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Published: March 10th 2009
John
Handsome young fellow, eh?Well, the field trip was a success. No students got pregnant and the director of the school didn't get thrown in the pool. Here is how it all went down.
We arrived in Tegus and visited an old theater and the museum. The theater was really beautiful and it had great acoustics. There was all sorts of booths and even a presidential booth where I took the liberty to sit for a few minutes and enjoy the view. One of my 7th graders, Dennis, snuck up behind me and pointed his two fingers to the back of my head. Then he called me Abraham Clinton and that made me laugh pretty hard. If I was drinking milk it probably would have been a spit take.
We hung around the theater for a while and then walked over to the museum. I should point out that outside the theater there was a statue of David Bowie. Not making that up.
As far as the museum goes it seems to me like they tried to make it boring. It was one of those tours where you see the coolest thing right off the bat, and then after that it all
Bus
Getting off the bus at the museum. slides downhill at a dangerous speed until you eventually hit rock bottom in a chaotic and exhausted pile of agitated teenagers with empty stomachs. We entered a room with a couple arrowheads about the size of a cat. There was a sign that read "Sacrificial knives." That was pretty cool, but also pretty creepy to think human sacrifice was part of the culture. I guess I'm just more accustom to human slavery. In the same room as the arrowheads was a big globe. The globe had projectors on the inside and you could watch the evolution on the world over the course of billions or thousands or trillions of years. It was surrounded by big black walls and ambient music so I felt like I was in a real museum. At this point we all had pretty high hopes and we were thinking, "Hey I can dig it here. This might turn out to be a bit interesting."
Wow, we were wrong.
After we left the room with the globe our guide proceeded to lead us through a maze of graphic panels, and displays in desperate need of cosmetic care and some actual product to display. As a
Dennis
Dennis, modeling his new Tommy Hillfigure Glasses. whole the museum was 90% graphic panels with paragraphs and words and facts and words and more facts. There were no light boxes, no interactive displays, no games, no box that you can put your hand in and guess whats inside. Total snooze fest. Other than the occasional artifact the museum was a "walk through essay" on the history of Honduras.
Not to mention we were herded like prisoners by the security. When the tour had started, you see, our guide asked a rather difficult question about a very specific event in history. When she prompted our students for the answer, Kenton came up with a number right off the bat. He was right and needless to say it resulted in a uproar of cat calls and heckles. After that we were marked. They called up two extra security guards and they made sure to diligently follow us through the entire museum, not allowing any stragglers.
At the end of the museum we went into a big 3d theater where we were given a "virtual" tour of the Copan ruins. It was here where myself and Luis, my 7th grader, both fell asleep. When the movie finished and
Museum
This was the best part of the museum. the lights came back on we both woke up and saw that each other had been sleeping. Classic.
After the museum we piled back in the bus and drove over to the mall "Multiplaza" for some lunch. I ate at Sparro. I had a lasagna on a paper plate, with a small Cesar salad served in a Styrofoam bowl, and a bread stick. I also drank a medium Coke. Over all it was a satisfactory dining experience in which I debated the many benefits of Chinese food with one of my 9th graders, Eric. He had ordered noodles and vegetables from Fo Yong. Two other 9th graders and one 8th grader, Maria, Amy, and Celeste ate Burger King. After eating the kids walked around the mall and I looked for wedding rings.
Then we piled back into the magic bus and headed out to Valle de Angeles. The valley is a little mountain town outside of Tegus. It is a tourist town and it even says "Tourist town" on the Welcome sign. If you ever stay in Valle de Angeles don't. You are wasting your time. Pack up your things and get out as soon as possible. There
Theater
The theater was really cool. are so many other places you can be with all of the same things. The reason I say this is because it really is a tourist town. It is all geared towards tourists. They sell things that aren't even Honduran, but they fit a Central American stereotype. For example, they sell "hacky sacks" and pipes. When in reality no kid in Honduras plays hacky sack and rarely will you ever hear of people smoking weed. Marijuana is really frowned upon here and the only reason this stuff is for sale is so that Americans will buy it thinking it is authentic. Having said that there are some cool parts about the city. One cool thing is called "Moto-taxi." If you visit any small town in central America you can ride in one. They are those little three wheeled taxi things that buzz around all those towns in India.
While staying in the hotel we swam and played a little soccer and managed to knock down a quite a few decorations with Tommy's new soccer ball. The pool was nice and cold and I made sure to go swimming late at night with all the high schoolers when the air
Tour
The tour of the ballroom at the theater. was good and crisp. I raced a few kids from 9th and 10th grade and then dried up and read "Of Mice And Men." I stayed up till about 1:00 AM reading outside because the director had given me a coffee right before everyone went to bed. She didn't do it intentionally to get me to stay up late, I was asking her for the coffee. After everyone went to bed there were minimal problems. I did, however, have one group of boys run up the stairs towards the girl's room after almost making sure the coast was clear. When they saw me they all claimed that they either needed to use the bathroom or get water. I guess the bathroom inside their room with the running water wasn't working. When they saw my book they told me to stop reading and go to bed. I told them I would go to bed when Lennie gets to tend the rabbits and they all gave me puzzled and slightly agitated looks. I told them I was just kidding and that Lennie never gets to tend to any rabbits and that I would most likely go to bed soon. That just confused
Jorge
He has dreams of bing a superstar. them even more and they all returned to their rooms.
The next day we lounged around the Hotel for a bit and then finally left for the city so that we could go to the mall and get food. I was excited about the mall, because Karina was going to meet me there and we were finally going to go buy the rings for the wedding. We met up and ate pizza from Pizza Hut. I had a supreme personal pizza and she had a ham pizza. Mine was passable (but not supremely passable) and hers was nasty... ham nasty. Karina had the chance to meet some of my students and it was pretty nice. It was interesting to see people who always hear about each other finally meet. Neither of them know what to say. My students always hear stories about Karina and she always hears the same stuff about them. So it was short and sweet to say the most. Other than the time Maria and Amy insisted that I buy rings for them in addition to Karina's ring.
I decided not to buy rings for any of my students, but I did get one for
Inside
The view from inside the aud. Karina. We bought a silver ring that came with a wedding band for her and I got a stainless steel ring which is totally cool, because I can throw it across the room and it won't break. It took me a while to get Karina to go with the stainless steel idea, but she finally conceded. So I'm pretty stoked about my stainless steel wedding band and Karina told her family that I bought her a white gold ring... I'm not saying anything...
And it turns out that the uncles bought the cables and hooked the flat screen TV up and I was able to watch Boston get stomped by The Rangers on Sunday. I was happy to watch hockey, but upset that the Rangers won. Buffalo could have used a big fat loss for NY, but whatever... I got to watch hockey on a flat screen in central America on a Sunday afternoon while my girlfriend made me lunch. It isn't every day a gringo gets to say that, so I'm not complaining.
In conclusion, unlike Lennie who never got to tend to those rabbits, I accomplished my goals for the weekend. I kept a couple guys
Park
Across from the theater there was a nice little park. in their rooms, I went swimming, I bought the rings and I even got Karina her shoes for the wedding. Score.
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Eric Chaffee
non-member comment
The ring of truth
Wedding rings are merely a token of encircling love. Therefore they are secondary to the love. My wife and I flip flopped about rings, and got married usning a ring which she no longer wears (and me without one at all). About ten years later we had a guy in E.Aurora cast a pair of rings which I had sketched. He carved them in wax, and then cast them using the lost wax process. Really cool. Only problem: I broke my finger, and Mary gained a few pounds, so they no longer fit. But the love continues to fit us really nicely, thirty+ years on. That's the only ring that counts. ~eric.