Friday, September 30, 2011

alliteration

I'm only calling this post alliteration because I don't want the actual alliteration to go down in blog title history, but the real title of this blog is: Friday Frustrations.

Let me start by saying I've had the best week of school here in Honduras yet. I feel like I’m finally starting to enjoy teaching again. My kids are starting to use more English, I'm starting to actually enjoy first grade life, and all in all it’s been a happier week.

Except that today was, as Alexander would say a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." Might as well write about it and get it out of me so I can enjoy my 3-day weekend. Yes 3-day weekend, they decided yesterday to make Monday día de los soldados. So Honduras, this holiday happens every year, but they don't pick the date until 4 days before it.

Like I said, best week yet with my all-stars. Despite that, however, I’ve been feeling frustrated with the Hondurans at my school. Don't get me wrong, I love them. I truly do and I want to get to know them better and be their friend and I really like them, but gaaaaaah.

Every week I meet with the Honduran principal and the first grade team. The principal has a first grade daughter, which is all at once awesome and not so awesome. It's great because she can see how Rosa and I collaborate and work together and how our math homework’s make sense. But at the same time, since her daughter is in first grade, she puts extra pressure and intensity on us. So this week I was frustrated because I decided to send home a weekly newsletter to my parents because they want to know when quizzes are and what we are learning. But this isn't enough for her, because apparently I can't just say you are going to have a quiz over these math topics or these ten words, I have to say and the quiz will be in _____ format. Apparently it isn't enough that I send my communications home to be proofread by the English principal, I now have to do them an extra day in advance so that she can look at them too. English principal tells me I'm going to fast in math, Honduran principal says to slow. Honduran principal says we aren't doing enough and that we aren't good enough.

So these were the frustrations and thoughts that I had going into today. . .

I was so excited about today, its Friday, I liked my outfit, we were having a great week in school, and today was Friday. Got to school, my kids didn't know what movies were so I had to spend extra time and patience being like, don't you know what movies are. But, the morning was proceeding along fine. Until I mention to Fanny that I'm going to finish the behavior reports during breakfast when she says, actually we're having another meeting with the Honduran principal. WHAT?!?!?! Why now, what now? I explain to Fanny that I wanted us to call the parents of the struggling students during that time, since we were sending home progress reports. I was then told that our meeting was to discuss progress reports so we should probably meet first to see what she says about the reports. Why can't this be communicated to me personally? Why does everything have to go through my aid?

So I go to the meeting, which starts ten minutes late. I spend that 10 minutes counting off the immense to-do list of things I could be dong. When she finally comes we first have to talk about parent complaints. Guess what, I'm tired of parents complaining! Apparently now the parents are mad because some kids haven't done homework because it hasn't been written in their agendas. This is the job of our aides. The kids aren't following the routine of turning in their agendas in the morning. Fanny goes through each kids backpack to see if they remembered to turn in the agenda or not, in the Spanish room, you turn it in to get your homework written or you’re SOL.

So anyways, the Honduran principal informs us that this is a major problem, that’s 100% our fault, and those we’re not working up to standard in first grade. She says we need to get our acts together because she doesn't want to have to keep talking to parents saying I’m sorry this is completely our fault we'll do better. Then she goes on to say that our aides shouldn’t be spending so much time on the agendas because they are supposed to be helping with behavior issues and co-teaching. Here's a perfect lead in for me to share my opinion on this matter, so I chime in that I'm completely in agreement with this point. I then explain that for this reason, I feel that this homework issue is not 100'% our fault. I explain that when this issue happens, I feel we should explain to the parents that the problem is that the kids need to follow the routine of turning in their agendas like we practice everyday. The aide shouldn’t have to go through everybody's backpack to see if the routines were followed--waste of time! So I suggest that we explain to the parents we're sorry for this error, assure them we will be more careful, and then ask them to speak with their child at home about remembering to follow routines and take responsibility for themselves. I know they are only 6, but 98% of my class can handle this. I'm all for talking to the kid and reminding them of the routine and making sure the homework gets written, but I also don't appreciate being told I'm not doing good enough job when a kid's agenda is not filled out because he forgot to follow the routines. Well, needless to say, this explanation and suggestion did not go over well. ugggg.

Now the bell rings and its time to go back to class. My kids are in the hallway, tackling each other, screaming, etc. And we haven't even begun to discuss the progress reports. I then find out as the principal looks at them that she doesn't like any of my comments and she said I’m not allowed to use white out. Again, opposite of what Peggy told me. I explain that Peggy said white out was fine and that the comments I used were all suggestions from the list Peggy gave us. Again, just trying to do my best and I get shot down. So long story short, the Honduran principal says I need to redo about 40 of my 50 reports. Great.

Go back to class and find my kids insanely tackling each other and screaming, but can I blame them no, they've been left unattended for 10 minutes while I was in a stupid meeting. And now they have a very grumpy, frustrated Miss Nardozzi with no tolerance and zero patience left.

Only to be interrupted again by Fanny and the Honduran principal. Because now the issue is that apparently I'm not supposed to call home to speak with parents about progress reports, why I don't know. Again Peggy tells me call home and now the Honduran principal says I can't. Instead I'm supposed to write a detailed note on the progress report that explains the child's grade more. So more work for me to get done by the end of the day since these reports must go home today.

So Fanny starts working on things and I'm more frustrated than ever because I need to be teaching and I now have soooo much work to do before the kids can go home (teach, progress reports, and behavior reports). Then in my frustration, while I'm teaching, I break one of my favorite necklaces. grumpiness increases.

But, I turn to God at several points and make it through to lunch. I line my kids up for lunch and begin to walk them to recess when, Fanny informs me that they need to go wash their hands because we're having a birthday party today. WHAT?!?!? Sorry I forgot to tell you, but Lizzy's birthday is today and her family is here with cake, they need to go wash hands and comeback in the room for cake. But, but, but when do I get to do those reports waiting for me??????

So we had Lizzy's birthday party, which made me more frustrated at life because I couldn’t shake off my grumpiness and so I didn't even enjoy the birthday party. I'm pretty sure I was more like the Grinch than anything wanting to just get this over with so that they could get outside so I could tackle work. Then Peggy comes in and kind of reprimands us because apparently we didn't follow the birthday party rules. oh geez, but I didn't know! Nobody tells me. I don't think she was like upset or anything it was more like a hey, heads up: usually we require a weeks notice for parties and the kids go to lunch firsthand then come back for cake. But again I didn't know! I literally found out in seconds that this is happening and I just did what I was told.

I didn't even get a piece of cake because I was so busy shooing kids out of the room so that I could get to reports that I forgot to take one. bummer, it was Disney princess cake too.

So, to wrap up this long saga of frustrations, I made it, I survived, all reports got home safely too. Definitely took several moments of prayer throughout the day, so I can definitely say it was by God's grace that I survived this day without severely losing it. And I'm glad I remembered in the insanity to turn to God.

In the end what this post comes down to is, I work so hard everyday and then I feel like my best isn’t good enough in the eyes of others. I just want to be friends with the Hondurans and affirmed and feel like a good teacher. The parents and principals and teachers seem to complain constantly. And then part of that too is there's this whole cultural/language thing to, so are they really upset? Are they really ungrateful? Do they understand things from my position? Do they really think I'm doing a terrible job? I don't know, because I rely on literal translations of what they say, I don't know Honduran body language, I don't know what the intentions behind what they say because I'm still learning the language and the culture. I do know that they are much more blunt here, so maybe the issues here are just small little suggestions and not such negative, mean phrases. I'm used to the American way of skirting around issues and not being direct.

So indeed it was a frustrating Friday to end my great week at school. Thank goodness I made it to the weekend. Time to rejuvenate, take sabbath, and figure out how to keep moving forward.

‎"Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway."-- Mother Teresa

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

World's Largest Sticker

So I have some pretty adorable all-stars that I get to spend my days with. One such adorable boy is a kiddo named Felix (not Feeeeelix, but pronounced more like F-aaaaay-lix in Spanish). I've been worried about Felix though because he goes to the bathroom all the time, like say 6 times 1.5 hours. I've been trying to figure this thing out, because that's not good. Felix is a really good, quiet, loves school type, and my aide always goes to the bathroom with him, and he is indeed going to the bathroom.

I've been trying to solve this dilema and my aide Miss Fanny told me that he really loves first grade, but then she told me sometimes he is scared. Apparently he was scared of his Prepa (Kindergarten teacher), so we think he might be scared of English class now. But, anyways I seriously love this kid. He's been one of my faves since the beginning, I mean his name is Felix, automatic bonus points. but in all seriousness, he was the kid who during the madness of día del niño, stopped playing to sweep up the mess. Great kid! I don't want him having these issues.

So the past 2 days we've been talking a lot about it, which is tricky due to the English-Spanish problem, but things are getting better. So much better that today I got 2 gifts.

First, he came to me during recess and gave me a small sticker and a bag of chile-lime plantain chips. I LOVE plantain chips. yessssss. score!

Second, on the way back from recess, I was talking to a girl in our class when i felt this tiny 6 year old hand smack something on the front my shirt. Upon looking down, I was gifted the worlds largest sticker by Mr. Felix. We had to take a picture and obvi I fashioned the sticker all day to many laughs of teachers and jealous stares of the other kiddos nearby. But seriously, largest sticker ever.

We were crammed for time, so the sticker is a little hard to see in all its glory, so I've included a solo shot below.



Saturday, September 24, 2011

La Playa

Photos from the beach. Deirdre has a sweet waterproof camera, so once she posts her pics, I'll put some of those up too :-)
Bus ride with constant interruptions, like this Independence day parade.
First beers upon arriving in the hostel.
i did a serious happy dance when I saw this shower.





This was the GORGEOUS beach that we lived on for 3 days. AHHHHHHH. Mountains, clouds, beach, sunsets, heaven.
The ocean floor was covered in sand dollars. I had never seen them real life before, so I was pumped. We collected some dead ones and Katie took this sweet shot of them.

Our hostel.
Bob the beer guy.
Hammock life is often the best life.








Shots from the cloud/rain forest we went to!


Picture of my amazing lunch at Playa Dorada and the beautiful beach that we ate on. Sooo yummy.


Monday, September 19, 2011

Casa de Kiwi, Trujillo

So the best part about surviving día del niño and Independence Day parades is that you get a 4 day weekend to recover. So early Thursday morning a group of us (Catie, Katie, Deirdre, Brita, and I) set out for a weekend on the beach in Trujillo, Colon, Honduras.

It was fabulous, it was also very difficult. shocker. Nothing in Honduras was easy. Hence, my 4 days on the beach were relaxing, full of great memories, interesting people, stories, difficult times, and many adventures. I'll try to keep the side stories to a minimum...but I do love to tell stories :-)

We decided to go to Trujillo on the north coast because we found a pretty nice, cheap looking hostel and because the guidebooks said it was only 7 hours away, not 10-12 like other beach areas in Honduras. Seemed like a win-win (which, don't get me wrong it was), but like I said nothing in Honduras can be easy. Wednesday we went to the bus station to find out about bus service to Trujillo. Busing here, in my opinion, is way more like gambling your odds away in Vegas than a safe, reliable, form of transportation. There are no tickets, no bus stations, no office. Nothing. Just a place for buses to pull in and out of. We were going by chicken bus, so each bus is owned and operated by the individual driving your bus that day. So when we showed up to find out information, nobody knew if there was a bus to Trujillo or not and everybody seemed to know a different time. 4:00 am said the first man, no 6:30 said the 2nd, 5:00 said the 3rd, no 5:30 said the 4th. like I said, Vegas, gambling, pick your odds. We finally decided our best bet was a taxi at 4:30 am to catch a bus at 5:00, hopefully.

Woke up early Thursday and hopped into a cab with Freddie, a very reliable and even early Honduran. When we arrived at the bus station a little after 4:30, we see a bus ready to go to Tacoa and La Ceiba. No bus to Trujillo. Freddie kindly asks the bus driver if he knows about a bus to Trujillo. He informs us that we can get on his bus, get off at Tacoa and switch buses to Trujillo. He claims that this is the bus we NEED to take. Like I said nothing is easy. Time to put on super sleuth thinking caps at 4:30 am...Is he trying to scam us to get on his bus? Is there really a way to get to trujillo from Tacoa? Is there a bus to trujillo? We don't have any idea. However, logic does tell us that 5 gringas standing on a street corner at 4:30 am is also not genius. So we decide to wait it out on the bus. If a bus to Trujillo arrives, we'll switch, if not, our gamble begins.

When no other bus arrives, we head out towards this mysterious Tacoa. There aren't really maps in Honduras, nor roads. Again, nothing is easy. So we venture off chicken bus style. We wind through the mountains, forests, and rural villages. We rarely drive on a "road" and spend most of our time slowly proceeding on curvy, windy, dirt paths. The view is gorgeous though. I loved getting to see so much of Honduras as I sat aboard the school bus. It was neat to wind through villages, mountains, and just really get to think about how lucky I am to be in such a beautiful place. The bus ride proceeds very slowly. We pause at the drivers discretion, stop to talk to passerbys, pick up cargo, passengers, visit people's homes, and get held up by Independence Day parades. But, alas we finally make it to Tacoa. We discover that the reason we have to go to Tacoa is that a bridge is out and buses cannot go to Trujillo anymore. So instead we have to drive an hour past Trujillo, catch another bus, and backtrack into Trujillo. Nothing is easy. But 2 buses, 1 hitchhike, 1 taxi, and 10 hours later the odds are with us and we arrive in Trujillo.
The first, well maybe second or third, words that come out of Chaz's mouth are, "Would you like a beer after that journey?" Did you have to ask? Salva vida please. From that moment I knew I would like Chaz and her hostel, Casa de Kiwi. Chaz moved here from New Zealand 12 years ago to open a hostel. Since then she's had this beautiful beach side property about 4 miles outside Trujillo. It's quiet, private, and beautiful. There's a hammock hut, restaurant/bar, beds to sleep in, and the best part....BEACH. We stayed in a bunk of 6 beds. Honestly, you learn what you are truly grateful for and how your life priorities change when your most excited that your HOSTEL has a working shower and you can put toilet paper in the toilet. I was very excited. Our beers became roadies as we couldn't wait to hit the beach. So we put on our suits and headed down to the water. It was breathtaking and beautiful. The beach was so clean, the water a sparkling, clear blue, sand dollars covered the floor of the ocean, and the water was refreshing, but so warm. I was in heaven surrounded by palm trees, sand, rain forest covered mountains, and ocean water.

The next day we all started moving by 6:30 or 7. My first stop was the hammock hut. We spent the morning rotating between laying out on the beach, cooling off in the water, and sleeping in hammocks--awesome. Brita and I also started collecting sand dollars. I was so excited because I'd never seen sand dollars in person before. Unfortunately, none survived the chicken bus home :-(.

We decided to do some exploring that afternoon. So Chaz drove us into town to a restaurant called Playa Dorada. It was this little restaurant on the beach. I was so excited to be cooked for and for fresh seafood! We were really hungry so we ordered a round of plantain chips to start things off. Then we ordered our food. We were warned that the food might take awhile to prepare, but with our toes in the sand, we didn't care one second about time. Deirdre and I decided to enjoy the time waiting for our meals in the water. The restaurant was next to this dock that kids were jumping off of. So we stripped down to our suits and headed to join them. So fun and so refreshing. When we returned our food was almost ready for us. It was incredible. I had a white fish (I don't remember what kind :=( ) in a garlic butter sauce with plantain chips, grilled veggies, and salad. Heaven. I also tried conch which was sooooo good as well. So delicioso. After lunch we headed into Capiro National Park which is either a cloud forest or a rain forest, not sure. It was soooooo beautiful. We did a 40 minute hike in, which was one of my fave parts of the trip. I just love forests and hikes. On our way back we found these small waterfalls and swimming holes, so we once again enjoyed the beauty around us by taking a swim.

That night we enjoyed some more quality beach time and met these 2 great girls that are currently working in Teguc. Lorena was from Spain and Alberta was from Italy. They were so nice. We all enjoyed the sunset together and dinner back at Kiwi. That night we hung out with the girls, Chaz, Jamie (the Honduran who works the bar/restaurant), and Bob. We had some drinks, played cards, learned how to play Honduran pool, took a night swim, and just chatted about life. It was amazing. I love meeting knew people, hanging out, night swimming, and just learning cool stuff. fantastic night.

The next day we just chilled at Casa Kiwi. I spent the morning at the beach alternating between naps, reading, and swimming in the water. Then Bob came down to the beach with his kayak. He offered to let us use it. Sweetness. So Deirdre and I headed out and kayaked around the bay area for about an hour. Can I just say that I love kayaking? It was gorgeous and so much fun. It was hard work, but then we got to talking about life (one of my fave things to do) and so we just chilled and let the water move us throughout the water as we shared life stories. I love quality time and ocean life.

That afternoon I glued myself to a hammock. I caught up on my reading, journaling, napping, and chatting. Bob came over for awhile so I got to chat with him about life. Bob is awesome. Funny story, so before coming to Honduras I had heard about this micro-brewery--D&D Brewery. I immediately put it on my list of places to go. I mean I love breweries, beers, and its the only in Honduras, a must see if you ask me. So anyways, it turns out that Bob is the founder of the brewery. GOLLY GEE WHIZ! How random and lucky is that? Bob is in his late 50s and he moved to Honduras. He started this brewery on a lake in central Honduras. Its called D&D for Dale (his last name) and Dog (Charlie, who I hate, cause he bit me). A few years ago he decided to try something new so he sold it, but the brewery is still there and still making his beers. Currently Bob is homeless, jobless, and loving life. He travels around, finds adventures, meets people, and explores. pretty sweet life. He is good friends with Chaz so he visits Kiwi a lot. He is also a coffee farmer so he kindly made us some of his coffee, so yummmmmy. I definitely think that meeting Bob is a sure sign that I will make it to that brewery this year. Anybody want to join?

That night Chaz cooked up another delicious meal for us: barracuda and shrimp in a cream sauce over pasta with garlic bread and salad. We enjoyed our meal with our new friends. It was a great night of food and convos with new friends. I was so happy.

The next morning, we unfortunately had to say goodbye for another long chicken bus ride. We began our journey at 4:20 am and made it back to Juti around 3:15 (I won 5 lmps for that one..score). The bus ride was again pretty rough, nothing is easy. This time, we discovered that chicken buses really do carry chickens! Who knew? What an adventure. It was also quite funny because the devotional that I read everyday could have been called "What to Know about life in Honduras" because it so perfectly captured the essence of the difficulties, challenges, and way of life here. It was a good prayer to remember on a long chicken bus ride away from the beach and back to reality :-) Honduras keeps on revealing itself to me. Each day I discover new setbacks, challenges, and beauty. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to spend such quality time with new friends, relax on the beach, and enjoy a different area of this county. It was incredibly beautiful.

"You will not find My peace by engaging in excessive planning: attempting to control what will happen to you in the future. . . Just when you think you have prepared for all possibilities, something unexpected pops up and throws things into confusion. I did not design the human ming to figure out the furutre. . . Bring Me all your needs, your hopes and fears. Commit everything into My care. Turn from the path of planning to the path of Peace" Sarah Young



Sunday, September 18, 2011

día del niño--videos

Here are some youtube videos from día del niño festivities.

Check out footage from the piñata fun here. Nobody got hurt just to clarify:



Here's a video on the game that Fanny and I were in charge of called bombos:


What do a good majority of my kids do when they are doing eating? They dance. And they dance punta. They also dance way better than I ever will be able too.


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

día del niño

In general, Hondurans like to celebrate, hey like to celebrate everyone and everything, and they like to do it in an over the top fashion. As such they have holidays for everyone so there are lots of "día del _____" Yesterday was día del niño.

The day began with one last parade rehearsal for the Independence Day parades on Wednesday. None of my kids are participating, so I had to entertain them for an hour. We played some danceish version of duck, duck, goose, however the field we were assigned was full of nasty bugs. So luckily, my easily amused first graders, were completely content sitting and watching the parade practices.

Afterwards, we had game time. It's essentially like a field day in the US minus all the structure, organization, and safety precautions teachers and parents take into account in the US. We sat the kids down, went over the rules, and told them all the different activities. The kids could dance, limbo, play musical chairs, get their faces painted, make macaroni necklaces, play BINGO, soccer, or bombas. I was in charge of bombas with Fanny. Bombas is the name for a game my mom used to often do in our sweet room mom parties back at Mill Street. You tie a balloon around a kid's ankle and then you try to pop the balloons. The winner is the last person to have a balloon left and attached to their ankle. So after explaining the games, Peggy literally just yelled, okay go! The kids stood and stampeded to the activity of their choice. They had free reign of all school property, which is pretty extensive. There were no groups or rotations, no buddy system, just a free for all with nobody in charge or responsible for particular groups. Shocking, I know.

What was also surprising was the popularity of my game. Having played this before, it was never that popular, so I was figuring my station might be a little boring, but the kids loved it and it was so much fun. I played a few rounds too and got quite the work out in jumping around and stomping on balloons. Unfortunately, I did not win. But it was still a lot of fun to play and the kids loved it!
Catie making necklaces with some of my first graders.
Bombos!
These are Easter eggs in Honduras.

Andree and David after face painting.



After games, the kids all headed into their classrooms for a giant party. We combined all the first graders into Profe Rosita's room. The chairs were pushed aside and we got alllll the food out. Let me tell you, I've never seen so much food in my life. There was pizza, tacos, churritos filled with cheese and meat, enchiladas, empanadas, sandwiches, these little bean tostada things, tortillas, tuna, chicken, cookies, cake, chips, candy and soda. Each kid got a plate with a slice of pizza, a taco, an empanada, a churrito, sandwich, and tostada. It was insane the amount of food. We just kept finding more and more and more food to give the kids. It was ridiculous. We had so many leftovers, so hooray food for the rest of the week for me! I love trying new things so it was exciting to try all the food. But man am I full. And of course, that wasn't even dessert yet. There was soda, cookies, chips, candy, and 4 cakes for our classrooms. We didn't even cut one of the cakes, so now I have a fourth of a cake to enjoy at home!
eating time!
sample plate of what the kids ate. so much food.

Then it was time for the piñata. Now the interesting thing about all of this is that again there is no structure, no rules, no organization--it's a free for all. The kids could leave the classroom at will to do whatever they wanted. So when we said time for the piñata (which was of Sponge Bob) maybe 3/4 of the class came back. The rest of the kids, God knows where they were, but nobody cared. The piñata was so fun, but again my motherly/teacher instincts were kicking in. The kids just take the stick and whack it again and again. When candy falls out the kid keeps whacking while everybody else dives below to grab candy. I enjoyed the piñata, don't get me wrong, but I think I spent 2/3 of the time closing my eyes not wanting to watch a child get whacked by the stick as i was so sure it would happen. Alas, nobody got hurt and Sponge Bob was successfully ripped open, torn to shreds, and the candies inside were devoured and enjoyed by all.


The rest of the day was just spent hanging out with the teachers, dancing with my kiddos, watching kids dance/play, and just laughing. It was so fun to be with the kiddos in a relaxed setting and playing. Then at 11:00, Peggy rang the bell and the kids just trickled at their own speed to their buses to go home.

It's funny how different and chaotic things are here, and yet there were no problems or major injuries. I had no idea where my kids were or even how many kids I had today. There were guns in my classroom, pinatas, and just hyper students. And yet, fun was had by all. My kids were so adorable all day. They were such good helpers too. Felix (such a sweetie) went and got a broom on his own to help Miss Peggy sweep up the disaster that was caused by destroying Sponge Bob. It was so nice to see the kids, being kids. I have to admit I'm still shocked that nobody died, got injured, lost, etc. due to the chaotic nature of the day, however, somehow it works in Honduras.

So, my friends, that is how you do Día del Niño.