Books, Books, Books...

All the books and supplies we shipped to the school finally arrived!!!!! A huge THANK YOU again to everyone who had a part in that, we were able to ship 25 boxes here because of all your support and donations! You can't even begin to imagine how much the kids here need it! It continues to get more and more frustrating for Sara and I, as we are getting to know our students more, and we are realizing more and more everyday just how little they can read, write, or comprehend English. We've definitely had a rough first few weeks. The biggest challenge has been trying to build on the skills they really needed, using only the textbooks and workbooks the school provided. As I had mentioned in an earlier posting, they do have textbooks for every subject, but all of them are way too high for any of our students to be able to read, much less comprehend. And all the while, we are being pressured to "use the textbooks, and complete the workbook pages" with the students! Trying to talk to the other teachers and administration about the importance of allowing the kids time to read books at their level, to help build on comprehension and basic reading skills adds to our frustration, they don't seem to get it! Reading and writing are not as valued as much as they should be here, and if they only understood how much the kids would benefit from slowing down, and really taking the time to master those basic skills, instead of forcing them to complete their workbooks and plow through textbooks that go way over their heads, the kids would be much better off! I guess the struggle to balance teaching kids what they really "need to know"to become better learners (coming from a teacher who is in the classroom all day working with the kids), and what other people (who know nothing about what goes on in your classroom) assume kids "should know" is a conflict teachers face even in this country! Sara and I are on our way to putting together a school library for the students, and we plan on teaching the kids how to choose and check out books appropriate for them. We still need to try to convince the principal that time should be given for these kids to read and discuss books and stories outside of the limiting pages of the textbooks. so wish us luck! I'll be sure to post more pictures of the kids and the library once it comes together.

These are more pictures of the school. The playground, which if you look closely, you should be able to see random cinder blocks that are very dangerously placed on the ground around the play equipment, I've realized, it is too help smaller kids reach the swings and swinging bars, but I don't think they realize how scary it would be if one of the kids slipped and hit his/her head on them. Also, none of the play equipment is bolted down, not to mention that all of it is extremely rusted, thin, and bent metal. It's altogether dilapidated and very unsteady. Many of the swings are missing seats, so the only thing the kids sit on are metal bars. During my playground duty this month I was a nervous wreck, keeping a very close eye on all the kids, and constantly running after and yelling out to kids to be careful.

This is a picture of Sara and I in our dreadful uniforms, mostly dreadful because white collared shirts are not very fun to wear considering the weather here, and the fact that we have to hand wash all of our clothes only makes me dislike them more!

Below is a picture of the "cafeteria" which unfortunately provides the kids with EXTREMELY unhealthy foods like candy, soda, and chips. Although they do serve pizza and beleadas (usually with beans and chicken) many of the kids choose to eat only the junk food. Apparently not much different from what they eat at home, many teachers have mentioned how much soda and candy everyone eats here.

Our trip to Punta Sal

On Saturday, Sara and I ventured out on a guided trip to Punta Sal, a peninsula west of Tela, which included a hike though the Jeanette Kawas National Park (named after the same woman as the school I teach at) and snorkeling at Cocalito Beach(the picture to the left). It was about a 45 minute trip by boat from Tela. We traveled there with a group of 23 tourists from Turkey who conveniently signed up for the same exact tour, on the same exact day as we did! It ended up being a lot better than we thought, and they were very nice, helped me find my lost sunglasses, and even offered me extra bug spray before our hike through the jungle, I think they felt sorry for me as they looked at all the red bites I already had all over my body! The jungle was very dense, offered amazing amount of weird bugs and insects, the weirdest sounds (mostly from "howler monkeys), and a lot of odd looking plants and trees. As much as I dreaded it, I had to wear my hideous Velcro sandals during the hike, and just for you Clarisse and Tricia, I included this picture that you'll probably use to blackmail me with later!:)

Cocalito Beach was a very secluded beach, it was a short boat ride from where we went hiking. The picture on the left shows the only two houses on the peninsula. Two families lived there before they named it a national park, so they were allowed to stay. This is where we snorkeled and had lunch. We ate lunch under little huts made from palm leaves and wood, it felt like Gilligan's Island (you can see them in the first picture)!

They made us a traditional Garifuna meal: fried plantains, beans and rice, and fried fish. It was too delicious for words, a nice step up from my usual peanut butter sandwiches!! :)Unfortunately my tendency for motion sickness caught up with me and the boat ride to the beach paid it's toll. I felt too sick to do any snorkeling, especially because the waves were pretty strong, so I just opted to just have lunch, and go swimming.

Sara and I wandered around the little huts, and we noticed that some of them were made out of mud bricks, like in the picture. We also watched in amazement as we found a girl that lived there, chopping open coconuts with a huge machete, without even so much as a flinch. That's another thing I've noticed while living here, people use machetes for everything, they cut the grass, cut down palm trees, and we even saw little boys swinging them around like pros as they chopped up cabbage at a vegetable stand! The machetes were even bigger than they were! Sara and I wandered around more and found a path that led to the restroom which was built on stilts, luckily they were the cleanest public restrooms I've seen here!

Our adventure to the Post Office and Market

So, just when we thought we were going to make that long, annoying trip to the post office that is 1 1/2 hours away to get stamps, we find out that our post office here in Tela finally got stamps. Sara and I sent out a few "practice letters" to see if those would get to the US safely, and to see how long it would take. Then, if all goes well, we were going to send out all our other letters. Our entire time in the post office felt like we had traveled back in time.....just take a look at the picture! The man who helped us was nice enough to let us capture this hilarious moment. He carefully and very slowly, tore the stamps out one by one, and we had to lick all of the stamps one by one, and then he continued to place the letters on this dilapidated, metal scale to weigh them.

For the past 2 weeks Sara and I were convinced that the word for "letter" in Spanish was "correr." So for those 2 weeks, as we talked to numerous people, looking for the post office and stamps, we kept asking, " Donde esta la oficina de correros?" and everyone would give us the most awkward, confused looks. We didn't understand why, we both reassured each other that we were saying it correctly, but people just didn't understand us because of our accents. Then sure enough, today, when I finally think to actually look up the word in my dictionary I realize "correr" means "to run" and "correo" means "letter" No wonder everyone looked at us like we were crazy, we WERE crazy because the entire time, we were asking for a "running office" or office for running?! That totally put me in my place!

The next day, we went to visit the market in town, we were excited to find fresher, more inexpensive fruits and vegetables, there were stalls after stalls of fruit and vegetables, lust like I had imagined..... but nothing, nothing, could have prepared us for the traumatizing meat section. This just solidified the vow I had made to myself while I'm here, that I will NEVER eat the meat here, and maybe even turn into a vegetarian.......maybe......The picture could never do this horrible place justice. The meat section of the market was completely closed off , it was a dark, and narrow hallway, with only a small doorway to allow the smallest amount of ventilation possible, and I don't need to remind you about the heat and humidity here, which only worsened the unbearable stench of raw meat! Instead of stalls, like where the produce was, there were tiny "butcher" rooms with entire carcases of animals hanging from the ceiling as men in plastic aprons cut away at the meat, all while flies and bugs flew around (it seriously reminded me of the movie, Hostel). As we passed by we had to literally plug our noses for fear of throwing up. Even the few seconds it took to take this picture were unbearable, and as soon as I snapped the picture, we ran out of there as we tripped over chunks of meat randomly laying on the dirt floor.

The next pictures are of Sara posing next to

bags of rice, seeds, and beans, right beside those

bags, were numerous bags of dog food! And the picture after that, is a picture of my new best friend, only because his produce stand is where I was finally able to find broccoli!!!! Sounds pathetic I know, but it was the highlight of my day!!!!

Mmmm...food, my favorite :)

Of course I would have a special posting just to talk about food! So, unfortunately, my meals everyday usually consist of peanut butter sandwiches, cereal, tuna sandwiches, pancakes, bean and cheese burritos, and eggs and toast, but sometimes, only sometimes, I get to splurge and taste some of the amazing local Honduran food. Last Sunday, Graciella, the founder of the school invited is over for dinner. She made a traditional Honduran dish called "baleadas" which basically taste like bean and cheese burritos with a little twist. The only thing I didn't really like was the white cheese is usually served with, it has a really strong taste, and it sort of crumbled in your mouth, I just couldn't get used to it!

I also had to splurge and try the local seafood, I know the soup looks kind of scary with the crab legs sticking out, but it was delicious! And it came with rice and bread...I love my carbs!!

I also got to try "pan de coco" a local Garifuna treat. (The Garifuna are "Black Caribs" who originated from South Africa and settled on the Bay Islands and the northern coast of Honduras.) You can always find Garifuna people along the beach, selling this desert, as well as sweet rolls, and they also offer to braid your hair. I'm not sure exactly what the desert was made from, but it tasted sweet, and a little bitter, and had the consistency coconut.

This was by far my favorite dish so far, they were called nothing special, just chicken tacos, but they were sooooo good, they were rolled up like taquitos, and had some sort of red sauce and cheese on top, and they were served on top of picked cabbage, yum, yum!! If it looks funny it's because I remembered to take a picture of it after I had already inhaled the first bite! It was the first time I had meat that wasn't from a can. (Sara is a vegetarian and we do most of our cooking together, and to tell the truth, I don't have enough guts to buy and try to prepare any of the meat I've seen in the markets here, it looks really scary!)

Our trip to the Lancetilla Botanical Gardens

Sara and I got up bright and early this morning to venture out and see "the world's second largest tropical botanical garden." The entrance to the garden was only about a 15 min. bike ride from our house which wasn't bad at all......but it was the the trip from the front gate, to the actual park, that almost killed us! All the travel books we read failed to mention that the road to the garden was 2 miles, uphill, on a very rocky and muddy dirt road. We had to stop every 2 minutes, to rehydrate, wipe the continuous beads of sweat off our face and body, complain of the insane heat, and then continue on. At the time, the only thing getting us through was the thought of there being a nice, refreshing, swimming hole waiting for us at the end. Eventually we made it there, but not without a few scars and bruises. Leave it up to me to slip into a puddle of mud and fall off my bike! Nonetheless, we did finally make it to our swimming hole! The stream worried me at first, the water was so cold, and there were tiny little brown fish swimming everywhere, but after I saw Sara walk in, and then I remembered the dreadful trip we went through to get here, I thought, what the heck, I better just make the best of it! And of course, no matter how much insect repellent I put on, I STILL GET BIT!!! The trip to the garden, cost me 26 more bites, yes I counted!!! The bugs have now run out of places to bite me on my arms and legs, and they've now resorted to biting me on my face, fingers and toes! :(


After swimming we walked around the park, through these amazing bamboo mazes, bought mangoes from venders that had stands set up throughout the park, and went in search of another swimming hole that was in the garden. It was way too hot to even think about taking too much time to walk around and look at all the plants, unless of course they were plants that we saw on our way to the next swimming hole! On our way there I took this picture. After seeing so many open fields of green forest and mountains, for some reason it remined me of Jurassic Park, all that was missing were the dinosaurs!

Some random thoughts....and I finally met my kiddos!

Sara and I are finally realizing that sleeping in is never going to be an option here. For those of you that know me well, sleeping in has ALWAYS been an option for me, but leave it up to Honduras to prove me wrong! I wake up startled EVERY morning to the annoying voice of a man yelling "hamburguesas," which I don't really understand. Is he selling cooked hamburgers, or just hamburger meat, and even then, who in the world would need to buy either of those things at 6 in the morning???

All hours of the night/early morning, there are huge garbage trucks, and buses speeding through the street right in front of our house, it's not a main street, and I swear sometimes it sounds like they are driving straight through the house?! Not to mention, the extreme heat creeps into my room as soon as the sun rises! Other random questions I need to get answered while I'm here: Why are there always random donkeys, horses, goats, and other animals wandering around, and they never seem to have any owners? How can they sell milk that doesn't need to be refrigerated (you find it right on the shelf by the cereal at the store)?? Why is it that I end up with 2 new mosquito bites to take the place of one that is FINALLY getting better (my bite # is now up to 24), and the list goes on and on..........

Anyways, today was the first official day of school. It surprises me to think that just a week ago was my first day in Honduras, and now I'm teaching a classroom full of kids here! One big thing to get used to here is that our teaching schedule is from 12- 5pm. I can't decide yet of that's a good or bad thing, I guess it doesn't really matter, it's the same kind of unbearable heat and humidity any time here anyways!

I got to work around 11, thinking I was going to have time to calm some of my nerves before the kids got there, but of course nothing ever goes as planned, and at 11:10 I was greeted by my first student and his mother. They were very nice, but both spoke very little English. While trying to introduce myself and answer some of her questions, I realized that my broken Spanish, their broken English, and the endless nods of the head, looks of confusion, and flipping through the pages of my Spanish dictionary were going to be something all too familiar to me for at least the first few months. Then, sure enough the other kids and parents came pouring into the room until about 12:10 when I was told to go upstairs for an assembly.

As soon as I got back to the classroom with the kids, I quickly began to realize just how little English they understood. I tried my best to talk slowly and clearly, and as the looks on their faces illustrated, most of them were completely confused, and/or nervous, I'm still trying to figure that out. Talking to Sara last night about all the textbooks and workbooks the kids are expected to work in every day made us think about some of the kids we've taught in the US that already have trouble reading textbooks at their grade level, and for some of them, English is their first language! Then I thought of these kids in Honduras, who have only had about 2 years of any exposure to English, and most, through teachers that speak only a little bit of English, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed! How could I expect ALL of these kids to be able to read and fully comprehend a second grade textbook, especially when they're all expected to read at the same level?! There has never been any opportunity for these kids to read books at their own level, to help gain the comprehension that the other teachers all say they are lacking so much! SO THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE FOR THOSE DONATIONS AND BOOKS!!! With all this negative aside, I am really excited to be teaching here, a mean, come on....look at them, they're adorable!! And if nothing else I want to at least try to leave these kids with the idea that reading and writing doesn't always have to be in a textbook or workbook, and that they can actually read and create things outside of what they're used to!

First day at work....

Today was filled with utter confusion for Sara and I. We were told the the kids reported to school, this Wed., Aug.15, but teachers were to report today, to set up our classrooms and and meet the other teachers. So, like good employees, we walked up to the school only to find that nobody was there but Graciella, the founder of the school, who speaks very little English. She showed us to our classrooms, and of course.....all of the tables and chairs were outside because they were still painting the rooms! So there went any chance of us being able to put anything on the walls..Then Graciella, told us to come back at 1 beacause that was when the principal of the elementary school was coming. (she conveiniently doesn't speak any English either) :) Thank God I brought my Spanish/English dictionary with me!

So, when we returned to work, 2 hrs later, sad that we had wasted away most of our day, we spent the remainder of the day meeting other teachers, and trying to plan out the first weeks of school. Even though I knew how few books they had, I was still surprised to see that the school REALLY had absolutely no books for the kids to practice reading. They do have a lot of textbooks and workbooks, but everyday is spent teaching out of textbooks and filling in pages in workbooks. The kids have no opportunity to read books on their own, or of their own choosing. So THANK YOU to everyone who had a part in helping us ship all those books here!

A volunteer from Belgium , named Kim, is returning for her third year, and she was nice enough to let us know that the communication at the school, as in any school here, is horrible, and more often than not, we won't have any idea of what's going on, as far as assemblies,days off, or anything else for that matter because many teachers just speak in Spanish to each other, and/or completely forget to tell us what's going on. I guess this will all just add to the excitement, right?! But for the most part the other teachers seemed nice, and just happy to have us here. Hopefully working with so many people who only speak Spanish, students included, will only help me more in learning the language! I guess we'll wait and see! I'll be posting some pictures of the kids and classroom soon!

Here is a picture of my house, which is right across the street from the school. The other 2 pictures show the view of the old bridge in town, and the beach, which is about a 15 min. bike ride from our house. It is weird to live so close to the beach and jungle at the same time!

Just so you can get a better idea of where I'll be living.....

My First Few Days in Honduras

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping in to see what's going on with me! I just moved to Honduras about 5 days ago. While I'm here, I'll be living in a small town on the northern, Carribean coast of Honduras, called Tela.

I will be teaching 2nd grade and traveling here for 10 months, with a friend and fellow teacher, Sara. I will be teaching at a Bilingual school named Blanca Jeanette Kawas. The school was founded in 1995 and is named after the first female ecologist who died trying to protect the natural wildlife in Tela. I will be teaching the children in English, but hopefully they can teach me a little Spanish while I'm here too!

Above is a picture of my 2nd day here, Sara and I had just bought our bikes, and we were excited to go off and explore the town!