Monday, November 24, 2008

A Few Student Pictures


Here are my 9th grade girls. Last Wednesday Honduras played Mexico in a World Cup qualifier, which meant that students were out of uniform. When the kindergarten teacher was painting the Honduran flag on her students' faces, my students saw and insisted that we all get it done too.


Here's the 8th grade class. All of it. They can be a bit mischievous but are incredibly sweet and funny and want to learn. No matter how crazy my day gets, I can count on them to be a breath of fresh air.




And here's a few snapshots of the seventh graders. They made cell models (just like I did in 7th grade with Mrs. Sunquist!) and then went to teach the 4th graders about cells. I'm not sure either group learned anything, but they had fun.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Día Típico

Last week was Día Típico at our school. This meant school was cancelled for the day so teachers could decorate in the morning. The title Typical Day referred to the traditional dances and food that would be in the evening, but the day with teachers was pretty "typical" as well. At first I was frustrated that we weren't getting much done, and I wonder how long it will take before the phrase "If I were at home...." quits springing so quickly to mind. It turned out to be a really fun day with the other teachers, and I learned another lesson in how to just be with people and not always needing to be busy doing something.



The teachers prepared decorations and also put out traditional clothing and artwork that students had brought in.


Here I am with some of my students who had come to prepare for their dance that night.


I don't have many pictures of the actual event because, as usual, I'm terrible at taking pictures, but here's one I like of some of the preschoolers before their dance.



Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Pueblo Nuevo



Our Little Roses is building a conference/retreat center about an hour from San Pedro Sula in the small town of Pueblo Nuevo. A few of the volunteers and I recently went out for the Feria, the town fair. It’s a sweet little town in the hills, and it was great to get out of the city for a bit.



We didn’t know what was scheduled, but as we were walking around town we heard a marimba band playing in a building. When we peeked our heads in the door, we saw a band on stage with several older men and a large town hall full of small tables decorated with white tablecloths and flowers. We were quickly welcomed in and spent a few hours watching something similar to a local talent show. The marimba band performed and others would volunteer to come up and sing songs also. Some children performed a few dance routines, both modern and folkloric. One man mimed a routine where he was eating bananas and then had diarrhea while the MC made sound effects with the microphone. The elders of the town were publicly recognized and several prayers were said, including the prayer of St. Francis.

One woman was near tears as she read the names of all their family and friends who were in the United States working to support them. The room grew quiet as she spoke of how much they missed their home and asked that they all pray for one another.

We were served Coke in small plastic glasses (I’ve drank more Coke in my three months here than the rest of my life combined) and served a great lunch. People smiled and greeted us but never questioned why we were there or hesitated even a moment to welcome us.

We had to leave in the late afternoon to catch the bus back to the city but caught a glimpse of the parade which included several classic cars and this truck with children dressed as butterflies titled “A Garden of Light and Love.”