Round 2: Back in Action

I am writing to you from a room decorated in tacky artwork (such as a porcelain swan), the sound of church bells ringing obnoxiously outside, and men rubbing their bellies while trying to peek into the gringa house. All of this can only mean one thing… I’m baaaaaaack! Hello, again, Honduras!

All the new teachers arrived to this lovely country on August 5 for their week of training. I volunteered to skip out on that training and instead chose to spend another week in the States. (I have no doubt that it was the best decision I could have made in that situation.) Since Kara and Lenny are also returning teachers, we all traveled back together on August 13. We had agreed that we certainly did not need to ‘train’ again, and we even had felt more prepared about decorating our classrooms and lesson planning so we were confident in coming back a little later.

Honduras had planned such a warm welcome back for us! (Not. Please hear the sarcasm in my voice.) Jake picked us up from the airport and we stopped at a grocery store to stock up on food. We really had to pack tightly into the car with all our luggage and food, which resulted in us not fully closing the trunk door. Jake pulled over so we could get out to fix the problem: well, Lenny had in mind to go for the quick open-and-shut while Kara was thinking about the grocery bags that could potentially fall out. (Let the pain-induced wincing begin…) Kara stuck her arm underneath the door to catch any falling bags but Lenny did not see her do that so he slammed the door right down on her wrist. The pain was excruciating. She was trying to be a superhero and brave but she could barely hold her arm up without crying and she could not move anything. We decided to take her to a hospital because we feared that some bones broke. Thankfully we were in and out of the emergency room in about two hours with only a miniscule fracture, a wrist brace, and plenty of pain meds. Onward to La Unión!

For the most part La Unión has not changed one bit. Within the first few days of being back we had lost power, the water was turned off, I got sick from the food, fireworks woke me up early in the morning, and everything I brought with me was covered in a thin layer of dirt. I’m still trying to decide if it’s a relief to see that everything stayed the same… so far I am not convinced. They are planning (and even preparing) to pave the streets! It’s unclear if they are going to do cobblestone streets or have smooth cement covering the streets, but they are going to only do the main drag. The local kids are loving all the piles of dirt, cement powder, and rocks that are lining the park right now; it is a mountain bike and toy dirt truck heaven out there. I’m sure the roads are finally being taken care of because election season is on the horizon (which is evident by the political songs and rally horns filling the air) and someone is trying to get reelected. It felt good to come ‘home’ to the same house with Heather still here and my pink room ready for me. There was a problem with a different teacher house so Senovia and Grandma (our neighbors) offered up their half of the house for the new teachers to live in. I’m sad to not hear them every day through the door anymore and frequently get trapped into a confusing hour-long conversation with Grandma, but it is convenient to have us all in one building!

We do have a fresh, new round of teachers here! Jake hired an additional two teachers onto our staff which now makes 10 foreign teachers, 6 of them are new. Let me introduce you to them:

                Rachel and Kate are our new Project Trust volunteers. Rachel is from Wales and Kate is from Northern Ireland, and both girls are in their gap year between high school and college. (I’m working on my European accents!) They are both very outgoing and are big helps with all the elementary classes. I already trust them fully with my students. (I’m always incredibly impressed with how mature these girls seem and how brave they are for willingly moving away from home for an entire year at just 18.)

                Sharon is the Secondary Language teacher. She is a fellow Hope alum and is quite possibly the sweetest girl I have ever met. Her Spanish is also excellent and she loves kids with an incredible heart. She has a lot of energy and always seems to be making friends with some little munchkin running around.  She is an avid runner and so far has had trouble convincing any of us to go running with her through the rough streets of La Unión. She has been working really hard to be a great teacher for those older kids and I know they are going to learn a great deal from her.

                Molly is the Secondary Science teacher. She is incredibly encouraging – she used to be a cheerleader in college, so it’s suiting! She does not have a teaching background but she has a passion for science. I am sure the students will soon fall in love with her great energy and kind spirit. She has such a good attitude about all the surprises this place throws her way and learning how to handle the students and this town. She is a fellow ginger so I am glad to have more redhead power around here!

                Rachel is the 5^th Grade teacher. She is a fellow Coloradan! She actually taught 3^rd grade at our Choluteca school last year and knew she wanted to do another year but did not want to stay in that city. We are very happy that she chose to move here. She kind of already knows the ropes about our school system, but she does have to start over with a new grade because I was not going to give up my 3^rd grade class (selfish moment). She is very laid back and hysterical, and a great roommate.

                Miranda is the 6^th Grade teacher. She was a last minute hire so she is the newest addition to our team. Her story is very different than ours: she used to work in the military but is now retired from that and was looking for somewhere new to live. She had heard about our school a few years ago and held onto the idea of it. She bravely decided to leave her husband back in the States and bring her 8 year old boy down to Honduras to teach with us. They are a fascinating duo and I’m sure this will be quite the experience for both of them.

It is kind of cool for me to watch them all experience the mysteries, randomness, and quirky aspects that the school and La Unión have to offer. I’m sure I was as wide-eyed last year when I first arrived too. I’m glad to share my Honduran-wisdom with them but I’m also trying to be very hands-off and let them figure a lot of it out on their own because that’s most of the fun! We had a rather rough start with illnesses wreaking havoc on the majority of the group but almost everyone has bounced back. I’m still waiting for them to fall in love with the local cuisine (mainly baleadas) so someone will eat out with me, but most of the food is an acquired taste so I have to be patient. I’m most excited about all the crazy memories we will have together because I can always count on Honduras to deliver some wild times!

I got back to work at the school on Wednesday. I essentially had all my sequencing and lesson/unit planning done for the year since I worked through that all last year. I made a few tweaks with my plans for the first week of school because I now have an entirely better understanding of who my students are, what their level of English is, and what they are capable of in the classroom. I will continue to make changes as the year progresses as I remember what worked and what didn’t, and what the students learned really well and what was superfluous for me to teach. So really I spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday organizing, cleaning, decorating, and setting up my classroom. I also felt like I had a little step up on that because I knew what my classroom looked like and the space that was available to me. I used a lot of the same decorations from last year (here’s a shout-out to my fantastic mother who flawlessly removed all those decorations from the wall back in June, keeping everything in almost pristine condition so that I could use it again) and brought along a few new things. Some of my favorite additions are the reading rugs I purchased so that my kiddos don’t have to sit on the gross cement floor all the time, and a hanging pocket organizer for me to put all of my students’ papers in during the week.

Friday evening was our Back-to-School Night when all the parents come squeeze themselves into the smaller-than-life-sized desks and listen to a speech about the upcoming year. I was applauded for the quickest meeting because I only talked for half an hour, but hey! I think that’s pretty impressive for a non-native Spanish speaker. We make sure to touch on all the boring, everyone-already-knows-this topics like what students’ uniforms consist of and how the kids should look wearing those, homework and test expectations, and required materials. I do really value the topics of asking for parental support on the morals that we try to teach in the classroom and with their student’s homework; I like to at least make my intentions known to the parents, and let them know what is most important to me so that we can agree to work together in molding their kids. An interesting change to the year is that now, a failing grade is considered to be anything less than 70% – these kids are going to have to step it up! The best part of my evening was seeing all the parents of my students from last year – most of them were very surprised and pleased to see me! They welcomed me back (much better than Honduras initially did with Kara’s wrist) with giant hugs and it was fun talking about how everyone spent their vacations.

By the end of the night and the end of week, I felt more than ready for school to start! Seeing my students from last year with their cute smiles on their faces and feeling their arms tightly wrapped around me in bear hugs brought an overwhelming amount of joy to my heart. I was instantly reminded of why I decided to come back and I felt much more at ease with my decision. I could not wait to meet my new group of students and get myself ready for what this year has to hold!

A Summer Sum-Up

When I graduated college people would tell me to “enjoy your final summer vacation because this is the last one you will ever have!” The thing is that I chose to go into a field that gets two months off every summer, so the joke is on all those people that thought I would never benefit from this time of year again! Sadly, my bragging days are over because summer vacation has officially reached its end. I am back in Honduras and days away from starting my second year of teaching. Before we get back to all things Honduras, I want to focus on all things related to the best country in the world – the United States of Amuuurica!

After a week of finishing things up at the school – taking down decorations, cleaning the classrooms, taking inventory, doing final grades, filling in report cards and certificates, completing legal documents for the school and the country – we were ready to get out of La Unión! (Mom had been such a trooper, hanging out in that boring town and doing busy work around the school. She deserves a gold star for her efforts, and she was especially ready for vacation.) Mom, Lori, and I headed to the island of Utila for a week of total relaxation and scuba diving.

Utila is not your typical or picturesque island – there are hardly any beaches to sit on and sink into the sand, you have to peek between all the stores and buildings to see the ocean, and everything feels so tightly built together that an ocean breeze scarcely makes its way through the streets. In reality, it attracts a young, back-packer crowd that is primarily interested in diving and partying (so if that is your scene, then this is the kind of island you want to be on). We still found a nice hotel with cabins nestled into a jungley area; we had a refreshing pool to soak in and a delicious pizza restaurant at the hotel. Other than scoping out restaurants to feast at, we spent almost all of our time diving! (Not too bad, huh?) Lori took a class to get certified while my mom and I just dove for fun. Unfortunately we were there during a tropical storm so sometimes the water was a bit too murky or the boat ride was less-than-comfortable, but we experienced some beautiful dives. We saw our fair share of eagle rays, eels, and dazzling fish. I just never can give up an opportunity to dive! It was really great to start my summer vacation off in an ideal way: on an island, playing in the ocean.

Now on to the good stuff… the land of the F’s… family, friends, and food! I still recall my first day back in the States as the best day of my life. I got home around midnight so I’ll just start there: the first thing I did when I got home was hug my dad and drink a big glass of cold milk. (The perfect combination!) The day that followed was action packed as I saw my mom, dad, sister, old co-workers, and a multitude of other friends, and ate twice for every meal. Now that I think about it, that day pretty much sums up my entire summer. While I was home in Colorado, I spent every day surrounding myself with friends and family that I had missed so much. I really wanted to soak up and cherish every minute that I got to be with them, knowing that those days would have to hold me over for a while before I get to see everyone again. I frequently “tanned” by the pool, saw the summer’s major blockbusters, enjoyed the breathtaking nature Colorado has to offer, and caught myself up on all the popular movies, music, and YouTube videos that I missed over the year. 

More importantly (any maybe even more frightening when I really lay out the details) are the countless meals I ate – admittedly, it is rather embarrassing to say how many times I ate out at the restaurants that haunted my thoughts while in Honduras, and how many times I ate at each one. (I will keep those numbers a secret.) I did successfully achieve my goal of gaining some lost weight back and stuffing my face with every opportunity!

I cannot even begin to describe how my thoughts towards the United States have changed. I sincerely hope that, at some point in your life, you can really appreciate how blessed we are to live there. The amount of comforts and conveniences that we are simply born with and have at our disposal is astounding. Within the few weeks I was home, every day I found new ways to love the country that I am lucky to call home and grew to value even the smallest of luxuries. Here are some of my observations that are listed as the things that I did not even realize I missed and have a new found gratitude for:

                pillow-top mattress covers
                carpet
                well-fed dogs
                fabric softener
                water heaters and hot water out of a regular sink faucet
                the brightness of lights
                one-stop stores (who doesn’t love Target??)
                paved roads with potholes that are fixed immediately
                grass lawns
                dishwashers and washing machines, and the quick little tablets that go in them
                libraries
                the 5 different brands for each food type found in the grocery store
                ceiling fans
                sidewalks and crosswalks (really, anything cement)
                leather couches and hardwood floors
                the mailman
                pencil sharpeners and three-ring binders
                bumper stickers
                the radio
                fresh produce from any country in the world
                “Free Wi-Fi” anywhere you go (even if I don’t use it, I just like having the option)
                mirrors
                doorknobs and door locks that work
                glass doors and screens
                tap water
                playgrounds

My list could literally go on and on and on and on because my mouth was in a constant state of being open in shock and awe. The things I found amazing never lost their luster and I do not think I quite got back to feeling ‘normal’ around home because I just wanted to bottle everything up and find a way to bring it back to Honduras with me.

Moving on… One of the 12^th grade students from my school in Honduras, Delmer, had the incredibly unique opportunity of visiting me! He was spending his summer vacation in the States – primarily staying with family in Texas and then visiting other states if the opportunity was there – so I told him that if he could get out to Colorado then I would be thrilled to show him around! He came out for two weeks of Colorado lovin’ in July. We spent the first week visiting my mom in South Fork. She really packed in the activities for us: kayaking down a river, soaking in the hot springs, seeing a play and a drive-in movie, dancing, going to a rodeo, and eating a New Orleans style, Cajun shrimp boil dinner. That week was filled with multiple firsts and smiles for Delmer. Then we headed back up towards Denver to spend the second week with my dad. We hiked around Boulder and up in Rocky Mountain National Park, strolled down the outdoor mall that is Pearl Street, saw a few hit movies, went shopping for his friends at the mall, kayaked, visited the unique town of Netherland, and went to a Rockies game. I really loved being able to show one of the students around MY home and the things that I love in life, and I truly hope he loved getting to experience it all!

The final part of my summer was a trip to visit friends in Chicago and Michigan. A friend of mine, Sally, has an aunt and uncle who own a winery outside of Chicago, so we decided to meet each other there for a weekend of relaxation and wine. The winery was beautiful and the wine was delicious! We did not do much other than shop around some antique stores, taste wine and tour the grounds, and help her aunt with some painting. Then on my way to Michigan, I stayed the night in Chicago with two high school friends; we simply spent the evening eating and drinking wine, and catching up on each others’ lives then laughing about old memories.

My time in Michigan flew by in a whirlwind. I bounced around between cities frequently visiting some of my greatest friends. I went from Holland to Grand Haven to Grand Rapids to Ann Arbor to St. Joseph and then finally flew out of Grand Rapids back to Honduras. The list of people I saw is endless, but I am beyond thankful that I got to see every single one of them. I didn’t do anything that was particularly crazy but I was more than ok with that because I was simply delighting in the time with everyone. We really just hung out most of the time but on other occasions we explored downtowns, sat by fires, played silly camp games, chowed down for my final meals in the States, and they helped me shop for my students. It was actually overwhelming for my heart to see so many people that I had missed being with and I could not have been filled with more love. (I especially loved being with my roommate Alex. This is a special shout out to her if, if she reads this! But we had lived together for four years and then all of the sudden we were in different countries and working on very opposite schedules. I felt most at home and content with my life when I stayed with her.)

Michigan was an excellent farewell to my summer vacation in the USA. Most of the time I was “that girl” who was lugging around giant suitcases and causing traffic hold-ups while I tried to control them. I felt like most strangers hated me or avoided contact with me at all costs, so that is why I am extra thankful for my friends who proudly stood by my side. If you saw me, I most likely looked very discombobulated or disheveled, which I will admit is true because that is how I felt. I didn’t think I would, but I actually started looking forward to being back in Honduras so that I could finally stay in one place and unpack those gargantuan suitcases. My body seemed to be pretty ready too because I’m not sure I could have handled too many more obese-sized meals and late nights. I was ready to return to my simply, slow-paced lifestyle back in La Unión.

Thank you for the great company, memories, and meals USA! I genuinely love my country and am already counting down the days until we meet again. 

The Last Day of School?

I wish I could tell you what the last day of school was like but honestly, I was not there for it so I have no idea! Believe it or not, it was torturous for me to miss it and I almost had a meltdown over the ordeal. Here is my Honduran-last-day story:

My mom flew into Honduras Thursday, the second to last day of school, just in time to meet the students that she sponsors and my little kiddos. I got permission to take the day off in order to go pick her up from the airport and transport her back to La Unión. I was meticulously prepared for my day off from school and journey to San Pedro Sula, and all was going as planned, until half an hour away from the airport. Randomly the truck I was in completely broke down. We’re not talking a flat tire or an easy fix here, it broke broke down.  The two men that were accompanying me got out to lift up the hood and solve the problem themselves, but it was quickly evident that whatever went wrong was too big for them to handle alone. Elbin (the driver) decided to walk along the side of the road until he came to the nearest town to find help. He was gone for about an hour while I was dying in the sweltering heat waiting for him. In the meantime, my mom had already landed and was surely starting to wonder or even panic over my whereabouts. Thankfully, I had talked to her that morning on the phone and told her to sit in the food court if anything were to go wrong and I was not there when she got off the plane, and know that I was on my way.

Finally, I could see Elbin, very mirage-like, walking towards us on the road! There was no mechanic with him but he was carrying something in his hands so I was hopeful… wrong. He had only brought back water for us to share. At this point the men made the decision that they truly needed professional help but could also see the worry on my face, so they flagged down a taxi to take me to the airport while they would wait for the tow truck to bring them into the city. I eventually made it to the airport and sprinted towards my mother once I found her! It was terrifying to leave her there alone without being able to contact her (or vice versa) or let her know that I was alive and safe.

About an hour after sitting around at the airport (and eating a long-anticipated Wendy’s cheeseburger), Elbin called me to let me know that the tow truck did show up and brought them to a repair shop in San Pedro; he said it would be about an hour until his truck was fixed. Jokingly, I told my mom that ‘an hour’ really means at least three hours to all Hondurans… little did I know I should not have made that joke. “Just another hour,” “fifteen more minutes,” “they’re handing me the keys right now” all turned into sitting at the airport for a total of 6 hours that afternoon and the truck never actually being fixed, which also meant we were not getting back to La Unión. That’s when my panic set in. The next day was the last day of school and I HAD to be there! Mom and I started weighing our options: renting a car and having Elbin drives us back that night, taking a bus to Santa Barbara to get us as close to La Unión as possible and then having someone else pick us up in their truck the next morning, having someone drive all the way out to San Pedro that night and drive us back in the same trip. Elbin finally made his way to the airport to pick us up and bring us to a hotel that he was staying at for the night. He assured me that his brother would be coming to get my mom and me by 7 in the morning to take us back to La Unión, so I decided to trust him and spend the night in San Pedro.

After a rather scary taxi ride through the dangerous streets of downtown San Pedro Sula, we finally arrived at a semi-safe-looking hotel (it had a gate in the entrance and bars on the windows) and booked a room for the night. As soon as Mom and I got into our room, we unanimously decided to not leave that room under any circumstances. (For those of you who do not know, San Pedro Sula is rated THE more dangerous city in the world to live in right now. Welcome to Honduras, Mom!) We had a delicious dinner of granola bars, fruit leathers, chocolate and water. We barricaded the door with a table and our suitcases and settled in for the night.

Elbin told us to be ready by 7 the next morning, and we were! However, no one else was. We waited in our hotel room until 9:30; thankfully we had tv and air-conditioning to make the wait bearable, until the power went out and we were left to just sit in the dark and work on some patience. At last a man showed up in a new truck to pick us all up and we thought we were home-free. Nope! We drove some more very shady side streets and alleys until we arrived at the ‘repair shop’ which was really just someone’s driveway and garage. Good Lord what was going on?! We waited for another half an hour until someone finally got a move on to bring us back to La Unión. By the time we left, stopped for breakfast, drove with no haste whatsoever (I’m not sure they realized it was the last day of school), Mom and I finally made it back to school for the last hour of the day. (At one point I was certain that we were not going to make it and I was not going to be able to say goodbye to my little kiddos, which was the worst thought I could conjure.) But as soon as we rolled up my students rushed towards us and squeezed so much love into us. I cannot get enough of those little guys! We scrambled to have Mom meet everyone and to hand out all the gifts she brought with her, but we managed it. I made it to be part of the last day of school, even if only for half an hour.

I am so thankful to all my co-teachers who watched over my students for that last day and kept them busy while we were racing to get back. I am very grateful for the love my students showed both my mom and I when we did finally make it, they are too great for words! And I am even more blessed to have a Father who (tested my patience) got me back to La Unión for even just a moment of the last day of school.