Vacation!

We have 3 weeks off at Christmas. How lucky are we? I know, right. Just thought I'd share some of the things I'll miss from Honduras while on vacation.

1. Kid hugs. Is there anything better?
2. Weekend breakfast. It's amazing how a tortilla filled with potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, cheese and eggs never gets old.
3. Espresso (Only to be replaced by Starbucks, but here my fancy coffee costs just $1.)
4. Reggaeton. I did however; find the reggaeton channel on my parents' tv at home.
5. My roommates. They rock. Nuff said.
6. My fierce workout schedule. Ok, not really gonna miss it, but I have to stay motivated somehow.
7. The slow pace of my Zamo life and how everything is so simple and complicated all at the same time.
8. Our truck.
9. Espanol. Last summer when I came home and had to go through Immigration I felt like I had regressed a year. I didn't understand one word the lady said. Ha!
10. "Tu Bandera"-The Honduran national anthem we sing every Monday.

Yay for going home!

I did it!

Today I completed the Iron Man Triathlon. Just kidding.

But I might as well have. I. Ran. For. Twenty-Two. Minutes. Nonstop.

Now I am at the point in my training (week 6 of 9) where my runs are all long runs and I have no more breaks in between. Sounds easy. But it's a total mental game. And I won. For today.

And! The road behind our house is at a 7% grade (according to my roommate Julie). And that is 7 more than 0.

Just wanted to share. Now I go rest.

Es Obvio

Today at Homework Club I asked my students how to say something in Spanish. Sort of. It went like this:

Me (to about 5 students): How do you say "I love Kevin!"?
Oscar: "I like Kevin."
Me: No, in Spanish.
Oscar. Oh. "Te quiero Kevin!"

I guess Oscar didn't want any confusion over the way he feels about Kevin. Remind me not to ask this kid to translate any newsletters I send home. Too cute!!

Turns out gravity is real

So, yesterday at work I fell down. Like, hands in the grass, knees scratched up fell down. I was out in the yard of our school looking for some kids (who turned out to be in Spanish class all along. Damnit!). As I came up to the foot high rock step, I was looking at how there was a hole in it and wondering what sort of creature might live in there and BAM! I was on the ground. I guess I forgot to step up. I just landed with my knees on the step and put my hands down in the grass as an after thought.

It is so surprising and discombobulating to be walking, then be on the ground. I was stunned. Then I thought, "Oh GOD! Who saw this? Did P.E. see?" They were across the field, but they were busy doing P.E. things so no one seemed to witness the show. Thank goodness. The Pre-K aide and her group of students, did, however, see the show. I'm pretty sure my hair flipped forward from the impact. Good times.

It had been awhile since I really busted my ass. I forgot how much it hurts. Today when I woke up, I was soooo sore. The only thing I can think that is causing this is my fall. I fell so hard, that my back, shoulders and arms are sore. Ridiculous. My roommate Ashley describes this is a sort of "car wreck" effect. You don't feel it till later. She recently fell off a horse (ouch!!) and had the similar result, although much worse. On my run today I was reminded that also my knees hurt. But then I thought how bad ass I was running right after such a traumatic event. Awesome!

Buddhism Parte Tres

So, you know you're living in Honduras (or are a grown up or are reading a book about Buddhism) when your first thought upon seeing a slug in the shower is, "Man! I better save it! My drain doesn't drain very well and this guy will be dead in less than a minute!"

Slugs? Really? You see, I knew this guy would be making an appearance soon. My schema told me so. We've had slugs just chillaxin' on the floor in our dining room. So we save them. And I've noticed the slime trail, ahem TWO slime trails, on the outside of my screen in the bathroom. It was just a matter of time. Fate, if you will.

So I get my "Meaningful Beauty Cindy Crawford Lifting Eye Creme" tube and scoop him up and set him outside the shower. How do I know it's a him? Cause I teach 3rd grade Science, duh. Okay, I don't really know it's a him, per say. I don't teach about slugs. But it sounded good.

So he doesn't really want to let go, and I'm using the "Meaningful Beauty Cindy Crawford Lifting Eye Creme" with all my might but at the same time trying not to hurt the little guy. He finally lets go and I set him right outside the shower. There! Safe until I can devote some real time to saving your ass.

I don't know about slugs, not sure if they're slow as molasses like snails or not. Seems so. But during my shower I kept moving the shower curtain to be sure he was still there. Yup! He was. That's good. The last thing I wanted was some ungrateful slug making a run for my closet, or worse yet-my bed.

I don't know if it's the whole Honduras-living-in-the-country thing, oh-shit-I'm-a-grown-up-who-is gonna-take-care-of-this-thing, or hey-I-understand-what-they're-saying-in-Buddhism-thing, but this would not have happened in the not so distant past. Normally, I would have rolled him up in some toilet paper, flushed the evidence and went on with my life. Now I feel bad. Like, shit. Who do I think I am? Plus, I can't flush the toilet paper.

Nobody puts Baby in a Jar

Did I ever tell you about the guy from my Spanish class in 7th grade? He was from Nicaragua, probably still is, actually. Anyways, when he came to the states he was put into our Spanish class. I'm pretty sure he already knew how to say "Voy al cine" and was way past our level, but whatev. When he would say where he was from, he would say Nic...aragua. Like it was two words. Weird. Still think about it to this day. Here's is a story about our journey into the unknown Nic...aragua.


Thursday:
Do you know how you start a vacation in Central America? You walk down to the highway and wait for your bus and hope it stops for you. That’s exactly what my roommates, Ashley, Julie and I did. The bus did stop. So we got on. And so began our Nicaraguan adventure. As soon as we got on I knew it would be awesome. Somewhere in the first few minutes awesome faded into the smell of throw up and this dude beside me taking up all the room. So far, not so awesome. Then I started to get a little car sick. No sooner had I thought the words “car sick” did they bring out the plato tipico breakfast. If there’s ever something you do NOT want to smell while getting car sick, it’s a whole bus full of people eating plato tipicos. Ew. That’s ok—because we were already laughing our cares away.

Pretty soon we were getting off the bus to cross the border. Apparently they have a big problem with putting people in jars. Some of the posters near immigration had pictures of girls in jars. I guess that’s why it took almost an hour to get across. Julie said they were looking for jars. The whole time we were practicing our Honduras national anthem and trying not to get put into jars.

We hit a little snag getting seats back to Honduras and made some friends at the bus station. By friends I mean idiots we had to tell how to do their job. I was going to look them up on facebook, friend them, then just turn around and unfriend them. But we got some seats, together nonetheless. Was that so hard, Transnica? See ya on Sunday beeches! *(You'll want to remember this part for later.)

From Managua we went to Leon. We got a cab and finally made it. While in Leon we had a restaurant event. It was like these 3 girls had never seen food before. Beer? Yes! Appetizers? Two please! Entrée? Totally. Banana split? I thought you’d never ask!

Friday:
Do you know how you can tell you’re in Leon, Nicaragua? They have bombs and air raid horns going off in the wee morning hours. Not real bombs, ya’ll. Just fireworks or blanks from the guards. And the air raid horn? We can only assume it’s to signify the start of the cat fight that happened abruptly after that each morning. So, no need to set an alarm here. It’s included in your hostal.

We got up, had breakfast and tried to book our volcano sand boarding adventure. After a whole conversation in Spanish, Julie’s like, “So, we have to ride motorcycles to the volcano?” And I’m like, “WHAT! I didn’t get that part.” PS—Still learning Spanish. So, now not only do I need to freak out about the sand boarding, I need to freak out about the riding the motorcycles for 45 minutes to the volcano. Score. What’s a little motorcycle riding in Nica? We book it.

So we try to get out of town to the beach. In true Central American fashion it is somewhat of organized chaos trying to get money, go to the bank, etc. Finally we make it and hail a cab to the beach.

Las Penitas (or something like that) was awesome. It was sunny, warm and beachy. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. On the way home we caught a chicken bus. It was awesome. It turns out all that money they charge you at the border goes to the stereos on the chicken buses, because they rock. I mean the volume of bachata and reggaeton that came out of these speakers!? To die for. Plus the bus wasn’t packed and we survived. Score again. In case you’re ever in Central America and need to pass, let me tell you what to do. You barrel down on the upcoming car, lay on the horn and wait. Then when you get to a blind curve, you go for it. Turns out that’s the protocol.

Saturday:
Do you know what would be a cool thing to do? Pretend like you’re going to die! Saturday we went volcano hiking and sledding. And I use the term sledding loosely. I was thinking the night before about how I was going to tell the girls I wanted to back out. I mean, maybe I’m too old for all of this adventure stuff. What if something goes wrong? We know they don’t really have the best medical care in Nicaragua. Plus we don’t have insurance. Plus we don’t speak Spanish fluently. You can see where I’m going with this. When we woke up, I spoke about my fears and the girls talked me down from the ledge and I decided to just stop whining and do it. We had a great breakfast and were ready for the adventure. There is some good news—we don’t have to ride on the back of motorcycles to get there. Two more people joined the group. Yay! Now I can just freak out about the actual adventure part.

So we go and get in the van with our new friend Boney (at least that ‘s what we call him) and our driver Manny. Boney keeps assuring me everything’s going to be fine. “No te preocupes!” he says. Oh Boney, if only you had heard of foreshadowing. So we start hiking. And it’s a rough hike for me. I stop. I admire the beauty. I want cry at the beauty and the lack of oxygen. We keep going. Finally we make it to the top. We take in the scenery, plus a swarm of bees. This place is full of danger.

So it’s time to suit up. We have to wear elbow and knee pads, a big convict suit and goggles. Somehow I think this is a little ridiculous, but I go with it. We get all our gear on and take some photos. We look like the rejects from the lollipop guild. Profile pic! Then it’s go time. Ashley has to go first. Otherwise she said she wouldn’t go. After her 30 second sledding lesson, she was off. We heard the screams. She was really gaining some speed there, wait!! Did she fall? Yeah…looks like she’s walking. Bummer. I hope that doesn’t happen to me.

So, I get on my sled. He says some stuff in Spanish and tells me good luck. I go. Ok, this isn’t so bad. That was the first 10 seconds. So I’m screaming and rocks are totally just flying in my mouth. It never occurred to me to shut my mouth. Then I’m gaining speed and even more rocks are flying at me. They are hitting my glasses and I’m afraid they might chip my teeth. At this point I’m thinking, “Wow! Someone could really get hurt doing this! Wait, there’s Ashley! It’s the end already? No, she’s just sitting there. Ashley!! Get out of the way!! I’m going to hit you….wooooo, ay ay ay, what’s happening? Feet down…check! Why am I spinning. Whoa! Rough patch. That’s it…I’ve fallen off. Pretty sure I fell off. Now I’m tumbling. Damnit! This is exactly what I was afraid oooooffffff! Ouch, board to the head. I hope I stop rolling down the mountain soon. Ok, I’m slowing down. Where’s my boa…oh, there it is at the bottom. With Ashley’s board. Where’s my backpack. Are my sunglasses broken? My head hurts.”

I look up the mountain and Ashley’s hair is a mess and we’re both kind of like, wtf just happened. Turns out she had the same experience, except she lost her hair tie. So we scoot down the rest of the mountain until we find out it’s easier to walk. We both get to the bottom and are in hysterics. It was a total shit show up there. We had rocks in our ears, noses and eyes. I had a volcano rock mustache, ya’ll. Ridiculous. The driver Manny, rushed to the scene. I think he was glad we were laughing and not crying. I can only imagine what it looked like.

Then it’s Julie’s turn. She tried out the snowboard, really didn’t work. So she did the sled too. Now, if you want to know how to do it right, watch Julie. It’s like she rode down on a cloud. No rock mustache. You go, chica!!

All in all it was fun and I’m glad we went. And I laugh every single time I think about it. I only have a bump on my head, scratched up arm, bruised shin and hip to show for it. Looking at pictures of other people, turns out we got off pretty easy. Could have been worse!

Sunday:
Do you know what does not rock? Standing on a bus for 2 hours. Especially when you paid a pretty penny to get A SEAT!!!

It was time to go home. But no, we weren't getting off that easy. First we have to go to the bus station to get from Leon to Managua. I think the words "bus station" are a bit of a stretch. It was awesome. Shit show-ish even. So our bus finally comes and everyone that had somewhat formed a line just starts pushing. There are kids and old people in the mix. Crazy! Every man for himself. So we get on and Ashley and I really enjoy our driver, but did not agree with some of his driving choices. He even hooked us up with a ride to the bus station. Thanks, dude!

At the bus station, we see our old friend. And by old friend I mean that dude that we fought with on Thursday about getting seats back to Honduras. I can tell he recognizes me by the scowl and avoidance of eye contact. There was a little drama with our seats and they sold them. I know right, the nerve! See the *organized chaos* as previously stated. So our solution to get home (because none of us have sub plans!) is to ride for 2 hours standing until some people get off. So we do, and they do. Not before Julie and I both get car sick. Again. Yay! Something like that really helps you appreciate sitting. Now I sit whenever I get the chance. I’m actually SITTING in a SEAT while typing this. Ahhhh. This is the life.

So we get to the border and are happy because we’ve made it this far without getting put into jars. We’re also so ready to be home and eat something. They didn’t even give us any plato tipicos this round. Probably because they had all these passengers standing, blocking the aisles.

It was a great trip with lots of adventure, laughs and only a few scrapes and bruises. Vale la pena.

Smart aleck or simple English mistake?

Hard to tell. This is how it went down.

Miss Lacey: Who can tell me the answer to...
Student: *Raising his hand, yelling 'Me! Me! Me! Me!'
Miss Lacey: I don't respond to 'Me! Me! Me! Me!'
Student: *After about half a minute of thinking, he raised his hand again and started yelling, 'I! I! I! I!'

If you knew the kid I think you'd say smart aleck. Made me laugh.

Famous Honduran Mouth Pointing

The other day in my class one of my favorite things happened. One of my students pointed with his mouth. This mouth point was in response to a question I had asked him. You see, people in Honduras point with their mouth when describing locations. It's not as easy as you think. Less head, more lips. And they do it quickly. It's so subtle and comfortable. Last year I had this very thought: be better at mouth pointing. I am glad that I have the resources right in front of me to help me meet my goal. Anyway, I had to stop class and tell him how I loooooved mouth pointing. At that point my whole class was mouth pointing. It was awesome. Made my heart smile.

Little friends

It's amazing how living in another country can change you. Today I saw two baby geckos in my room at two different times. And I found myself talking to them and saying hi. It's very common around here to have them all over your house. They are good for us because they eat all of the bugs. I've even found two of them on the ceiling on two different occasions. After seeing me, they both landed on the floor, splatted and somehow survived.

These geckos have a special sound they make when communicating. They click repeatedly and it's hard to imagine such a big sound coming from such little creatures. Today I was woken up by one clicking in my room somewhere above my bed. All I could think is, please don't fall in my bed. The moral of the story is, these little geckos, they're not so bad. :)

So...this year's class is...

special. They are waaay different from my last group. They have a lot more energy and seem a little more creative. Those are the good things. The bad thing is the behavior. It's like I've captured a bunch of monkeys and am trying to teach them to use silverware. They didn't have much structure last year and they were crazy. I'm sad to say that I've been putting out behavior fires all over the place this first week. I absolutely cannot wait until they are trained! My class from last year was so good that I was in shock at how fast they fell in line. This year, notsomuch. Yesterday one was hanging from the backpack tree hanging from the ceiling. Today I sent a few out of class for making farting noises, and it didn't even faze them. You know, typical 8 year old behavior. Except my other 8 year olds didn't act like that. Weird!! Oh well, I guess they'll keep me on my toes. Here's hoping!!

Cupcake Wars

The following is a story from my new roommate Ashely. Upon arrival here in Honduras, she was quickly greeted with the cultural phenomenon of cat calling. As she was walking by herself down the street a man started calling out to her and getting a little too close. He said something to her that was probably along the lines of how she is the love of his life and maybe a few key English phrases he has learned from t.v. She responded with a quick, "No thanks, cupcake." She is a kindergarten teacher and that is sometimes the way they talk, you know. He looked at her perplexed and repeated the word while looking at his friends. "Cooooopcake?" I like to imagine that he also had his arms expanded in the universal wtf manner. Classic move, Ashley. Educating the men, one man in the street at a time. After sharing with his friends I have no doubt they have even more witty banter to share with us on the road. Yay!

America! America! God Shed His Grace on Thee...

So I've been in the states for like a week and a half now. It's safe to say that I've adjusted quite well back to the lifestyle I was accustomed to. I've really gotten some quality time with friends and family. It really is amazing how fast we can pick up where we left off and I just love it! I've visited Target several times and done my part to contribute to the local economy. Wal-Mart surely appreciates that I'm back. Teacher Heaven was also very happy to see me as we had a nice little reunion.

Somehow though, I feel different. You can't see it, but I am different. I have been living a very calm, simple life in Honduras. I haven't even been to Starbucks once, now if that doesn't show you how different I am-I don't know what will! It's the little things that overwhelm me. Like convenience stores and grocery stores. There are just so many options there!! I like options, especially when it comes to food, but come one! I can only focus on what I go in for, no deviating from the plan. Otherwise I'm likely to come out with a new lunch bag, cute baskets, and video games. And I don't even own a gaming system. It's like that.

On the other hand, I like finding little surprises that remind me of Honduras. These things comfort me. They include: the bachata music they were playing outside of Wal-Mart, the reggeaton channel on AT&T U-verse (thankyouforthat AT&T!), crazy drivers, and ANY Spanish speakers. I know it sounds silly, but these people are my brothers and sisters. I'm not sure they see it that way, but oh well. You can't choose your family.

Just practiced my machete, and boy are my arms tired...

About a week ago, I started learning how to use a machete. The following is the story about how one gringa learned how to use a machete like a mountain woman.

So...in Latin America it is very common to see people (well, only men really) walking around with a machete in their hand. There is nothing like looking over at the side of the road to see 10 guys with machetes coming out of the brush. Before I lived here, machetes would really scare me. Like I only really saw them in horror movies and they were usually used to do some real damage to someone. I'm sure I've seen a machete used constructively in the states at some point, but I just can't remember.

On our 13 hour road trip to Trujillo over Semana Santa, we had a little car game. Since machetes are so popular, you had to say "machete" when you saw one. You had to just say it casually. It went something like this, "So, I was talking to my class about the solar system, machete, and we were talking about what happened to poor old Pluto." And by game, I mean that it was usually me just saying "machete" over and over again. You can imagine how fun this was. I don't remember how many we counted, but how can you quantify that kind of fun? You're right, you can't.

So, I took note of all the machetes on our trip and decided I wanted to learn how to use one. Marcio, our gardener and friend at work, said he would teach me. One humid afternoon, out behind the multi-uso building, while my kids were in Spanish class, I held my very first machete. He proceeded to teach me the ins and outs of how to hold it, how you have to keep your hand level when cutting grass, and many other secrets to the machete. And let me tell you, there are lots of secrets! Now remember, this lesson is taking place in Spanish and I'm very impressed at how much Spanish I understand, especially with all the new machete vocabulary.

When he was modeling, Marcio was so fast and confident. It was amazing to watch! I was still scared to try it though. "Tengo miedo", I said. Marcio could tell. Half the time I was wincing and trying not to get hit by the leaves he was chopping. He thought it was funny. The machete is very powerful and you have to respect it, he said. Plus you have to have confidence. I couldn't help but think that we should be wearing safety goggles. I didn't say anything to Marcio, partly because he would laugh at me and partly because I had my sunglasses on. Safe enough. Honduran safety standards are somewhat lax, to say the least. Then it was my turn. I was so nervous! But, I figured who better to supervise me than Marcio? So I practiced and chopped some small branches. I tried to cut some grass, but that's way harder than just chopping something with one fell swoop. I decided my specialty would be branches. After only a few minutes my hand was weak. Apparently you have to build up to working with the machete. I decided that I wanted my very own, but one with a pink handle. Marcio said they totally make them.

Now, let me tell you what happened yesterday!! I went into town with my roommate Sarah and her boyfriend Nahun. He is Honduran and also skilled in the art of machete (as any good Honduran man is). We went to our version of Home Depot and I. Got. My. Very. Own. Machete. We shopped them a little bit and I was still a little nervous to hold something with so much power. I decided on a medium sized on with a red handle. They didn't have pink. The nerve! Hair toss.

Yesterday Nahun sharpened my machete and I watched closely so I can take care of it myself. Then we practiced on our bushes and grass. I don't really like cutting the grass, I'm more of chop the bushes kind of girl. Damaris even tried it out. We love the "shhhhwing!" sound it makes. Our bushes have never looked better. One of our guards walked by and I proudly showed him my new machete. He laughed. In the middle of my machete session we had to leave and went out with some friends. I couldn't wait to get back and work with my machete. I was eager to get back at it! It was so much fun. Like, I have found my new hobby.

My new machete now rests comfortably under my bed. Nahun told me it was bad luck to leave your machete out where you can see it. Makes sense. He also said I am very dangerous now. I'd have to agree.

It's amazing after working with the machete (or machete-ing, as I like to say) how you start to notice what you can chop everywhere you go. Like when when we went out yesterday. We went to a nearby town to eat pupusas. On the way we saw lots of rogue bushes and trash. I was telling everyone how we could really fix this place up, with my machete and them picking up trash! It would be beautiful.


Sidenote: Marcio is probably the most macho man I've ever met in my life. He can fix anything and is very into traditional gender roles. He has 4 sons, one of which is in my class. They are all very disciplined and have an incredible work ethic. They all know how to use a machete and don't wince when branches are flying everywhere.

I hear ya, Universe

Yesterday we had quite the little Honduran cultural event. My roommate Sarah's boyfriend, Nahun, made sopa de gorrobo. Otherwise known as iguana soup. It's a delicacy here. It was weird to see the little iguana bodies in our freezer. It was good, kind of like chicken.

Since we ate the soup I've been noticing some strange coincidences. Like Damaris wanted to watch a movie last night so I said yeah. She was watching "Rango". The main character is a lizard. So I started to feel kind of bad that we ate iguana for dinner. It was so cute and the voice was Johnny Depp, so that made me feel even worse.

Then today I saw an iguana while doing my laundry at the big house. He was pretty tranquilo and even let us get up close to it. I felt like somehow it knew our dirty little secret.

I told Damaris that by eating the iguana we may have somehow upset the karmic balance of the universe. Like all these signs point to: "Please don't eat my kind again." Weird.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

You may not believe me when I tell you this, but today I watched my first futbol game whilst in Honduras. That is "soccer" for all you Americans. I know what you're thinking. Gasp!! How could it have taken you this long to catch a game? Actually, you're probably not thinking that unless you live in Latin America. Futbol is big here. Kids start playing before they can even walk. Plus, you only need a ball and a field to run around in so anyone can play.

Today was a very special game. My kids were playing in a game against the kids from the local orphanage. Some of the kids from the orphanage go to our school, so it's a good rivalry. They were so stoked to play. And they were pretty good, too! I think they lost. I don't really understand futbol, so I'm not certain. It was a close game. Just made me happy to cheer them on. Buen trabajo barones!!

Casual Monday

Today an interesting conversation took place.

Student #1: Miss Lacey, you're really white.
Miss Lacey: Yes, I am. I am a white girl.
Student #1: But you're really white.
Student #2: Like Snow White! Except you speak English. (Apparently the only Snow White they know speaks Spanish. And maybe a little Italian.)
Miss Lacey: Well, Snow White speaks English too.
Student #1: *Shaking hand to signify more or less
Miss Lacey: Yes, I'm pretty sure she speaks English too.
Student #2: But she doesn't put on jeans. Just dresses.
Miss Lacey: Well, maybe she does if she wants to be casual.
Student #2. Yeah. Casual.

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You

I would just like to state here in writing how much I love my class. I've had other classes and students that have touched my heart and I love all of them (even you-know-who and that-other-one that made my life a living hell for 9 short months). But this class is so special and I'm already starting to dread the day when they'll leave me for 4th grade and I'll have to train some new ones. And the 2nd grade class is a little out of control, I might have to break their little spirits to get them to behave. Just kidding. Sort of.

As I've said before teaching English Language Learners is awesome. Things I take for granted or things I assume they know surprise me on a daily basis. Like this week a few of them started using air quotes and they totally used them correctly. A ha! If they have learned nothing else, it is to use sarcasm!

Or today, when Eduardo was trying to speed up the group he says, "We don't have all the day!" Well, it was true. We indeed did not have all the day.

I love the expression in their voices. I love their accents. I love the way they take care of each other and also give each other a hard time. I love their nick names for each other. I love that they'll work for stickers and praise. I love that they have accepted me and show me what it is to love and be loved every day. They are my family here. And they rock!! Like, for real.

Gringas take Tela

This past weekend we had a four day weekend. Entonces...Dee Dee and I went to Tela. Again. This is our second trip to Tela. The first trip was in September and we took an 8 hour bus ride to get there. Well, we've grown up a little since then. THIS TIME we rented a car and drove ourselves there. Awesome!! Until you get pulled over by la policia. In fact, right before we got pulled over by la policia, I was remarking just how awesome it was to have such freedom.

Everything turned out ok, but it was a little scary at first. As we are driving into Tela, we are trying to follow the directions that the hotel gave us. We have stayed there before, but as I said before last time we took a bus. Apparently Tela has a lot of one way streets. That information would have been helpful BEFORE driving in at 11:00 pm. Oh well. No sooner had Damaris said, "I think this may be the one way street they were talking about" did we get pulled over. Sort of. I almost drove right past them. A car/truck vehicle pulled out of nowhere going the opposite way and people in black starting getting out. I thought they were just parking or something. Then we realized we were actually getting pulled over. No one really gets pulled over here, so we didn't have any schema for this. The people in black were la policia. And they were not happy.

So first it's a dude cop. Then a lady cop comes over to help out because obviously he needs back up. They proceeded to speak very fast Spanish and I'm all, "Si! Si!". I hand them the license and registration plus my residency card. They kept telling me how I did a bad thing by going the wrong way. A very bad thing! If I knew better Spanish I would have said, "Yeah. Because everything here is so organized and well marked?!" There was really no way to know it was a one way. Sometimes there are tiny arrow signs in black and white.

I guess she thought we didn't understand the severity of the situation and at one point, I swear to God, she pantomimed handcuffs and said "infraccion!" That's when I started to get worried. Really? This is worth arresting me? With my limited comprehension and her limited patience, this could be bad.

Now all this is happening with Damaris trying to translate, but even she is having trouble understanding what's going on. They are telling me how they need to keep my residency, TX license and card for our rental car. She kept saying how we could get it in the morning and go to the bank to pay the ticket. I was like, I don't think so! I am not giving you my only identification and the only piece of evidence that says I didn't steal this car. At one point I just say, "Por favor! Ayudame!" Like just give me the ticket and let's get on with it already.

Finally they tell us to pull over, they talk it out and decide it's not worth it. So instead of a ticket we got a police escort to the hotel. I guess they thought they better to get us off the road. God forbid they have any more foreigners driving sensibly (minus the wrong way on a one way street). Well, that's one way to find your hotel.

The trip to Tela was awesome. We did exactly the same two tours we've done before. Not to mention the fish. The fish! Needless to say we got our fill of seafood.

Day 1: Garifuna village beach. Totally different vibe than mainland Honduras. It was nice. We were the only two people on the beach. The waves were a little rough, but it was so relaxing. When we got back into town we stopped in to see some animals from the visiting circus. It was actually really sad.
Triunfo de la cruz

Zebra. It's the same in English and Spanish.

One of these guys actually got out of it's leash thing. We didn't tell anyone.

Day 2: We saw some monkeys, blue crabs, and monster waves in Punta Sal. No really, the sea was angry that day. Monster waves. I still feel like I'm on a boat.
Two hundred year old coral

Monkey friend

Fish friend


Day 3: We got to do some amazing snorkeling in Cayos Cochinos on a barrier reef and meet some amazing jelly fish (agua malas). Ok, the jellies not-so-amazing. Yet another Garifuna village and more fish. We even made some little friends that proceeded to ask us for money and ate off our left over apple cores. Too cute.




Island life




Amigos

Feliz Dia de San Valentin...even in Honduras

So tonight when I went on my regular nightly jog I ran into one of my students and his mom. They live down the street from us. He couldn't wait until tomorrow to give my Valentine's gift. It was so cute. So here I am standing in the street with my Valentine's. But wait! I just started my jog. I couldn't just leave the Valentine in the street. The ants are brutal (and fast) here. And I couldn't very well jog with it. Well, I guess I could have but that would be a little like bragging to all the other people who didn't get an early Valentine in the street. So I went over the big house to drop it off where I knew it would be safe until I was done jogging. Totally love that I got an early Valentine gift in the middle of the night. I heart this place.

This same student decided last week that he would now be called "Richard". His name is "Ricardo". Or actually to his mom he's Andre. Somehow all kids here have two names and the one their families call them is never the one I call them.

I don't have any idea where he learned that Richard is Ricardo in English, but good for him. And how did he tell you that he wanted to change his name? I'm glad you asked. He just wrote Richard on his paper. Like, "There. That'll do it. I feel more like a Richard. It's official. I wrote it on my math paper."

This kid also goes by "Chino" cause he has small eyes and that's what all the big kids started calling him. And to Hondurans anyone even resembling anything Asian is chino. At first I wasn't sure he liked it, but I asked him and he was cool with it. At one point he was writing "Chino" on all his papers.

I think the lesson here is: let the kid be who he wants to be.

The birthday party of Andre

So once you've been teaching English Language Learners you start to take on some of their habits. Like instead saying "I'm going to the bathroom" I'll say "I go to the bathroom". Or I'll say, "Today we had the birthday party of Andre" instead of correctly stating "Today we had Andre's birthday party". I really have to watch it and check to make sure that what I'm saying makes sense in English. I think it also comes from speaking Spanish to parents then switching back to English with the kids. We're all sort of hearing our English get worse. I can only imagine what's going on in Kinder.

Although I'm losing my English, I still got it for the most part. It's awesome when they actually get my jokes. Like, actually get them and not just uncomfortably laughing because I'm laughing. They are understanding more and more English. I'm so proud.

On another note, I have a student (who is probably the least proficient English speaker in our class) who loves to have me say Spanish words that are difficult to pronounce and then laugh. It's all in good fun. But sometimes I want to tell him that people that live in "low English proficiency" houses shouldn't be throwing Spanish words. Just sayin'. Not that he'd understand that or that I'd stoop to my 8 year old self. It would be funny, though.

I go relax now. Happy weekend!