Striving for tranquilo

A bunch of platanos hangs from our rafters on the back porch and several white and light-blue birds have come by thinking to themselves, "“Sweet! A birdfeeder!"” It'’s very cute, actually. Less cute are the many types of ants who reside in our house. We have one kind of ant, a rather large, light-brown ant in the bathroom, and both large and small black ants in the kitchen. I had heard that ants bite, but I had never experienced the fury of tiny, tiny black ants--—well, of any ants, actually--until recently, when I was brutally attacked while attempting to cook pancakes. They sure do sting! Cleaning the kitchen became a serious priority immediately afterwards. Unfortunately, it is impractical to sweep and mop every single time anyone eats anything. Due to the lack of snack foods in Honduras, we have become huge fans of popcorn. In other animal news, last night we definitely spotted a tarantula on the back wall of our yard. It seems to have disappeared today, so I am hoping it went to visit the neighbors.

It has been a super busy week. After the teacher'’s meeting today, conducted in Spanish, of course, I felt saturated in Spanish enough to think to myself, "“It has been a week super-busy."” (I'’d like to take this moment to praise the director of the school, who speaks slowly and clearly enough that I actually understand her very well.) My favorite thing that I have picked up on is using bien as an adverb, as in "Es bien fri­o" or even "“Es bien malo"! Right now es bien caliente--this afternoon a mini-thermometer for science experiments showed 98 degrees. At 7 pm, with the sun set, it has dropped to 92 degrees.

I just realized that I have not mentioned on the blog that we had a full roster of fun events last weekend, namely a birthday party last Friday and karaoke--—which was hysterical--—on Saturday night, plus a huge feast for H's birthday on Sunday night. I led the creation of the stir-fry, and it was awesome, if I do say so myself. Most interestingly, though, when I went to church on Sunday morning, I found the church overflowing with people as a result of the thirty-one weddings taking place. There were kids eating flavored ices, adults fanning themselves madly, and couple after couple approaching the bishop to accept the vows. On the altar there was one up, and one on deck.

On Sunday night, after a full but fun weekend, I realized that I really had not planned properly for the week. Several nights this week I stayed up until 12:30 or 1:30 am getting ready, and then woke up at 5:50 in the morning. It was very painful. But settling into the new classrooms was great--—it's so nice to have my own space. When I looked at the room this afternoon before I left, I realized just how crazy it is that I'’m here with my very own classroom to set up and decorate and maintain. I have hung some posters on the walls with a rubber cement glue called UHU, and I need to hang up more. It just feels like such a commitment, because things pasted with UHU are not easily separated from the wall again. I have a line with clothespins attached to the window bars (I may have delusionally said previously there are screens, but in fact there are not) and I hang some papers there, but we get quite the breeze in our tiny Junior High pasillo, so they don'’t survive too well there. My co-Junior High teacher has crafted a nifty bulletin board out of cardboard and I really should do the same. I have been hanging up some inspirational quotes, in addition to the National Geographic maps. I made the ninth graders write last night about an Albert Einstein quote: "“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."” I'm looking forward to seeing what they have come up when I get around to grading their homework--really soon, I resolve in this very moment.

It was a pretty good week with the kids. I'’m setting up some new routines: a "Take One/Leave One" folder at the door for depositing homework and picking up handouts, space on the shelf for journals and for folders for in-class projects, vocab tests and independent reading time on Fridays. I find grading to be one of the more painful parts of being a teacher because I feel responsible when, for example, someone doesn't understand the assignment. But if other folks did, or asked questions until they did, then I think I have to subtract points.... I'’ve been thinking a lot about what it would be like to be in school and not be that great of a student. Those are the students whose minds I really need to get inside, so I can figure out how to help them.

Today was a half day for a teacher meeting, and next Friday is the Dia de Los Ninos, so the kids come to school for only three hours and play games we make for them. The week after we have another half day and a day off for the Di­a de Independencia parade. Hondurans are all about their celebrations. Makes it a bit hard to get in a school routine, though. I can get really frustrated here at times, because it is so hot, and I always feel so dirty (so much dust!), and life here is simply exhausting. Fortunately my sufferings have been alleviated somewhat because I have fallen in love with liquados, a true substitute for Starbucks drinks. Sipping a banana liquado puts me in the same mood as when I drink a chai creme--a mood I now have a word for: tranquilo.