Mel's Back

I love how we're all on a first-name basis with Mel Zelaya here.

Throughout the day yesterday, the principal's assistant kept coming to my class to pull my students to go home. It wasn't until the third or fourth kid left that I asked him what was going on. He explained Mel had re-entered the country and parents were concerned that roads might be closed later in the day.

As it turns out, they were right. Tegus is now under 26 hours of house lockdown (as of 4 pm yesterday), and school is canceled again. (My kids who didn't do their homework over our last break got super lucky with this additional unexpected extra time off!)

I've had a few really, really good conversations with Honduran friends about the political history of the country and its current situation. Then as I was reading the news last night, I found one friend (the leader of our Bible study) quoted on BBC!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8267775.stm

For the record, I think the article is a little pro-Mel. It doesn't represent my opinion of the situation; I'm just sharing that my friend was quoted in the international news. :o) Due to my association with IST, I can't really discuss politics out of concern for my students and their intensely politically involved families. Just know my roommate and I are safe enough in our warm and bug-friendly home, writing lesson plans and watching Gilmore Girls. (At this point, I'm seriously considering drinking vinegar to keep the mosquitoes away...)

Roatan

Our trip to the Bay Islands was absolutely beautiful. It started before sunrise, which is actually one of my favorite times of day. (The other is in the few moments before sunset when the whole world is cast in warm gold light.) People were sleepy and dozed on and off for the eight hours bus ride to the ferry. It was SUCH a luxury to have our own bus for the 16 of us.

We snorkeled and bobbed in the water most of the time. I love my life. I also love SPF 70 sunscreen. :o)

Some of us started our mornings with iced coffees on the beach here.

We're on a boat.

A handful of us jumped off the two-level boat dock a few times. I LOVE this picture my friend Aaron got of me.

fin.

...ps, most of these pictures aren't mine. Thanks, Aaron and Kristin.

oink oink

Due to the infamous Gripe Porcina (Swine Flu) our school has been shut down for two weeks. Even better, we're getting paid for it. :o) Aaaaand thanks to scheduling rearrangements, we're really only going have to make up for 4 days! This is such a HUGE blessing (for those of us who aren't sick and miserable, I mean) because we finally have time to get caught up on grading and get life organized again.

...Yeah, we're also going to take advantage of this and travel. :o) We're almost all going on a group trip to Roatan, one of the Bay Islands in the Caribbean, and then afterward a smaller group of us are going to head over to Utila (another one of the Bay Islands). They lie along the southern end of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-longest coral reef in the world (LonelyPlanet.com), so I'm basically expecting to happily float on my stomach for the next week and a half.

Later today, some of us are going downtown to explore the city of Tegus. I'd like to bring a camera, but since we're taking public transportation everywhere, I might not. We'll see.

Enjoy this beautiful Thursday/Saturday!!!!!

Reggaeton y Hip Hop

I'll be completely honest with you guys: my new favorite musical genre is reggaeton/hip-hop. My friends who live in Chinita (TOTALLY un-PC, we know, but that's the nickname their house adopted courtesy of its owner) get this Latin American MTV-type channel and the music is just too catchy to resist. Go buy some on iTunes, I just did.

Currently listening to:
"Dime Si Te Vas Con El" by Flex
"Te Amo" by Makano
"Baby Come Back" by Magic Juan

Also trying to ignore the fact that I'm missing out on the family reunion right now...

Math Review Enlightenment

Turns out I'm not a bad teacher. My kids just don't read directions.

...Hooray?

"You're a Good Miss"

Week One went well, but man was it exhausting. I love my kids and feel like I've got a pretty good read on most of them (except for the two who are still on summer vacation...), but they need a lot of extra help. We had a lesson on subjects and predicates, and though the kids could lead me through the examples orally, they all totally bombed the independent practice. I retaught the lesson the next day, which was really good because now they're subject-predicate-professionals, but now we're behind in social studies. It's the same with math: as I teach and we discuss place values, they can give me the correct answers, but with the independent practice they really struggle a lot. I'm frustrated because I feel like it's my fault for not being able to explain the concepts adequately or assess my students appropriately.

The saving grace, though, came on Wednesday when one of my students who has a hard time communicating in English (and also happens to be the tiniest fifth grader ever) gave me an ENORMOUS bear hug, turned his little face up to me and said very sincerely, "You're a good Miss." (My Costa Ricans called me "Teacher," my Hondurans call me "Miss"...I just don't know how to refer to myself in the third person anymore.) Miguel's comment really meant a lot because I haven't been trying to be their friend as much as I've been demanding their obedience and respect. But let's be honest: I have a very expressive face and I tease my kids to provoke their participation, and I'm pretty sure they enjoy it.

Thursday night a group of us took an aerobic Latin dance class and I love it SO so much. Leslie, Michelle, and I plan on going regularly. The instructor is an INCREDIBLE dancer and actually sort of dance-challenged me a handful of times, which was pretty flattering, but I just laughed and tried not to encourage anything. I'm telling you, these Latins have some crazy moves. Like, Beyoncé-status crazy.

I also got a cell phone. It works with a phone card, so there's no set monthly fee, and ALL incoming calls (even international) are FREEEEE!!!!! So call me: 011-504-9500-6772.

First day of school!!!!

Surprisingly, I didn't get nervous. I was a little concerned when I found out about some of my students and how many special cases I have that need extra attention (for various reasons), but the night before and morning of the first day of school (today) I was at peace. I'm convinced it was because of your steadfast prayers and am SO grateful for them because it's making all the difference.

Today was great. I was expecting to not have enough time to get everything done (devotional, self-introduction, expectations/procedures/rules, time capsule activity, reading placement tests, reading, discussing and characterization chart on Ananzi, grammar lesson, math placement tests, and science experiments), but due to last-minute changes within our grade level I actually ended up with extra time to kill. (Not as nice as it sounds, especially on the first day.) So we went to the polideportivo (sort of like a covered blacktop area) and played a couple games to wear out some of their energy.

The kids are pretty good...we're definitely going to have to work on a few things (speaking in English, for one, and DEFINITELY spelling and phonics), but they're sweet. They were eager to please (which was nice) but still pretty disruptive, so I'm wondering how bad it will get when they don't care about impressing me anymore. But in between telling them to flip their cards (colored cards behavior management system) I can still make them laugh and engage, so hopefully we've got a good balance working out.

Biggest thing: please be praying for my students and for the dynamics of the class. I have a number of kids who need extra support for medical, emotional, and/or language comprehension issues and I can't handle it all on my own. Pero todo puedo hacerlo con la ayuda del Jesucristo.

Dios les bendiga, mis amigos.