Week 15: 100 days in Copan!

Day 99 November 14
I woke up a bit after 9 and started cleaning up some around the house. I made a grilled cheese sandwich with my gouda cheese. I was about to head into town to take my laundry, run by the market, and get saldo when I got a call from Tammi. She had been sick for a while, but the last time she went to see the doctor he had been a bit inappropriate, so she wanted company to keep in professional. I showered quickly and we took my laundry (I finally caved and decided to get my laundry done because with the change in weather, my clothes just aren’t drying fast enough and I’m really tired of either rewashing and hoping things will go better the next time or wearing clothes that smell like mildew) and I got saldo before we headed down that way.
I had thought we’d have time to go back to town before having lunch at Hacienda san Lucas, which was having all the Mayatan teachers for a discounted lunch. However, while we were in the waiting room, a baby that was having trouble breathing and a young man who had an accident at work came in and we decided they took priority. We weren’t even sure if the young man would live, but the doctor sewed him up enough to be taken to the hospital and the folks who brought him in rushed him off. As I don’t know who he was, I’ll never know if he is okay.
The doctor was professional with Tammi since I was there and told her that she has a kidney infection. Hopefully no stones, but only time will tell.
We then headed up the hill to Hacienda San Lucas and shortly after we left the clinic, we were picked up in a truck by the owner of the Hacienda. It was beautiful. So secluded, with a great view of town. She only keeps eight rooms to keep the service personal. The food is all organic, fresh, and as traditionally Mayan as possible. She showed us the rooms and told us we were welcome up to walk their trails any time.
Of course, talk of business turned into talking about the lack of tourists and the economy, which as always lead to politics. She said that as the economy dropped, tourism dropped 30%, but after the political situation blew up business dropped to 8%. I took a lot of pictures, and finally got some pictures of these illusive yellow-chested birds I see sometimes.
The walk back was peaceful, and we made it most of the way back when she drove past on her way back into town and gave us a lift to the central park. We were riding in the back with an older Honduran man and a beautiful black dog. He was sweet and, as I was sitting next to him, I pet him the whole way. Though, once we got into town, there was a white dog who started to follow the truck and this upset out large dog quite a bit. He tried to jump at him, but was tied, and me being the nearest person was a bit frightened. He didn’t do a bit of harm to me, other than a toenail on my leg as he tried to get at the dog on the street. The gentleman with us pulled the dog over to him and calmed him down. Once we were out of sight of the white dog, I pet our dog again to let him know we were okay.
Carolina and I walked around a little bit and I dropped my camera off to be developed from way back in September when we went to the soccer match. She said it would be a week, but usually it takes up to three weeks depending on how much film she already has because they take it to San Pedro. Carolina went off to the market and I headed home.
I worked on some school stuff for a while and bummed around the house. Carolina came over for a while with her new friend Josue (sp?) and then Sierra, Caroline, and Josue left to make pasta.
Most of the crew went to the parties being thrown in the streets, with bands and all sorts of craziness. My understanding is that this was a political event being thrown to get people pumped for the election and all through the day people were wearing their party’s color, so I just decided to avoid the whole scene. I wore my Honduran jersey, which is about as safe as can be and agreed to watch the games instead.
When the game started, I headed to Casa Villamil for internet and game watching. I ended up way more immersed in the internet, which I should have seen coming, and by the time Costa Rica and Uraguay came on (after Honduras won! Which did not cause street commotion, I suppose because these games don’t matter so much) and Alias and Luis got there, I was hardly watching the game at all. They had each other to watch with and I was feeling too tired to keep up with quick Spanish. Plus, sometimes I feel bad when I ask people to slow down for me too often.
Pero, my espanol es mucho mejor. Yo entiendo mucho mas que yo hablo, y yo entiendo mucho mas que antes mis clases nueves. Cuando yo estoy nervioso ( por que yo necisito ANSWER o yo hablo con una persona nueva) yo no entiendo como mucho, pero cuando yo escucho a otras personas, es mas facil. Y, por supuesto, yo tengo errores siempre, cuando yo escucho, hablo, o escribo—como aqui. Poco a poco.

Day 100 November 15
For my 100th day out of country, I woke up much earlier than I really wanted. I woke up and made breakfast. I fried the bananas I still had from last week and then used the oil to fry up sticks of potato with an diced onion. I covered them in the salty cheese you find all over Honduras, peeled a hard boiled egg, and put an apple on the plate. It was simple, fast, and tasted delicious. I also made coffee with my new brand, which I may even like more than Welchez (don’t tell!), but I’ll have to do a side by side comparison sometime. Maybe it’s just because I haven’t made coffee in the house in weeks and the only coffee I’ve really had is at the school.
I made up a to-do list, showered, and bummed around making new play lists on my computer before I was motivated enough to head out to take care of things. I did some shopping and met up with Tammi to do a bit of clothes shopping. Being the picky shopper that I am, I just got one skirt, but it will help me get through the week. I also picked up my laundry, which was pre-folded. Awesome.
I went home and fried my potatoes for music and dinner at Vicki’s house (and her husband, Chris, is back in town, which is great!) and then relaxed a bit before packing them up and walking up the hill.
We had all the Urban Promise folks back, after two weeks without them, so our group went from 5 to 10. It felt really connected and good. I was able to stay for dinner and the songs, as well as the Bible reading, but I had to leave right before they same the last song so I could get home.
Luis wanted to surprise me for my 100th day in Copan and he got tres leches cake (my favorite!) with a chocolate ‘100’ written on top. It was delicious. We watched a movie and then I had to send him packing so I could get some sleep before school.

Day 101 November 16
We started our day with a morning meeting about what they did on Friday while I was gone, which they were more than happy to share with me. They want to play the M&M game more often so they can eat more M&Ms. Yeah, me too.
Borrowing in subtraction is now the most fun thing ever. I wrote up big numbers on the board, and when we had to borrow, we would literally knock on the board and ask, if it was a zero we would pretend we had been rejected harshly and go try the next neighbor down. They love it. Hopefully it sticks correctly.
After school I had to give my science recup exam. I sat with him and was there for questions. He has the worst English in my class, but always pretends to understand, so when he was done I asked in Spanish if he wanted to stay while I graded it so he could know today or tomorrow. He said now, so we graded it and I explained, in Spanish, like I did when we studied together, why answered were wrong and why they were right. He didn’t pass, so he keeps his class grade. I felt so sad. I told him that I think he’s smart, but that his English skills need work and that we’ll work on them this quarter, but that he needs to pay more attention in class. I don’t know what else to do for him.
Chris and Sierra were heading to Jorge’s house to view it. He’s my student’s father and they’re going to the states when Jorge gets married. He’s thinking of selling the house to the school for teachers to live in and wanted some of the teachers to look at it and spread the word, so I went. It’s a beautiful place, but pretty far out. He has two huge but sweet dogs that I got to play with. Francis, my student freaked out a bit when he saw me and wouldn’t stop giggling and hiding.
When we left, we got lost in a sea of people. There was a political convention and tons of people in blue and with political propaganda were everywhere. We were walking in a throng of folks headed toward central park when we saw one of the Honduran teachers who jokingly asked if we were with that party.
Chris was convinced that the good street food vendors would be out, so we went on a hunt, but not many were there. We went back to the house to work (and he made nachos) and I updated my grade book, organized my copies, got up to my quota in copies, graded, planned, and did my Spanish homework.
Sierra decided to throw a mini-party for her 100 days in Copan. Chris (who had slept on our couch while I worked and then left) came back and a few of our friends from town. Luis, Kelvin, and I ended up talking on the roof around the hammock, which was nice. I went back down after a while, as things were winding down, and then went to bed a bit later than planned.

Day 102 November 17
When I got to school, I realized that even though I had worked so much in the afternoon, I had left out a few key elements for my morning and I quickly got things ready for the day. My class was very energetic all day. Math was really good, but science was a flop. Better luck for tomorrow, I have big plans.
After school I had tutorias, and we just didn’t have time for everything. I think I’m going to need to shrink the number of students I have in tutorias. I just can’t work with that many kids and accomplish anything real.
We had a staff meeting, that was a little repetitious, but better than most. I marched down the hill with Nash and Tammi and headed to class shortly after I got home.
After class, it was off to Casa Villamil to research the National Parks of Honduras and well as their endangered animals, and Thanksgiving ideas. I was there a while, but got a lot done.
When I got home, Chris, Abby, Allan, Sierra, Josue, and Jesse were jamming on my roof. Guitars, drums, and singing a variety of songs. The restaurant across the street got a show and they seemed to enjoy it. I was up there for a few songs, and Tammi and Nash came for a while. It was really nice and a lot of fun. They stopped before I went to bed and I heard everyone leaving.

Day 103 November 18
My research really paid off and my kids seemed really interested in my lessons. During the conversation lesson I was taking questions and one of my girls said, “What can we do?” I was pretty pleased. I had saved the paper they had wasted the day before and pulled it out to show them. We discussed using every page in our notebooks, not skipping them, and not wasting paper during class projects anymore. Then, everyone gasped when I went to throw away some papers from my desk. It worked out because it was actually old scrap paper I had used to make bookmarks, which they were pleased to hear.
We also talked about Thanksgiving, which they knew only as the day of the turkey and other foods. I briefly described how it started and how much the Pilgrims had to give thanks for. Some of them were bored, but my advanced students got really into it, and then we got to take off our shoes to trace turkey bodies and trace our hands for feathers, so everyone got into it. We’ll finish on Friday and next week we’ll make a Thanksgiving Tree for the door and re-read the Giving Tree. We utilized as much of each piece of paper as possible.
My kids have stopped respecting my commands. My current system is individual oriented and when half of the class continues to talk it gets very difficult to identify who to punish. So today I put an end to it. I wrote the numbers 1-10 on the board and told them that starting tomorrow, every time I tell them to listen, or be quiet, and they do not, I will erase a number. However many I erase is how many minutes late we go to recess. It’s similar to my individual system, but it affects everyone and immediately they straightened up. We’ll see if they remember tomorrow. If not, we’re going to play a nice game called, sit quietly and don’t move.
After school I had the meeting I was informed of the day before it happened. It went well and my parents (all 7 of them, for both third grade classes) worked quickly. It was all in Spanish, and I kept up for the first half, but by the end my mind couldn’t process it anymore. I think that happens to me in class sometimes too.
I started walking home but got a ride with Frankie and Norma.
I got home and worked on school, finishing my plans for next week (all three days), organizing my copies for next week, making worksheets for the week after, and planning most of the week after. I even filled out my new weekly bit of paperwork to get copied and put in the kids homework notebooks (one side is an overview of what I’m doing in each class for the week, which I understand and appreciate how helpful that can be for the parents, but the other side I’m supposed to write the homework for the week. I 1) don’t want my kids to know/do their homework in advance, 2) think my kids get it better when they have to write it down, and 3) sometimes the homework depends on how the day goes.)
I headed to Casa Villamil at 4:30 for half an hour of internet before my intercambio, but when 6:30 came and no such intercambio was had, I decided to leave (I started researching science fair ideas while I was there, though.) This is the third time that the girls have not come. We’ll see what happens with Sierra tomorrow.
I got home and did my Spanish homework and when I was done, I wrote a page in Spanish, underlining the few words in English and circling the parts I thought were grammatically unstable. I feel so useless when I try to speak, and while I know it’s more important, when it came to writing in Spanish, it hardly took any time at all. The words were just there. I guess I work that way in English sometimes too.
I then used my Rosetta Stone, which I haven’t done in a long time.

Day 104 November 19
A few things I’ve been failing to mention: 1) Every day this week I’ve seen an incredible sunrise over the mountains on my way to school, 2) one of the mountains I view every day is called the Elephant because it looks like an elephant and I love it, and 3) there are 4 puppies living at the school until December when they will be given away as prizes to the winners of a Bingo fundraiser. Every morning I am greeted at the school by puppies. Pictures are posted.
So, school went well, though Thursdays are my long days. My kids were pretty good until the last class, but as I told Mr. Mario, I understand why. By the end of the day they’re just as fried by English as I am by Spanish and the last class is preceded by two classes in Spanish. How can I expect them to switch back smoothly? Or at all, when they know that the buses are just 40 minutes away.
After school I had class, followed by tutoring. I finally got a picture of Goofy, Isaac’s new dog. The puppy is still less than a month old. Also, they gave me chocolate cake.
When I got home, Ava was cleaning the house, her children inside watching Ice Age. She was hired to clean the guys’ house and did a great job, so we decided to give the house a thorough cleaning also, and it was. My bed was made when I went upstairs. It was more than a bargain too, and she tried to dock the price because she was fed, but our house is huge, so we didn’t let that go.
I wrote another page in Spanish and hung around for the rest of the evening.

Day 105 November 20
Sometimes, on the way to school, with the beautiful sunrise and mountains and cool morning air, we stop off on a side street for fresh squeezed orange juice in a bag. Amazing. This morning was one of those. He squeezed it in front of us. Delicious.
I had a fun day planned for my kids and they really enjoyed the camouflage art activity, finishing up our hand/feet turkeys, the spelling review game, and the math minute. We also had a spelling test and science quiz (and according to the science quiz, slowing down my pace is really helping them absorb more. Who would have thought?) The last period was just hellish though, and I gave in and let them play heads-up, seven-up after we took care of all the business I had to attend to for the end of the week.
I wrote up everything I would need on the board for Monday (after washing the week’s worth of smudge off of it) so I’ll have less to do on Monday morning and headed home.
Folks had plans to meet at Twisted Tanya’s at five, so I grabbed my computer quickly and went to Casa Villamil for a quick (quick for me) update. I saw Richard, from Guacamaya there, and invited him to Twisted Tanya’s with us.
I went home for a moment and walked to Twisted Tanya’s with Abby. We were 15 minutes late and the first ones there (hopefully Richard didn’t go and leave during that time, because he never came.) After a few drinks, folks went to Jim’s Pizza for pizza, which I burned my tongue on (always too eager for food!) It was delicious, though. Considering we’d just had two consecutive, full weeks of school, the group was pretty big. Everyone just wanted to relax.
After Jim’s I headed home. I was simply exhausted and even my after-noon (noon is my cut off time here) cup of coffee, I just wanted to lay down. I said my goodbyes to Sierra as she was leaving early the next morning for the States for the next week.