Day 71 October 17
Up at 6:30 to finish packing and clean up the house before meeting everyone at 7:30 to head to Belize. I slept in and out for most of the bus ride, which was from 8-1. Good conversations and naps were had by all. We had a lunch stop, for about 20 minutes, and it was strange to be in a place that accepted dollars (which we had been handed our total expenses at the beginning of the trip--$110 American.) I also bought some cheap bread on the streets to help tide me over on the bus, little is as good as homemade bread.
We went through immigration at 20 minutes into the trip, to exit Honduras and enter Guatemala. We went through immigration again before getting on the boat in Guatemala that would take us to Belize. I hate lots of handling of passports. Every time I take it out, I’m afraid something will happen to it, but when you cross two boarders in a day, and go through immigration three times, there’s some handling to be had.
The boat ride was about an hour, and as this was my second exposure to the Caribbean, I kept hoping for the magical dolphin entrance I got last time, but no luck. I really like boat travel though.
We went through immigration in Belize and Chris and I were discussing the definition of the word “kid.” I told him that I’m a kid, but I don’t necessarily consider others my age to be kids (not really a matter of a responsibility, just a matter of preference. I don’t want to let go of being a kid, so I still refer to myself as a kid, plus, I’m spending much of my time with a much older crowd.) When I handed my passport to the immigration officer he said, “You were born in ’87, you are a kid.” Oh, I know.
We only had to walk a few blocks to find our hotel, which was pretty nice. Large beds, tiled floors, hot water, AC (we may even have been able to flush our toilet paper, but I don’t think any of us did, just out of habit.)
We all went to dinner at a sea food diner called Emery’s. Emery was very nice. I had sautéed shrimp, which were awesome. The power went out, and we were informed that power outages are frequent, but usually don’t last more than half an hour. We found this to be true.
I found Belize, at least this town, to feel like America. A large part of that, was the people speak English, the currency is directly linked to American dollars (1 dollar to a Belizean dollar, and they accept both.) There were also paved roads, sidewalks, and fire stations. The people were friendly, though this town seemed pretty poor. We were petitioned for money a lot. One thing that didn’t change: we were still the minority, but it stood out here more than in Copan. Copan has some diversity to the population, a lot of ex-pats. Here, I saw maybe three other white people while we were in town.
After dinner, I watched some discovery channel (on Tsunamis, in English), read my book, and went to bed.
Day 72 October 18
Along with the TV, the room came with a coffee maker, so at 7, I made myself a cup of coffee (and yes, I am down to about a cup a day, sometimes two.) A lot of other folks were renting a boat to go out to the keys off the coast, but it was a bit above my spending range, so I stayed in with Megan and Vicki.
At 9 we went out on a church hunt, but would have been late to most services, and the Methodist church was having an evening service at 7. I had been really excited at the prospect of church in English, so when we went to breakfast instead of morning service, I was a little bummed. I had finished off my bread in the hotel, so I just had a coffee and lime juice.
The day was really relaxed. We stayed in and played Phase 10 (which was nostalgic for me) and Crowns (which was new to me.) For an hour or so we had football on (not futbol, football) so I was pleased to see the Steelers were up. I didn’t get to watch the game, but I could watch the score when it flashed on the bottom of the screen. They seem to have slipped up for a bit, but when I left, they had really gotten a strong lead. Happy Sunday for Daddy!
Around 1 we went out on a lunch hunt, only to discover that nothing is open in town at 1 on a Sunday. Sietsta time? Places don’t open on Sunday? Everywhere takes a lunch break? We never found out. We got snacks, instead, from the Texaco gas station. I also saw a huge beetle, see pictures.
The boaters got back, and had also had a relaxing day. Theo had gotten the boat from a local he met, who showed him all around town, they rented bikes, and we went to his house for dinner, for 7 Belizean dollars each. It was a plato tipico, but very different from Honduras, and very good.
When I left, I stopped off in the central park for a swing. I got to know some of the local kids. They were really friendly and outgoing. They had me push them on the swings and they pushed me. Then we all went down the slides together. Even the mothers were laughing. It was cute.
I went back to the hotel and read some more (I’m really getting down to the end!) and heard the TV on in Chris’ room. I saw the end of Slumdog Millionaire. More nostalgia.
At 7, Megan and I headed off to church, where we stood out like sore thumbs. There were maybe 30 people there. It was nice to hear and understand what was said. We were also there for their final Thanksgiving service. It was a big deal, a lot of “special things” were done in honor of it. They were friendly. The sermon was about as long as in Honduras, so that much just be a Central America thing.
I got back to the hotel, read, and slept.
Day 73 October 19
I was up at 7 again, making coffee, and packing. We met at immigration, which had an exit fee more than 4x what we had anticipated. A lot of people were struggling to make ends meet on the way home.
We waited a while for the boat, and then waited for a while as the boat got clearance to leave (paperwork with all these foreigners, you know, since the boat was crossing boarders.) And again, I love boat travel like this.
Luckily, entering Guatemala from Belize in free. Once we were all through immigration again, we headed back to the bus, where we sat…forever, I think. I tried to sleep a lot on this one too, but my legs kept losing feeling.
When we did stop, around 1:30, it was at a mall and grocery store. Most folks went to McDonalds for lunch, but I found a Subway, and it tasted like home. Expensive, though. We went up an escalator to the food court, I could have ridden it all day. The clothes stores were overwhelming to me. There was so much stuff and it was all so nice. It’s only been two and a half months, but it feels like forever ago. My senses were overloaded.
I went into the fo-Wal*Mart, which was, for the most part, more expensive than in Copan, but I picked up $20 worth of things I can’t find in Honduras, at least not easily. It was exciting. I think I spent most of my shopping time wandering around and staring. Also, Guatemala is Spanish speaking, so I was back to translating everything.
We got back on the bus, for about an hour, before hitting immigration. I bought some sweet breads at the boarder and we went back to town.
It felt good to get back to Copan. Everyone is so welcoming, and in a small town, absence is noticed. The power went out shortly after we arrived, but not for too long. I went to Casa Villamil to do some research and catch up with folks, which was lovely.
After which, I went to bed.
Day 74 October 20
The craziest thing happened this morning—I was cold. Every one in town is all bundled up, it’s a lot of fun.
The beginning of the school day consisted of a long assembly in the Library Courtyard. It’s Library Week, and the library finally got a name, it is now the Mr. John P. Weber Library. Very exciting. My class congratulated Mr. John.
After the unveiling, there was a Christian pop band, who sang songs in both English and Spanish. The kids went nuts, there may have been a small mosh pit at one point. I encouraged swaying, clapping, and singing along.
I was lucky, because as soon as it was over, it was time for recess. My kids, really wound up, went into the room to get pens and paper for autographs and rushed back out. By the time they came back in, it was possible to calm them down enough for class.
The day went surprisingly smoothly after that, though there were some rough patches. And after school, we had a quick staff meeting in my room instead of tutorias. I postponed my Spanish lesson because I wasn’t sure how long the meeting would last (and I had meant to bring my homework with me to school, and hadn’t, so I had no time to do it.)
I went home and checked the mail before locking myself in my room for cleaning, Spanish homework/study, schoolwork/study, music, and the movie Steel Magnolias, which wasn’t as good as all the hype.
After a productive afternoon and evening, I went to bed before 10. I also finished my book, which was good. The Hummingbird’s Daughter.
Day 75 October 21
I woke up, again, cold. It makes it very hard to get out of bed. The toilet/shower combo is threatening floods again, so I headed downstairs for my morning shower (the upstairs bathroom is back to trying to flood the house again, so I just avoid it.)
My kids were pretty good, but had a really hard time getting quiet when I told them to be quiet. I got a little lecture-y toward the end of the day. We made an Ocean habitat on the board, listing animals, plants, and non-living entities. Then, we all chose one, and made it out of construction paper. Tonight’s homework for science: bring string to school tomorrow. We’re making a mobile.
They also took a practice quiz for math, real thing tomorrow. Most common score was a 19/25, lowest was 10/25. Vast improvements over the last quiz/test set I gave, and this counts as a completion grade, so hopefully they’ll do better on the real quiz manana.
I was getting ready for class, when Luis called to ask if we could postpone for half an hour. I had already pushed back my tutoring with Isaac an hour, so I asked if we could just have class tomorrow. When I went to Isaac’s class, though, his mom was out walking the dog and Isaac was asleep. She caught me as I was walking out, and said they’d waited for me (I’d told Isaac 5, and told him to give his mom the note asking if 5 was okay. Oye.) Tomorrow, at 4:30, after class at 3:30.
I got home and updated my grade book, with the new things I need for report cards in about a week (Punctuality/preparedness, Attitude towards work, Organization and presentation, Sociability, and Morality.) We were told that many parents consider these grades more important than their academic grades (oh good.) I also made my mobile head for tomorrow using the left over string from my Mayan skirt and a thick paper roll from the school toilet paper rolls (I’m that classy, but hey, it’s perfect.)
Chris, Luis, Sierra, and I made and had dinner as an intercambio, with half Spanish and then half English. Kelvin showed up toward the end, and we tried Chris’ mystery desert of fried bread fruit pudding…I was a fan, but I was dipping it in chocolate.
After folks headed out, I went to sleep.
Day 76 October 22
I was so prepared for a cold night, but woke up really hot, and wishing my fan had been on after all. I got to school a few minutes earlier and got my things together. Thursdays are long days with no specials to interrupt my day.
Hardly any of the kids did the homework to correct their math practice quiz, so I gave extra credit and stars to those who did. I gave a practice science quiz and the math quiz. I had some fun things sprinkled in for the kids, like our spelling review (my hate of spelling as a child gives me the desire I need to make it fun.) We also read to the second graders, which was an adventure, but went well, and put together our ocean habitat mobile, which they loved.
Today, I had much stricter tutorias, but that was also hard to keep up. They really don’t take school seriously once the day is officially over. I have a theory that I’ll try out on Monday.
I rushed home to study (and have a juice from Picame) and go to class early so Luis could show me where to change my Qs into limpiras. After, class went well. Poco a poco, as we say, but Luis is pretty determined to teach me Spanish. I’m jumping up to two classes a week and two intercambios a week (as well as getting my end of the year plan and grades done for Friday, tutoring Isaac for 3-4 hours a week, and my regular work.) I figure that so long as I have a dedicated tutor, I shall go with it.
After class, I headed to Isaac’s, this time he was not sleeping. He was already sitting out in the restaurant doing Spanish homework. We started with science, moved to spelling, went to math, and then back to spelling. It was productive. After, he got his gameboy, which had Super Mario World in it…oh memories. I took it in my hands while he copies spelling words and played. Without even thinking, I started talking about the game in Spanish. I showed him a new level he had never seen and a new way to beat a level. Major cool points for Miss Sarah.
His mom came out during this, and we laughed about it when I looked at her and said, “This is very important.”
I got home to work on next week’s plans and make up my practice and real test for science. I updated my grade book even more thoroughly and was glad to see how much grades are improving. When Sierra got home, we talked for a while and I painted my toenails for the first time in 2-5 months. Painted nails are a much bigger thing here than I expected, anyway.
To think, I didn’t even have a full cup of coffee today. I had grabbed a new book from the teacher’s lounge, and started reading it to see if it’s worth exploring more. We shall see.
Day 77 October 23
I had a surprisingly easy morning. I was ready to go early (and when I got to school remembered that I had already made up my board, so had even less to do than normal.) The coffee was even ready. It must have been good luck rubbing off from my father’s birthday! Yay for being 50 years young!
I was really energetic for my kids and reviewed for the Science quiz, took our spelling test, and insisted kids who hadn’t finished their handwriting for the week stay in during recesses to do it (I had several students failing handwriting, which is all completion grades because they weren’t focusing enough to get their work done. Some will even have to miss first recess on Monday to catch up.)
The kids were bummed that they didn’t have PE, but I think they enjoyed the Library Week presentation. They got to draw, which they love, learn about Mayan writing, and make human pyramids. Several of them even stood on my back, which was way exciting.
In class, and on class I had gotten the impression that most of my kids understood rounding, but it turns out that’s not the case, as my quiz indicated. We spent every free moment on rounding. I think a few more caught on, but I thought that last week too.
I recently found out that students get the chance to recup after every quarter, not just at the end of the year, and I’m going to have to make some recup exams, because I will most likely have some kids failing classes. That’s exciting.
None of my kids are stupid, and the few that would be considered lazy are just demoralized by their lack of English comprehension. They don’t understand much, so they don’t try anymore, even if they could understand the words or work in front of them. Learned helplessness, I suppose.
After school, I came home and started making flash cards for my Spanish class. I rewrote all my past homework, correctly, and did my homework for Tuesday. I had plans to go to Casa Villamil, but my studying took longer than planned, and I lost track of time. I had wanted to call my dad and wish him a happy birthday, but I couldn’t get to the internet and I had promised folks I would go to dinner at the new Chinese place at 6:45. I called the house, but to no avail.
This may shock you, but Honduran Chinese food is different from American Chinese food. It was good, and a fun change of pace. We thought it was pretty pricey, until they told us that one plate was more than enough for us. We were skeptical, but went with it. Three of us, two of us being eaters, couldn’t finish the plate.
We went to the guys’ house for a movie, and shortly before we started it I got a much desired call from my parents! They started the movie while I chatted with Daddy, wishing him a happy birthday and catching up. Then I got to talk to mom until their Skype minutes ran out. I joined in the movie, though a couple of folks had already fallen asleep.
The movie ended close to midnight, so I went home and hit the sack.
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