Week 14: My first new student

Day 92 November 7
When the 4:30 call of the roosters came, I put in ear plugs and went back to sleep. When the 8am bathroom call came, I took care of it and went back to sleep. When the 10:30 you’ve-been-asleep-for-10-hours call came, I got up. Oh, it was glorious.
I had a really slow morning. I did the dishes, my laundry, cleaned my room, did a bit of cleaning downstairs. Sierra, Beth, Caroline, and Jesse came by before the girls left for San Pedro, and after Jesse asked if I wanted to get coffee with him later. He says he’s hung out with all the other Mayatan teachers, but not me.
I finished up my laundry, took a shower, and met him at Casa Villamil. We talked until he had to go to work and then I set to the internet, since I was cut off from it yesterday. I got a call from Jesse because he had left his glasses upstairs at the coffee shop, so I got them and brought them over to his workplace, leaving my computer in the care of Abby and Alan. We talked for a while longer, and I think he’s been bored at work so he was bummed to see me go. I did get to see Pax, my Mayan star sign in necklace form.
I got back to Casa Villamil to chat with folks, catch up, and update. It was really nice to not have a ton of work with me, so I could just relax. Toward the end of my stay, I saw Luis walking by and he said he’d come by when he’d finished running his errands. Tammi, Nash, and Theo were having a Mexican dinner night, one of Tammi’s favorite meals growing up, so we went that way at 7. It was much spicier than Honduran food, but I really liked it. Since they did all the cooking, Luis and I did the dishes. The rest of the group was going out after, but we were feeling more like staying in. We walked back in the rain, which was warm. Abby and Alan were watching a movie at the house, which smelled of delicious popcorn.
The rain really picked up the pace before I went to bed, which was pleasant to listen to.

Day 93 November 8
I woke up at 6 and went back to sleep until 7. I then refused to get out of bed until 9, despite having much to do. I had breakfast with Abby and Alan, and then we went into the world of the hectic Sunday market.
I got as much as possible outside of the market, but still needed to venture in to get the rest of what I’d need for the week. I got potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, peppers, eggs, green beans, apples, and some mystery veggie I was told was for soup (those are always my favorite, and so far work out well.) We then went to a variety of tiendas for coffee (which I’ve been out of for two weeks!), candy for my classroom, pasta, and other groceries. We ran into a few other folks who work at the school, but didn’t chat for long. Abby was on a hunt for Lunitas, which are basically Honduran M & Ms for her chocolate chip cookies, and we talked to the outskirts of this town to this small tienda, where she bought all of them. I got a Copan soda, strawberry flavor. It was tasty.
Abby and I walked to the guy’s house, where she was dropping off some of her stuff and practicing guitar and I headed back home. I had the awkward experience of a man near the park leaning in to try to kiss me as I walked by him, but he didn’t touch me and I just kept going.
When I got home, I put in Memoirs of a Geisha to watch on my laptop while I finished my laundry and did a lot of cooking prep. We had changed the Sunday song and potluck time from 11:30am to 5:30pm this week. I was in charge of the sauce. Abby got my the tomato paste, and I added chunks of boiled tomato as well as sautéed onions, garlic, and peppers. It turned out pretty well.
I also chopped up a host of vegetables and put them in a Tupperware to make soup later (dump and boil, the work is done.) I’m pretty excited for this week of food. I also have a dozen eggs, which I will boil and eat on the run whenever I’m busy. Stealing that one from Sierra.
Sierra got home from San Pedro and we got smoothies in Picame. I got online for a few minutes, but the internet was really slow and about the only thing I could get to work was IM. Abby left to go to Alan’s, and 10 minute before time to go to the potluck, I discovered she had shut the door. Neither Sierra nor I had keys.
My attempts to call failed, and I also tried Nash, but he wasn’t home. So, I called Megan hoping she could intercept Abby on the way to Vicki’s house. No luck. Abby and I met half way and I ran home, put away my computer, grabbed my sauce and my purse, and headed back up the hill. I was half an hour late. They said the sauce was worth waiting for.
We had a nice time, and I ate more than was necessary. After songs were done, we talked for a while. I walked back most of the way with Megan and got home to find Sierra, Jesse, and Beth in the house. We talked for a bit, but not for long. It was after 8 already, and tomorrow we begin the teaching marathon: 13 school days with 2 regular 2 day weekends. That’s two full weeks of school (the extra three days are the three day week after for our Thanksgiving break.) We’ve never taught two full weeks in a row before. It’s madness.

Day 94 November 9
This morning I received my first new student. So far, everything (save the language barrier and culture shock) about this first-year teaching experience has just been a gentle easing in. My first week of school was 2 days long, my first quarter only had 3 full weeks, and my first new student was really an old student coming back.
Erika knows everyone, she fits in great, and her English is advanced. Her presence caused more kids to participate, as they wanted to show off for her, and she kept me on my game too, as I wanted her to be excited to be back at school here. I should get a new student every week.
I’m trying a few new things for the quarter, and we’ll see if they are productive, my kids try to do the bare minimum, which is how I was, so I can’t blame them. I feel like so much of their education has been so structured, I really want to teach them to think for themselves, at least within our class (this is one reason I feel like I’m better off in secondary, as well.)
The day was tiring, but went really quickly for me. After tutorias, I made my study guide for the only recup I have to give, in a week, and gave it to my student. I hope he doesn’t lose it because I want to study with him after school on Wednesday. The test will be on Monday.
After school (and the sewage is leaking in the streets again), I changed out of my uniform, because here it’s still hot enough you sweat a lot. I packed up my letters and makeup work for one of my students and went to the post office. No mail for me, but I sent out the postcards and letter. I then headed to a student’s house hoping to drop off makeup work for the day, but he wasn’t home.
I then came home long enough to grab my computer. Por supuesto, I went to Casa Villamil. I had an intercambio scheduled for 5:30, so I had plenty of time to have important conversations. Fabiola did arrive early, and we chatted some, but I continued what I was doing. Sierra forgot the time, and thought it was supposed to be at 7, so she was late, but it wasn’t a big deal. The girls and I started on verbs and then we learned the parts of the body (which I haven’t studied since my first week in Honduras, but I remembered almost everything.)
I got home and made soup and listened to music, which was probably a little too nostalgic for this afternoon, but sometimes it happens. I have the tendency to imagine people I know singing the songs, even if I know that the people I know would never really say those lyrics.
After soup, I got some work done, read, and went to bed. Mmmm, soup.

Day 95 November 10
I decided that my kids need to be able to actually learn how to use their math text books, so I dedicated a whole lesson to how to use the book. Some of them still don’t get it. It seems as though all they’ve been taught it how to copy from the board and saying “please turn to page 98 and do numbers 1-4” is the most confusing thing you can say to them. We’ll see how it goes next time, though.
Tutorias after school went pretty quickly, though my kids are still prone to being really active after school. It’s impossible to calm them down once 1:45 comes (as though they’re calm during that last period anyway.)
I then headed home for Spanish class. Which went well.
I started watching the movie Spanglish while doing some paper work. I had made plans with Chris to make dinner, so I had to stop the movie part way through to head that way. Apparently he had fallen asleep, and woke up when I got there. We made scalloped yucca. It was delicious.
When I got home, Sierra and Luis were having an intercambio with The Simpsons. What an awesome way to go. Not wanting to interrupt another of their intercambios, I went upstairs to finish my movie, to which I fell asleep.

Day 96 November 11
Wednesdays are my easy days. And at the beginning of this one, my little girl who gives me candy most mornings, came up in the morning and handed me a small box. I thought it was going to be another candy, but instead it was a beautiful pair of earrings for Teacher Appreciation Day, which was back in September. She said he mother helped her pick them out. Not knowing how to adequately express my love of these earrings, I told her thank you and took out my earrings to put them in. I got compliments all day (as we all notice when someone has something knew, no one has much.)
My classes were fun. I got to read the first part of Horton Hears a Who, do an art project based on tiger camouflage, learn how to add and subtract huge numbers without being panicked by them, and choose an animal to write a story about.
After school, I don’t usually have tutorias, but I asked my recup student to stay for one on one tutoring. I don’t know how much progress we made, but he now has two study guides and all of his past work.
I walked back home with Vicki, who stopped off to get veggies for the big dinner she had planned tonight (this week she’s having 1-3 grade teachers over, next week 4-6, and the week after secondary. After December she goes back to the States.) I wasn’t sure what I was going to make, but had planned to go to the market later to figure it out. I saw potatoes there and decided to get them here instead. Plus, I love the girl who was working there.
I went to Casa Villamil for my intercambio with Fabiola and Karla, but they never came. I arrived at 3 and left a bit before 5. The intercambio was supposed to be from 3:30-4:30. I figured it was just because we usually have them at 5 or 5:30. I did get to spend some time online and I met Richard who is in town for Guacamaya. It was interesting to me to more experienced person, both lingualy and culturally. I helped translate some things on the menu and answered his questions about cultural expectations. He’ll be in town for several more weeks, living with a local family and taking classes in Spanish. He taught in a Univsersity in China for two years and is interested at doing something somewhere in Honduras, so I gave him some pointers, Mayatan included, of course. We had a lovely conversation about books and movies and what movies can do to books. While I was there I noticed a large increase in the number of English speaking folks, and in fact, tourists in general.
I headed home and cooked my papas into fries. They took longer than I hopes, so I was 10 minutes late. We ate, enjoyed, and chatted for a while before Megan and I headed home.
I got home and enjoyed my book before getting to bed.

Day 97 November 12
When I got to school, I noticed that the box Nahomy had given me with the earrings had a crayon-drawn (red) elephant on the bottom. When she came in, I told her I had just noticed and I loved it.
School went well, we had a fun time with our animal footprints activity and I’m finding that more and more students want to do things involving elephants and reminding me that it’s my favorite. This is probably the most well known fact about Miss Sarah—she likes elephants.
After school we had our last tutorias for the week, and the first Thursday in many weeks (I don’t hold Thursday tutorias when we don’t have school on Friday.)
I got home and had class with Luis before heading to Isaac’s house for more tutorias. We worked on Math and Spelling, for the test tomorrow. And we’ve just started estimating and Isaac already struggled with rounding. Toward the end of the session, about an hour and a half in, his father (I’ve only recently gotten to meet because he’s been out of town for a long time) came up to chat with my about his studies and how he’s doing. He informed me that he thought I should stay another year to teach his son more English. Then asked if Isaac could miss school tomorrow for a family trip. His mom explained that family was visiting, and with his dad here…I told them it was fine and he could make up the spelling test on Friday.
I got home and chatted with Abby and Allan while they were cooking. Allan had been sick all day, but was doing a lot better. Mostly just glad to be around people again.
Tammi called and wanted to have tea and a chat, so I headed her way for about an hour before going home for bit of reading before bed, which being more tired than usual, was at nine.

Day 98 November 13
I woke up at 1:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep. By 2, I knew I was going to be sick. My room was a mess from the busy week, so I got my trashcan and put it next to the bed, and cleared a path to the door, making sure the computer was as far away from me as possible. My stomach didn’t even hurt, but I knew.
I was sick at three, and thought that would be the end of it, so I showered and came back to bed, still planning to go to school. By the time my alarm went off, it was apparent that I would not be going to school, and I struggled to get my sub plans written up quickly so Sierra could still leave on time, but illness prevented this from happening. She was great about it—bringing me water, being more than willing to just take the bus to school, and even emptying my bucket.
After she left for school, I tried to sleep but the sound of kids playing outside my window and illness stopped any naps from happening. To make it better, the power was out, so I couldn’t update grades, or look through my worksheets, or listen to music, or watch movies. I had my bed, my book, and my cup of water, which was actually turning into the enemy.
I called Megan during recess to see how my kids were. I hadn’t realized just how attached I was to them, but I really wanted to be there with them for everything I had planned. Megan said everything was great and she had replaced a few of my plans with some activities she had stored in the office, which sounded great to me.
By 12 I was keeping down water but didn’t trust food. At 1, I had one of my mini bananas. And had another banana half an hour later. At 2 I tried soup (it was a cold day, and I was really wanted something warm.) I had one sip every half hour, since it had a lot more too it. Later in the afternoon, my hunger was taking over and I had eaten the rest of my soup and apples with peanut butter, which did upset my stomach some, but not so much that I was sick.
By six, I was showered and cleaning up the house. My stomach was still uneasy, and was for the rest of the night, but without incedent. This illness was intense, but passed quickly.
I had plans to go to dinner at my student’s mom’s restaurant, and decided I would still try it, but to take it really slow. Luis kept trying to get me to eat more, but I just had one baleada. Katia, my student, was there and even though she is one of my most outgoing students, around her mom and family, she was very quiet. Luis asked her if I am a good teacher and she said yes, but when he asked her if I am a strict teacher, she looked at me for a moment before making the “kind-of” hand motion. I don’t know if she thought I’d be insulted to be told I’m strict, but it was pretty funny.
We then went to the circus. We were the only two people there. Every other person in the tent was working there. It was hilarious. We could hear the lion behind the curtain too, but they were waiting on the off chance that more people would show up (it’s their last weekend in town, most folks who would have wanted to come already had.) But at 8:20, the power in the town went off, and they came up to us with a flashlight to lead us out and our money back.
Most folks had gone to Carnita’s, but I just wasn’t feeling up to it. Last I had heard, there was going to be a birthday party at my house when they got back, but no one was home and no one came home. Turns out they went out instead of coming in, which was okay for me. I had been up since 1am.