A week of Firsts

This has been a week of various firsts for me. Some of the ‘firsts’ were obvious while others were unexpected. Some of them were welcomed into my life with wide open arms, while others I could have certainly done without. It’s weird to think that I’ve been in the country for 3 weeks, and I’m still having ‘firsts.’ And yet, I don’t think these will be the last ones that I experience.

I started my very first teaching job, in my first classroom, with my first bunch of students! You had the lovely pleasure of reading about my first day already, but the whole week was an out-of-this-world experience. Unfortunately, Osman was taken out of my class and put back into 4^th grade, so I am back down to just 13 students. I have fallen in love with each one of them already. I spent the week pretty much just playing basic games (they were all academic, I promise) with them to gauge where each student is and where the whole class is so I better know where to start off the whole year. Math is their best subject – probably because everything is numbers and symbols instead of words and letters in a foreign language. Science and history are going to be quite interesting. I am going to tweak each unit and teach the simplest form of the content to them; each lesson will most likely be taught like an ESL class where I give them important vocab to learn and then try to teach the concepts around that vocab. I am starting the year in Reading with a book from the 1^st grade class set. Their comprehension is terrifying low but I am going to push them each week to quickly grow their reading skills. I anticipate the Basic English and Language classes to move at a slow pace too, but those are easier for me to just teach vocab or use big gestures and pictures to help the students learn better. Essentially, I had to redesign my entire year with these students and bring everything down to simpler terms and ideas. Wish me luck this week as I try out my new lessons and ideas with the students, hopefully they understand a little better!

Some humorous and odd firsts in my classroom this week: I had my first kid call me ‘mom.’ I had my first student cry. I had my first student ask me a question in a British accent (undoubtedly he randomly learned that from the British volunteers at the school). I had my first moment of feeling like I just wanted to start banging my head against the cement wall because none of them could understand me. I had my first realization that not only are my students a challenge, but my Honduran coworkers as well since they steal my whiteboard markers and erasers, leave my class unattended whenever they feel like it, and don’t enforce the ‘English only’ rule quite as much. I had my first experience of drinking juice from a plastic baggie – which is the norm for all my lunches.

Remember when I said that I would also be teaching a secondary math class? Update: I am teaching Algebra 1 to 9^th graders! Thus, I taught my first high school class! I must say, they are a huge relief to see each day. They actually understand the words that come out of my mouth when I am teaching them! Besides that miracle, they are also ahead of where they were expected to be! We spent the whole week reviewing Chapters 1, 2, and 3, which means we will start the year off already on Chapter 4. It feels so good to not have to slow things down! They are a fun group of kids too. There are only 11 in the class and I appreciate being able to have normal conversations with them. I haven’t had much practice teaching to this age group so I am learning a few things, but I am really looking forward to this year with them.

Now on to my ‘normal’ life. I had my first hot shower this week, and it was absolutely glorious. In fact, every time I take a shower I soak up the joy of having a hot one. I can’t let the water pressure get too high otherwise I’ll lose the warmth, but I do not care. I will take a weak shower if that means it’s warm.

I had my first experience of watching legitimate mud come out of my faucet. It rained incredibly hard a few days this week which means lots of mud in the community. Unfortunately that also means our water source gets tainted with mud and well, it shows up in our sinks, showers, and toilets. I have never seen water so thick and brown come out of a faucet. It grosses me out and makes me sad.

This is the first time I can call/consider myself a volleyball player. The students love volleyball (right after soccer of course) and challenged the teachers to a game. So, Friday after school, then Saturday afternoon, and then Sunday again, we played the kids in volleyball! (Actually, Sunday it was raining too hard, but we had plans to play.) There are six of us US teachers and we make up the ‘maestros’ or ‘gringos’ team. I am clearly the worse player on the team, and they play around me, but I am learning! It was a lot of fun and the students loved it. We actually lost, but we put a darn good fight.

After the games Friday night, I had my first student drive me home from school. One of the boys drove his truck and friends to the school for volleyball so he offered everyone a ride home. It’s completely normal for people just to pile into the bed of a truck and take off. Those students loved driving their teachers around! They gave us a whole tour of the town and drove like they were training for The Fast and the Furious; which meant that we were bouncing like rag-dolls and screaming, which only egged the guy on to drive even more like a lunatic. Then they took us up to this tower that was ironically built as a tourist attraction. It sits on top of a hill in La Union and I am not quite sure how many tourists they thought it would attract, but it gives a breath-taking view of the whole area. We went at night and want to go back during the day some time, but it was great of them to drive us and show us how to get there. At least it was less walking and hiking for us! We just kept thinking to ourselves that we wouldn’t be able to do this at any other Abundant Life school and would probably be scolded or fired if we were in a different town.

Earlier that day I took my first Honduran motorcycle ride. I guess it was fully a Honduran ride because it was with Jake on his bike, but we were cruising through Honduran streets! You definitely have to drive a lot more slowly and carefully. There were a few times that I thought that surely if I wasn’t holding on, I would be launched right off the back of his bike.

We attended the first ever Karaoke night in La Union on Saturday! We had joked around before about how there is nothing to do in this town, especially at night on the weekends. We thought all this place needs is a Karaoke bar to liven things up. Then low and behold, Karaoke posters started popping up around town, we couldn’t believe it! Someone organized the very first Karaoke competition and it was held in the community center. We couldn’t resist and we had to go. It was hilarious, we all sang a Beatle’s song, and by ‘sang’ I mean that Cassidy and Kara sang while the rest of us girls were their back-up dancers. We have video proof, or black-mail, of the performance.

I ran into my students for the first time outside of school. I went to the church earlier in the day to use the internet which, surprise surprise, was not working. A few of my little kiddos were there so I played with them instead. They pretended to be amazing volleyball and soccer players, and raced each other to see who could run faster. They begged me to plan games like those into this next week of school :). Then I got out my computer and we played a few games on that. I am such a teacher. The whole time I was making them practice their English, math and logic skills, memory and problem solving tactics, and always asking why. They had no idea they were having so much fun learning! It was complete satisfying for me. I have them hooked, I am already dubbed the best teacher they have ever had.

I had my first Honduran ask me for money. I met this woman a week ago while we were out grocery shopping. I thought she was rather creepy then because she spoke very softly and with a serious tone, like we were carrying out a secret deal or something. She was trying to sell something to me then and I just ignored her because I could barely make out what she was saying. But then, lucky me, I ran into her again this weekend. She called me over to sit and just chat with her, which I thought was harmless, but then she asked if she could borrow money. I’m not really sure how she managed to manipulate the conversation to get it to that point, but I was caught completely off-guard. I told her I didn’t have money, which is entirely true, but she didn’t believe me! After convincing her that I was in fact cash-less, she asked if I would ask my other gringo friends if they would lend her money! You should have seen my jaw drop. She even suggested that I ask them to lend me money but really give it to her, which would still leave me helpless. She claimed that she really trusted me. I must scream trust-worthy since we had only met that one time before?

Sunday I was caught in my first torrential downpour. Lori, Cassidy, and I went to the school to use the internet and the skies just opened up and unleashed a waterfall of rain. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it rain that hard! Because of the tin roofs we could not hear each other talk whatsoever so we just watched it come down. With that kind of rain, every single classroom has a leak. I can’t even fully describe it to you. You could not see past the ledge of the school because there was a wall of water and the patio area was quickly flooding. For someone like me who loves storms, it was really cool to be caught in it! However, the walk home wasn’t as thrilling because of all the mud.

Pray for me this week that I will I keep my head here in Honduras. I have been struggling with feeling overly frustrated in almost every circumstance. I keep thinking about how things would be different back in the States and daydreaming about what I would do if I were home. I willingly took this on knowing that I would lose almost all the comforts of my home and conveniences of my town. I am physically here and should be spending all of my time and attention on my job and life here. Be praying that I don’t make myself too homesick. 

Meet my students!

It’s official, I am a TEACHER! All my lesson planning, organizing, and decorating came down to the start of the school year. Friday night we had an orientation meeting for parents and Monday I got to meet my students. It was an exciting, nerve wracking, challenging, fun, and thrilling few days!

Parent’s Night: Friday night the parents were invited to the school to meet their students’ teachers and review some of the school policies. Although we are a bilingual school, the parents know no English so our presentations had to be given in Spanish – forget meeting the parents, this is what I was most nervous about! I had to introduce myself, give a tour of my classroom, discuss my personal expectations, and explain school rules to my students’ parents ALL IN SPANISH. Don’t worry, not only did I not faint or pee my pants in front of them, but I passed through the night with flying colors! I was a little worried at first because only 5 parents showed up on time, but I had to remember that the latino population is notoriously ‘fashionably’ late. I met 11 of the parents, but I hardly remember whose kid was whose. They were all very nice and patient with my Spanish. Jake was in the meeting with me to answer any of their questions that I didn’t know the response to and he assured them that they are lucky to have me as their child’s teacher for the year :) All of the parents are very supportive of their kid’s academics because they know that this is the best education for students in the area. Although they don’t know English, they seem eager and ready to help their students; and I told them that perhaps they would learn a thing or two in the meantime!

In case you’re curious I had to cover the topics of…  1) Abundant Life is a school that emphasizes good character first and foremost, and then excellence in academics follows as a result of good character. I will be teaching with those same character traits so that my students can see a model of what it looks like to be a well-rounded person; but I will also lead the class with discipline and authority. 2) Cooperation between the parents and the school is vital to students’ success. I asked my parents to support their kids by making sure they do their homework every night, and if they ever had any questions for me to set up an appointment through the office to meet with me. 3) Classroom rules and procedures including my behavior chart, what the students can do when their done, what their homework will be like each night, and the classroom jobs I created. 4) Uniform rules: all students wear blue collared shirts and black shoes with white socks, and boys wear ties and navy pants while girls wear skirts.

The 1^st day of school: Whew! What a day, it certainly flew by. I gained one more student so now I have fourteen bright and eager faces to greet me each morning. I will introduce you to each one of them in a moment. A few notes from my day:

·         The students line up always in two lines – a boys line and a girls one.

·         Before entering the classroom in the morning, after recess, or after lunch they are required to show me their hands to prove that they have clean hands.

·         They are the most polite kiddos you will ever meet. They ask for permission to stand up, to pick something up that they dropped, to go to the bathroom and then to enter the room when they come back, to take a drink from their water bottle, etc. you name it and they ask for permission to do it.

·         English is way over their heads. In First and Second grade they were primarily taught the phonics of English so they can pronounce any word decently well. However, they do not comprehend any of the words they hear. They all just stare at me and smile while I’m talking, and nod their heads ‘yes’ but I know that they had no earthly idea what I just said. Needless to say I have no idea where to start with these kids because they just don’t understand anything I say to them. This will be a rough month or two.

·         They are simply adorable. They always give me hugs and get excited when I come back into the classroom. Their smiles melt my heart and I always giggle a little when they try to tell me something through their broken English. I am already falling in love!

Osman is our newest member; he is repeating third grade from last year because his language skills are not quite up to par. Luckily he does understand most of the things that I am saying because he learned so much English last year, and he helps me explain things to the other students.

Hegna may be one of the smallest girls but she has one of the loudest voices! She is quick to answer my questions and extremely respectful. Her English level is what I was hoping everyone’s would be. 

Elman struggles a little more with English. He gets excited during math lessons but that’s usually the only time he is giving me his full attention.

Keidy is a natural leader. She knows what is going on all the time and helps me keep the boys in line. She is also quick to answer my questions and always eager to participate.

Rolando is the cutest little boy. He tries incredibly hard with whatever assignment I give him and even though his English is low, he picks up on words right away and is not afraid to try using them on his own.

Geovanny is easily the lowest kid in my class. His English is terrible and he doesn’t even like trying to use it. He is usually more interested in the underside of his desk or what’s on the ground than what I am teaching to the class. He will be my biggest challenge.

Yery is a new student this year. Last year she took a “nivelacion” class which is in an introductory course for students who will be entering any grade other than First for the following school year. It is designed to get those students caught up on their English so they are at the same level as their classmates. She is shyer but a very hardworker.

Julio is also very shy but equally as hardworking. His English level is one of the lowest in the class but he picks up on gestures quickly and typically gets what I’m trying to say if I repeat it a few times to him.

Kensy is also a new student and yet her English seems to be one of the highest in the class. I like her a lot because she often looks at the boys like they are incredibly stupid, hence she is quite mature for her age.

Juan will be my second challenge this year. His English is also terribly low so he doesn’t pay attention when I’m talking. He is my space cadet. I spend a lot of time tapping him or his desk to bring his attention back to the class and to participate.

Darwing is adorable. He can be chatty but he understands my directions pretty well. He is always making connections between the English words and the Spanish words, so I can see his brain constantly working.

Wendy was quick to become attached to me. She hugs me every chance she can get and even wanted me to go home with her after school. She is a little slower to understand things but never stops trying. She is also the tallest in our class.

Gabriel is a total teacher’s pet. He knows how to suck up to the teacher in all the right ways. But then on the flip side, is very secretive in how he causes trouble or distractions in the class. I appreciate his good behavior as a model for the class, but I need eyes in the back of my head for him.

Marco is a fidgety one. He does not like sitting still in his desk, but he is a good student nonetheless. He also knows when to be good and how he can get away with misbehaving.

Please be praying for our school year. Pray that these first few weeks and months do not drain me completely. I hope to keep up my energy and perseverance with teaching them English so that they can excel through the rest of school. I also hope that they don't give up either and do their best to continue practicing English and learning it every day. Pray also that I can come up with some really good and creative ways to teach these kiddos! My skills as a teacher will truly be tested. 

We've been here for ONLY a week?!

Welp, I made it through my first whole week of living in La Unión! I imagine that if you and I were to sit down for coffee, just to catch up, this is kind of how our conversation would go:

cooking in the dark

Tell me about your house. – I am conveniently located on the corner of that one dirt road that starts to head up the mountain and the other road where the busses stop at 5 in the morning honking their horn for passengers. You know, the yellow house right by the park and the Catholic church? [This is precisely what I said to a woman, trying to describe to her where I live.] There was actually a political rally right outside of it the other day if you saw that going on. It’s a nice house! I have my own room and bathroom, except that I haven’t had a hot shower yet and my toilet constantly sounds like it’s going to explode.The light just went out in our living room, but we have couches so at least you can sit comfortably in the dark.

this is why we drink bottled water

Oh, and if you want to do anything in the kitchen, you have to do so in the dark too because that light doesn’t work either. We have a nice oven/stove to cook on! Just the back left burner doesn’t work and the front right one doesn’t get hot enough to do anything. The oven temperatures are set in Celsius so I hope you know your conversions to figure out how hot you are turning the oven on to! Normally I would say that it’s fine to use the sink water if you’re boiling anything, but it’s been raining so much lately that the water coming out of the faucet is brown so please use the bottled water.

How are your Honduran neighbors? – They are very sweet ladies! They do my laundry for me every week and clean the house. It’s a little humorous when they come to clean because they rearrange everything. This week they moved one of my tables to a different corner in my room and hung up my bag, belts, and headbands on random nails around the door. They are very attentive to our needs. They went to San Pedro Sula earlier this week to buy some new things: a pump for our jug of water, new and improved light bulbs for our rooms, and functioning shower heads. They’ve all been great additions, except that the shower heads apparently broke when they were trying to install them so now we have to wait longer for that treasured hot shower. Every time they pass by our front door, they stop in and say hello. I tried to explain The Big Bang Theory to the daughter the other day… she didn’t seem to think it was that funny of a concept. Then every time I talk to the grandmother, I have no idea what she says to me. She mumbles so much that I have to do my best to pick out words and piece together the message she gave me. It took Morgan and me 4 days to realize that the bananas on our counter were a gift from them.

this is how I spent my Saturday

Are you settling in to your new life? – I am definitely adjusting to the Honduran pace of life. The sun goes down around 7 every day and that’s when all [non-sketchy] activity ceases around here. That means I’m usually in bed by 9:30 every night because there is nothing else to do. But that makes waking up at 6:45 every morning fairly easy! Even when I get to sleep in on the weekends, I’ve been waking up at either 7:30 or 8, so I am very well-rested. Even during the day there isn’t much to do. Everything is just at a slower pace in this town. I spent my Saturday like any other Honduran, sitting on the porch and watching people walk by. I watched a movie, worked on Sudoku puzzles, watched some kids place soccer, and swept the floor. I will do a workout on a DVD some days; I usually do them when I know I need to shower, and that shower is going to be ice cold so I get all hot and sweaty before jumping in. [And yet, somehow that shower doesn’t seem any more bearable.] The other teachers and I have weekly game nights. We take turns going over to someone’s house to eat dinner and play card and board games. I always look forward to those!

What are you eating? – For breakfast I will have either cereal or fruit. I make the milk fresh each morning from the powder in the box, and then I add in the only cereal you can buy here – cornflakes. If I want to change things up I’ll cut up some fruit and add granola to it which can be depressingly more flavorful than the fruit itself. I have eaten a peanut butter and jelly absolutely every single day for lunch. A mission trip that was just here left a bunch of their granola bars, trail mix, crackers, etc. for us so we have those to snack on. I aim to start making dinner as soon as I get home every day for two reasons: one, I want to have as much light as possible in the kitchen before night comes because then I have to use a flashlight; two, the stove takes so long to heat up that it takes at least three times as long to cook anything. I make hearty meals of rice or noodles with sautéed veggies. Yummy, huh?

the storm rolling in

What’s the weather like? – The weather is very predictable. The day starts out sunny and hot. There has been a nice breeze lately so if you’re in the shade, it’s quite enjoyable. I am getting used to the heat because I have to wear pants when outside of the house. I feel hot all the time so now it’s perfectly normal. Around 2 or 3 every day, an afternoon storm rolls in. It will start thundering hours before the storm actually hits, but it’s typically short showers. At night is when the big storms roll through. Those are the ones that turn the whole sky a dark, ominous color. Then the winds pick up and the sky just releases a wave of water. Usually we lose electricity or water, or both, during those storms. I am lucky to have a house with a roof that doesn’t reveal new holes and leaks every time it rains. All this rain has made the streets into an adventure whenever we are walking. Every single pair of my shoes is covered in mud and there are small canyons forming in the middle of the streets.

Are you ready to start teaching? – Absolutely! I cannot wait to meet my students and get to know them. This entire past week, I have been working from 8am-9pm every day planning. I would take breaks to eat or just to walk around when my brain was fried, but other than that I was organizing and decorating my room, writing scopes and sequences for each subject that outline the whole year, and lesson planning for my first two weeks of school. It’s actually been rather hard to plan out the whole year, let alone the first few weeks, because I don’t know where my students are academically. I doubt they are starting at the level that the book predicts; I’m guessing my plans will have to change drastically once I figure out where they really are.

And that was my first week of living in Honduras. This morning at church the pastor introduced us to the congregation and he told them all that even if they couldn’t converse with us, to at least give us their blessing and pray for us because we all are making huge sacrifices to be here. We have left our homes, our families and friends, and the comfort of our lives in the States to live in poorer conditions and serve this community. I already feel their blessings while adjusting, and this place is starting to feel like home.

Pray this week that all of us teachers remain encouraged. We are all adjusting to our new lives, and we each have our own obstacles to overcome. Some are feeling more beaten down or homesick than others [they even dream about going back home or being able to get all the things we miss] but we all need support in one way or another. Pray that our first week of school, coming up, is beyond rewarding and makes this transition business worth it.

La Unión: my new home

It has not taken me long to realize that I am truly living in a rural, third-world-country village. I am certain that as much as I thought I was prepared for this – mentally and physically – with any previous experience or advice or through readings, I had no idea how much I was lacking until I arrived in La Union. Every detail comes with a subtitle or fine print to further tell me how it really is. This was my impression after my first 24 hours here:

• my house has running water, but that water may be brown or not come on always
• I would be a fool to drink tap water because not even the Hondurans drink from the faucets
• a lukewarm shower is the biggest luxury I can think of, except I have yet to have one
• my house has electricity, but it takes the light in my room a good 5 minutes to fully turn on
• we have streets in this town, but hiking trails in the States are in better condition
• I am lucky to have an adobe roof because during the rainy season, a tin roof is a curse
• I won’t be the one who makes the mistake of flushing toilet paper down the toilet
• we use cups and plugs to keep the creepy crawlies from emerging from the drains
• I am lucky to have an oven, a couch, a fan, and pots and pans
• there is trash absolutely everywhere; we may live in beautiful surroundings, but I have never seen a dirtier place. In fact, the only thing they do with trash is burn it in the streets
• I can find foods that I am used to, but the milk is powdered, there is only one kind of cereal in the whole town, most everything in a box is already expired, and the fresh produce is limited
• the kids have a chance at a quality education where I am teaching, but the school lacks any kind of good book to teach from; sometimes there isn’t even a book for the teacher

I could keep going, but I don’t want to sound depressed about my situation. It simply is eye-opening to how blessed I am to have come from the United States and the lifestyle I had. I will be learning how to live like these people, but will still have a slight advantage. In the surrounding areas, about 93% of the population lives on less than a $1 a day. Can you imagine that?

I do have a funny story from my first night. I did not realize how frequently the water came on and off in our house, or how much of an issue pressure is with the water. So, in the middle of the night I woke up startled because my toilet was making outrageous noises; the best way I can describe it is that it sounded like my toilet was in a fight with itself or someone had tried to flush a rock. I was freaked out because I never knew a toilet could do that! The water kept coming in and out, and the pressure was really off so the pipes in the tank were spurting water and bubbling. I crept out of my bed afraid that either someone was in my bathroom destroying it, a giant bug or snake had found its way into my toilet, or my toilet was going to physically explode. I carefully turned on the light...hesitantly lifted the lid...and waited...nothing. I was practically shaking when I had to take the cover off the tank and immediately the pipes and pullies and what not started going crazy! Thankfully there was nothing too terrifying in the toilet, but I have learned to shut the water off for the toilet each night.

Besides that, this is where I live! I am living in a house with another girl who works for a micro finance company that partners with coffee farmers in the area. Our house is connected to a house of a Honduran family with a door in the middle of our two houses; the nice thing is that we can go into their side but they cannot come into ours unless we open the door, so they have to give us our space and privacy. I met the grandmother, Francisca, and her daughter, Senovia, who live there and they are both very pleasant and super nice people.
I am hoping that they will teach me how to make some traditional Honduran meals! My bedroom is bright pink and camp equipped with a twin bed, a standing closet (with hangers!) two tables, a fan, and a bathroom attached. I am living in probably the nicest house out of all the teachers because it is already furnished with couches, tables, and chairs, and our kitchen has pots, pans, silverware, and appliances. Everyone else has been shopping for those all week. My rent is $75 a month and I will be paying the ladies next door $7 to do my laundry for me. Oh, and good news! I have not seen any horrendous bugs yet! I feel safe from the bugs going to bed each night.

I am not sure why this is crooked, but my house is the yellow one,
the pink side is where the Hondurans live

My house is right in the center of the town square, and the Honduran men have figured out that the gringas live there so they kind of like to hang out in that area a lot (don’t worry mom, I’m very safe in my house). The other American teachers live just a few houses down so we are all super close and like to hang out together. It takes us about 15-20 minutes to walk to the school.  I have wifi at the school and the church, but no internet at home or tv. So far I have spent my nights reading or watching movies on my computer and then going to bed by 9:30.

I will have to cook breakfast and dinner for myself, but thankfully I can pay someone about $2 a day to make me lunch and bring it to the school! The girl I live with has already been giving me some good recipes to cook with our limited ingredients. I will become quite the bookworm and chef while I am here!

Please be praying for me through this transition. It can feel overwhelming at times, but I am not defeated by it. Pray that I will stay encouraged and be able to keep my chin up. I feel like it is not really fair for me to complain here because this is only temporary and I have the luxury of choosing to not live like this. Pray that I keep a positive attitude and adapt quickly to my new home.

La Escuela Vida Abundante

Perhaps you would like to know a little more about the program that I am here with, so I will gladly inform you! Abundant Life Christian Schools (ALCS) are part of a Honduran-based movement to better educate the children of this country. Public schools are devastating. The public-school teachers simply do not care: they end school before noon each day, they turn backs during tests so the students are taught to cheat their way through school, they spend more time punishing than teaching the kids, and even if they decided to genuinely teach their students, they would be hardly qualified to do so. Abundant Life Church saw the need to change this and give hope to younger generations, so they founded a private school system. Not only are they Christian schools, but they are also bi-lingual schools which makes for a unique combination in this country. I personally fell in love with the program because it is a Honduran-based program designed to benefit Hondurans themselves.

ALCS currently has five schools across the country in Tegucicalpa, Gracias, Choluteca, Catacamas, and La Union. La Union is the newest, smallest, poorest, and most rural school. Quite honestly, the school in La Union would not exist without the other schools because almost every kid here pays half or no tuition. Thankfully, through scholarships, these kids all get the chance to a brighter future! Every school is a bilingual school. For the most part, all of the students are taught in full English immersion. They receive instruction in all the general subjects like math, science, language arts, etc. but all of those are taught in English so they learn the language simultaneously with the materials. They do have Spanish classes for the students and they are taught Honduran history in Spanish. In theory this is a flawless plan. However, ALCS has seen a problem with specifically Honduran teachers because it is too common for them to resort back to Spanish when communicating with the students or letting the students talk in Spanish even though the teacher is using English – all because it is simply easier that way.

this is the school in Gracias

this is my school in La Union

There will be seven American teachers and two British volunteers at the school in La Union, and we all make a great team! The crew is as follows: 

• Jake is from Holland, MI and this will be his 5^th year teaching. He teaches a variety of secondary courses but has been acting as a pseudo-director of the school. 
• Kara is also from Holland but she has recently been living in New York, and will be teaching secondary math. 
• Lenny (married to Kara) is from New York and he will be teaching secondary history. 
• Lori is from Charlevoix, MI and went to Hope (!) and she will be teaching secondary science. 
• Cassidy is from Holland but went to school and now lives in Minnesota, and she will be teaching fifth grade. 
• Harriet and Beth are both part of Project Trust which is a volunteer program from the UK. They are both from England and will be helping around the school with tutoring and teaching simple elementary classes such as writing and spelling. 
• And me of course! I will be teaching third grade as well as a class or two of who-knows-what at the secondary level (I’ll keep you posted for when I find out which class(es) specifically). 

I am lucky to have a fantastically small class of only 13 students! I cannot wait to meet them and fall in love with them as soon as possible. The students in La Union come from many small villages surrounding our little city, but they are notoriously known as the best kids around with their manners, behavior, and eagerness to learn.

Here is my class list and I asked that you would pray for each student by name (do your best with pronunciations, God will know who are talking about!). We start school on August 20 and my greatest desire is that these students come prepared for an awesome school year. I hope they are ready to learn, as difficult as it might be, and willing to be shaped into the image of God:

Hegna Escarleth Membraño Juárez

Keidy Janeth Pérez Reyes

Kensy Banessa Sánchez

Yery Banessa Juárez

Wendy Banessa Perdomo Miranda

Darwing Manuel Ramos Perdomo

Elman Miladey Benites Perdomo

Gabriel Isaí Ponce Paz

Geovanny Josué Reyes Enamorado

Juan José Dera Rodríguez

Julio Josué Hernández Sorto

Marco Antonio Alvarado Sorto

Rolando José Rodríguez Barrientos

Hello Honduras!

Estoy diciendo “¡hola!” de Honduras! I’m saying hello from Honduras! I had a pleasantly smooth journey from Denver, to Houston, to San Pedro Sula in Honduras. When I arrived most of the teachers had just gotten there too; we spent a few hours at the airport loading up our bus, eating lunch, and exchanging dollars to Lempiras (the national currency of Honduras; the rate is 1L = $20). From there we started driving to Gracias and although I could not tell you exactly how long the drive took, I can assure you it was an unpleasant one. It was hot, humid, slightly nerve-wrecking, crowded, and bumpy. The best part of the whole trip was finally getting to Gracias, not only because we could finally get off that blasted bus, but also because we were a giant group of 20 or so gringos each with at least four various-sized suitcases – talk about sticking out!

All of us teachers were going to stay in Gracias for the week for orientation and to get to know one another before parting ways to our separate schools, but the La Union crew actually got to leave on Wednesday. Jake, the director of foreign recruiting and an 8-year teacher in La Union, wanted to get back to La Union quickly because his church was finishing up a mission trip there. He wanted to be able to say goodbye to them all and make sure they got to the airport safely. Even though we left earlier, we still had a packed few days in Gracias. Day 1 we spent the entire day taking care of business things like buying cell phones, getting bank accounts, and signing insurance papers. Another teacher, Lori (who you will end up hearing a lot about), and I also did a small hike up to a fort on a hill in Gracias. That night we also had the treat of soaking in some hot springs and eating a typical Honduran meal.

Day 2 we visited the Abundant Life Christian School in Gracias for a day of orientation and we had to all dress up in our teaching uniforms – navy blue pants and a white polo/button-up shirt. I won’t bore you with the details of all the meetings and information sessions we sat through. The school there is absolutely beautiful because it is nestled up against some mountains in a glorious national park. This day just made me excited to get out and see where I would be teaching and stand in my own classroom! Day 3 we went back to the school and finished orientation with the director of that school. Then, as if moving to Honduras wasn’t commitment enough, I signed my very first teaching contract! I am now legally bound to teach at ALCS for the year. I was giddy all day long; my career as a teacher is finally starting to become a reality. That afternoon we hopped on the bus again and began our trek to La Union. We drove for 30ish minutes on a paved road, but the rest of the 3-hour trip was all on dirt roads. There was no body sleeping on this bus ride. Although, we drove through some of the most breathtaking cloud forests and views – the clouds would just settle into the mountains and float through the trees, coffee and corn fields were carved into the mountain sides, and curious Honduran faces stared at us as we passed through each tiny village. My face was glued to the window the whole ride there; I am just mesmerized by the innocent beauty of this country.

Pray for me as I take my first steps as a teacher. Pray that I will be devoted to my students and helping them achieve academic goals that they never thought would be possible. Pray that I will not only challenge them academically, but also shape and mold them into little warriors of Christ. And pray that I exhibit these Godly qualities as a teacher and leader in my new school: sincerity, enthusiasm, patience, perseverance, common sense, and self-control. 

God brought me to Honduras

For those of you who have not quite figured it out yet, I am spending a year teaching in Honduras. While I was stressing out and trying to figure out what to do with myself after graduating college, God was beginning to lay out his plan for my life in front of me. Back in March I signed up for an interview with a school from Honduras that was recruiting at Hope. I went into the interview thinking that it would just be a practice interview and that it would be good for me to dip my toes into the interviewing world. However, when I walked out of it, I knew they were part of something amazing and I wanted in. I called my dad right away and told him every detail about it because I was beyond excited, and I remember him asking me this: “Ok, so if Teach for America (the only other teaching job I had applied for at the time) and this Honduras school both offered you a position tomorrow, which one would you take?” I was completely stumped and could not give him an answer because I liked both programs a lot. Lucky for me, the decision was not mine to make. Soon enough God showed me the answer when Teach for America turned down my application and the school in Honduras offered me a position. It was set: I would be spending a year teaching third grade at Abundant Life Christian School in La Unión, Honduras.

Since deciding to uproot myself and move to Honduras for a year for my first teaching job, the Lord has continued to open doors and helped me feel secure that this is what I was made to do. I mentioned to my mentor teacher, that I was student teaching under, about my plans and she spread the word around the school. All of the teachers and the staff in the school donated more supplies to me than I could have ever imagined, in fact I was overwhelmed with materials! They gave me books, scissors, pencils, markers, glues, math manipulatives, drawstring backpacks, construction paper, stickers, paint, etc. After getting over the initial shock of receiving all those supplies, it dawned on me that I had no idea how to get it all down there. After trying to come up with as many options as my brain could – packing extra suitcases, shipping it down, leaving it with a friend for someone to pick up – and then finally emailing my director, Jake, the answer was simple! His parents lived in Holland, Michigan, just a short drive from Hope, and I could take as many supplies as I wanted to their house; from there, Jake would be visiting Michigan a few times that summer and could fill up his suitcases with the things, and his church would be going down on a mission trip as well. This was a huge God-send because I would not have been able to fit all those boxes in my car for the drive back to Colorado, let alone my suitcases for Honduras.

Other blessed connections came later that summer. First, I have received countless donations from people who have heard about what I’m doing. I cannot thank my mom and her friends enough for all that they have given me in order to support my endeavors and help make my classroom the best one these students have ever seen. Second, my mom heard about a guy in Fort Collins, an hour drive away from my home, that would also be going down to Honduras on a mission trip and would be visiting my school. How cool! Again, I was able to take some supplies up to this guy, Scott, and he would pack everything in his crew’s suitcases to take down for me. Third, my uncle found out that Hope’s basketball  coach, Coach Neil, has a daughter teaching in Honduras. He sent me her email address so that I could contact her with any questions I had. Fourth, one of my great friends, Matt Webber, has extended family that is from Honduras. He said they would be more than willing to give me any advice or ideas about living there, and could be a contact for me once I move if I needed help there or wanted to visit. God has been opening up so many doors for me as I have prepared for this trip and I feel like the most blessed teacher.  

Would you please pray for me throughout this journey? I know that it is going to be a tough one and that I cannot do this alone. Each post I will write a prayer request and hopefully you can take a moment as you finish reading to lift me up to the Lord. Thank you! This post: pray that God blesses me immensely over the next year. I am sure that He will challenge me and help me grow in magnificent ways. Pray that I will have an open and willing heart to these changes, and that I will never cease to trust and depend on Him.

I hope you keep following me throughout this adventure! I promise it to be a comical one since I'll be living in a very rural community, a challenging one as it's my first year teaching, a rewarding one with the students and experiences I'll have, and a fascinating one with all the new things I'll learn from this place and these people.