December weather

Two weeks into December and I was completely wrong about how cold it could get here.

Everyone is telling me that I am a baby, but sometimes I hear them say "Qué frio!"

There have been days where I've worn 3 shirts, a sweater, and my rain jacket (just to try to keep the wind out). And still, I was cold.

I need gloves, a hat, thicker long Johns and socks. Then, I would be comfortable.

Also, it wouldn't hurt if the school had some actual windows to help keep the blowing cold out. But, alas, that is the fun of working in a school in Honduras.

Luckily, this is only supposed to last for two months.

third grade

I teach third grade twice a week for phonics and reading.
When I first started teaching this class, they were the worst. Or, at least I thought they were the worst.

I dreaded coming to their class because they would always jump all over me, tell me they loved me, gave me kisses, and would be so excited that I was there that they would take about 30 minutes to settle down. This gave me 10 minutes to do our lesson.

Since the beginning of the year, I have calmed down a little bit, especially with this class. Even though sometimes they have a difficult time getting into their seats and paying attention, they have come to be the class I look forward to teaching the most.

I am really not one who likes little kids. I've worked with teens almost my entire career, and little kids have just not been my thing. But, these third graders are so excited to see me every time I come to class, even when I disciple them or tell them that they didn't behave well, that it's hard to not feel appreciated.

Last week we worked the "Frosty the Snowman" song for a presentation that they're going to give. Today, we worked on "Silent Night".
I'm not much for Christmas stuff, either, but they were precious, though a bit rambunctious.


It's hard to describe. They are a bit out of control. They like to eat candy, copy off of each other's work in class, talk really loud, speak in Spanish, show me their boogers, etc. And, they are the class that makes me feel like I'm actually doing my job right.
This is why I love third grade.

weather

So far, the weather has not been as people have told us it would be.
The rainy season was not really rainy. I don't know if it's just a fluke, but it's the truth.

August and September - We arrived at the end of August. For the last 8 days of this month, it was pretty sunny in the morning and afternoon. Then at 6pm it would rain and rain and rain. Though ever morning was sunny and pretty comfortable, there were large puddles in the middle of the roads which sometimes flowed onto the sidewalks.

October - Very little, if any, rain all month. It was pretty comfortable weather. We would wear light jackets to work everyday and then carry them home.

November - We were told it was supposed to rain a lot during this month, but there was hardly any until the end. Sometimes it would rain a little at night, but not enough to see any traces in the morning.


Everyday we wake up and wonder what we should wear because the weather can change on a dime.

Today it was quite cold in the morning. I wore a long sleeve shirt and a jacket, jeans, and sandals. My toes were cold and I thought that it would be stormy all day. But, around 1pm it lightened up and was a bit warmer, with less clouds and way more sun. Tonight, it has rained quite a few times, for a couple of minutes each session. It is quite windy and sort of cold in our room.

You have to be prepared for the elements, is what I've learned. We carry our umbrella around everywhere, in case it rains or gets too hot (then it's called a sombra). If it looks cloudy in the morning, I wear long sleeves and take a jacket. Sometimes, though it backfires by the afternoon and you're too hot. You have to decide which is worse for you: being too hot or too cold.


It's kind of tricky, but this is how we've been dealing with it so far.

soccer and riddles

Today was one of the better days we've had at school.

This is not to say that everyday is horrible. Not at all.
It's just that this one was particularly enjoyable.


The class part, in the early part of the day, went as usual.
Then during lunch, some of the 6th graders, to whom I teach spelling, came up to me and Alex and asked "Where are you going to take us for PE, Mr. Alex?".

We both look at each other, remember that Marco had said something about PE but never really firmed things up, and think wtf?
Alex goes to talk to Marco about what PE here actually entails. Luckily, it's not too intensive; it's just to keep them active.

Once we get over the shock of having a PE class sprung on us (I say us because I will probably end up helping since I know these kids better than he does), we start thinking of games. Tag; red light, green light; freeze tag; wall ball; dodge ball; and the old favorite soccer. I totally suggested freeze tag, but he decided to go with soccer, a game that many of the boys here love.

At first, the girls were very hesitant to play. That's where I came in.
We decided that it would be the teachers and the girls against the boys. It was going pretty well, but some 8th grade boys came to help us out and that's when it got really competitive.

The girls still had a hard time joining in, but they got a couple of good plays.
I gave them sweet advice like "beat up the boys", "pick one boy and then follow him", "yell at them when they get close to you". And then I showed them how to do this. I was assertive and sometimes the boys fell to the ground. I followed one poor boy around and whenever he got the ball, I would get in his space and scream "AHHH!!!"
If nothing else, they all found it entertaining. My main hope is that the girls will learn to be more assertive, and that I showed them a good example of how to do this.


After the game, we were all super sweaty. It wasn't hot outside, but it was very sunny with a light breeze. We hadn't planned on playing an intense game of soccer, so we were dressed in our usual long sleeves.

Some of the 8th grade boys had started doing their homework and as we were leaving, Alex asked them if they had any questions. Thought it was pretty late (3pm) for us to be at school, we ended up staying and helping with homework.
Somehow, this study session turned into a riddle/joke telling session. It would go back and forth, with the kids telling one, and then Mr. Alex. Some they had heard, and some we had heard.

I think this was a really good interaction for us to have with the boys. Usually, we are very strict in class, and often times have them do things that they don't want (homework, seating arrangements, etc). But, outside of class, we're a little different. I think it's good for students to see their teachers more as humans, like them, and less like an authority figure, at some point.


We finally left the school around 4pm.
On a normal day, I would have complained about leaving so late. But, because the end of the day had gone so well, and because the power was still out all over town, I wasn't upset. Really, it's not like we had anything to rush home to... no computer and the water would be too cold to shower.

So, it was an enjoyable, productive, albeit unconventional, day.

taxis, buses, vans - part 3: Guatemala to Belize

Instead of taking a bus or a van to Punta Gorda, which I'm sure would have taken more than just a few hours, we opted to go for the more expensive and less time consuming water taxi/ferry/boat.

There are a couple companies that will provide this service for you at different times during the day. They leave from either Puerto Barrios or Livingston, Guatemala and range from 40 to 50 Belize dollars (approximately 150 to 200 quetzales) , depending on the company and if you buy a round trip ticket.

- Requena's leaves Puerto Barrios at 2pm and Punta Gorda at 9am daily.
- Transportes El Chato leaves Puerto Barrios at 10am and Punta Gorda at 2pm daily.
- Memo's Boat Service leaves Puerto Barrios at 3pm and Punta Gorda at 1pm daily.
- Marisol leaves Puerto Barrios at 1pm and Punta Gorda at 4pm daily.
- Ausugena leaves Livingston at 7am and Punta Gorda at 10am on Tuesdays and Fridays only.

There is no need to make a reservation, unless (from what I've read) you have a whole boat load of people.

If the water is calm, you can reach the other country in about an hour. If it is rough, it takes about two hours.

Guatemala bus schedules

Buses and vans, in general, don't give you a receipt or a schedule by which they run.

Therefore, the only sort of bus ticket that I received in Guatemala, during our trip from Honduras to Belize, was one from a company called "Vargas".

This bus, which is really a large van (approximately a 25 seater, but expect about 30 at any given time), goes from Chiquimula to Puerto Barrios.

Ticket one says:
Leaving Chiquimula at 9am
Leaving Puerto Barrios at 3:30pm

Ticket two says:
Leaving Chiquimula at 5 - 5:30 - 6 - 9 - 10:00 - 1:30 - 2:45 - 3:30
Leaving Puerto Barrios at 3:45 - 4:30 - 6:30 - 2:00 - 3:30 - 16:00

I assume that the departure times start in the morning work their way into the afternoon. The 16:00 time is 4:00pm for those of you who don't often use military time.

From from Chiquimula to Puerto Barrios (which on many buses looks like Pto. Barrios), they stop at Zacapa, Rio Hondo, Mayuelas, Los Amates, Quirigua, Gran Cañon, Virginia, Bananera, Las Flores, Cayuga, Champona, Entre Rios and vice versa, according to ticket one.

Ticket two also adds Esquipulas, Doña Maria, Rio Blanco, and Tenedores.


I have no idea which ticket is the most up-to-date, but this will give you a rough estimate on when this van leaves and from where.

taxis, buses, vans - part 2: traveling through Guatemala

Though it was a long journey, traveling through Guatemala was easy enough.

It was quite strange using quetzales after using lempiras for such a long time; we got used to how much things ought to cost in lempiras.
At this point in time, the exchange rate was 0.4 quetzales for 1 lempira. So, for every 1000 lempiras we changed, we got 400 quetzales.

After we got our stamps on the Guatemala side of the border, we had to catch a taxi to get into Esquipulas. There were many options when we arrived at the border but, because we took so long trying to figure out how the border thing works, we were left with only one option when we were finished taking care of business. This option was the expensive car taxi.

***

The guy said that he could take us right away, just the two of us, for 30 quetzales each, or if the car was full (5 people total) then it'd be 20 quetzales each. We didn't want to pay that much, but nearly everyone had already taken the cheaper options and were on their way to Esquipulas. There was no one else around as we waited. We had no other options; we had to take the car taxi.

As we were leaving, there magically appeared a woman who needed a ride. Then, as we started driving, the driver decided to randomly turn around and we picked up two more. Our car was full. He turned back around, in the right direction, and started driving toward Esquipulas.

We only got stopped one time by the border patrol. We were a couple minutes up the road and we pulled over. Everyone rolled down their windows and the man asked to see our, just us two, passports. He looked at them quickly and then told us we could go.

Once we arrived in Esquipulas, the cab driver told us that we owed him the original 30 quetzales that he quoted us for a half empty car. I don't know why, but we did not argue. On the bright side, he helped us find a van that was leaving for Chiquimula immediately. We forgave him for overcharging us at this point, and then forked over 15 quetzales each for this one our van ride.

***

When we got to Chiquimula, we were greeted by a guy who offered, insisted on taking, to carry Alex's bag. Alex said that he would take it, but the man would not give his bag back to him. We told him that we were going to Puerto Barrios, and he led us to the large van headed for our destination. He handed our bag off to a guy who put our bags in the back of the van. We were uncertain about having our bags be unattended, but thought it was probably ok.

As we boarded the bus, the man who carried Alex's bag from van to van started saying something that we could not understand. Alex asked him several times to repeat, and told him that he could not understand him, but he kept saying the same words. Finally, the guy sitting next to us said "he wants a tip". We looked at each other with our wtf faces. We kept saying that we didn't understand, and sorry, until the van took off.

This van ride was quite difficult for us because it was very, very tight; there were hardly any seats available when we got on. I had to ride, for 2 of the 4 hours, on Alex's lap. It was quite uncomfortable, but we were finding that the over-filling buses or vans is commonplace.

We weren't sure how long the bus ride would take but, we figured about four hours, we were hoping that we'd arrive in Puerto Barrios in time to catch the boat, which we thought was the last, at 2pm. Due to many stops along the way, this did not happen, and we arrived at our destination at 2:15pm. This ride cost us 40 quetzales each.

***

Though we were sure that there would be no boats leaving Puerto Barrios in the late afternoon, we went down to the docks to just make sure; we did not want to spend the night in Puerto Barrios when we had a nice cottage in Punta Gorda waiting for us.

To our surprise, we met Memo, who owns a business transporting people from Puerto Barrios and Livingston to Punta Gorda, and he told us that the last boat, his boat, would be leaving at 3:30pm.

Because we were so relieved, we bought tickets without thinking about the cost. He told us it would be 200 quetzales per person, but he would give us a discount of 50 quetzales each if we bought a round trip that day. We wanted to save money, so we did it.

After our business transaction, he pointed us in the direction of immigration and told us that we could wait on the boat when we got back. The process of having our passports checked and stamped was as easy as the others. The only difference was that we had to pay an exit fee of 80 quetzales ($10 US dollars).



Return trip
Memo's boat leaves Punta Gorda at 12:30pm, which actually means a little after 1pm. Lunch at the immigration office is from noon to 1pm, so you can't get your stamp until about 5 minutes before. But they will take your money, 37.50 Belize dollars as an exit fee, at any time.

Because the boat left so late in the afternoon, and we encountered a bit of rough water, we got back into Guatemala at 3pm. We checked back into immigration and caught a cab to the area where the buses all congregate. This van did not leave immediately, which was all right with us because we really had to pee after that long boat ride. Read: I totally suggest going to the bathroom before the boat left so late in the afternoon, and we encountered a bit of rough water, we got back into Guatemala at 3pm. We checked back into immigration and caught a cab to the area where the buses all congregate. This van did not leave immediately, which was all right with us because we really had to pee after that long boat ride. Read: I totally suggest going to the bathroom before you head to Chiquimula from Puerto Barrios, or vice versa, because it is quite a long ride and they almost never stop for any substantial length of time.

This van got into Chiquimula at about 7:30pm. We asked the guy who takes all the money that we needed to get a hotel, and he pointed us the right direction. He suggested that we stay at the Hotel Victoria, but it was full. We ended up staying another place, though the name escapes me now, about a block down the street. It was very cheap, 80 quetzales, and simple. Though the rooms did not look bad, and there were private bathrooms and TVs in each room, I ended up walking away with a bunch of bedbug bites. So, I can't say that I exactly recommend this place.

In the morning we stopped at a pastry shop, right next door to the pizza place on the same street, and got some delicious goodies for 8 quetzales. We walked around until we found the area where all the buses congregate and found a bus leaving for Esquipulas for 15 quetzales each.

While in Esquipulas, after we found a van to take us to the border for 20 quetzales, we changed our quetzales for lempiras.

taxis, buses, vans - part 1: Honduras to Guatemala

Starting over on Saturday, we had a much easier time getting to our destination.

We tried to catch the earliest bus out of San Marcos, which we were told was at 5 am. They said to make it down to the gas station, where the buses generally depart, with plenty of time to spare. So, we make it down there at about ten to five.

Needless to say, that wasn't enough time. The man with a giant gun told us that the bus left at 4:40am and the next one would leave at 6:30 am.

We thought we would just wait until the bus left at 6am, but there was a very pushy taxi driver who said that he would take us to the bus stop on the main road where we could catch a bus easily.
There were a bunch of other people who got into his cab, an old station wagon, so we decided to follow the crowd and hoped that we might save some time, though it'd more expensive.

The guy charged us 20 lempiras each and we waited for us bus.
Then we watched the sun rise.
Then I watched some chickens in a tree.
Then it got late and light enough for the chickens to come out of the tree. So, I actually learned something that morning. The answer is: they just jump out.

Needless to say we did not save time or money that morning.

The Sultana bus came and picked us up right around 6:30am, nearly an hour and a half after the cabbie dropped us off. The hour bus ride cost us 40 lempiras each, but it was a comfortable ride and perfect for a  quick sleep.

In Ocotepeque, we caught a school bus that was headed to Agua Caliente. We literally found our bus and then it took off, which is pretty lucky in the world of bus travel. This quick 30 minute trip cost 20 lempiras each.

Agua Caliente is the last town in Honduras before the border. Your business here is to get your money changed and have your passports checked. Leaving Honduras, you don't have to pay anything (at least not in our experience). Though, you must have your little paper that you received when you entered the country. For us, that meant our little yellow piece of paper we got from the airlines.

After we got our stamps, we walked a couple meters, past a metal barrier and into a sea of cabs offering to take us to the border. We took a van that cost us 15 lempiras.

The cab dropped us off right before the border and we walked into the immigration office once more to get another stamp from the Guatemala side. This again was very simple and fast for us. We did not have to pay anything to enter Guatemala.

Time it took us to get to the border: 3 hours
How much it cost us to get to the border: 95 lempiras each

Time needed to get to the border: approximately 2 hours
Money needed to get to the border: 88 lempiras

We could have waited for the bus to leave San Marcos, which would have cost 50 lempiras, and it would have taken us all the way to Ocotepeque. Or there is a small van that will take you to the main road/highway for 13 lempiras each, and then you can catch a bus from there. Either way is cheaper than taking a car taxi.

*****

We were really unsure with the borders how everything worked. We knew that the immigration offices were there, but we were under the impression that we were able to pass freely between the 4-Central American countries since we had come into Honduras legally. This would have meant that we wouldn't have even needed our passports to get into Guatemala. Apparently this is not the case, at least at the boarder crossing in Agua Caliente.

I read a little article right before we left that said something about how the borders are checking passports to make sure people aren't overstaying their visas, or don't have warrants out for their arrest. 

So, even if won't be leaving one of the 4-Central American countries, I definitely suggest taking your passport, or you run the risk of having to return home to retrieve it.

Honduras bus schedules

The only ticket I received with any sort of bus schedule was the one from Congolon. The other option for this kind of bus is Sultana.

This is one of those nice, giant buses. You almost never feel cramped. The seats recline, or are permanently reclined in some cases.

These buses:
- usually leave on time
- stop at many places along the route
- are really not that expensive

We took a Sultana from the main road by San Marcos to Ocotepeque for 40 lempiras each.

We took a Congalon bus from Agua Caliente to main road by San Marcos. It cost 60 lempiras each.
I estimate that from Agua Calient to San Pedro, or vice versa, would cost about 190 lempiras per person.

San Pedro Sula to Agua Caliente:
12 midnight
5:30am
6:00 am
7:30 am
9:00 am
11:00 am
1:30 pm
3:00 pm

Agua Caliente to San Pedro Sula:
12 midnight
5:30 am
6:00 am
7:30 am
9:30 am
11:00 am
11:50 am
12:30 pm
3:00 pm
4:00 pm

Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula:
4:00 am

Agua Caliente to Tegucigalpa:
11 am

Guatemala to San Pedro Sula, viceversa: 
5:45 am


The other bus options you have are school buses, sometimes called chicken buses. I have no idea about their bus schedules and they usually don't go as far as the bigger buses.

We have taken a school bus from San Marcos to Ocotepeque and also from Ocotepeque to Agua Caliente. Depending on how far they go, you will pay between 20 to 50 lempiras per person.

I usually plan for about 40 lempiras for an hour bus ride, whether by yellow school bus or long-distance bus.

packing list, part three - boy stuff & essentials

Boys are more simple than girls. I mean, at least as far as their desires and needs.

Alex brought:
- 3 pairs of shorts
- 4 pairs of jeans
- 1 pair of long johns
- 1 sweater
- 7 pairs of underwear
- 11 pairs of socks (5 of which were wool)
- 1 rain jacket
- 1 regular jacket
- 3 long sleeve button down shirts
- 4 polo shirts
- 4 t-shirts
- 6 undershirts
- 1 pair of Keens
- 1 pair of monochrome Converse (very popular in San Marcos, actually)
- 1 reversible belt
- 1 bathing suit

Other things that we brought:
- 4 bottles of Cactus Juice (has SPF and bug repellent)
- 1 bottle of Excedrin Migraine
- 1 Neosporin
- 1 inhaler
- 1 thing of floss (the one with a lot in it)
- 6 toothbrushes
- 2 tubes of toothpaste
- lint rollers (never know!)
- books
- soapy cloths (like makeup remover cloths; good for taking a sponge bath when you have little/cold water)
- travel size shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion
- sewing kit
- computer and hard drive with movies (life saver!!)
- money belt
- Pepto Bismol
- Tums
- hair clippers and scissors
- Spanish dictionary and verb book
- camera with memory cards
- sleeping bags (life saver!! especially for the first month)
- umbrella
- camping/solar shower (especially good when you only have cold water)
- sunglasses

packing list, part two - girl stuff

How is a girl to decide what things she ought to bring, and how much, and which things aren't "necessary" for a year in Honduras?
I am the girl who brings a large suitcase for a weekend trip. I am your classic overpacker. I think of all of the "what ifs" and I have to make sure I'm prepared. For this, I had to do be prepared with less packing space.

This was a very difficult week for me, the packing week. I had to sort through all of my clothing, decide which items I loved the most, and if it was practical for our destination, and if it was actually necessary. I wanted to take all 100 pairs of undies, 50 tank tops (one in each color), 7 pairs of jeans, 4 pairs of shorts, 10 shirts of both long and short, and 3 sweaters. Not to mention all of my hair and makeup products and tools.
Then Alex laughed at me, and told me to be serious.

I was...

Too bad it wouldn't all fit in my pack.

I made piles. I categorized my clothing by type. Then each day I weeded out something that I could live without, or that I knew was a duplicate. Having two different shades of pink tank tops isn't necessary, I had to conclude.

And I did this until the night we packed all of our clothing up. I had this feeling like I was missing something.

Here's what I brought:
- 1 pair of lightweight long johns (I bought these especially for the trip; they're patagonia)
- 2 sweaters (both Beavers gear)
- 8 tank tops
- 4 t-shirts
- 5 long sleeve shirts
- 1 long sleeve button down
- 2 short sleeve polos
- 3 dressy/professional tops
- 2 capris
- 3 pairs of pants
- 5 skirts (all different colors; all about knee length)
- 10 undies
- 5 pairs of socks (some wool ones included)
- 2 bras
- 3 swim suits (mostly for diving purposes)
- 3 pairs of pj pants (but I share!)
- 2 belts
- 1 rain jacket
- 1 pair of Chacos
- 1 pair of tennis shoes

Besides clothes I brought:
- dive fins, mask (left the snorkel cause I hate it!), and booties
-dive log and certification card
- 2 bottles of mouse
- 2 bottles of Aveeno (one big one, one little one with SPF)
- 2 full things of deodorant
- a bunch of cotton rounds
- a bunch of cotton swabs
- bobby pins
- hair bands
- nail kit (clippers, files, etc)
- make up remover
- hair dryer
- hair straightener
- sewing kit
- 5 tubes of mascara
- various makeup necessities (powder, eye liner, blush)
- travel makeup tool kit
- tampons (I could only shove about 3 boxes into our luggage; not actually in their boxes, though)

We also brought all of our credit and debit cards, though we don't carry them on us most of the time. I also brought my wallet, which has my costco card (just in case!), CPR and First Aid certifications (which might come in handy if I decide to get my Rescue Diver cert), etc. I also brought two purses, one of which I used as a personal item to carry various bs on our flights to Honduras. It did come in handy.


The idea was to bring enough clothes for a week or two. Also, we used our travel size things for over a month while we got settled into life here.


There are some other essentials that we brought, but I'm going to leave that for Alex's post since his will be pretty short anyway.

And yes, 5 tubes of mascara is necessary. I think.

for as much traveling as we did today, we didn't get very far....

We were on track.
Well, we were late for school, but at least we had our clothes, toiletries, and some food.
We got more minutes for our phone, our schedules planned out for the days we were gone, and money on our person.

We left with Marco after school. Though he was going to San Pedro, to the east, and we were headed west, we all had to start at the same place.

We boarded a packed van/bus, that I'm pretty sure was meant for about 10 people, that was over capacity by at least 33 percent. It made it fun at first though. We were on our way to Guatemala, a new country, where we'd face new challenges. The excitement and anxiety was all bubbling to the surface, making even the simplest things fun (i.e. I saw cows in the road and started laughing... I see cows in the road almost everyday.)

When we got to the main road, a bus was waiting. Marco said, oh, that is your bus! A boy ran up to our incoming bus and started yelling "Ocotepeque". He was in a hurry, but we were stuck behind the elderly people climbing out. We retrieved our bags from the top of the van/bus and ran across the street to catch our bus.
Part one complete.

Once we arrive in Ocotepeque, we are instantly asked where we're going. We say Esquipulas, but they know we mean Agua Caliente (the last town in Honduras on your way to Guatemala). We get on the bus, and nearly an hour later, we are at the border.

When we get off the bus, we are bombarded by about 5 guys. We didn't know if we were just supposed to change buses or what, and they wanted to change us money. We had stashed our money in various places (money belt, pocket, wallet, socks) and we knew that we needed to get all of it out in order to change it. It felt awkward revealing all of our hiding spots. But, I knew that the exchange rate was fare (1000 lempiras = 400 quetzales), so I didn't feel too bad.

Then this guy started speaking English to us. He asked us where we were from, and if we knew a lot of Spanish. Then he told us he was going to help us out. We didn't really know what that meant because we can really handle our own, but he insisted and took us over to the border patrol.
He asked for our passports. Then he asked us if we had the little yellow pieces of paper that we got when we arrived in Honduras.
Turns out, we didn't have them.

The English speaking fellow tells us that he's going to try to help us out. He said that we might be able to work out a deal to get us in for a price. Well, of course there is a price!

At first, he tells us that it's going to be about 2,500 lempiras each (about $130 each). Then he said he might be able to get it down. The next offer was 2,500 lempiras for both of us. Well, that was better, and we definitely did not want to go all the way back home, but we didn't bring enough.
We tell him that it's too much. He tells us to give him a number. I tell him the most we could do is 200 lempiras ($10). He said, oh, well the guy is going to want at least $50 usd from each of you. We tell him that we can't, and that we'll just go home.

All this time, the guy is trying to convince us that our papers at home might be missing, or thrown away. I assure him that we know where they are, that we have an apartment and no one has moved into it or thrown it away. In between negotiations, he would go talk to his posse of fellas while smoking a cigarette.

We finally decide that it's too much and that we will just go back to San Marcos to get our papers. They didn't seem too happy, but relented. Then we asked to exchange some of our money back, and the kid who helped us in the first place was trying to be difficult. He was speaking fast, and mumbling, and wasn't too helpful when we asked him to talk slower.
Finally, we got were able to exchange our quetzales for lempiras, enough for the bus back home and then back to Agua Caliente, and then left.


We are happy that we did not get scammed, though a little irritated that our travel plans were set back a couple hours. Tomorrow, we are leaving between 5 and 6am to try to make it to Puerto Barrios as early as possible. Hopefully there will be no problems then.

Belize it is

We have decided, after much persuasion, to go to Belize in order to renew our 90 day tourist visas. We are still quite unsure how long we must go in order to renew (we've heard as little as a couple of hours to as much as three days), but we've decided to play it safe and go for three days.

We will be leaving Friday after school and will return Tuesday afternoon/evening.

We are very uncertain about how to get where we want to go, as there aren't bus schedules online. We just have to wing it and hopefully we'll find our destination on time.


We've decided to just stay in (beautiful?.. I hope!) Punta Gorda, Belize at a bed and breakfast run by a British couple. It's called Hickatee Cottages. We wanted to go on a specific date, and the room we wanted was already booked, so they upgraded us for free! It's pretty sweet.

While we're there, we will be able to see a butterfly farm and we're (hopefully if we booked it in time) going to go on a tour that involves a trek through the forest, swimming by waterfalls, and seeing how they make chocolate! It was a little expensive, but I think it will be awesome and worth it.


Like I said before, we're a little anxious about being able to navigate the buses and getting where we need to be on time (we have a ferry to catch Saturday morning, with a second chance in the afternoon). But, we've decided already that it's just going to have to be an adventure, and we might get lost, and we might have a difficult time, but we have to do it.

Luckily, if worse comes to worst, we have one more week after this to renew our visas. We might be able to just catch a flight to Florida and hang out there. That's only if we don't, for some reason, make it to Belize.


We're not taking our computer, so if no one hears from us by Wednesday then probably someone ought to call the embassy. I don't think anything will happen, but just in case!

When we return, I will post about which buses we caught and at what times, about the ferry in Puerto Barrios,  our accommodations, our chocolate tour, and the food. We'll be sure to take as many pictures as we can and we'll share those as well.


Until Wednesday....

the contract

Because we didn't actually didn't get our contracts until the very end of the 1st partial, 9 weeks into school, I thought that maybe we wouldn't have one. Not that I minded, really. But, to make things "official", we were asked to sign a contract. Some of the things were obvious, and some just related to business. Really, we have been told, this is just a formality.


I think that this is kind of interesting to look at. I'm not going to copy the contract word for word, just give the general idea. The contract was broken down by points, so I will do the same.

1. Position (For us, it's math/English and health/science teacher.)

2. We are expected to attend school 5 days a week, with a normal work day starting at 6:45am and ending at 3pm. Attendance will reflect strongly upon the teachers conduct. (We arrive most days at 6:55am and leave between 2 and 2:30pm. We are trying to stay the whole day, but classes for us usually end at noon, and we get bored. They have not said anything about our attendance thus far.)

3. Any absence longer than one class period requires notice

4. Employee must be in the institution, even for recess and lunch

5. Any requests for time off longer than one day must be submitted in writing at least 2 weeks before departure. (We did not do this for the trip we're taking to renew our visa, probably because we have been talking about it for over a month with them.)

6. Employee is entitled to 6 consecutive days of paid sick leave.

7. Five days or more of absence without forewarning may result in termination.

8. Employee is entitled to 12 days off in the month of December in addition to the national holidays

9. If the employee does not fulfill the entire period of employment, employer may debt the employee the remainder of the year's salary

10. Must abide by all school rules and national laws

11. Salary is for 10 months, not 12 months, because that's how many months we work

12. Pay is on the last day of the month; if the last day of the month is on a weekend, you get it on the last Friday of the month

13. Bonuses: you get two bonuses, one in December and one in June. These are calculated by taking your salary to date, dividing it by 12 then multiplying that number by the number of months worked

14. Employer shall provide all necessary school materials (books, notebooks, markers, pens, etc)

15. Employee shall not engage in other activities or work that interferes with school

16. After signing the contract, you are legally bound to not start another school within 100 km for 5 years

17. Contract may be canceled or changed for the above reasons or for another reason beyond the school's control (natural disaster, financial problems, etc).


I'm not sure, but it sounds like a pretty standard contract. On number 12, it gave us the amount we would receive each month as salary. This number is calculated from a formula of which grades your teaching and how many hours/classes you teach. Primary teachers get more money than secondary. Not sure why.

If my math is correct, this is the break down:
Primary teachers get about 98 lempiras per class
Secondary teachers get about 65 lempiras per class
And I honestly don't know how much the teachers in preschool, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten make.


Hope that was informational, if not a bit interesting.
If not, I completely understand. It's just a contract.

packing list, part one - the luggage

We did not know what to expect really when we first started packing for our year in Honduras. We knew that it would be warm, and sometimes rainy.
I was told that it was not acceptable for girls to wear shorts, and that one ought to wear skirts instead.
I didn't know what kind of electrical outlets they would have there.
We didn't know what we would be able to, or wouldn't be able to, find here.

The plan is to tell you what we decided to bring. At the end of the year, I will write another post about the things I wish we would have brought, the things we could have done with out, and of what items I would have brought more or less.


The luggage


To start, Alex and I brought all of our things in 4 bags: one 80 liter backpack, one 65 liter backpack, one carry-on size luggage, and one regular size backpack. We flew Spirit Air, so we didn't want to bring too many bags because they charge for that.

Plus, we were told to pack less, not more.

Alex had the 80 liter JanSport from his pack packing trip to Europe in 2004. It is a little older, but definitely functional. It had a lot of pockets, and we definitely stuffed them full. The only thing we had a problem with was it fitting properly. You want your pack to fit correctly, especially when it's just about 50 lbs.

I purchased a Gregory 65 liter from Steep and Cheap for under $100. They definitely have packs designed for women, but I didn't not have a problem with this one fitting. I wished it was a little bigger, but it was such a good deal, and we were running out of time, that I had to just get it.

I've been exposed...

... to Honduran culture, that is!
This post contains two stories in one. Though they happened on the same day, they are very different. I have separated them by many spaces.


Friday, when I arrived at school, the kids in my 7th grade class told me that a student's grandfather had died. The student did not seem particularly upset. It was sort of strange, so I said that it was terrible and went on into teaching class.

A couple class periods later, Marco asks me if I have class at 11:20am, to which I reply no, and then asks me if I would like to go with him, Ms. Lorena, and the seventh grade class to pay respects to the family. I say yes, of course.

The group of us walk to the student's house. There is a large Tecate tent outside, taking up the entire street, and chairs under it, with a mountain of pine needles spread out under them.
The door is open, and there are many people inside the first room as we enter, which I assume is the living room area, along with the casket, candles, a crucifix, and pine needles all over the floor.

Most people were sitting there quietly, just looking at the casket or the floor. Some were talking to each other. Nearly no one was crying. We spoke with the student's family, expressed condolences, and then sat and followed the cues of the others in the room.

After about 15 minutes, we got up and left, finding the students outside under the tent. Later, I was told, there would be a precession to the cemetery. We would go, I told them.

We met Marco and Ms. Lorena at her store and started walking toward the precession that had already begun. There was a truck with a clear casket display in the bed. There were many people (definitely over 50) and they were all in the street, taking up the entire way so not even a little red taxi could pass.

Though the it wasn't far away, it took about 20 minutes to get to our destination. When we got there, we saw a cemetery like none we'd seen before. Nearly all the deceased were in cement tombs, some stacked three high, and painted various colors. It was definitely more neat than creepy.
*Note: We don't have pictures because we thought it was kind of inappropriate to take our camera in this circumstance. Though, we have decided that we need to go on another, not so sad, occasion to take pictures.

We tried to see what was going on, but there were too many people. So, we walked over to Ms. Lorena's family's tomb and she told us a little about each one. Afterward, since we couldn't see anything, we walked back to the park, where we went our separate ways.



Later, we met at Doña Olga's house for a dinner she was hosting for the Literature Society.

The wall of antiques in the dining room. Outside is the porch.

We arrived a bit earlier than the rest of the guests, so we went ahead and ate. She was expecting many people, so this arrangement was better for her.
We were served chicken tamales, rice, chicken, refried beans, and salad.

The chicken tamales were different than what we were used to. They had many things in them, like olives, corn, meat, etc., and were cooked in green banana leaves instead of the corn husks we're used to. This made them very mushy, though it wasn't unpleasant.

After we ate, the people started arriving in groups. We helped greet and seat them, and then served them their food and drinks.

When they were done eating, these writers presented our Olgita with a certificate. I'm not sure what it was exactly, maybe an appreciation, but it seemed to be an honor for her.

All of this is for the 21st annual Juegos Florales. I'm not really sure what it's all about, but there was a sort of talent-type show that night, which followed our dinner.

The girls in the middle, wearing white shirts, are students that wrote very good poems. They were being recognized for their work, and the one on the right was given a flower, which I think means she won.

One of the main acts was a group of teachers from a public school. They danced and sang. Though they weren't very good, they were entertaining.

Then we saw an internationally renowned choir. They have traveled all over the world and won awards.

There were two soloist in this song, one of which was this guy. I do not know what he was saying, but his facials were enough for me to be entertained.

Then on Saturday, there was some other festivities that occurred near the park, including a parade and an appearance by guest of honor, José Francisco Saybe. We were invited, and almost went, but we missed the opportunity to take a shower when we got locked out of our apartment. Thus, we opted to keep our stink to ourselves and have a relaxing day at home.

The end.

how sweet

After informing my 7th grade students that we're going to be doing Life Skills once a week, one of my students came up to me and told me this:

Miss, I just want to thank you for giving the study class
I don't want you to think that I'm a lazy person; I study
It's just when I see your quizes, I don't remember anything
So, I'm very happy that you're going to teach us how to study
Thank you

This is one of the best students in class. She actually doesn't get the best grades, but I can tell she pays attention in class and she does her homework.

I am not going to lie... this interaction definitely gave me the warm fuzzies.

Isn't that sweet?

the plan

We have had nine weeks of school.
During this time, I've had different thoughts about the children we teach. I say children because they are far less mature than the teenagers in the United States. At first, I was not fond of them; I didn't like the way they approach school. Now, after trying to get to the bottom of the issue, I just think that they haven't been taught how to do things.

I don't know where they learn it but from a very young age they are "taught", either directly or indirectly, that it's OK to just get the answer, even if it means copying, instead of actually learning the material. I see this in all of my classes, the youngest of which is third grade.

Now, I copied a thing or two when I was in junior high and high school. The difference is that I never failed a class, much less a quiz or test. Every single time I've given a quiz in seventh and eighth grade this year, nearly everyone has gotten below a 70%. About one-third gets below a 50%, half get 50-69%, and the rest are the students that always get good grades.

I find this to be a problem. This probably has something to do with the fact that I grew up in America, but my standards are higher than that. Everyone ought to be getting at least a 70% on a quiz. And I am mortified when I see students get a 6%.
And, I know that the standards here are lower. In the office, we see a piece of paper with the standards. If a student earns a 60-80% they are average, 80-90% is above average, and 90-100% means you are a damn genius.
That's fine. I have to realize that I'm not going to be able to change the system, especially in a year. But, I personally can't sit at my desk and allow these children to not learn anything. It's a waste of my time, their parents money, and the school's money.

Therefore, I have come up with a plan. I am, starting next week, which is the start of the new quarter, going to be teaching a Life Skills class. Here, I will teach these students how to study effectively (...or at least as well as I know how to), how to budget, etc.
The crap part is that I am replacing one day of health with this course. I think that if I choose the most important parts of health (sexual health/reproduction, drugs/alcohol, etc), I won't feel guilty about it. Plus, they must learn how to study or they won't do well when they move on to high school or even college. This is necessary.


It's sometimes difficult to realize that we are here to teach these kids more than just science, math, health, English. We're also here, as teachers, to teach them how to be better students, and that they won't know unless you teach them. How can we fault them for not being taught something that we, as Americans, think is common sense? Additionally, we're here, as humans adults, to teach them how to live; how to treat others; to show them how adults ought to behave; to instill some passion into them.

It's hard being a teacher.

it's the end of the partial

Oh yes, I realize that it has been a couple of days. And I know I said that I was going to write everyday.

Oops.

This week is the end of the partial, or quarter, for Green Valley. We also received our contracts this week and are still waiting to talk to someone about the specifics; we have questions and qualms.

Additionally, we are approaching our 90 day mark of being in Honduras, which means we must leave the country soon. I have found conflicting evidence on the internet about how many days we must leave, and where we must go. It has been frustrating.
On top of that, we are deciding whether we'd like to go back to America for a little while or go to Punta Gorda, Belize (the closest, and southernmost city in Belize) to have a weekend with some British people in the jungle.

Yes yes... everyone says Belize! But here's the breakdown.
Florida - Delicious food of all different types, especially, and most importantly, sushi! Costco! We definitely could pick up some things that we left back home and are running low on. Swimming in the warm ocean. Drinking alcoholic beverages! Oh man, we sure do miss a cold beer. A bit more expensive than the alternative.
Belize - The place I found, and where we'd stay, is situated in the actual jungle and run by a Brit couple. Butterfly farm. Waterfall and ocean swimming. Probably decent food, and definitely drinks. A bit less expensive than the alternative.

It's Alex's birthday. We want to do something awesome and have a good time. I think it's really just deciding what we really want/need out of this vacation, and then choosing. And there is a deadline. We must leave by the weekend of the 12th. Which means if we're going to go to Florida, we ought to purchase our tickets by the end of this week. Awesome.

Time is making me crazy right now.

weekend with Ms. Lorena (San Pedro Sula and Puerto Cortez)

Nothing has been going on. I promise. We literally left our house three times: once to go to the market, once to go to Doña Olga's house for lunch, and then once to pick up our clothes from the lavanderia.

Because of this, I shall share some pictures from the time we went to San Pedro Sula with Ms. Lorena, a teacher at our school, and stayed with her sister.
Really, I meant to post these a long time ago, but we got busy and I didn't know how to use Photoshop.

During our time in San Pedro Sula, we managed to make it to nearby (1 hour by car) Puerto Cortez. We spent the day at the beach swimming and eating. The beach we went to was called Puerto Caballo.

It's difficult to see, but gas was 67.49 lempiras. That's $3.57 USD. 

Lorena's niece showed us these little bugs that are on the trees. 

She said they make really loud noises when they're alive.

This one was not alive.

We set up shop under one of these little forts. 

Alex and I took to the water for most of the time.

Some of the palm leaves are gigantic! 

We did not make that structure, it was already there.

But, we used it to hang out towels and clothes.

Looking over to the actual port.

Looking in the other direction.

Alex's first time in ocean water that did not threaten hypothermia.

Alex took this shot on the way back from the beach. 

The trip, at the time, was much needed. At that point, we had been stuck in San Marcos for a month and were getting frustrated with the transition.

In San Pedro Sula, we were able to hang out in an American style kitchen, eat food that we were more used to, watch MTV, and just hang out and get to know new people. 

I have to admit though, the heat was pretty terrible. At night, we would lie in bed, nearly naked, spread out, slathered with bug repellent, with the window open and fan on full blast trying to keep cool. Then comes that part of the night where it actually is cold, right around 3-5am, and you regret not having a blanket nearby. 

We survived though, and actually had a really nice time. Ms. Lorena, her sister, and her sister's kids are very nice and welcomed us like family. 

I would definitely brave the heat again for another nice weekend in San Pedro Sula with the Espinoza family.

the children are stalking me....

The first day of school the kids here asked us if we had Facebook. We told them yes, but that we were not willing to be "friends" with them until we were done teaching here. I like to have healthy boundaries with the people I'm trying to help.

They would beg us for our emails, phone number, and ask us how we spell our names. I don't know why, but they really want to be in our business.

Yesterday, a male student with whom we hang out quite a bit (going to the market; his mother teaches me how to cook), finally found me on Facebook. He really does not have boundaries, and does not understand that even though we hang out with him, he is still our student, not our friend.

Because of this, I've had to try to redirect his behaviors in class, being a little more harsh than I usually am to make it known that he is my student. This is a difficult situation, but I think that he's starting to understand.

Anyhow, I did not accept him. He told me today that it was really difficult to find me, and that he tried many different forms of my name. And then, he couldn't tell it was me due to my profile picture. I told him I wasn't going to accept his friend request.
He then asked me how many friends I had - thousands? Well, I don't know, but not thousands. He told me that he only has 6 friends. Then I felt kind of bad. But, just for a second.

If I let one in, I have to let them all in.
I want them to just stop trying to stalk me.

first trip to Santa Rosa de Copán

I have learned that sometimes you must be flexible.
Take today for example: I came to school thinking that I would do my work, read a little bit while I waited for Alex to finish making some tests, and then go home and relax. What really happened is that I saw an opportunity to go to Santa Rosa and decided that it was a better plan than the one I had envisioned hours earlier.

Now, it is better to travel by car than by bus for several reasons. One of which being that if you're going to buy things from another town, you don't have to worry that someone is going to rob you. This is of the highest importance if you don't have a lot of money... like us. Oh, and the safety factor, too.

Doña Olga, our school's headmaster/principal, needed to go to the bank in Santa Rosa to do some business. When I heard this, I asked Marco, second in command, if he thought it would be an inconvenience to her if we tagged along, as we needed to get some things in the city. He didn't seem to think so, because we started walking over to her office. She, being the nicest lady, said it was no trouble and then invited us over for lunch.

Once we got all the little details worked out (finishing the tests, getting students to leave us alone so we could actually leave), we ran home to drop off our things, get some more money, and then ran to Olga's house where we quickly ate a quesadilla (corn tortillas with quesillo), and then climbed into the back her son's, Jorge, van. Olga quickly became wrapped up in a conversation with her son and, not knowing the young lady in the van, so we fell asleep.

We arrived in Santa Rosa and were dropped off at a market place where we were told we would find the items that we needed. On our list was a rolling pin (rodillo), some towels (toallas), and a camal.
Needless to say, we did not find anything in that market. I don't even remember what the name of it was, but if you every come across a building with many makeshift stores with various random items in each one just leave.
We started walking around and after asking around, we found a store called Comercial Casa Bueso. This is actually the store that Alex went to the second week we were here. He knew from experience that this was the store for us.

We found everything we needed and then some:
- Rodillo para cocina (rolling pin) = L. 84.82 ($4.49)
- Dos (2) toallas (towels) = L. 416.08 ($22)
- Camal (aluminum griddle) =  L. 189.29 ($10)
- Batidor manual (plastic whisk) = L. 11.61 ($0.61)
- Juego de panas (set of plastic bowls - different sizes) = L. 151.74 ($8)
- Dos (2) jaboneras plasticas (plastic soap dish) = L. 14.28 ($0.76)
- Espatula Cocina (plastic spatula) = L. 64.29 ($3.40)
- Cuchara Medidoras (measuring spoons) = L.196.43 ($10.40)
**So expensive because they are stainless steel**
- Taza Medidora (measuring cups) = L. 62.50 ($3.30)
- Machacador (masher) = L. 103.57 ($5.50)
- Alfombra (door mat) = L. 98.21 ($5.20)
Grand Total (with taxes): L. 1560 ($82.50)

Yes, a pretty penny indeed!
We were not expecting those taxes (L. 168/$8.85), either, since we don't pay them in San Marcos. But, really, we needed some of these things for cooking, as we didn't bring them with us from home, and it was no more than what we would have paid at home.

Anyhow, after our shopping spree, we walked around a bit more and then returned to the market where we had been dropped off. We were thinking that our phone might not work due to the fact that Tigo (our phone/internet provider) sucks.
And, we were right.
Around 5pm, after nearly 2.5 hours of sitting and waiting, we finally saw the van that we had come in. They told us that they could not get a hold of us because our phone wasn't not allowing calls through. So, they returned to the area where they dropped us off and started looking. Thirty minutes later, they found us. And thank God because it started raining and it was getting cold, and we were just about ready to enact our Emergency Plan in case they forgot us, or couldn't find us.

Though we were tired, hungry, and really had to pee, we stayed up and talked with Nicole, Olga's granddaughter. I'd have to say that she is one of the very few young people we've met that has a good head on her shoulders. She wants to study law at Harvard and then come back to Honduras to help fix the corruption. We talked about teen pregnancy, school, AIDS, speaking English/Spanish/French, etc.


So yes, I have learned that flexibility is a good thing. Go with the flow and you might experience something you otherwise wouldn't have.
And, when all is said and done, I'd have to say today was a pretty good day.

pay day

finally!

We've been waiting for this day since the first week we got here.
You know, we left with $100 in our pockets. That was kind of a bad choice on our part, mostly because it was gone in the first 24 hours of being in Honduras. We spent it on our hostel in San Pedro Sula... some mix up. I will share it sometime.
Anyway, our hostel keeper was nice enough to take us to an ATM on the way to the bus station the first day we were here. We took out about $50 more dollars, which was also another mistake on our part; we are changed $5 every time we use an ATM out of the country and another 1% on top of that. Should have taken out more!
Then a week later, when we barely had any money left and were wondering if we could get some out of the ATM in town, we learned that the closest ATM was an hour away. We didn't even have enough money left to allow both of us to go to Santa Rosa. So, Alex went with Marco, got out about $300, and brought back bath towels, kitchen towels, and a rubber bath mat. And with the rest of this money, we survived September. Albeit on pupusas and cup of noodles, but we survived.

Pay day is the last day of the month. We had to get an advance of L.3000 to pay for the month in our first apartment. For some reason, the land lady did not require money before hand. Additionally, our new land lady, who is more business savvy, wanted us to give first and last month's rent. So, this month, we are paying for 3 months of rent, or nearly 4 if you want to consider that our rent is now only L. 1800 a month. Next month will be a lot better.

For the both of us, we'll be getting about L.15,000. It's really not a bad deal.


On a different note, I've been kind of a night owl these past couple nights (10pm is now super late for us, don't you know). Part of it is due to my new found obsession with Ree. Oh, she is funny and smart and is officially my new role model. You can check out her website if you'd like: The Pioneer Woman. Thanks to her, and some other blogs I've been gathering inspiration from, I am really excited to start trying new recipes and learning how to make delicious food from scratch.

But, as I've been reminded several times in the past two hours, it is past my bedtime, and we must be at the market at 6am if we want to get the best veggies. Meat is ready for sale at 8am, so we can skip the shower first thing. Good thing, because I am going to be tired in the morning.

tour of the new apartment

 ¡¡Bienvenidos a nos casa!!

Ours is the door on the left.

what we see when we walk in.

Turning to the right...

Where we keep our clothes, books, and medicine.
The door on the left is to the bathroom.

See?

Sink, toilet, and shower

The most beloved feature in our house.
Shower with HOT water!

View from the far corner of the room.
Bathroom on the left, entrance on the right.

That's our window from the outside and the pathway we take to get in and out.
The building below and to the right is our landlady's house.

Looking from our door in the hall, we see the path to the kitchen.

Our kitchen! Fridge, Stove/Oven, Sink, and Microwave!

Our little portion of the kitchen. Just the bottom sections ... enough for us!

Our section of the fridge. Fresh squeezed orange juice, "wheat" bread,
oranges, limes, cheese, beans and rice.

Stepping outside the kitchen, we have a hammock.

A bit further to the left and there is a pila to wash clothes.
Not the best nor most fun to use.

And out in the yard, flowers, plants, and the hammock.
Take a look at the top right - bananas!

sunday. what a fun day

First of all, good news.
As I wrote this morning, we were headed to the market to get some essentials for cooking. We had no plates, bowls, silverware, or knives after leaving our old apartment because we were borrowing items from our landlord... thus, the only thing we could really eat this week was cup of noodles. Well, I got some chili sauce for my noodles (I like them spicy!), and we also found a bunch of stuff that we needed for a pretty good deal! Mind you, we wanted/needed to buy things separately, like silverware, so we didn't have to buy a whole bunch that we didn't need. Get it?
Here's what we got for 100 lempiras ($5.30):
-2 plastic cups (pretty sturdy)
-3 forks (sturdy)
-3 spoons (sturdy)
-one big knife
-two bowls (flat at the bottom to double as plates)
-one plate (for toast and such)

Now, when I say sturdy, I mean they are real. We saw some other silverware that someone else was selling, and it felt like we could bend them in half super easy. The ones we have are totally usable and we probably won't have to buy new ones like we would have had to with the others. The silverware was 3 for 10, that's why we got three.

So, we have things to cook and eat with, now we can buy cheaper food at the market and actually cook! Right now, we're cooking some red beans to make burritos tomorrow night. We also picked up some spaghetti.

Also, we got some new movies! Hondurans like copies of movies. They sell them for super cheap. A lot of times, you can get 3 movies for L.100. We got GrownUps (yes, the newish one), and El Mariachi, Desperado, and The Mexican (all on one disk) for L.60. Yahoo! Unfortunately, we can't watch them now because we have so much work to do with school, but it's still exciting.


Secondly, I have the address where you can send us things if you'd like or if we need something:

Our Name (either or both)
Green Valley Primary
Barrio Santa Rosita
San Marcos, Ocotepeque
Honduras, Central America

At this point, we do not require anything from the US, but there may come a time.

Back to cooking and school work for us! Oh yeah, I like getting comments, and thus far no one has left any... soooo, maybe you should try it some time. I think you can log in with your facebook account, which is the easiest way.

our daily schedule

This week has been pretty busy as we've been giving a lot of tests. We have to write our own, collect money from the kids (1 lempira for one page), and then go and get them printed. It's quite a process, but we're getting pretty good at it.

Anyhow, I have a lot of blogs to write with pictures. But, I figured since I haven't written any blog in over a week, I ought to write something.

Our weekday schedule looks a little something like this:

5:30am - wake up and take a shower if the water is working

6:30am - leave the apartment and walk to school

6:45am - arrive at school, sign in, and get ready for class

7:00am - class begins, each being 40 minutes long with a 20 minute recess at 9am

12:00pm - Lunch. So far, it's been mostly cup o' noodles sold for 10 lemps (or $0.50) or pupusas for the same (we just have to walk to get those...)

2:00pm - Anywhere between 1:30 and 2:30 is when we leave for the day. Though our classes generally end at noon, we stick around to do some grading and help students if they want it

2:30pm - return home, hang out, check facebook, blog, play games, research

5:00pm - Dinner. The cup of noodles has worn off and we need some more food... usually another cup of noodles.

5:30pm - watch a show or movie before bed

7:30pm - start getting ready for bed

8:00pm - bed

Then we do it all over the next day. The weekend is a bit different as it varies from week to week. Generally, if we're in town, we try to go to the market (something that will become a priority as we start collecting necessary utensils for cooking), eat at someone's house (usually Doña Olga's house... gooooood food!), and hang out, sleep, do laundry and wait for it to dry. 

We've got 4 weeks of school down and 5 weeks left of this partial. Alex and I are calculating mid-term grades (though it wasn't expected of us) so that the students know where they stand in class. Not going to lie, a lot of them are not meeting our expectations. We'll see what happens after we have a meeting with their parents next week. 

Well, we've got to be off to the market now that it's not raining. I will hopefully post some new sweet blogs this week with tons of pictures from the beach, Honduras' Independence Day, and our students' involvement with the festivities.

two weeks

I suppose we've technically almost been here for three weeks, but really we have only been teaching for two.

In the States, not a whole lot happened in two weeks unless you were planning something or in the midst of a transition. At least for us, it was same ol' day after day. I can't say that I minded it, but we needed some adventure and now here we are in western Honduras.

It turns out that Green Valley School is a real place in an actual town called San Marcos de Ocotepeque in the Ocotepeque department of Honduras. We arrived here on a Monday afternoon after traveling by bus (nice but unairconditioned bus) with Marco for nearly four and a half hours from San Pedro Sula. We were whisked away after getting off the bus by Ms. Olga's driver (and let me tell you, we didn't catch her name until the first week of school, and we're still are unsure that it's correct), taken to our two bedroom apartment to drop off our things and then to meet Olga herself. She invited us in for coffee and cake, talked and asked us questions. We had literally been in Honduras for 20 hours and weren't accustom to hearing or speaking Spanish at this point, but we managed with the help of bilingual Marco.

The first week, we worked at the school from about 8am to about 2:30pm getting familiar with our book, working our schedules, and planning our classes. Alex chose to do math and English for 7th (6 students), 8th (11 students), and 9th grade (5 students). I chose health and science for the same grades. I also was assigned to help with phonics and reading for 3rd, 4th and 6th grade. We planned as best as we knew how for our classes and then waited for Monday.

The second week, we actually had students, books, and a schedule. We met everyone on Monday, a half day, and then started teaching on Tuesday. Everyone kept telling us to make sure we were strict with the kids and make rules right away. We decided coming to class prepared, turning homework in on time, and not speaking Spanish in the classroom was most important. Unfortunately, these are the things that they struggle with the most and it is a constant battle.

The third week was the same, but now we know our students names, how they are, what to expect out of them, and their habits. It turns out that 7th and 8th graders aren't the best of students. Lets just say, there is room for improvement and they ought to take some advice from the 9th graders.
I've given them several lectures on how they have the privilege and opportunity to come to school when many Honduran students can't because their teachers are on strike. I have mentioned that their parents pay a lot of money for them to attend this school, the school is paying Alex and I to be here which is not cheap, and if that if they don't take advantage of this education, they're wasting all that money and our time. I told them another time that I didn't come here for fun; "In America, I had a hot shower everyday. I knew how to cook food. I spoke the language. Not here. Here, I wake up early to take a cold shower. I don't know how to shop or cook. And I don't speak Spanish." Some listened well, and others snickered. These kids, I tell ya....

Some highlights for us have been going to the weekend market in town (they sell all sorts of fresh produce), meeting some Peace Corps Volunteers from San Marcos, San Francisco, and Sensenti (the next towns over), and doing our laundry in a washing machine and not by hand.

Everyone here has been really nice to us, and has done a lot to make sure we are comfortable and have things (kitchen utensils, stove, a towel, a bed, water). The first two weeks were difficult because things are very different here than in America. The roads are dirt, and after it rains nearly every night it's mud. Things aren't packaged like it was at home, so I don't always know what I'm buying or how much it is. The electricity works most of the time, the water on the other hand does not. We're slowly figuring everything out and  easing into the lifestyle, making things more comfortable. Though, I look forward to the day when we have a hot shower and an actual mattress to sleep on.