Invierno

We’re entering invierno here in Honduras, so the weather is a bit cooler and rainier. At times I can even sleep with my sheet at night, and wake up in the morning wanting to wear long pants—for about an hour. My dad sent me his personalized weather homepage, with the highs for Providence, RI, White Plains, NY, Durham, NC, San Diego, CA, and San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The first four were all in the 40s. Honduras was listed at 84 degrees. The rain does cool off our hot, hot world, though...and when it does, the kids break out jackets and sweaters and even, in one case, a red turtleneck to wear under the short-sleeved gym t-shirt.

October went by in a blur. After the trip to Copan, I didn’t get out too much. One treat, though, was getting to go out dancing in San Pedro at a nightclub called Confetti. It was so much fun. A few of us got driven there by a friend of ours, grabbed dinner, and then went to a bar in the mall that stays open later than everything else there. There I saw more hipsters than I knew existed in Honduras (they don’t reside in my town so much) and then went out dancing at a club. I even got to dance with our hot 20-year-old Honduran friend. We heard an odd (reggaeton?) rendition of “Yo shorty, it’s your birthday” and a particularly ugly version of “All the leaves are brown...” Other than that, it was mostly Latin or reggaeton. I learned how to do some dance where you step forward and then step back (“atras” / “adelante” / “atras” / “adelante”) and then spin around really quickly. So fun.

In school, there have been some successes. The new demerits system for the junior high may be working, sort of. I noticed considerably less complaining on the part of a certain bright but whiny student towards the end of the week, because she was hoping to earn the free homework pass they get if they get no demerits for a whole week. And I’m not sure what was going on with one adorable but troublesome boy in my class, but on Friday he was stellar—he was the only one in his group being serious about the work and volunteered to write something on the board. I’ve also had a lot of people reminding each other (in that catty middle school way, but you know..) to speak in English. And on an unrelated note, one of my eighth graders used a possessive (my sister’s house) unprompted in her writing. Maybe these kids are learning something!

On Thursday, my co-junior-high teacher and I went to San Pedro to visit some schools. We’re researching prospects for our ninth graders, who will be graduating this year. It got me so psyched up. We got driven around by one of our ninth graders parents, which made it a lot easier. Even though they are so expensive—it would be very difficult for many of our parents to send their students to the schools—it was really exciting to see their beautiful facilities and speak with some other students. Our school pales in comparison to these schools, with real-building style schools, tiled bathrooms with fluorescent lighting, kids whose uniforms aren’t dingy from walking to school and playing in our dusty yard, air conditioning, textbook sets, covered play areas and large computer labs. We hopped on a chicken bus home in the rain and sat up front where we could watch the ayudante lift all the little kids over the puddles into the bus. Very adorable.

I was so energized by the trip that when I returned to teach the last period of the day—the usually hassle-licious ninth grade global studies class—I startled my students with my enthusiasm. They were so suspicious about it: “Why are you so happy? Were you having fun in San Pedro instead of teaching us?” Nothing they did could shake me. It was awesome. Amazing how much easier teaching is when you’ve had a break from it and are simply in a really good mood. And they were happy to hear about the schools...they’re both very anxious about their futures (and the strain a new expensive city school will put on their families) and thrilled to get the chance to meet other people and get out of their small town. Some schools even let the boys wear, as part of the uniform, (gasp) jeans!

At home here in my little dorm-like house with five other girls, we’ve gotten addicted to Desperate Housewives. A mom came to visit a few weeks ago and brought it for us. At first we were totally skeptical, but we tried it last weekend and got completely hooked. Most of the people in it are pretty creepy in some way, so Scrubs is definitely better for a lighthearted after-school break, but DH is really addictive—lots of cliffhangers. And two hot guys. We’re hoping to get Grey’s Anatomy and some other stuff for Christmas...but of course then we’ll have even more to distract us! It’s a dangerous thing.

A recap of some of the highlights of my time here so far for those who haven’t been keeping track....in the past several months I have: checked out a beautiful national park in the mountains nearby (and sang Disney songs on the ride home in the back of a pickup truck in the pouring rain), went to the beach, marched in the Independence Day Parade, visited the Mayan ruins in Copan (and met a 23 yr old Californian guy who just bought a restaurant in Copan and is now running it there while living in a hostel...awesome), seen “Golpe de suerte” (“Just my luck,” in English with Spanish subtitles—we got everything so much better than the rest of the audience), taught more than forty days of school, eaten about thirty baleadas, hosted multiple parties at our house, and even had a birthday extravaganza weekend for one of my housemates! We’re headed to a conference in Tegucigalpa, the capital, around Thanksgiving, which should be cool. And after that it’s almost Christmas and time to head home for a few weeks! It’s all going pretty fast, even though a school day can at times seem interminable.

Really hoping to get to go out dancing again tonight. Not sure if everything will work out, but I’ve got my fingers crossed.