Just when I think that school is getting too routine and boring I have a week such as this that mixes things up and reminds me why I love life down here so much. Today, Maundy Thursday, I am going to be working on the sawdust carpets for the Easter parades. I’ve tried to go work with people to prepare the sawdust but have never been able to for a variety of reasons from forgetting, showing up late, them finishing early, or them canceling the meeting last second. Hopefully I have enough energy this evening to participate in the decorations. Last year people came up from the Catholic Church in Comayagua in order to teach and train people here in Copan on how to make the carpets. You should look up pictures of the sawdust carpets in Comayagua, there’s quite impressive.
In other news, last night I went out to Marisol’s just to say hello and her husband decided that I should witness what it used to be like with the Mayatan staff, so we should have a bonfire! We called up Tyler, changed everybody’s plans, and had a bonfire with marshmallows and hang out fun at their place. They used to have parties over at their house when the school was smaller. It’s grown from about 180 students to 280 in just a couple of years.
Funny story of the week… A drunk guy came up to Sam and I at the fair and asked (in Spanish), “where are you from?” Sam responded in a friendly manner, “the U.S.” The man proceeded to then go off about how he didn’t like the government, Sam defended it, they went back and forth a little bit. I tried to stay out of it because you could just smell the alcohol on this guy. Anyways, then he turns to me, “where are you from?” “Oh,” I responded, “I’m from here in Copan.” He responds with a confused look, “no, where are you from originally?” I just kind of smile and tell him, “I’m from Copan, born and raised 100% Copaneco.” He gets this look of confusion on his face, looks at Sam, looks back at me… “But you look like a Gringo.” This made me smile a little bit more but I just responded calmly, “I know, people tell me that a lot. I’m 100% Copaneco though.” Our drunken friend gets a bit smile on his face and says, “Que bueno!”
Moral of the story; alcohol makes you so dumb as to believe that a tall white guy, blond hair, American accent, and green eyes is from Honduras… so just stay away from alcohol.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
La Santa Semana Santa
It's that time of the year when everything feels wonderful. Children laugh and smile once again, teachers smile brighter than Christmas break as the weather is now warmer, and the reason for all the smiles is the lack of classes happening for another week!:) That's the good news, it's Semana Santa (week before Easter) and we get the entire week off for vacation! Unfortunately the Copan fair falls on the same week and so we don't get two vacations, just the one. However, it's from now until Monday after Easter, then back to school on Tuesday. Today I wandered out to the fair for a little while and hung out with two of my friends and it's always funny to walk around with Catrachos (Hondurans) here because people are used to Gringos, but not Gringos that hang out with Catrachos I feel like. So I had lots of calls to me and random stupid things that people said.
The fair is very much so geared towards high school aged kids and younger but it looks pretty fun. Not so much tonight cause I'd just had dinner and didn't feel like the rides were a good idea to go on. However, I'm going back to that pirate ship! It's the kind that goes way up high on either side but not all the way around. I like that one, no upside-down-ness.:) There's a couple other fun rides, a ferris wheel, shooting games, fishing games, and some other booths of random darts and such. It's like any fair in the US, except somebody died there last week and it's still going on... I suppose that's a little different than the states in which the place would be shut down faster than the person died.:)
This week break I think that I'm going to just be relaxing around town and hanging out. Maybe I'll go to the river for a little while and hang out down there, go over to a couple profe's houses, visit Eva's mom's house again to make baleadas up there with her, and then...um... relax!:)
The fair is very much so geared towards high school aged kids and younger but it looks pretty fun. Not so much tonight cause I'd just had dinner and didn't feel like the rides were a good idea to go on. However, I'm going back to that pirate ship! It's the kind that goes way up high on either side but not all the way around. I like that one, no upside-down-ness.:) There's a couple other fun rides, a ferris wheel, shooting games, fishing games, and some other booths of random darts and such. It's like any fair in the US, except somebody died there last week and it's still going on... I suppose that's a little different than the states in which the place would be shut down faster than the person died.:)
This week break I think that I'm going to just be relaxing around town and hanging out. Maybe I'll go to the river for a little while and hang out down there, go over to a couple profe's houses, visit Eva's mom's house again to make baleadas up there with her, and then...um... relax!:)
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Pobre Savio...
Unas lagrimas me curaron de le perdida. We went to San Pedro yesterday with a big group of teachers to see a soccer game and hang out at the mall there for a little while. The mall was not my favorite part, but I survived and we got some window shopping in as well as a Quiznos sandwich that cost me an arm and a leg. We got to the soccer stadium like 2 hours early so we played cards and just hung out. I had a blast of a time at the soccer game despite the fact that "my team" lost. Real Espana and Deportes Savio were the two teams, Real Espana is from San Pedro and Deportes Savio is from the Copan department, so of course I had to root for Savio. One of my ninth grade students also came along with her mom and since they were supporting Savio I had no other choice but to choose them.:) It was a really good game but Savio did anything but dominate, they were lucky to only be losing 3-1 when we left half way through the second period.
I've begun to realize that so many days here my life involves school (Monday-Friday), planning for school (Monday-Sunday), grading for school (Monday - Sunday), and then relaxing on Friday and Saturday evening. My life is so dependent upon school. I've been looking into the possibility of staying around here next year...if I weren't teaching I think that I might start to get bored. I guess that I'd have to go get a bunch of friends or something, that's a novel concept. It's hard though, because it's so built into the city around here that the Mayatan teachers come for a year, teach, enjoy, and then leave at the end of the year. I think that if I were to come back another year that I would be able to enjoy some actual friendships...although I would be that awkward exchange student that only the really nice and friendly people hang out with because only they have the patience to talk to me. What's wrong with that though?:)
I've begun to realize that so many days here my life involves school (Monday-Friday), planning for school (Monday-Sunday), grading for school (Monday - Sunday), and then relaxing on Friday and Saturday evening. My life is so dependent upon school. I've been looking into the possibility of staying around here next year...if I weren't teaching I think that I might start to get bored. I guess that I'd have to go get a bunch of friends or something, that's a novel concept. It's hard though, because it's so built into the city around here that the Mayatan teachers come for a year, teach, enjoy, and then leave at the end of the year. I think that if I were to come back another year that I would be able to enjoy some actual friendships...although I would be that awkward exchange student that only the really nice and friendly people hang out with because only they have the patience to talk to me. What's wrong with that though?:)
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Great Epiphanies!
So, I guess that my last visitor is gone now, on their way back home. My grandma and cousin Courtney were here for a week and we had a good time (at least I think). There was the usual coffee finca tour, ruins visit, bird park, card games, Casa Villamil hang out time, and then the all special homework time with Courtney. Something about math teachers is mean, her math teacher gave her homework to bring with her on the trip.
I had a series of epiphanies this week while they were here my two favorite being that the seventh graders had to write a letter home to their parents from themselves. The letter was dictated by me and told their parents that they need help and their asking for their parents to help them because the fifth graders beat them in a challenge on decimal addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Now that’s just not right. Seventh graders should not be getting a class average of 7 out of 10 on decimals…so we wrote a letter to their parents asking for their help.:)
The second is for the eighth graders to help each other on their homework, but they are responsible for their partner. On the quiz Monday the partners will each earn the average score of their two quizzes. I’m pretty excited to see how it turns out. Those were my two great epiphanies.
I had a series of epiphanies this week while they were here my two favorite being that the seventh graders had to write a letter home to their parents from themselves. The letter was dictated by me and told their parents that they need help and their asking for their parents to help them because the fifth graders beat them in a challenge on decimal addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Now that’s just not right. Seventh graders should not be getting a class average of 7 out of 10 on decimals…so we wrote a letter to their parents asking for their help.:)
The second is for the eighth graders to help each other on their homework, but they are responsible for their partner. On the quiz Monday the partners will each earn the average score of their two quizzes. I’m pretty excited to see how it turns out. Those were my two great epiphanies.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Irony of Strengths Finder
I took this quiz over Christmas break to help find my "strengths in teaching" and I have found one of the results to be quite humorous. Now think about my personality...then read this section describing my strength of "self-assurance."
"You know that you are able-able to take risks, able to meet new challenges, able to stake claims, and, most important, able to deliver. But Self-Assurance is more than just self-confidence. Blessed with the theme of Self-Assurance, you have confidence not only in your abilities but in your judgment. When you look at the world, you know that your perspective is unique and distinct. And because no one sees exactly what you
see, you know that no one can make your decisions for you. No one can tell you what to think. They can guide. They can suggest. But you alone have the authority to form conclusions, make decisions, and act. This authority, this final accountability for the living of your life, does not intimidate you. On the contrary, it feels natural to you. No matter what the situation, you seem to know what the right decision is. This theme lends you an aura of certainty. Unlike many, you are not easily swayed by someone else's arguments, no matter how persuasive they may be. This Self-Assurance may be quiet or loud, depending on your other themes, but it is solid. It is strong. Like the keel of a ship, it withstands many different pressures and keeps you on your course."
Has there ever been anything more true written about me? And it wasn't even written about me...or was it?
"You know that you are able-able to take risks, able to meet new challenges, able to stake claims, and, most important, able to deliver. But Self-Assurance is more than just self-confidence. Blessed with the theme of Self-Assurance, you have confidence not only in your abilities but in your judgment. When you look at the world, you know that your perspective is unique and distinct. And because no one sees exactly what you
see, you know that no one can make your decisions for you. No one can tell you what to think. They can guide. They can suggest. But you alone have the authority to form conclusions, make decisions, and act. This authority, this final accountability for the living of your life, does not intimidate you. On the contrary, it feels natural to you. No matter what the situation, you seem to know what the right decision is. This theme lends you an aura of certainty. Unlike many, you are not easily swayed by someone else's arguments, no matter how persuasive they may be. This Self-Assurance may be quiet or loud, depending on your other themes, but it is solid. It is strong. Like the keel of a ship, it withstands many different pressures and keeps you on your course."
Has there ever been anything more true written about me? And it wasn't even written about me...or was it?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Chaos of the aniversario
School this week is "anniversary week" which is the rough equivalent of homecoming week but on a little kid crazy scale. As Gabe just put it (talking on Skype by me), "Once you embrace the fact that you have no control over your kids and they are crazy it's great. That's just the way it's going to be." They don't wear their uniforms this week, we had a tournament all day on Monday for basketball with the students, today we had students vs. teachers in basketball and soccer. Blair bet his class thirty minutes of free time or time to stay in from recess with his kids on each game. He gave them a 30 point line on the basketball game but seeing as how we were dominating I think the game was called short and he lost the 30 point line to his kids. I think we won by like 22 or something like that. It was fun to play that. Then we played soccer and I of course was the goalie (they don't allow me to do anything else). I was like a brick wall with four holes in it and we ended up winning 6-4! That means Blair cancels out losing the basketball bet and Nora (director of the school) owes each of us in our apartment (Blair, Tyler, and myself) a cake!:) I think I could get used to this betting on games versus the students thing. It's working out great for me today. Tomorrow is fun day which is yet another code word for "crazy day with no control over anything that happens at school."
Apparently at this "fun day" we are playing an alleged game of "marriage and divorce." This is not a game supported by James Dobson but it does sound fun. Kids can pay for two other people to be "married." When they are married they are taped together on their wrists. In order to be separated they then have to pay to be "divorced" from each other. It should be entertaining (assuming I don't get married).
In the past couple weeks of no activity on here I have enjoyed a great visit from my parents in which we spent 2 days in Antigua, Guatemala and a week here in Copan. I don't think that I have much of a future in being a tour guide, but it was fun. I think we all made it out with the important things accomplished; a wide variety of baleadas eaten, hikes to places we don't know where they are, avoidance of ticks, sitting in the park eating ice-cream, and a wide variety of other important Copan activities.:) This next week I'll be joined by my grandma and cousin Courtney. It should be a blast of a week, but with less testosterone and more shopping than last week with both my parents.:)
Apparently at this "fun day" we are playing an alleged game of "marriage and divorce." This is not a game supported by James Dobson but it does sound fun. Kids can pay for two other people to be "married." When they are married they are taped together on their wrists. In order to be separated they then have to pay to be "divorced" from each other. It should be entertaining (assuming I don't get married).
In the past couple weeks of no activity on here I have enjoyed a great visit from my parents in which we spent 2 days in Antigua, Guatemala and a week here in Copan. I don't think that I have much of a future in being a tour guide, but it was fun. I think we all made it out with the important things accomplished; a wide variety of baleadas eaten, hikes to places we don't know where they are, avoidance of ticks, sitting in the park eating ice-cream, and a wide variety of other important Copan activities.:) This next week I'll be joined by my grandma and cousin Courtney. It should be a blast of a week, but with less testosterone and more shopping than last week with both my parents.:)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
La Casa Mas Bonita del Mundo
Maybe not the most beautiful house in the world, but it is certainly one of the best houses that I've visited before. Today Blair (my roomate), Farah (school secretary), Suly (Kindergarten assistant), Koali (Sixth grade teacher), and Eva (school cleaning lady) all went up to the house of Eva's mom today. We hiked for about a half hour from Copan to Nueva Esperanza which is a little city nearby. From there we then hiked up into the middle of nowhere and then a little bit further. It was about a half hour hike through the brush and nothingness to get to her mom's house. When I got there I asked her younger sister if they had any neighbors and she just gave me a look like, "are you a freaking idiot?" The house has no electricity, no running water, it's made of tun/aluminum and wooden planks. It's freaking awesome!:) They made us the most amazing chicken and rice meal that I have had in a long time. Then for dessert there just happens to be a million pineapple plants in the area so we had a couple of pineapples. The walk back was quite the adventure as it was misting at the start. It was perfect weather and we had an awesome view of the city from the trail. Part way down though it started to pour down rain! Ok, not pour, but rain, not just a mist. By the time that we got home Blair and I were both fairly soaked to the bone. I'm excited to go back there in the future. Eva has like 7 brothers and sisters. Her younger sister Maria lives at home, she's 23, and has 3 kids! I'm almost 23! I don't want three kids! Ay Dios mio.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
