The First Real Week

Despite having been told by the librarian that due to my strictness I am at least a couple of the kids' least favorite teacher, I think today was pretty awesome.  (Let's ignore that it is very strange that he asked the kids that question in the first place, but also that he then told the entire teacher's lounge the answer, and continued even though I told him I didn't want to hear about it.)

 That's right.  Those are the lyrics to "What's Going On," by Marvin Gaye.  Today in my 9th grade music class, we listened to this and talked about the song meaning.  They wanted to sing, too, so I let them try to sing along.  It was mostly them confused and starring at me, though.

 I started doing projects in Art today, too!  Last time I lectured about the oldest art we've found thus far, so this time they made some using the same methods.  That is, they got water and food coloring in their mouth (stand-in for the ground up bone or charcoal or mineral deposits) and using their hand as a stencil, spit the "paint" onto the paper (stand-in for the cave wall).  Some of them look really great.  One of the kids got the technique down pat and I guess they were talking about it in their other classes.  They were really into it.

In my Environmental Science class, we made camouflage butterflies.  They did an amazing job, as you can see in the pictures.  I had another one of the teachers come in to try to find as many as he could in two minutes, and he could only find five out of 21.  Unfortunately, it used up a bunch of my time, but at least they had fun.  Besides, I need to take some time in that class.

The windows were open all day (until it started pouring), and this guy just hung out.  And on the day we did the butterfly activity, too.  I'm taking this to be a very good sign.

This past Sunday we went to a restaurant in a neighboring town called Catacamas for lunch.  In Catacamas, there are all sorts of places that are restaurant-pools, so you just chill and eat and then go to the pool as an all day thing.  We just ate, but there was a tiny petting-zoo sort of area attached.  There was this amazing, friendly monkey that was apparently starved for attention that hung all over me.  It was pretty amazing.  I actually can't really explain how amazing.  And she or he gave me little love nibbles.  It was just sad because she was chained to a tree with a leash around her neck.  So, I am still morally against it, despite how cool it was.  I also made friends with a duck that day.  Regular Dr. Doolittle over here.

The First Week

I finished the first day successfully!  Two of my classes I have for an hour and a half and the other two I had for 45 minutes, and the 45 minute classes should be fine time-wise, but the longer classes are the older kids, and I definitely did not plan enough for them.  I ended up talking about basic art stuff (like primary colors and basic vocab) and fashion in classes when I needed more time.  Fashion: the first creative thing you do every day to express who you are.  The only thing that communicates something about you without you even saying a word.  I found this really great quote I put on the board:

" A dress or an accessory not only satisfies social and emotional needs but it is worn on body and it becomes part of our physical being. A part of this strangeness of dress is that it links the biological body to the social being, and public to private." - Elizabeth Wilson

I only lectured about this to my 9th graders, but they seemed to really like it.  One of the girls told me that she really likes my class at the end as everyone was leaving.  And I really like that class, too!  They're just super into class and pay attention for the most part, and they're the old kids   We start with the boring stuff next week.

Behavior-wise, the kids are way better than I thought they were going to be.  I gave out one detention on the first day for a kid talking back and sentences to half of one of the classes for not having thier dictionary with them.  The second and third days pretty much followed the same pattern.  But being told to expect the craziest, most malbehaved kids you could imagine, and getting what I have, I feel pretty good.  When you lay down the law, they all wise up quick.  It's great when they're scared!  Plus, I think I'll be able to find the mutual respect, strict, but still fun (but not too fun) thing my teacher sister was telling me about.  Sometimes I felt like I have it, anyway. 

The 7th graders are great!  They got really into my lecture about the rules (which is the most boring thing I'll be talking about all year), and laughed at my jokes and all looked when I pointed at the door that had gum on it and looked under their chairs for gum.  I love that age; they're still so excited.  If I were to become a teacher again, or do it more long term, I would love to teach 7th.
The 8th graders were apparently little devils last year, so I was really worried (and that's why I was more strict than I probably needed to be), but it turned out ok.  I reinforced the respect and "mature and appropriate behavior" thing a lot in that class during the rules lecture, so I hope it sunk in.
The 9th graders a great, too.  Super chill most of the time.  Plus, the class is about 10 people less than 7th and 8th each, which makes it easy.  Those big class sizes are going to make it hard to do art and music projects.

None of them said anything about my appearance, which is nice.  The returning teachers were saying that last year the female students would constantly comment on the female teachers' appearance.  Like, "Miss, you look so fat today!"  "Miss, you hair looks weird..."  "Miss, that shirt looks so bad on you!"  I only got one at the open house that she likes my hair.  So far, I'm winning.  But I'll probably give detention if they insult me.

During the fashion segment, one of the kids stopped the class to ask what white people wear, white or black?  I was about to make him do sentences saying something like: "I will not base my opinion of people on their skin color."  But then he clarified that he was only asking because he's white, and he just really wants to know which color would look better on him.  He's not white.  But that's also a thing here.  If you're a little darker you're black and if you're a little lighter your white.  If your eyes are a little slanty, you're Chinese.  I told him that the class isn't about him and moved on.

And!  Over the summer my co-workers and the kids I was working with were trying to figure out Simba's song in The Lion King and no one could remember how it went.  This was about a month ago, now.  In one of my classes, I was asking the kids what musicals they like so that maybe we could do a musical this year, and I said it could be a Disney movie.  One of the kids said he really likes The Lion King and asked how Simba's song went and it just came to me and I sang it to the class really excited.  And I actually sang well instead of what I usually do of making myself sound bad on purpose when I sing with people.  The kids were really surprised, but I think it gave me more cred as the music teacher that I have a good voice.

 These are just street shots; I wanted to show what I see everyday.  My roommate and I were walking around town in an area we don't normally go to, and it was way beautiful.  It was more what one would think of when they think of Central America, so I'm hoping to do some city hiking and exploring the area.  There will be pictures.

 This is the street to my barrio... 

 And this is a funny sign.

Street Food

 The power went out for 6 to 8 hours on Thursday and today it was out when I woke up (around 7 today because I wasn't feeling well) and was out until about 1:30 or 2 pm.  The weird thing was that no one knew what was going on and why it was out.  Our neighbor/landlord/friend texted a bunch of people and no one knew.  So, needless to say, I've been really grateful for power.  And since the water doesn't work when the power is out, I didn't take a show for two days because I didn't have time until today.  I love being clean.

I had my first street food!  Well, I think it would be considered my first street food.  I ate at the tent in the park already, but this was literally a guy standing on the street with a grill and corn.  It tastes like popcorn with lemon if you get lemon.  It was so awesome, I might start getting one every day after school.  I love food.

This is the weird squash I bought on a whim because I wanted to just cook and try all the local stuff.  It was really good!  Not at all sweet like it was going to be.  The dinner we just ate used this and it was super fab.

More Daily Life

Mas fotos

This is the Texaco we go to to get internet and coffee.  Apparently, Texaco is a big thing in Honduras.  For example, I was reading a Honduras travel book and in another town, you start your night out tailgating at Texaco.

 This is a spot I thought was pretty.

An American-style grocery store.

 We have two chile plants in the backyard!  They are freaking hot, man.  I tore a tiny bit off  to try and my fingers burned for the next few hours.

 We also have cilantro!  It's actually a very strong brother of cilantro.  When I picked it to cook, it my hands smelled like it for the rest of the day.  It was a pretty nice smell to have, in my book.  One of my roommates doesn't like cilantro, though, so I might have to take it easy if I cook for her.

 Backyard.  We have one of the bigger ones, but still our house isn't nearly as nice as one of the other teacher houses.  I mean, their house is nice by my standards (which, given, are low)...

 This is basically what all the electricity looks like all over town.

 This is the best local beer in Honduras because it's the most flavorful.

 The Hotel el Boqueron is another cool place to get internet and chill with a pool and beers.  We have a pool in our neighborhood, too, but we haven't started paying for it yet.  Once we do, though, I'm sure we'll be there all the time, especially in February and March.

 This is the view from one of the other teacher's classrooms.  This is what we need to remember to see every day.

So, all the shoes I brought tore my feet to shit (as you can see if you look closely).  So, I went to a used shoe store today and got these, and so far so good!  I walked all the way from my house to the hotel, about 20 minutes, and my feet feel great.  They're a bit too big, but I added an extra hole so they fit.  I also got sneakers, so I can play futbol and go hiking.

 This is my abode and the area around it.  Apparently, some of the locals consider this pat of town to be snobby because the style of the houses and the gate.  We also have a pool, so maybe that's part of it, too.  The inside is just as nice as anywhere else that I've seen, though.

This week I started seriously working on my lesson plans, and since I'm an over-achiever, I decided to plan for the first two grading periods all in the next week and a half before classes start.  I would be completely stocked if I get them done, but in all likelihood I won't.  In either case, I'm going to be very busy with lesson plans for a while.

My new roommate got in today!  And the other returning teachers this past weekend.  To continue on with the theme, they're cool, too.

The dogs are actually starting to make me really sad, but I think it's something you have to just not think about.  The hard thing about it is that they aren't necessarily street dogs.  I think the majority belong to people, they just don't take good care of them and they run around in the streets where the cars barely slow down for them and they are always getting in dog fights and having babies.  I just really can't wait to see my dog.

As far as learning Spanish... The lessons that the school was going to give us aren't starting until late September, but luckily one of the other teachers that's pretty good at Spanish happened to bring her "learn Spanish" DVDs 1-3, so I'm going to start with that.  I really hope it helps, because I was laughed at yesterday when I was trying to get some lunch and it was really embarrassing.

I really hope we go on a trip this weekend to see the surrounding area.

Fotos!

 Beunos dias, amigos!  Tengo unas fotos para ustedes!

These first three are pictures of my classroom.  I got really lucky because mine is huge.  Apparently other people have classrooms where there isn't even enough room for the kids to put their chairs on their desks at the end of the day.  I have enough room for putting a desk in the corner for discipline, which I'm pretty stocked about.  I'm going to try to be really strict, at least at first.

These next two are other parts of the school.  The first is leading up to the cafeteria and the other is the inside.

So, these are pictures on the walk to the school.  I have yet to take pictures that better represent what the town really looks like, but there are horses and cows and chickens/roosters everywhere.  And dogs, of course.  I haven't seen very many cats, though, which I found surprising.  Every morning around 4 am, the roosters start and go until about 6:30 or 7 am, and the sun goes down super early, at like 6ish, so it makes it hard to go out at night.  The locals stay up really late on the weekends, obviously, but as a female gringo who doesn't speak Spanish, I'm not really going to go out late until I feel like I more understand the situation.  I'm going to start with seeing the sites and hiking and all that before I see what the nightlife is like.

This is my room!  I didn't have that desk/dresser until Friday, but now my stuff is more put away.  I also think I'm going to get a mirror for my room.  The one I've been using is tiny in the bathroom, so there's a lot of back and forth when I get ready in the morning.  It would also just be a cool souvenir.  That and a million other things.  One of the other teachers was talking about how he wanted to get a door custom made by one of the locals and put it to use in every house he lives in.  Clever idea.  I suggested he also go visit Africa and get one of this handmade door handles.  I couldn't remember the tribe name, but the internet thinks it's the Banama Tribe.

The views from my window!  It's been really cloudy like this everyday, which is really nice.  I guess when it gets hot it gets really hot.  Like, all the green turns brown and everything is dusty and it's horrible.  So, basically being in Southern New Mexico during the summer before the rains start, just with less air conditioning.

This little dude was just hanging out in our backyard!  Geckos are everywhere.

I've tried the beer!  I've had two local kinds so far, and they're really light.  Like, they're the kind of beer that college students drink because they want to get drunk on cheap beer.  I really like it, though, because I only just this summer started drinking nice beer on a regular basis.  Besides, it's so hot and humid here, I don't think you would want anything heavier than Imperial.  It seems, also, that they're way more into hard alcohol here.  We were drinking the other night and no one brought beer, and I guess they don't sell cases, they just sell single beers.  Maybe not in stores, but I've only seen them as singles so far.  I also haven't been in La Colonia, the grocery store, yet.  Hopefully later today, though.  It looks really nice.  On that note, I'm really excited to start cooking with the local produce.  A coupe other teachers and I have cooked together twice yet, but just with the stuff the school provided for us, and mostly just because it looked like it was going to go bad.  But it was green bell peppers, potatoes, carrots, onions, and rice.  I mean, everyone is forced to be a locavore here, which is so great.  The only stuff you can get is what's in season, so I'm going to have to expand my cooking expertise.

Everything is really cheap here.  I just got a double americano for 20 lempiras, which is like 1 USD.  I've also had an entire meal for 20 lemps.  I bought a pack of cigarettes for 38 lemps!  I mean, the cigarettes are not as nice as I'm used to, but I'm also used to smoking American Spirits and nothing is as nice as that, but I was talking to my neighbor who was saying that there's some local tobacco around here somewhere, so maybe I can go on a little trip and get a really fresh pack.  I hope they don't just have cigars.

Hasta luego!

Made it to Juticalpa

I am in Honduras.  This is crazy.  Honestly, it feels really natural, I just need to learn the language and I'll be set...  But I guess that's just the case whenever.  Though, I don't really look like I fit in; people keep saying, "Hello!" to us as we walk by and laughing.  So, anyway, I'm no Honduran, clearly.

The school I'm working at is slightly not as nice as the Middle School I went to, so it's pretty nice.  More tropical, though, so the windows are thinner and have bars on them and the walls are painted very National Geographic.  You know, with the dark wood and the dark blue paint on bottom and the light blue on top.  Actually, the basketball court is the only thing that looks a little run down, but that's not something I'm going to worry about. 

I was really confused about my classes at first.  They gave me my schedule, and there was a time slot for Musica and for Arte, but everything else was under one heading, so my boss had to spend 20 minutes explaining it to me, (but that's mostly because he uses a lot of words to explain a simple idea).  Basically, I'm in charge of what subjects I teach when to each class.  Apparently, though, I have the most confusing schedule because I am alternating every week between two schedules and everyone else is doing the same thing every week.  I think tomorrow I may tell him what I think my plan is, and if it seems like I know what I'm talking about, then I understand my schedule. 

But I do have to and will be for the 12 days planning my curriculum. One of the art projects I'm planning to do with the kids that I am so excited about is going to be street art/graffiti.  I probably will be able to find pieces of concrete and recycle it for canvases, and I already asked about using spray paint in the classroom, I just have to teach them about it first.  Maybe I can show them Exit Through the Gift Shop and it can do that part for me.  But I think I'm going to save this to be an award for everyone in the class being good and working hard for, like, two weeks or something at some point.  Or maybe I'll tell the kids that if they get less than a certain number of checks (that each will get for bad behavior) each day for two weeks they can watch the movie and do a project.

The Reward/Consequence thing is pretty intense here.  We each choose how we want to do it and I think I've come up with a pretty good system...  But we'll see.  I might have to change it at some point.

So far we've been doing orientation.  Another teacher and I were one day late to orientation because we were told the wrong date.  It worked out for me, though, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go to the end of summer banquet for my summer job, and I don't think I missed too much anyway.  Next week is the orientation with the returning teachers.  I'm pretty excited to meet everyone, especially since so far everyone I've meet have been really cool.

I'm going to have two roommates and one of them is here already and the other is coming on Monday.  We're going to wait to get internet until then, and then have all three of us and the girls that live in the other house in the same complex pay, too, and we can all share.  I'm currently in a Texaco gas station with some people for the internet, so getting our own sounds like the best and cheapest option.  Our houses look like something that would be in the United States, so they're really nice by Honduras standards.  Apparently, all our houses have maid quarters because everyone middle class has maids (not us), so that's neat.  We're going to get a maid service twice a month from the women that work at the school.  I hope they come soon because I have some ants eating some dead bugs in my room and I'm not sure how to go about getting rid of it.

Juticalpa is... hard to explain.  Once I get pictures on my computer, I'll put them on here, but I also don't want to be one of those annoying, tourist, white people taking pictures of dark people.  I guess, if they'd think that, they'd think it whether I was taking a picture or not, so maybe I'll just not worry about it and get great pictures.

The food is exactly what you would expect it to be, just without anything spicy (which might be what you expected).  I just had a plate of beans, rice, and fried plantains and a cup of coffee, for example.  Last night we had pupusas, which are basically tortillas stuffed with stuff.  I had beans in mine, and it was served with two kinds of salads (pickled vegetables in one and cabbage in the other), and it was really good when putting the salads on top and eating it like an American taco.  Also, there's a lot of fruit.  A LOT of fruit, which is something I'm not used to.  I'm excited to get some food and start cooking, because everything is local and seasonal, and I'm only really used to cooking with pasta, broccoli, zucchini, and garbanzo beans.

All of the stuff we don't really think about every day sucks down here, so be grateful for being able to flush toilet paper, for example, and trash containers all over the place that are used by people who have trash that are collected by the county to be stored out of sight, and electricity that works consistency and wires for electricity that don't look like if you touch them you probably will be electrocuted.

The weather is awesome right now, but everyone is really worried about February and March, which are the hottest months of the year (and December is the coldest, which I thought was weird).  It's just that then it's going to be hot and humid and it isn't going to rain.  Now it's hot and humid, too, but not as hot and cloudy and when it rains it cools down a lot.  The hardest part will be the humidity, because I'm definitely used to the heat.  Actually, speaking of being used to it, and probably the reason why it feels natural here, is because a lot of this reminds me of a mix between the poorest parts of Southern New Mexico with roads the size of old European roads.  Juticalpa has a definite higher class and I haven't seen anyone homeless or begging or anything yet. 

The last thing I'm going to touch on before I head out is the whole street-dog situation.  There are street dogs, yeah, but for the most part they look mostly healthy and well-fed and are really well behaved.  Some are mangy and most of the females look like they are or have been pregnant recently.  But I heard that no one owns dogs here, and apparently that's not true at all.  I still don't think it's a good idea to bring Uhura unless I decide to come back next year because the culture surrounding dogs is so different.  I just wanted to clear that up in case I said something untrue before.

I'll make sure to post pictures soon!

Traveling

I am now on the last 3 hour leg of my 12 hour and 45 minute layover.  If there was a flight straight from Albuquerque to Tegucigalpa, the traveling time would have been 5 hours.  That's a whole 12 hours and 45 minutes faster.  But sleeping sitting up isn't so bad, it's just really cold in here.

I also have a piece of advice for the ditsy traveler who happens to enjoy smoking cigarettes: if you're flight isn't until the next day, and you have a really long layover, don't go outside to have a smoke because it will be a hassle getting back in unless you go outside the next morning.  I didn't know this, but I guess that's how it works.

TSA has been really friendly, though, so that's pretty cool.  It's mostly just the people that work for United that have been rude about the whole going outside to smoke thing and not getting back in.

But now, since I still just have a bunch of time to kill, maybe I'll try my luck again.  Getting stuck in Houston would totally blow, but I think I'll chance it.  I mean, I was talking to a friend through this whole ordeal, and he said, "Just go to the airport bar."  Nope!  Everything closed at 9pm, which is pretty much when I got off my plane.  I even only saw one water fountain.  And I am currently sitting on the floor outside the club room in order to get internet access.  Not to mention the name of the airport: George Bush International.  Could be a coincidence that this place isn't very great, but I doubt it.

Sorry about the complaining... Maybe I'll feel better after a cigarette.