that they had made it up, a guide and 2 young Honduran men.  They began setting up their tents and as it got darker we all had dinner around the fire.  Then the moment of truth came, they asked if we wanted help setting up our tent and when we replied that we didn’t have one they were all shocked and didn’t know what to say.  The site offers a shelter which we knew about, but shelters here are different than in the states.  Here the shelter was a woodfloor with three wooden siides that had gaps between them and a tin roof.  We were definitely questioning our decision about the tent but when we retired to bed, our sleeping bags under the shelter roof, we just huddled together and it was just fine.  The night was a little cold but we didn’t get wet.  Of course the wooden floor was hard and we didn’t sleep all that much so when morning came we were excited to get a move on.  We climbed for about an hour and a half without our packs to reach the top.  It was a partly cloudy day so there wasn’t much of a view but it was still pretty to be in the clouds and to know we made it to the top.  Santos then guided us back down to the camp and we grabbed our gear and began the hike down.  It took us about 5 hours to get down.  There were numerous parts that seemed to steep going down that I couldn’t believe we made it up.  When we finally made it down our legs were like jello and our feet were very sore.

 

Since it was only Friday we planned on spending the rest of the weekend relaxing and eating good food, so we met up with Kara and Lenny at their hotel in Gracias and got a room.  We were very grateful to have the opportunity to shower which was even extra amazing because it was a real shower (not the kind with the electricity running through them to heat the water).  We all went out for chinese food which was served family style with huge plates.  We greatly enjoyed the food and told stories of our journey, but since we were so exhausted we retired back to the hotel early and went straight to bed. 

The next morning we woke and not surprisingly we could hardly move.  My body was so sore, and still is, that even just flat walking was difficult.  We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and then caught a bus to Santa Rosa.  We have been to Santa Rosa before but since it is slightly larger than Gracias it has a few more things to offer.  We had lunch at Weekends, the great pizza place we enjoyed when there before.  We then visited the teacher store and did a little other shopping.  The afternoon was spent relaxing at a coffee shop while it rained outside.  When it slowed down, we made our way to the big grocery store where we found a lot of things that we don’t have here in La Union.  While there we caught up with Harriet and Beth and together we all made our way back to Gracias.  We spent the evening at a restaurant called Café Kalil.  They had delicious wings and bruschetta and even had brownies with ice cream for dessert.  We enjoyed all catching up and spending somet time together again.  Sunday morning we relaxed in bed because the power was out and then once it came back on we had breakfast, watched some TV and then ventured to the grocery store.  We were able to pick up some dairy products, mostly cheese and yogurt, before we headed to the bus station to make our way back to La Union.  The ride went well except that because of the rain our bus struggled to make it up some of the hills.  Of course it was Albin (our landlord and the owner of the buses) to the rescue, he used one of his larger trucks to help pull the bus up the hills.  We finally made it home though and got all unpacked. 

While many people were off relaxing on the beach, I spent the break climbing a mountain, which I severely underestimated.  While it was very challenging and there were many moments of self doubt I am very glad that I did it.  I also got to enjoy a lot of time relaxing and eating great food, which makes coming back to La Union much easier. 

Decisions...

This past week was our deadline to make a decision about staying another year or moving on to new things.  For those of you who know me, I hate making decisions.  Sometimes I just wish that they were made for me and I just had to find a way to deal with whatever choice had been made.  So this was a very difficult decision and I spent a lot of time thinking about it.  My students here are so great and I enjoy the subject matter.  I must say though I also miss a lot of things and people from home.  The comforts here are just nonexistent.  What ended up winning for me was my family and friends back home.  It also didn’t help that the past week or two had been very challenging and that I had felt like I lost some of the passion for the school.  The way the administration had handled a few things and the demands they put on their teachers swayed me toward looking for something new.  In all of my previous jobs I have believed in their mission and enjoyed the people I was working with and under because everyone cared about the company and it success and it was very evident.  For some reason I felt a disconnect with the administraton in Tegucigalpa and our school.  While I am a bit sad about the decision I am excited to see what new adventures life will take me on.  I will surely miss the great people I have met here and become family with along with all my students and the community that has surrounded me.