Week 28: The Lenten season and Luis as a substitute teacher

Day 189 February 13
After sleeping for 11 hours, I woke up and started cleaning. A wonderfully intense cleaning that is difficult to describe. I did all of my laundry, I made coffee, I cleaned under everything, on top of everything, I swept, I scrubbed the floor, I whitened the toilets, I organized the food, I scrubbed the stove, I cleaned the light switches, I took out the trash, I hung up a new fabric decoration, I scrubbed the wooden tabled that my roommates thought was painted grey (it’s white), I cleaned the stairs, and I listened to music through it all. After 7 hours, I realized I was a)hungry and b)dirty.
I showered and ate a sandwich in Picame (our gas ran out AGAIN last night. I am frustrated.) I met a couple of tourists who had just come into town and directed then to a good cheap hostel (tourism has been picking up a lot recently, but mostly Europeans. Americans still seem to be too nervous to stop in.) I bought a new water bottle for the house while I was there and came back in.
I then headed up to read on the roof, but was only there for 10 minutes before Abby came home and I wanted to show off my work. She was more than appreciative and said she had to double check to make sure she was in the right house. Yay clean!
We chatted for a while before I headed to Kelvin’s to watch a movie (Doomsday, I think), which he couldn’t get to play so we watched “Collateral” instead. He had a job decision to make, so the movie was broken up some by calls, and then he had to go to dinner at his mom’s at 9, with 10 minutes left to the action movie, so he let me borrow it.
I headed to Tony’s Bar because Petros y los Hijos de Tio Sam were playing, but I was redirected on my way when I saw Isaac and his mom. When they saw me, his mother told him to take me to the house, which he did, and he gave me a clown mug with dancing feet. Some months back Isaac had broken my mug, on accident, but Jaqui thought it would be nice to give me this for Valentine’s day. I showed it off the whole time I was at the bar.
I end up having a hard time at the shows because it’s really rather loud and crowded, so I tend to come and go. There was a party in the park, so I had lots of street food to choose from, which I had to because my usual stand was out of baleadas. I got baleadas, without napkins, from somewhere else. The without napkins part is important because the baleadas were too full and I made a mess of myself which I had to get cleaned up before going back inside.
Luis came, and eventually Kelvin came, but I spent most of the evening to Shin, a young man studying in Honduras for about a year from Taiwan. He enjoyed being able to speak Chinese with Michael before the show started, and knows more English than Spanish, but sometimes the two have to get intermingled to get meanings across. He invited me to Michael and Eileen’s tomorrow to celebrate the Chinese new year. Now I have Valentine’s plans!
I went home, leaving at the same time as Luis, so I took the opportunity to show off my new clean house. He gave me grief, but that’s okay.

Day 190 February 14
Happy St. Valentine’s Day! I woke up and finished the rest of “Collateral.” As I was getting ready to get out and do my shopping for the week, I got a call from Luis asking if I wanted to come with his family up the mountain for a lunch to celebrate his father’s 60th birthday, so I did.
I hopped in Alias’ large van with the rest of the family and enjoyed some, scattered, conversation and delicious food. After the eating, folks lounged around in hammocks and talked more. I chatted with Alias and Luis, which made understanding much easier than when in such a large group. We then got in the van again and headed further up the mountain so folks could buy flowers and then we went back home.
When I got home I cleaned up my room and went to the market to get my food for the week. On my way back in, I was stopped by the tourists I met yesterday. They wanted to know if Mayatan had any openings and I told them that I would pass on their e-mail addresses, which I did later at Villamil. I then finished my shopping at the Cruz Bueso.
After the shopping, I headed out to Villamil where I chatted for an hour and did some catching up on the internet before going home and heading to Michael and Eileen’s house. I had tried calling earlier to make sure I was welcome, but they hadn’t picked up. On my way across the park, Shin caught up with me and warned that he might be late and that Michael and Eileen were at the café. I checked the café, but they had just left so I went to their house.
We cooked and listened to Chinese pop. Turns out the popcorn balls held together with caramel are a Chinese food too. I had brought some, and had been ignorant to the fact. I just wasn’t able to cook because we’re still out of gas. Yay luck!
Michael’s year in China and Eileen’s visit to China + the ability to look up recipes online lead to a lot of delicious Chinese food. Shin said he had expected to spend the New Year alone, and was thrilled to have all this culture around him. He brought his own, as he made paper cut outs for us and wrote our names, his name, the name of the new year, the first month, and Honduras on them for us. He also brought envelopes which are traditionally used for giving money in at weddings and other gift giving occasions. There were also wall hangings for above doorways and in rooms that essentially mean “goodness.” Who knew I would come to Honduras and learn about Chinese culture? Plus, I spent some time at Villamil researching Taiwan, because I have found I hate meeting people and knowing nothing about where they come from.
Shin was just impressed I knew how to eat with chopsticks and knew I was year of the rabbit.
It was a lot of fun and a bit after my bedtime, I headed home and went to sleep.

Day 191 February 15
Shortly before assembly, my stomach began to rumble that uncomfortable rumble, but it passed. However, during my first class, I found I had to leave the room. I put Elvira in charge, telling her to continue the lesson and that I would be back very soon. I was, and there was only a little mayhem. I put things back in order and thanked Elvira. This week is a Spirit Week, of sorts (Anniversary Week) and we have a theme for each day. My pants were on backwards and my shirt was inside out, this mad being sick more complicated.
I didn’t hurt, but I wasn’t well, so I continued on. Toward the afternoon, I started to feel bad, but I only had one class left, so I rested as much as I could during my break and made it through the end of the day. I cancelled tutorias and tried to pull myself back together.
After getting some work done, I packed up and walked home where I did my Spanish homework and then left for tutorias at Isaac’s. We read for an hour, almost an hour and a half, and the conversation was good. I do think it will be good practice for him.
I then left and went to Spanish class. I had an assessment test, which went pretty well, I think. When I got home, Abby and Sierra were switching rooms. I helped for a while and then Kelvin came over to say goodbye as he is moving tomorrow morning. We said our goodbyes, and after a while Luis came over for advice on being a substitute for 3rd grade. We ended up talking about many things and I was up later than I have been in a while. Finally I slept, but not very well.

Day 192 February 16
Today was Costume Day, but being exhausted and having fewer resources than I did back home, I never got around to participating. I also didn’t want to disrupt class more than would be necessary. However, my kids were much better than expected and much better than yesterday. We got through the quiz fine, and prep went okay.
Luis will be subbing for Miss Beth tomorrow so he came and observed an overly rowdy game of jeopardy. After which, we went to lunch and Miss Beth gave him the rundown on tomorrow.
After school I stuck around and worked until 3 when I rushed back to town for tutoring at Isaac’s house. I stayed and worked on science and spelling until right before class at 5. In class we went over my homework and the test. I did alright, but now know a couple of things I need to work on more.
After class I went home and collapsed on my bed. Luis came over later with all of his newly acquired instructions from Beth and asked a variety of questions about what to do in certain situations. While he was still over I got a skype call from my whole family and we got to chat for a while which was really nice.
After Luis left I went to bed, earlier than I have been lately, but I was really tired and still wasn’t able to sleep so solidly.

Day 193 February 17
I walked with Luis up to the school and showed him the drill. I got my hair ready for Pelo Loco day, but it wasn’t exactly what I had hoped it would be. It was enough.
For most of the day my kids were very good. We had some moments, but being a Wednesday always helps everything. After school we had a meeting to redefine the rules or what we need to be doing during recesses. Some of it makes sense, some of it I don’t think will work, but we said we’d regroup in a week to talk about it.
After the meeting, I walked home and showered my hair back to normal before going to Isaac’s house. Luis was too tired for class, so I stayed an extra 45 minutes tutoring Isaac before I went home and cooked dinner as well as breakfast and lunch for the next day.
Luis came over again to talk about teaching (like me, he wanted to go over every detail of his first day.) We talked about what he could do for his second day and when he left, I went to sleep, finally sleeping well.

Day 194 February 18
For all intents and purposes, Thursday was Friday. I walked with Luis again, and offered him a boiled egg, but he wasn’t hungry. At school, he felt much more comfortable, which was fun.
My day was long, but not as long as Thursdays sometimes are. We had a good time, and got in our spelling test. The last period they got out of hand, with the excitement of mismatch day (of which I was the most mismatched in the room) and the coming Fun Day. I had them read silently to calm them down and then we went about our regular routine and dismissed them a couple of minutes early.
I stayed after to clean up my room and get grading and next week prep underway. While I was there, Marlon came to me and mentioned that he and his brother Victor would not be coming because they do not have money. This alarmed me, as I had not even realized that the Fun Day was a pay-as-you-go event. Each “fun” activity was priced to help the 10th graders, the richest kids in the school, afford a trip to Tegucigalpa. It was a fun day for the rich. This bothers me.
I told Marlon I would try to help them out tomorrow, but I was afraid to make promises until I was sure I could get my hands on some money. On my way out of school, Victor, the vigilante and father of my student Juan, asked if there were classes or if Juan could stay home. I told him there were no classes, but it would be wonderful if Juan could come and he said he would talk to him. I believe that the issue was the same: no money. I wanted to offer, but 1) Victor is less open talking about money than Marlon’s family and I don’t want to make him feel ashamed and 2) I still wasn’t positive I could get money for tomorrow.
When I got home, I took some downtime and watched Madagascar (because I am in third grade) and then Chris called. Chris made himself an outdoor shower, which is cold on cold days (which it was, for us) so he wanted to use my heated shower. I went to the park to buy eggs and saldo for my phone before meeting up with Chris for an ice cream cone in exchange for my shower. When we got home, Abby and Allan were cooking. Chris and I then exchanged a massage (to my overly tight shoulders, which he commented on, worked on, and gave up on, but they are better) for a grilled cheese sandwich. He then showered.
Marlon and his older brother Beto came over. I told Marlon I could help him tomorrow and he confirmed that I could help his brother Victor also, and I said yes. The boys played and ate for a while, and made me exhausted, as usual. (But, I love having them around.)
Luis came over and chatted with Chris until 8 when Chris, Allan, and Abby left for Eileen and Michael’s. The boys left too, but I stayed home because I was far too tired to be leaving the house that close to bed time (they tried to point out that we get to sleep in tomorrow, but the problem is I am tired Now.)
Luis and I talked for a while, but I started falling asleep. He left and I did fall asleep, but I woke up when he called because he had left his keys in my house. Then I slept the sleep of the dead.

Day 195 February 19
I slept in, left late, and got to school by 7:45. The day officially started at 8, but it was all a mess. We had no instructions. At 8:40 we had an assembly and talked about the history of Mayatan. Some of the secondary students sang the school song. The winners of the spirit week were announced.
Fun day consisted of face painting, a make-up station, water balloons, eggs filled with confetti, whipped cream pies, food and drink, the jail (you paid to have someone confined and I think someone had to pay to have them removed), a futbol game, a penalty shoot, clowns, hacky-sack toss, and a variety of other things that I missed. I wandered around and made sure no one got hurt. When one of my students came to me crying because she had been creamed, I encouraged her to get him back and she cheered right up. I played photographer and then worked the slack line that Chris brought. It was the only free thing there. I jumped up on for the first time in more than a decade (when I was a kid, I tied a rope between two relatively close together trees and tried to walk it, but it was different.) At first I walked with helpers on either side, and then with just Chris, and then I started trying it myself. By the end of the day, I was walking a good many steps without falling. A couple times I went the length. Mostly, though, I helped students walk without falling by being their helping hands and giving them tips.
My student Juan did not come, and I noticed that many of the other scholarship students did not come, which made me very sad. I gave Marlon and Victor some money and I know Michael and Eileen did the same. Marlon is more diplomatic about these things in that he seems to understand that once you tap into a source, you let it be for a while, but Victor ran out of money half way through and tried to get more. Eventually, I hope he’ll learn two things 1) portion control and 2) if someone gives you money/food/things, they’re more inclined to continue giving if you give them some space sometimes and don’t come back every few minutes/hours/days. Marlon seems to understand this.
At the end of the school day, I helped kids leave and cleaned up the yard and then collapsed by the caseta for a while before walking home with Tammi and Nash. I bought mangos when I got to town, which I haven’t done in a long while (I think maybe they mix the salt with something addictive, because I always want more.)
I read for a while before going to Casa Villamil where I updated pictures and worked on some grading. While I was there, I got a call from Chris asking if I wanted to go running, so I gave myself half an hour to digest and got home to get ready.
We ran up toward La Pintata, but had predetermined this run was actually a run-walk-hike-swim. We hiked up the mountain, which still kept the ol’ heat rate up. We went up past the aldea and continued to the waterfalls, where we took a cool dip (and the water was very chilly compared to the outside temp.) We hiked/walked back into town where we got croissants and chatted.
Chris left to meet up with Katie and I continued reading before Megan called wondering if I wanted to come over and watch Dr. House at 8. I did, and showered up before I went.
I told her I’d be over by 7:45, but on my way up the hill, I was stopped by the Catholic Church. Half the congregation was in the street, marching up the hill, from central park, to various pre-set up stations for the stations of the cross this first Friday in Lent. I walked with them for two stations. It was fascinating and I most certainly want to do the whole walk this Lenten season. There’s music to accompany the march, and there are 4 men carrying a large Jesus with a cross. They set him down at every station.
I got to Megan’s house, and she was still getting ready herself. My tardiness didn’t impede anything! I looked over an application for a potential coworker for next year (he seems to be a good candidate) and we watched House and talked about many things. At 9:30 I headed back toward home, thought of meeting folks who were out, but many of them seemed to have already dispersed, so I went home and read until 10:30.