2nd Bimester

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Well, I’m half way through the school year and I have a grand total of 2 posts on my blog. Not good. Since so much has happened and things continue to happen I am going to going to list them instead of trying to write about them.

Oddities of Copan
1) There was a snake outside of my classroom the other day. Somehow I walked right past it into the bathroom, and when I emerged, several students and a fellow teacher were examining a lump on the ground. I bravely smiled at them and walked into my classroom. Yeah, I was proud of myself. The last thing I wanted was a student to think they were being “funny” and bring the snake into the room. It was moved later.
2) It is finally starting to warm up. I am getting tan, and now I don’t have to wear five layers at school and at night.
3) The a few days ago, in the middle of the night (10pm) I was suddenly awoken in the middle of the night. Something was rustling in my room. (This was the same day I saw the snake!) I was scared and did not want to leave my bed. So I called my roommate, on my cell phone, who was sleeping a room over. She did not wake up. So finally I summed up my courage and leapt out of my room. Anige heard me and cheerfully agreed to help me search my room for the creature. I turned on the light, and we peered in my room. I saw Angie’s eyes grow very, very big, as she said, “there is something on your bed.” I quickly looked around the corner and the BIGGEST cockroach I have ever seen was perched on my bed frame. It was so big that it woke me up by rustling in my trash! I haven’t seen my new roommate since but I know he’s there.
4) Today is the last school day before Valentines day. I got 0 Valentines from my students (which I am grateful for), but I did get 3 from some 3rd graders. They spelled my name the following ways: Miss Keri, Miss Kary, and Miss Kaqui (one was for their mom, but they crossed her out and gave it to me haha). It made my day. We are doing teacher switch day and I am switching with 3rd grade and I can’t wait.
5) Next week Mayatan’s anniversary week so we have crazy hair day, twin day, and fun day. I am the DJ of fun day. My excuse is now my students have to bring in CD’s and music for the day which means I get a lot of free latin music. There is also a medical brigade next week, and they are taking a class of secondary students a day to translate. This means I have a grand total of 3ish classes a day, Thursday I’m teaching 3rd grade and Friday is fun day. I don’t know how these kids know anything.
6) I had to go home early from school a few days ago. After living here 6 months or so I finally got these digestive problems people have been talking about…
7) I made potatoe soup, from scratch the other night, with no recipe.
8) U.S. beat Mexico in the games leading up to the world cup, and Honduras lost to Costa Rica. The U.S. plays Honduras in March?
9) I’m getting board shorts made….in Mayatan PLAID!
10) Last Friday we got let out of school early because the water had been out of 2 days. Not a big deal except you can’t flush the toilets…yuckkk
11) One of classes is causing mayhem around the school so in class we have been doing some “team building activities.” So the other day we did a trust fall (where you stand on something high and fall into everyone’s arms), and my students wanted me to do it. So I did, and they did not drop me surprisingly.
In all seriousness:
12) I would say about 30% of my students have either a father or mother who is not alive.
13) I would say about 60% of my students have a close relative (parent, grandparent, uncle, cousin) who has been murdered because they got involved in “bad” things.
14) One of my students’ fathers macheted a man. The father had to flee to Guatemala, because the police told the people of the town they could kill my students father. Then the grandfather had to flee because the police were going to hold him responsible for his son’s action. Then the oldest brother of my student had to leave because he was going to be charged with the murder his father committed. My student said he slept with a machete under his pillow for a week to make sure his mother was safe.
15) The driving age here is 18. I see my 13 year old students driving around town ALL the time. In class they told me when they see the cops, they just pay them off.
16) Students call the day that report cards go home “The Day of the Belt” because when they go home they will get in trouble.
17) My students have been receiving Spanish and English classes for about 8-10 years. There are a lot of similarities in Spanish and English, such as punctuation, capitalization, writing complete sentences and paragraphs etc. and you would think after having getting it twice for that amount of time they would catch on…
18) Often times you will see a man just laying in the middle of the street or sidewalk. At first I was concerned, then I realized they were all so drunk they passed out in the middle of town. Apparently Sunday is the most popular day for drinking. A few students have written in their journals that they wished all liquor stores would close, because then men wouldn’t waste their pay on alcohol and bring some home to their families.
19) There is no real form of sex education here. As a result, the amount of children born out of wedlock is astounding.
20) My roommates teach 1st grade. In their class are 3 students that are Mayan descendants. They wake up at 4am, walk an hour into town before they are finally able to catch a bus to school. Then, I have students whose family is better off than mine, owning coffee farms and bottled water companies.
21) The coffee in the US is wayyyy better. I live in coffee country, but they export all the good stuff out of the country and we drink the defective beans.

Things that make me happy!
22) MAIL! I got a letter from my grandparents that went to Papa New Guinea…It was from Thanksgiving and I opened it up yesterday. My grandparents write to me every week. My Grandpa says it’s because his mother wrote to him every Sunday when he was overseas in WWII.
23) Office Parties!!! One of the teachers bought the current season of the office. Whenever he downloads a new episode we all get together and watch it on his computer.
24) When Gabriella’s has cinnamon sugar poptarts
25) When Fran Luis has pepper jack cheese.
26) When I find something good at the grocer store.
27) When I get to talk to my friends and family online.
28) Paying to much for a crappy frozen bagel at Yatbalam.
29) Paying to much for a Cesar salad, made with iceberg lettuce at Casa de Todo
30) Understanding a conversation that has taken place entirely in Spanish.
31) When my kids learn something.
32) TEACHER RECESS. On Fridays, sometimes all the teachers get together at school and we play basketball, soccer, or Frisbee. Sooo funnnnn!
33) Unexpectedly getting a ride to or from school!!!
34) Planning vacations: Roatan with the parents, Semana Santa (Easter week!) etc.
35) Meeting new people. I met some teachers from another bilingual school in Honduras. Ironically, it was a school that I seriously considered teaching at so it was cool talking to them.
36) Going hiking. Sometimes on the weekend we just pick a hill are like “lets climb it!”
37) Understanding my students Spanish when they don’t think I know what they are talking about
38) Finding a good book to read. I have read about 15 novels here. It is ridiculous.
39) Relaxing at the bird park with my students. When it gets warmer, they dam the stream and we will be able to go swimming.
40) Sitting on my roof on nice evenings.
41) When I don’t feel like cooking, which is a lot of the time, walking out my door into the best restaurant in town; Picame!
42) Sitting in the parking watching dogs get it on….not really but I do like sitting in the park.
43) The only kind of movies you can purchase here are bootleg, even the movies you rent, are bootleg. That means you can buy any movie for REALLLLY cheap.
44) The location of my apartment. Right in town.
45) Coleslaw from Picame. Yummmmmmmmmmmm
46) The idea of coming home in 4 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright- enough for now! Miss you all like crazy !

Hasta en quatro mesas! (see you in 4 months)


*I did not edit any of this, so do not judge my skills as an English teacher by the entry! Gracias*

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Photos

Lake Atilan
I went here for Thanksgiving! This is one of the 3 volcanoes around the biggest lake in Guatemala. We stayed in a lovely village called Santa Cruz (St. Cross)

Secret Santa Santa!
This is Danilo, one of my 8th graders. He was my secret santa.

Thanksgiving at Noras!
These are some of my favorite people! Fellow teachers and I enjoying the best Thanksgiving dinner at Nora's house, one of the founders of the school. Beautiful house, delicious food.

Comments

[Matty B]

it's funny. i think about how far away i am and then i remember where you are and think, wow, she has GUTS! But all of that sounds really cool and interesting. 4 months left! I mss ya and I know the CBus crew does too. Enjoy the warm weather!

[Sue Leatherman]

The S-----
It's a good thing it was a cockroach and not a snake on the bed. Four months is a long time to go without sleeping. Thanks for writing, Love, Mom