The Importance of Relationships

I came here with the excitement of meeting new people, the excitement of developing relationships with both fellow teachers and the students. It is very apparent how much the culture of Honduras revolves on the development of relationships. In the states, we're use to getting things done. No time for small talk. Here it is exactly the opposite. You need to get to know one another. There should be no reason why you can't stop and say hi or ask how their day/week has been. The culture is relational, and I definitely had a taste of it this past Friday during seventh grade orientation and open house. I met so many students and their parents that afternoon that both my Spanish began to come up more smoothly (even though I still had roadblocks in the translation) and my excitement to begin classes grew.

One family stood out in particular. The student will be an eighth grader this year and the one thing his dad said was that they were there to help me with any problems I may have and that we were a team. We are expected to work together and that is beautiful. I can't imagine not having that support out here. I am very thankful for the involvement of some of the parents here and the excitement that everyone has in coming to a renovated school and entering a new school year. There were also several students who came up to me excited for class to begin because they were "tired of summer". I can't wait to begin teaching.

Community.
Community here on the campus is really a beautiful thing. There is definitely an open door policy and everyone is full of smiles and encouragement. Relationships sprout like wildflowers. We are comfortable with each other even despite our different personalities. We all have something to share with one another and it is interesting to get all of these ideas and viewpoints from all over the place. I definitely do not feel alone here. My housemates are awesome and very welcoming, and I enjoy building relationships with my neighbors as well. Everything seems to be falling into place.

I've even been able to keep in contact with a few people back home which really does brighten up my day. I love you all!! But overall, if I've learned anything about relationships the past 8 months it's this - it's so important to speak up and say what you're feeling, tell the truth - without that your just hiding. It's also important to trust God with your relationships. Let Him handle the dirty work, and let Him use you to impact the lives of others. We are made for relationships and community and I'm thankful for everyone that I've met and come in contact with thus far.

 

Some Fun Photos

 

 

 

 

Week 2 Adventures

A lot has happened since the rotten egg incident. For starters, school has been postponed again. Now instead of starting on Monday the 22nd, we're starting on Monday the 29th (no complaints on my end). Construction on the high school has been non-stop since we arrived here. The workers are putting in almost 12 hour work days, and we expect quality work. We even had a moving day this past week where we all put in help to get stuff out of storage and into the proper classrooms. I was super excited when it came time to move the art stuff. There was quite a surprise though. Apparently a stray cat was going into labor on a couple of art supply boxes (the compasses a protractors to be exact). As the new art teacher I am getting a whole new set of cabinets and countertops in the classroom. Everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am - I believe them. There's so much storage space! I did get to step foot into my classroom this past week and organize some - I spend a good amount of time in there on Friday. 

 
There have been quite a few adventures as well. 
     
     On Wednesday, after work, a few of us decided to go play a round of mini-golf down in the city. It was my first time taking a "rapiddito" (what they call the busses on the mountain) and it was definitely an experience. Once we reached the bottom of the mountain we caught a taxi who then dropped us off at the golf course. Let me tell you - that mini-golf course was the most challenging golf course I have ever attempted to putt on. There were so many distractions, hills and curves that it was almost impossible to get a hole-in-one at any given time. We had fun though. I will be coming back again. The night ended in a part one movie screening of The Sound of Music (I was apparently one of only a few of us who had never seen it before). We finished the movie on Thursday night, and I would recommend the movie to those who have never seen it. The actors in it are talented! I was very impressed. 

  
    

    On Friday, after work, I caught a ride with Dave, Debra, and a few other teachers down the mountain and over to the Multiplaza (mall) where we spent a good majority of the afternoon relaxing and shopping for shoes. After looking in several stores, I ended up getting some black FTOMS (that's what John calls them, it stands for "Fake TOMS"). That night, we started watching Fiddler on the Roof, but again made it into a two part movie night (we are to finish it later tonight). 

     This brings us to today. Today I woke up at 5am. We left the campus at 6:30am heading to the stadium market - pretty much a farmers market. Now, I have been to these types of markets before, but never one as large as this one was. It was definitely overwhelming and there    are so many precautions that no one ever really told us about. For instance, ladies are not to take a purse to the stadium market and it is not even wise to being a cell phone or camera with you. You carry everything in your pocket and always need to be extra aware of who is around you because people apparently get pick-pocketed all the time there. I'm glad I took a couple of grocery bags though, it made things a lot easier. I paid 1 lempira for a jalapeño! That's like 5 cents! After the market, we went to another grocery store and then a bakery for fresh bread and pastries. I have since then spent the day with a nap, lunch, and now I'm plugging into the internet. 
     Speaking of internet. Our connection has been delayed until Monday or Tuesday. The internet people came with a broken modem and they need to replace it - kinda a long story. Oh yeah, I made the taco meat mom! Notes for next time: I need to add more comino and attempt to make better shells. Other than that it was wonderful!

                     

  

Rotten Egg

     Today was an off beat kinda day. I woke up well rested, ready for a good breakfast. I decided on eggs, sausage and toast. Boy was I wrong. Let me backtrack for a minute…
     Last night, we had maybe 3 electrical outages. Let's just say that the candles stayed on practically all night until bedtime (yes, even through our mini-game night). The fact that we didn't have electricity didn't bother me, but when I went to take my shower I quickly realized that a shower was not a great idea when there's no electricity. Let me explain - we have an electric water heater attached to the shower head so that we can take hot showers (cool huh). Well… no electricity means no hot water. So I went to bed without a shower (not very typical of me). First mistake. 
     Well, back to today. I woke up, well rested and ready to start the day. I cracked open my egg for breakfast (a little too cheerfully I guess), and out squirted this blue goo and this awful smell (think about the worst thing you've ever smelled and then multiply it by 10)! A few gags later, I dumped the rotten egg in the trash and attempted to store the trash bag on the back porch without loosing my stomach. But the kitchen already reeked with rotten blue egg (I tried Lysol, but it didn't help any - made it worse actually). Well, thankfully I had put a jacket on before the egg cracking, but the jacket didn't survive. There was goo on the jacket, goo on my foot and sandal, and goo on the kitchen countertop. So my foot took a quick shower, I cleaned up the kitchen, and then attempted to eat toast with jelly as an alternate breakfast option. 
     Of course I needed to change, so I did. Coffee did cheer me up a little, but by then I was in a rush to get to the morning meeting. On my way out I grabbed a mug and off I went. On my way over I slipped on some mudd, coffee splashed up and landed all over my right hand. I shook it off, and continued on my hike to the meeting. The electricity was still out in the cafeteria (so no internet)… but when coffee break came around I indulged. I even grabbed a small cup of orange juice. Bad decision. I know you're excited to hear this, but on my way to another meeting the orange juice went for a ride as well. Left hand, covered in orange pulp. No bueno. After the meeting, I went home a little frustrated and quite confused by the information just presented. Well I reached the door of the apartment and somehow pineapple juice ended up on my shirt. Again I failed. 
     Well, to bring this story to an end, I blame this strange series of events to the electricity being out last night and not being able to take a shower. The rest of the day I was grumpy, and I apologize now to everyone who endured the wrath of Amanda today. I just need to take a shower now. The work day is officially over.


End of story. 

Tegucigalpa, Honduras + Pictures

{Written Friday, August 12, 2011}


Last night marked one week since my arrival here inTegucigalpa, Honduras. The excitement is still alive believe it or not. I have made many friends here already and am excited to meet my students. I'm proud to say that I now know and have friends from all over the place - even one from Indonesia and one from Canada! I know a few people from Honduras now and I look forward to developing deeper relationships with them as time passes. I may even get guitar lessons from Fernando (a local classical guitar teacher) - I'm very excited about that! 


We've been in either transition meetings or teacher meetings everyday for the past week, which is a little exhausting, but worth it since I'm entering my first year teaching. I feel like it's information overload! ~ I realized today that Honduran coffee is much stronger than I anticipated, and that doesn't help when I'm forced to sit for hours at a time (see picture of the infamous coffee sock). I was practically bouncing off of the walls (no joke)- Sarah can attest to that. ~ I did crash later that evening, just in case you were wondering.


I've already learned so much about myself here and I truly believe that God was preparing me over the past eight months for this time. I am free to be myself here, and I'm so much more flexible and willing to adapt and go through change. More so than before. The weather here has been amazing, and at night (when it's not raining) the stars shine like crystals. It's so beautiful. I will say that I do miss my freedom to get up and go, but that just makes me chill out more and enjoy relationships (no wrong in that).


Well, here's what you've been waiting for... some pictures!! enjoy!!

The view from the Cobbles back porch. Awesome!

It's even better at night! Imagine glowing lights, clear sky and amazing stars!

                   Leche (I think) Tastes like a giant grape.                      First time using a coffee sock.

 
                 My first fiesta here in Honduras!                                            These are some wonderful ladies...
                      Happy Birthday Melissa!                                                       Sarah, Lauren and Gabrielle

The girl standing up (Stacey) reminds me of Jamie. So many cool personalities.

This is El Hatillo where both the school and apartments are.

We can tell that this is our mountain by the Jesus statue and Coca Cola Sign.

Can you see them?

I'm A Survivor

Day 3. So far it's been a wonderful transition -- reminds me of home actually minus the English. I can't believe how encouraging the administration is here at Pinares.  There are 14 of us "new teachers" who arrived on the 4^th (everyone else will be trickling in on the 8^th) and it’s been great getting to know them over past few days. We come from all over the place! There are teachers who represent Ohio, Indiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Canada (my first Canadian friend!), Arkansas and of course me - Texas! There is also a group of about 5 of us who will be first year teachers as well!

Surprisingly, getting settled in has not been very difficult. We had our first trip down the mountain to Walmart today, yes I said Walmart, where we were able to get a majority of the things we were missing and get a supply of food for the next week. They told us that our shipment of boxes should be arriving on Tuesday, which I am looking forward to. Now the only thing left is to get the classroom set up and ready for the first day on the 18^th. The high school is actually under some renovations right now so we weren't able to get a peek into our classrooms, but we did get a chance to tour the elementary portion of the campus. Fortunately for me, I was told that the secondary art room would be getting new cabinets and storage units! How exciting! I get to start my first year teaching in a practically new room! 

Everything is so tranquil here on El Hatillo. The weather is wonderful. I would say it's been spread throughout the 80's during the day and with nights chilling down to high 60's or low 70's (I’m not very good at estimating weather, but it is rather similar to Ruidoso, NM). I love it. The campus is full of pine trees and wild flowers and the apartment is amazing! I have my own spacious bedroom and share a bathroom with Sarah (she's from Ohio). The only thing left is to decorate.

With all that said, I am excited to be here. I can’t wait to meet the returning teachers this coming week and experience more of what Tegucigalpa has to offer. There’s already talk of planning some trips around the country, and I think a trip to Nicaragua is underway. I just wonder when it will hit that I am actually living here and not just visiting for a couple of weeks.