So I don't know which of you happen to watch the Office, but imagine that 1 hour Super Bowl special from this year. At the start Dwight sets off the fire alarm and chaos breaks loose with people jumping through the ceiling, breaking vending machines, breaking the window and yelling for help, throwing cats into the ceiling, having a heart attack, etc. Well that was school today, the first Friday that was REALLY HOT!
Kids are naturally crazy on a Friday, and naturally crazy when it's hot....bad combination in and of itself. Well this Friday I take out my class (3rd grade) at 7:20 in the morning for a little walk around school looking for geometric shapes. I realize all of the sudden the 6th graders are playing soccer and not in class! One of the other teachers I walk by makes a comment to me but I don't really think anything of it yet. Then at 7:45 I find out the teacher didn't call ANYBODY and just didn't show up at school. Left no lesson plans or anything. So Megan (the director) is busy teaching first grade as that teacher is gone. Linda (another back-up sub) is busy cause she's teaching fourth grade. Norma (Honduran director) is busy cause two Honduran teachers are gone and she's covering for them. So what happens? We close the library and Diana (my counterpart) goes into the classroom with no lesson plans and little idea of what is happening. Now all this passes and life goes on as a normal Friday. Then all of the sudden I see one of my kids walking around at 10am....they have Spanish class from 9:20-10:40 so I ask her, "Maricruz what are you doing?" Her response was ridiculous! "It's...well....the teacher said we no have class now." And sure enough, right behind her come all the other kids in the class just walking around...for 40 minutes! Ok....now I think, this is ridiculous. In that very second all the secondary kids (7th-9th) are all out moving rocks for their final PE exam. Some are just making a pile in the middle of the school, some are raking dirt, some are shoveling gravel into wheel-barrows and taking it who knows where? So I just sit and stare as all these kids are doing nothing for their final exam, then my third graders are walking around aimlessly....then come the 6th graders! The ones without a teacher, they're coming to help move rocks under supervision of the kindergarten teacher while his kids do who knows what?! So we have 3rd and 6th-9th all out on this tiny field moving rocks and walking around aimlessly! What was going on!? Well the kids finally went back to class, we had library (with me), computers, and some art after that and made it through the day semi-normally. I couldn't believe how ridiculous the day was. At least it wasn't like yesterday where I had a kid stuck upside down on the little climbing net. A third grader that couldn't pick himself up from the net! He was stuck by his knees and hit his head on the ground, bawling as a first grade teacher picked him off the ground and a third grade teacher struggled to pull out his leg which was all twisted in the net. The kid cried for 10 or 15 minutes, but he walked back to class in mostly one piece.:)
Friday, March 27, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Viaje a Paraíso (Part II)
It’s now the start of my last full day in Utila and I feel like I’m starting to get back into real life mode and thinking about things like school once again. I’ve now spent 4 full days in Utila and I’ve spent about half the time not being sun burnt.:) So get this....I put sun block all over my back and everything before snorkeling. I go out for like an hour and a half on Wednesday and enjoy my time. When I get back that evening my back feels like it got burnt! When I look at it there are lines going across that aren’t sun burnt. I think, “man, that’s weird...” and start thinking back to after I put the sun block on. I sat like 5 minutes in a wood chair that had horizontal slats! The parts with the wood absorbed all my sun block and I got burnt there! Then yesterday we went snorkeling twice on a little boat excursion so I put sun block on in the morning....then again after our first snorkeling dive....and I still got sun burnt again on the back of my legs! So now being sun burnt on the back of my legs and on my back is making life at night interesting. I’m a definite back sleeper....
Anyways....I’ve decided that snorkeling is now my favorite beach activity next to sand castle building. We go out about 50 meters to the reef and get to see a ton of different sea life. The other day I got to see a “Spotted Eagle Ray” passing about 30 meters below me with a huge tail probably 15 feet long or so. I’m telling you, it’s totally like paying to enter an aquarium, except you get to swim in all the tanks! Yesterday I was swimming through a school of thousands of 6 inch long fish trying to catch one with my hands. Those buggers are fast in the water! It’s fun to extend my hands under water and chase after some of the fish trying to catch them. Of course there’s no way that I could actually reach one of the fish...but it’s still a fun game to play as long as you have the mindset that it’s ok to be defeated by an inferior species.:)
Anyways....I’ve decided that snorkeling is now my favorite beach activity next to sand castle building. We go out about 50 meters to the reef and get to see a ton of different sea life. The other day I got to see a “Spotted Eagle Ray” passing about 30 meters below me with a huge tail probably 15 feet long or so. I’m telling you, it’s totally like paying to enter an aquarium, except you get to swim in all the tanks! Yesterday I was swimming through a school of thousands of 6 inch long fish trying to catch one with my hands. Those buggers are fast in the water! It’s fun to extend my hands under water and chase after some of the fish trying to catch them. Of course there’s no way that I could actually reach one of the fish...but it’s still a fun game to play as long as you have the mindset that it’s ok to be defeated by an inferior species.:)
Viaje a Paraíso (Part I)
Well thus far my vacation on Utila has been one of the most relaxing and enjoyable things that I have done in Honduras. I took a series of busses and a ferry on Sunday with David and Cody (we met up with Cody’s mom and brother along the way) and got into Utila late on Sunday evening. On Monday we spent the whole day exploring on bikes, walking around, and just getting our bearings on the island. The most confusing thing on the island is not direction, but what language to speak! I’ve heard that people speak English here, but I have yet to hear people speak real English to each other. I’ve heard Spanish and some crazy almost English but not quite language. Some people don’t speak any English, some people don’t speak any Spanish. I don’t know how people cope on this island! It’s so confusing. I try to stay in English, but then sometimes I have to break out Spanish. For example...
This gentleman is walking down the road while we are sitting in our rented golf cart (to explore the island) and he’s singing a famous Cuban song, “Guantanamera.” He asks us in English if we like the song and we all say yes. Cody and I both know the song quite well and were chuckling that he was singing it. The gentleman then turns to his friend and says in Spanish, “A ellos no les gusta esta canción como son gringos.” Or in other words, “These guys don’t like this song cause they’re gringos.” I got super defensive right away and switched into Spanish semi-yelling, “Bien! Me la sé y me gusta.” (Heck yes! I know it and I like it!) The gentleman was shocked, said something to his friend that I don’t remember and is friend laughed and said, “sí, habla español.”
My other adventure thus far has been snorkeling. I don’t know which of you out there were as blessed (as I was thinking) enough to never have to go snorkeling. I was apprehensive about it all day as everybody wanted to go snorkeling in our group. I’m not the greatest swimmer in the world and I’ve never been a big fan of swimming in oceans. The vastness of it astounds me and intimidates me like few other things. So we get snorkel equipment rented and start to make our way out from in front of our house. it’s a long wade out to the coral part of the ocean and we’re probably about 50 meters from the shore by the time we really hit anything that would be interesting for snorkeling. I’ve never been snorkeling before (and I’ve never even swam with flippers on) and my first reaction while I am in between “snorkels” is to tread water for a while to rest. I was so tired in a matter of minutes and felt like snorkeling was probably the biggest waste of time. All I could think about was how far from the shore I was and how I’ve never been that far out to sea without a boat or life-vest and I couldn’t tread water for more than a couple minutes in those dumb flippers. Well I started to head back to shore and call it quits. Then on my way back I had to put my head back down to figure out the path back through the coral in order to not scrape against it or run into it. Before I knew what was happening I’d gone like a minute straight with snorkeling and I was starting to enjoy seeing the things under the water. Instead of going all the way back I started to practice in the shallow parts to not be so intimidated by the drop off. It goes from about 8 or 10 feet deep to something like 20 or 30 feet deep in a matter of seconds. I started to see all sorts of fish, coral, plants, etc. under the ocean that I’d never seen before! I was one of the last people in our group to come back in as I was enjoying it so much. The whole time all I could think of was “Finding Nemo” as I was thinking about the anemones, algae, schools of fish, stingrays (which I didn’t see), the drop-off, touching the “butt,” and a variety of Nemo things. I’m probably going to have to watch that movie pretty soon....such a classic.:)
This gentleman is walking down the road while we are sitting in our rented golf cart (to explore the island) and he’s singing a famous Cuban song, “Guantanamera.” He asks us in English if we like the song and we all say yes. Cody and I both know the song quite well and were chuckling that he was singing it. The gentleman then turns to his friend and says in Spanish, “A ellos no les gusta esta canción como son gringos.” Or in other words, “These guys don’t like this song cause they’re gringos.” I got super defensive right away and switched into Spanish semi-yelling, “Bien! Me la sé y me gusta.” (Heck yes! I know it and I like it!) The gentleman was shocked, said something to his friend that I don’t remember and is friend laughed and said, “sí, habla español.”
My other adventure thus far has been snorkeling. I don’t know which of you out there were as blessed (as I was thinking) enough to never have to go snorkeling. I was apprehensive about it all day as everybody wanted to go snorkeling in our group. I’m not the greatest swimmer in the world and I’ve never been a big fan of swimming in oceans. The vastness of it astounds me and intimidates me like few other things. So we get snorkel equipment rented and start to make our way out from in front of our house. it’s a long wade out to the coral part of the ocean and we’re probably about 50 meters from the shore by the time we really hit anything that would be interesting for snorkeling. I’ve never been snorkeling before (and I’ve never even swam with flippers on) and my first reaction while I am in between “snorkels” is to tread water for a while to rest. I was so tired in a matter of minutes and felt like snorkeling was probably the biggest waste of time. All I could think about was how far from the shore I was and how I’ve never been that far out to sea without a boat or life-vest and I couldn’t tread water for more than a couple minutes in those dumb flippers. Well I started to head back to shore and call it quits. Then on my way back I had to put my head back down to figure out the path back through the coral in order to not scrape against it or run into it. Before I knew what was happening I’d gone like a minute straight with snorkeling and I was starting to enjoy seeing the things under the water. Instead of going all the way back I started to practice in the shallow parts to not be so intimidated by the drop off. It goes from about 8 or 10 feet deep to something like 20 or 30 feet deep in a matter of seconds. I started to see all sorts of fish, coral, plants, etc. under the ocean that I’d never seen before! I was one of the last people in our group to come back in as I was enjoying it so much. The whole time all I could think of was “Finding Nemo” as I was thinking about the anemones, algae, schools of fish, stingrays (which I didn’t see), the drop-off, touching the “butt,” and a variety of Nemo things. I’m probably going to have to watch that movie pretty soon....such a classic.:)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Bendito Segundo Grado
This week is a special week for me as I get to spend time with a "one of a kind" class. This week has been spent with a rambunctious group of second graders who are sometimes lovely and sometimes drive me up a wall! We've had two good days and two bad days thus far. Today was a good day which makes writing this post void of any vulgarities. Had I started this post yesterday or Monday, however, it might be a different story. There is one student who drove me completely bonkers yesterday and would never stop talking. He got sent to the office at the end of the day so we could call home and talk to his mom about his behavior. He started bawling and promising to never do it again. Before you feel too touched, he does this frequently. Well we made a deal, we won't call his mom as long as he doesn't get in any trouble what-so-ever Thursday or Friday. Today we came into class and I gently reminded him that with one outburst and we call his mom and he goes home suspended. He just looked at me, smiled, and said, "oh mister!" Well, apparently it worked because today he was like an angel compared to the past couple days!
Then there's another rebel rouser (however that's spelled) who every morning has sat there for 20 minutes doing nothing until saying, "Mister, es que no tengo lapiz." (Mister, I don't have a pencil). I went off on him yesterday and raised my voice perhaps a little bit, "No trajo un lapiz?! Y que suponia ibamos a hacer hoy en la escuela?!" (You didn't bring a pencil?! What did you think we were going to do at school?!) Today he came in and I never once heard him say to me, "No tengo lapiz." So I suppose that's a minor victory right there, the boy has a pencil at school!:)
I could go on for hours about all sorts of stories this week. I just hope that I can have one more good day to finish out the week ahead 3-2 with good days defeating the bad ones. It's like game five of the ALDS in 1995 with Cora on third and Griffey at first....so exciting, who's going to come out on top? The kids or me?:)
Then there's another rebel rouser (however that's spelled) who every morning has sat there for 20 minutes doing nothing until saying, "Mister, es que no tengo lapiz." (Mister, I don't have a pencil). I went off on him yesterday and raised my voice perhaps a little bit, "No trajo un lapiz?! Y que suponia ibamos a hacer hoy en la escuela?!" (You didn't bring a pencil?! What did you think we were going to do at school?!) Today he came in and I never once heard him say to me, "No tengo lapiz." So I suppose that's a minor victory right there, the boy has a pencil at school!:)
I could go on for hours about all sorts of stories this week. I just hope that I can have one more good day to finish out the week ahead 3-2 with good days defeating the bad ones. It's like game five of the ALDS in 1995 with Cora on third and Griffey at first....so exciting, who's going to come out on top? The kids or me?:)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
El Año Santo
I finally accomplished my goal of over a year in going to Esquipulas! It’s a town/city in Guatemala with a super rich history...let me paint some of the history before I tell my story.:) It’s believed that it was a pilgrimage site long ago, before the first conquistadors arrived in the Americas. Back in the 1500’s a Portuguese wood sculptor donated a sculpture of a black Jesus on the cross. It was put into the church and soon became a pilgrimage site for local Catholics. Time passed and it came to the mid-1700’s when a bishop in Guatemala made a pilgrimage to see the sculpture and went away miraculously healed of a chronic illness. Upon this news the Catholic church decided to build a huge Basilica in Esquipulas and put the statue inside. It quickly converted into a huge pilgrimage site and is often called the “center of Central American faith.”
So this weekend I went with four other friends and we checked out the whole city. There’s a small zoo there that randomly has lions, water buffalos, ostriches, raccoons, crocodiles, and a whole bunch of other random animals. Two highlights of the park were the fact that the ostrich cage had an opening that literally anybody could just walk into and enter the cage. Then over the island that the monkeys live on there’s a zip line that Matt took which is about 100 yards long and costs like $1.15. On Saturday night we went to the Basilica in order to see the statue of Jesus. It was a short line and we spent about a half hour in line. The line on Sundays takes up to several hours to get through. It was a pretty simple statue without knowing the history of it, but I was pretty impressed with it. On Saturday night we went to Pizza Burger Diner for some pizza, which turned out to be the best I’ve had since I was in the States! We went back to the place on Sunday morning for breakfast cause we figured that being such a good restaurant they probably have pancakes also. We got there and they didn’t have them on the menu! So we asked the waitress (which was the same one as the night before), “Hay panqueques?” To which she casually responded, “yeah, we just don’t put them on the menu.” They were amazing! It’s my new favorite restaurant in Central America. I would say that the city has renewed my faith in Guatemala as a decent country. I was under impressed with Lago Atitlán my last trip there, so now I am back “in like” with Guatemala.
So this weekend I went with four other friends and we checked out the whole city. There’s a small zoo there that randomly has lions, water buffalos, ostriches, raccoons, crocodiles, and a whole bunch of other random animals. Two highlights of the park were the fact that the ostrich cage had an opening that literally anybody could just walk into and enter the cage. Then over the island that the monkeys live on there’s a zip line that Matt took which is about 100 yards long and costs like $1.15. On Saturday night we went to the Basilica in order to see the statue of Jesus. It was a short line and we spent about a half hour in line. The line on Sundays takes up to several hours to get through. It was a pretty simple statue without knowing the history of it, but I was pretty impressed with it. On Saturday night we went to Pizza Burger Diner for some pizza, which turned out to be the best I’ve had since I was in the States! We went back to the place on Sunday morning for breakfast cause we figured that being such a good restaurant they probably have pancakes also. We got there and they didn’t have them on the menu! So we asked the waitress (which was the same one as the night before), “Hay panqueques?” To which she casually responded, “yeah, we just don’t put them on the menu.” They were amazing! It’s my new favorite restaurant in Central America. I would say that the city has renewed my faith in Guatemala as a decent country. I was under impressed with Lago Atitlán my last trip there, so now I am back “in like” with Guatemala.
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