One and Done, Baby!

I don’t know if words can even describe the first week of school. Although it was only 3 days, thanks to Felix, it felt like 3 years. I will try to muster up the last few fibers of energy that I have to give a brief summary.

The first day, Monday, was complete chaos. No one knew what they were supposed to be doing or where they were supposed to be. Lucky for us, it was only a ½ day. We were all fried by 11:30am. Fast forward to Thursday and Friday…two full days of havoc! Actually, things got a little better toward the end of the week, but nonetheless it was a lot crazier that we were prepared for. I think we can all agree, regardless of the location or culture, that teachers are overworked and underpaid!

The school day here consists of nine 40 minute educational periods, a 30 minute recess and a 40 minute lunch. It begins at 7:10am and ends at 2:10pm. In realty though, I would say at least 10-15 minutes of each period is spent doing one of the following: disciplining the students (they are constantly talking, making noises, bothering each other, not paying attention , etc.), answering questions like How old are you? Do you like cats? Can I go to the bathroom? Can we play now? Can I pass Mary a note? Can I tell John a secret?, or telling kids to put their churros (chips) and sodas away until lunch or recess. Chalk up another 5 minutes to interruptions from other students, teachers or administration (uniform check, announcements, meeting notices, snacks or messages for siblings) and basically, you are down to about 20 minutes of pure teaching time. Really puts a cramp in your lesson plans, let me tell ya! Greg and I have already determined that we will have to restructure our class and develop a new approach if we want to cover

We have been packing our lunch (peanut butter and jelly and a piece of fruit) but have been getting a snack during recess from the cafeteria. The selection consists of 4 or 5 varieties of fried food items either filled with meat, cheese, beans or a combination of the 3. In addition, their menu includes a plethora of individually packaged churros (at least 15 different kinds, seriously) and cookies. They also sell soda, juice, and water. Yesterday, I bought 2 big tortillas (plain) and a bag of water for 5 Lempira (about 25 cents. (They sell ½ liter bags of water here. You bit off the corner and add a straw – genius! Greg refuses to drink them though because the same company that makes them also makes fertilizer. It doesn’t stop me though…When in Rome!) Today, we got a little crazy and went for a fried thing filled with chicken and topped with red sauce and cabbage. I let Greg eat most of it though because one of my sweet students brought me a piece of cake from her mother’s birthday party the night before. In fact, for some reason I must give off this “I love sugar vibe” because in the past two days, 5 different students have given me cookies, cake, candy, dried fruit, and pastries. I can’t quite say that makes up for the mayhem that has occurred in school over the first week, but it definitely softens the blow!

Greg and I have already planned to go for dinner tonight. Neither one of us is willing to cook and we have had enough peanut butter and jellies for one week. Tomorrow we will go to the orphanage and begin teaching! We are very excited! We sat down with some of the administrators there on Wednesday to finalize our plans and our schedule. We are interested to see what our teaching experience at the orphanage will be like….

May God bless all teachers everywhere! Also, we life up prayers and thanksgiving to the Lord above for keeping us safe from Hurricane Felix. We didn’t get more than a light rain here in Comayagua! God is definitely looking out for us here! Everyday is an adventure and a blessing as we do our best to follow the Lord’s plan for our life. We are so thankful for the opportunity and ability to freely and openly serve the God of all creation!