Well, if I would have known what this past week was going to be like, I wouldn't have even bothered planning anything. Essentially the week was spent getting ready for SAG--the Student Annual Gathering--where all the students (middle and high school) from all the schools get together in Valle de Angeles (a half hour from Tegucigalpa) at a summer-camp-like deal and compete in everything from sports and academic competitions to other events like sudoku, legos, rubik's cube, and origami. I still can't believe it's this coming week already--I still remember students talking about SAG in September, and I was like, "Are you kidding? SAG is months away." But now it's here already! So this past week several athletic games were organized (during school), and in some cases the whole school got to go and watch -- like the boys' soccer game at the small stadium here in Catacamas. The rest of the time was spent making the big banners to hang up at SAG and trying to train students in the other competitions -- by the end of the week I had a headache from doing so many sudoku puzzles!
Usually one girl teacher and one guy teacher from each school get to go as chaperones -- I am the girl from my school and the math teacher is the guy. The principal is also going, and they have decided to have another girl teacher go (the history teacher), and I think the guy PE teacher too -- maybe because we have about 50 students going. I'm pretty excited for it, but all of the other teachers are dreading it and no one wants to go...they keep warning me I'm not going to get any sleep. Well, sounds like being a summer camp counselor for the week. We leave at 5:30am on Tuesday -- I guess the competitions begin Tuesday afternoon. We still have school tomorrow, but I've learned my lesson and didn't plan anything! (With my luck, now we'll have normal classes...)
Anyway, this coming Saturday Rose is coming to visit me for the week! I'm guessing I'll want a relaxing break after SAG, so it's great timing. (Although that first night I think I'll still have to be chaperoning my students, but hopefully I can get out of it...) Besides we have Monday off of school (because students don't get back from SAG till Sunday and apparently they need a day to rest), and Tuesday too (national holiday). I asked for Wednesday off too, so Rose and I will get to spend the first half of the week in Tegus relaxing by the pool, and then she'll come back to Catacamas for a few days and go to school with me. So it should be a fun two weeks coming up!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Basketball, Calvin & caves, and an English class party
This was kind of a crazy week getting back into the routine of school, meetings, basketball, working out, ESL...and then a busy weekend too. On Friday morning our basketball team had a game against one of the huge public schools here in Catacamas (which reminds me, I never posted about our other basketball games in Tegus before Holy Week). Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and I got out of Friday morning classes! The school there is HUGE -- about the same number of kids as my high school (maybe more) and since the game was at their school, all of the other students were crowded around watching and screaming and yelling. It was nuts! It reminded me of games at my high school. So picture us being surrounded by everyone cheering for the other team...chanting "Dieciohco, dieciohco, dieciocho" (the name of their school) so I couldn't even hear myself yelling. The girls couldn't even hear the referee's whistle either. It was absolutely crazy. We beat them 19 to 3 -- it actually should have been by more because their team was pretty bad. But seeing as how we had no fans I guess I'll let it slide. I guess the team at the other school just started this year, so they don't really know what they're doing yet. Anyway, the games before Holy Week were really fun too -- we lost two and won one. The girls actually played better than I thought they would, though we lost real bad to Justin's school's team...to give ourselves an excuse, it was our third game and the girls were exhausted. Hopefully we'll come back motivated for SAG (the big competition) in a week and a half.
Then Friday afternoon the Calvin students came to visit! There are about 10 students this spring studying Spanish in Tegus (the same semester abroad I did), and they were coming to a town about 15 minutes from Catacamas to visit a health clinic on Friday. My old prof knew that I was teaching here, so she called me up and asked if they could stop by my school to visit. I said of course! So they arrived at about 2 Friday afternoon...just in time for my 7th grade class from 2-2:40 (it would be 7th grade). So I had been telling my 7th graders all week about this, that they needed to behave really well, etc., and when I went to go meet the Calvin students at the entrance to the school and look back at my room, all the 7th graders were crowded around the door spilling outside the class doing who knows what. I was like, "Oh great." Anyway, then I lead the students to the room and walk in, and, wonder of wonders, all the kids have their book open on their desks, dead silent (granted half of the books open weren't even their language books...they weren't fooling anyone). And the Calvin students walk in and my 7th graders all stand up and are like, "Good afternoon" in unison. Absolutely hilarious. They were ANGELS. It was great. So now all the Calvin students are impressed at how great the kids behave....yeah. So we ended up just playing an adverb game and I had the Calvin students help out the 7th graders...it worked out really well. Then I showed them around the school and talked to them for a while about what it was like to teach and live here. Finally, we went to visit the caves and out to dinner. All in all, it was a lot of fun, and great to see some of my Calvin classmates!
Saturday morning it was back to swim lessons (I feel like I hadn't been in forever!), which was great as always. And I'm going this afternoon -- thank goodness, because it is getting REALLY hot here again (and for some Marialouisa always makes hot soup on the hottest days...). When my dad and Jordan came I had them bring me some torpedoes for the pool, and the kids LOVE them. You should have seen them the first day I brought them and threw them in the pool!
Saturday afternoon I went back to the English class at the University because it was their last class and they were having a party. So they all brought in food (I brought the cookies of course), and we just ate and talked. It was pretty great, though I had to choke down a few churros with queso in the middle (sick!).
So now it's just one more week before the big SAG competition -- and we have about one block every day off for SAG practice (I'm in charge of the sudoku competition so I'm trying to get kids ready for that....Justin's in charge of sudoku for his school too....so we'll see how this goes...). And then to SAG for a week and then Rose is here to visit!
And here's some pics...
Then Friday afternoon the Calvin students came to visit! There are about 10 students this spring studying Spanish in Tegus (the same semester abroad I did), and they were coming to a town about 15 minutes from Catacamas to visit a health clinic on Friday. My old prof knew that I was teaching here, so she called me up and asked if they could stop by my school to visit. I said of course! So they arrived at about 2 Friday afternoon...just in time for my 7th grade class from 2-2:40 (it would be 7th grade). So I had been telling my 7th graders all week about this, that they needed to behave really well, etc., and when I went to go meet the Calvin students at the entrance to the school and look back at my room, all the 7th graders were crowded around the door spilling outside the class doing who knows what. I was like, "Oh great." Anyway, then I lead the students to the room and walk in, and, wonder of wonders, all the kids have their book open on their desks, dead silent (granted half of the books open weren't even their language books...they weren't fooling anyone). And the Calvin students walk in and my 7th graders all stand up and are like, "Good afternoon" in unison. Absolutely hilarious. They were ANGELS. It was great. So now all the Calvin students are impressed at how great the kids behave....yeah. So we ended up just playing an adverb game and I had the Calvin students help out the 7th graders...it worked out really well. Then I showed them around the school and talked to them for a while about what it was like to teach and live here. Finally, we went to visit the caves and out to dinner. All in all, it was a lot of fun, and great to see some of my Calvin classmates!
Saturday morning it was back to swim lessons (I feel like I hadn't been in forever!), which was great as always. And I'm going this afternoon -- thank goodness, because it is getting REALLY hot here again (and for some Marialouisa always makes hot soup on the hottest days...). When my dad and Jordan came I had them bring me some torpedoes for the pool, and the kids LOVE them. You should have seen them the first day I brought them and threw them in the pool!
Saturday afternoon I went back to the English class at the University because it was their last class and they were having a party. So they all brought in food (I brought the cookies of course), and we just ate and talked. It was pretty great, though I had to choke down a few churros with queso in the middle (sick!).
So now it's just one more week before the big SAG competition -- and we have about one block every day off for SAG practice (I'm in charge of the sudoku competition so I'm trying to get kids ready for that....Justin's in charge of sudoku for his school too....so we'll see how this goes...). And then to SAG for a week and then Rose is here to visit!
And here's some pics...
Our basketball team at our game in Tegus
Pictures of my classroom! (Finally finished decorating it)
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Holy Week in...Tegus
Well, here's my version of events:
First of all, Justin forgot to mention our first screw-up: not getting bus tickets early enough. So we arrive at the bus station early on Saturday morning (the bus was set to leave at 6am..so we get there at like 5), only to be told that the tickets are booked through Tuesday. Yikes. So we quickly grab a taxi to another bus station (one that is more expensive), and they too are booked...but luckily only for Saturday. So we are kind of annoyed we woke up early for nothing, we have to spend another day in Tegus, we have to pay more money for the bus than we had thought, and Justin is especially annoyed because he was supposed to meet up with Nicole...but anyway we buy tickets for the next day (Sunday), and are on our way. Then, as Justin mentioned, everything was going just great (including getting a free Burger King breakfast on the bus...maybe this more expensive bus was actually worth it...) until we reach the border...and, well, you know the gist of what happened there, but I'll give my longer more dramatic version anyway.
Justin and I get the dreaded call that we need to get off the bus and get in that tiny cramped oven of a building where the immigration officers are already sweating and angry that they have to be working under such conditions, and then even angrier that ignorant people like Justin and I are trying to get into El Salvador with invalid visas. Well, as Justin said, they just told him he had to pay a fine, but they told me there was no way I was getting in. Apparently the problem was that I had just switched my visa type from "tourist" to "missionary" (remember I had to spend five hours in immigration in Tegus last Monday and do that), but I didn't actually have that official documentation yet -- I am supposed to be getting it within 30 days, and right now I just have a temporary paper of some sort. (For some reason they didn't make Kim or Justin switch their visa types...I still can't figure out why they wanted me to switch mine when I'm leaving in June.) Anyway, beside the point. So I'm trying to argue with this guy to let me in -- but who am I kidding, I have no idea what the immigration laws around here are! So I'm frantically trying to get ahold of the lawyer (not picking up her phone), while the bus driver is telling me to go get my stuff from the bus. So I go get my stuff (and Kim, who thinks I'm kidding when I tell her I can't get in), and, horrified, watch the bus roll away without me. So I keep trying to call the lawyer (not sure why, because it's too late now), and finally she picks up. Then she starts convincing me that I should be fine to go into El Salvador. Ok, don't argue with me, I agree with you. So I sneak back in the immigration hut and...this is where the whole fiasco might have been worth it...tell the immigration guy, "Here, talk to my lawyer." So getting to say that was pretty great. Not effective in the end, but still pretty great.
So they talk on the phone for like 15 minutes (meanwhile people in the forever long line are starting to look pretty angry at me), and, as I understood it, the immigration guy is telling the lawyer the problem is not me leaving Honduras, but getting into El Salvador (which doesn't make sense, because these immigration people are just the people stamping my leaving Honduras -- they have nothing to do with El Salvador). So I guess this guy didn't want me to leave because he didn't think they would let me in once I got to the El Salvador officials. So he hands the phone back to me and the lawyer explains this to me and is like, "You shouldn't have any problem once you get there I don't think...I don't know why this guy thinks you will." And I'm like, "Well, okay, that doesn't help me." And she's like, "Vaya!" In other words, "Just go in anyway...you'll be fine." Yeah, okay. Now that the bus has peaced out I'll just figure out some other way to get to San Salvador and then Guatemala. I'll be right there. (Although, after hearing what Justin did to get back in Honduras, I guess that actually could've been a valid option.)
So we are sitting there stranded at the border trying to come up with some sort of a plan...meanwhile we sit down on a bench where creepy guys are starting to stare at us and invite us to come in their comedores (little restaurants). Now, the bus driver had told us we could wait at the border until the other bus was on its way back from Costa Rica "sometime later tonight -- we actually have no idea what time" (keep in mind it's like 10am), but as we're sitting there this option is becoming increasingly less and less appealing (why is everyone staring at us? Haven't they ever seen a couple of white people stranded at the border before?). So we start to walk a little bit hoping we can maybe find a family to hitch back with (ok, this is looking like the less dangerous of the options), but then we happen upon a chicken bus heading back to Tegus and hop on. We make it back without any problems and go back to Justin's house where his grandparents can't believe they're seeing us again so soon (keep in mind this same thing happened yesterday when we came back after the bus was full). So Kim and I are thinking of other options -- we look into the beach, but, as Justin said, eeeeveryone goes to the beach. So everything is completely full everywhere we look...finally we settle on the Copan Ruins and find a hotel in another little town about an hour or so away from there (the guidebook: 'something must have gone wrong for you to end up in this town, so you might as well treat yourself to this hotel'), and we reserve it and call the bus station to figure out when it leaves the next day. Well, they tell me it leaves every hour on the hour, but when we get to the bus station the next day they tell me it won't leave until 1 (meaning we wouldn't be able to make the other bus to this other random city we are staying in).
Long story short -- after almost getting on another bus to San Pedro Sula in hopes of connecting with another one there -- we finally decide to cut our losses and hole up in the Hotel Honduras Maya in Tegus for the week (the same one my dad and Jordan stayed at). I mean, at that point I had planned two vacations that didn't happen, was still angry about not getting into El Salvador, and just wanted to lay by the pool. So that's what we did all week...and, even though I was a little disappointed about not being able to go to Guatemala (especially since this time I thought I had planned everything so well and had figured out all the buses we needed to take and reserved hotels) I really can't complain about a vacation spent laying by the pool. Plus the hotel was having a special discount on rooms since no one in their right mind goes to Tegus for vacation during Semana Santa. We did try a day trip to Valle de Angeles -- but almost died in the taxi on the way back (it started pouring really hard and hailing and suddenly the taxi was in a flood up till the tops of the tires...stuck halfway up a hill in the middle of an intersection. He tried to back up but crashed into a bus...then the taxista yelled at the bus driver to push us with his bus the rest of the way up the hill, which actually sort of worked. Then the taxista dropped us off downtown -- we had unknowingly gotten into a collectivo -- a taxi with a designated route -- and we ran around in the rain like chickens with our heads cut off until we found another taxi. Eventually we made it back to our hotel looking like drowned rats. After that we decided not to leave the hotel again except to eat.) So, all in all, not quite what I had expected (although when have things in Honduras ever been?), but fun and, well, adventurous, just the same. And, as Justin's grandma here says, "Regresa a la realidad manana." Back to reality tomorrow.
First of all, Justin forgot to mention our first screw-up: not getting bus tickets early enough. So we arrive at the bus station early on Saturday morning (the bus was set to leave at 6am..so we get there at like 5), only to be told that the tickets are booked through Tuesday. Yikes. So we quickly grab a taxi to another bus station (one that is more expensive), and they too are booked...but luckily only for Saturday. So we are kind of annoyed we woke up early for nothing, we have to spend another day in Tegus, we have to pay more money for the bus than we had thought, and Justin is especially annoyed because he was supposed to meet up with Nicole...but anyway we buy tickets for the next day (Sunday), and are on our way. Then, as Justin mentioned, everything was going just great (including getting a free Burger King breakfast on the bus...maybe this more expensive bus was actually worth it...) until we reach the border...and, well, you know the gist of what happened there, but I'll give my longer more dramatic version anyway.
Justin and I get the dreaded call that we need to get off the bus and get in that tiny cramped oven of a building where the immigration officers are already sweating and angry that they have to be working under such conditions, and then even angrier that ignorant people like Justin and I are trying to get into El Salvador with invalid visas. Well, as Justin said, they just told him he had to pay a fine, but they told me there was no way I was getting in. Apparently the problem was that I had just switched my visa type from "tourist" to "missionary" (remember I had to spend five hours in immigration in Tegus last Monday and do that), but I didn't actually have that official documentation yet -- I am supposed to be getting it within 30 days, and right now I just have a temporary paper of some sort. (For some reason they didn't make Kim or Justin switch their visa types...I still can't figure out why they wanted me to switch mine when I'm leaving in June.) Anyway, beside the point. So I'm trying to argue with this guy to let me in -- but who am I kidding, I have no idea what the immigration laws around here are! So I'm frantically trying to get ahold of the lawyer (not picking up her phone), while the bus driver is telling me to go get my stuff from the bus. So I go get my stuff (and Kim, who thinks I'm kidding when I tell her I can't get in), and, horrified, watch the bus roll away without me. So I keep trying to call the lawyer (not sure why, because it's too late now), and finally she picks up. Then she starts convincing me that I should be fine to go into El Salvador. Ok, don't argue with me, I agree with you. So I sneak back in the immigration hut and...this is where the whole fiasco might have been worth it...tell the immigration guy, "Here, talk to my lawyer." So getting to say that was pretty great. Not effective in the end, but still pretty great.
So they talk on the phone for like 15 minutes (meanwhile people in the forever long line are starting to look pretty angry at me), and, as I understood it, the immigration guy is telling the lawyer the problem is not me leaving Honduras, but getting into El Salvador (which doesn't make sense, because these immigration people are just the people stamping my leaving Honduras -- they have nothing to do with El Salvador). So I guess this guy didn't want me to leave because he didn't think they would let me in once I got to the El Salvador officials. So he hands the phone back to me and the lawyer explains this to me and is like, "You shouldn't have any problem once you get there I don't think...I don't know why this guy thinks you will." And I'm like, "Well, okay, that doesn't help me." And she's like, "Vaya!" In other words, "Just go in anyway...you'll be fine." Yeah, okay. Now that the bus has peaced out I'll just figure out some other way to get to San Salvador and then Guatemala. I'll be right there. (Although, after hearing what Justin did to get back in Honduras, I guess that actually could've been a valid option.)
So we are sitting there stranded at the border trying to come up with some sort of a plan...meanwhile we sit down on a bench where creepy guys are starting to stare at us and invite us to come in their comedores (little restaurants). Now, the bus driver had told us we could wait at the border until the other bus was on its way back from Costa Rica "sometime later tonight -- we actually have no idea what time" (keep in mind it's like 10am), but as we're sitting there this option is becoming increasingly less and less appealing (why is everyone staring at us? Haven't they ever seen a couple of white people stranded at the border before?). So we start to walk a little bit hoping we can maybe find a family to hitch back with (ok, this is looking like the less dangerous of the options), but then we happen upon a chicken bus heading back to Tegus and hop on. We make it back without any problems and go back to Justin's house where his grandparents can't believe they're seeing us again so soon (keep in mind this same thing happened yesterday when we came back after the bus was full). So Kim and I are thinking of other options -- we look into the beach, but, as Justin said, eeeeveryone goes to the beach. So everything is completely full everywhere we look...finally we settle on the Copan Ruins and find a hotel in another little town about an hour or so away from there (the guidebook: 'something must have gone wrong for you to end up in this town, so you might as well treat yourself to this hotel'), and we reserve it and call the bus station to figure out when it leaves the next day. Well, they tell me it leaves every hour on the hour, but when we get to the bus station the next day they tell me it won't leave until 1 (meaning we wouldn't be able to make the other bus to this other random city we are staying in).
Long story short -- after almost getting on another bus to San Pedro Sula in hopes of connecting with another one there -- we finally decide to cut our losses and hole up in the Hotel Honduras Maya in Tegus for the week (the same one my dad and Jordan stayed at). I mean, at that point I had planned two vacations that didn't happen, was still angry about not getting into El Salvador, and just wanted to lay by the pool. So that's what we did all week...and, even though I was a little disappointed about not being able to go to Guatemala (especially since this time I thought I had planned everything so well and had figured out all the buses we needed to take and reserved hotels) I really can't complain about a vacation spent laying by the pool. Plus the hotel was having a special discount on rooms since no one in their right mind goes to Tegus for vacation during Semana Santa. We did try a day trip to Valle de Angeles -- but almost died in the taxi on the way back (it started pouring really hard and hailing and suddenly the taxi was in a flood up till the tops of the tires...stuck halfway up a hill in the middle of an intersection. He tried to back up but crashed into a bus...then the taxista yelled at the bus driver to push us with his bus the rest of the way up the hill, which actually sort of worked. Then the taxista dropped us off downtown -- we had unknowingly gotten into a collectivo -- a taxi with a designated route -- and we ran around in the rain like chickens with our heads cut off until we found another taxi. Eventually we made it back to our hotel looking like drowned rats. After that we decided not to leave the hotel again except to eat.) So, all in all, not quite what I had expected (although when have things in Honduras ever been?), but fun and, well, adventurous, just the same. And, as Justin's grandma here says, "Regresa a la realidad manana." Back to reality tomorrow.
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