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Published: March 20th 2010
Counting down the days until Friday. One more week of school before Semana Santa (Holy Week) and we are off on vacation! THANK GOODNESS!
School continues to be frustrating. Our students aren't responding to the school-wide discipline policies. I'm sure it's because there are no consequences at home, but it's hard to motivate 1/2 of our class to do anything. I'm reconciling with the mother who thinks I do nothing to accommodate her son (my hardest case) as she finally realizes I'm not the only one struggling with him. It's to the point where the principal told her the other day that as an administrator who taught for many years SHE'S even at a loss for what to do with this child. The mother didn't like that answer so she went to the superintendent who suggested outside counseling for the child.
Also in our classroom, we continue to deal with our lice problem. The first case appeared a LONG while ago and when I went to the office to make a big deal out of it, they made me feel I was crazy for thinking the whole class needed to be checked, students needed to be sent home, and parents needed to be told how to properly wash their homes. My principal looked at me like I had 4 heads when I told her stuffed animals should be placed in plastic bags and sealed for 3 weeks! Well, not too long later we had another case of lice. This time they finally listened to me and checked the WHOLE class. There were 6 cases total! I'm sure they'd been there all along. WELL, I then suggested they check the whole school, but they said they didn't want this turning into an epidemic and media sources being contacted that there was an outbreak of lice at the American School. So, parents were at least sent a website (found by ME and given to administration) about how to properly deal with lice. Well, since I'm sure other kids in our school have it but aren't being checked, the lice have re-appeared and this time we have 7 cases! AWESOME! lol. Rebeca and I went to get checked because we were SO scared of having it ourselves. We were both cleared, but you better believe my hair is being pulled back from now on!
In GOOD news, the musical is coming along nicely. All groups have completed their first number and we're working hard towards completing the 2nd. Will be a GREAT show once it's done. I've got parents currently working on costuming, the school hired a carpenter to work on some theatre boxes and dividers, and the kids are busy learning the songs and steps. Definitely the thing I look forward to most at school. Show goes up May 13th and 14th.
SOOOO.... SUPER happy and totally ready to be going on vacation. We just finished 3rd quarter, so only one more quarter with these crazy kids. Apparently next year's bunch is a good group. Who knows.
Semana Santa will be great. I'm busing to Comayagua Friday after parent/teacher conferences at school, then Walt and I are busing Saturday morning to La Ceiba to catch the afternoon ferry over to Roatan. We have reservations with my favourite hotel/dive-shop in West End (Native Sons/Chillies). Can't wait to do some diving! The plan is to stay in Roatan until Wednesday morning and then bus down to Lago de Yojoa for a night at the D&D Brewery, then wake up the next day to see the Waterfall, before busing back to Comayagua in time to see them making the sawdust carpets. We both LOVE the carpets, so we are excited to see those being made late Thursday night and then the finished products and procession Friday morning. Saturday we'll be packing up some of Walt's things and then he's moving here to Tegus that weekend. We'll have Sunday and Monday to settle in before I head back to school on Tuesday, and Walt starts looking for work. We're pretty excited. Will be nice to finally have him here.
NOW... THE MOST EXCITING NEWS....
MY TRIP TO PERU (And Bolivia)!!!!
Sarah Klooster and I were talking about waiting for cheap flights to somewhere and then heading off for 3 weeks of travel in June. We had discussed Peru or maybe Mexico. Well, one day another co-worker told me she had seen cheap flights to Peru through Taca, so I checked, and sure enough, there were $383 tickets from El Salvador directly to Peru. I called Sarah and we looked at more of the details. Flying out of El Salvador would mean that we would have to take a bus from Tegucigalpa to San Salvador (5-6 hours) but then it would be a direct flight to Lima, Peru! We realized the closing date for the sale was the following day, so we took a couple hours to think about it, called each other back, then sat on the phone with each other as we booked the tickets. For under $500 INCLUDING tax, we were booked on a round-trip to Peru/Bolivia from June 3rd-24th!
Today we are getting together to plan out the exact route and itinerary but here's the main idea of the route and things we plan to do:
- LIMA: we fly into Lima, and will be greeted by 3 of my friends I worked with on the cruise ship who are all from Peru and will be there while we are there. We take one day to explore the city.
- ICA: bus from Lima to Paracas, tour of
Ballestas Islands (with birds, seals, and penguins) before busing down to Ica and visiting the
Huacachina desert for dune buggying and sand-surfing!
- NAZCA LINES
Nazca Lines (seen from a small plane) then bus to Arequipa (colonial town) to see
Santa Catalina Monastery and Plaza del Armas.
- COLCA CANYONS: 2 day tour of
Colca Canyons including hot springs and flight of the condor viewpoint.
- PUNO: floating reed islands, possible homestay with a local family
- LA PAZ, BOLIVIA: Into Bolivia to do a bike ride on
World's Most Dangerous Road
- UYUNI, Bolivia: 3 day tour of
Uyuni Salt Flats
- COPACABANA, Bolivia: Lakeside town of
Copacabana at Lake Titicaca, possible trip to Isla del Sol (Island of Sun) which is largest island in Lake Titicaca.
- CUZCO, Peru: Also spelled
Cusco for multiple ruins and markets - gateway city to Machu Picchu
- MACHU PICCHU: 2 days at
Machu Picchu (stay the night in Aguas Calientes)
- CUZCO: possible white water rafting
- LIMA: flight from Cuzco to Lima to spend one last night with my ship friends before flying back to El Salvador.
We may have to spend one night in El Salvador before busing back to Honduras.
OH! I am SO very excited. Cannot wait! Poor Walter and Jimmy will have to keep each other company during the weeks that we are away. It's okay though, as Walt and I are talking about possibly going to Panama or Belize for Christmas next year!
Oh travel, you are wonderful!
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roxylady
lesley graham
wow, sounds like a blast sarah, enjoy your trip to peru, and i am sure you will enjoy having walt at home with you, hope he finds a job fast. well take care, love les