Muchas Cosas!

I feel like it's been forever since I wrote. We've been here for 4 weeks now. Here are a few highlights since I last posted:

Soccer Fridays after school: I played soccer after school on Friday with some of the foreign hires and a bunch of the Honduran assistants from the elementary school (there is one for every class). While we were playing there was a torential downpoor. Things were flooding, including the elementary gym which is outside with just a roof on it. To hide from the lightning for a bit we went in there and played around in the several inches of water that covered the floor. It was fun but I missed having my cleats. It was also eventful because it is the first time I had been cold outside since we've been here.

Flip Cup: So, as most of you know, I'm not much of a drinker. But, I played flip cup for the first time and had so much fun! We went to a party on Friday night at one of the other places foreign hires live. They convinced us to bring Natalie so we could be go. She quickly went to bed in one of their rooms and we enjoyed the party for a few hours before heading home. Anyway, for those who don't know, flip cup is a game with 2 teams. Each person has a party cup with about a shot of a drink (anything you want but usually beer). Each team stands on opposite sides of the table. The first person in each line chugs their drink and then has to flip the cup over to land on the lip from the edge of the table. Then the next person goes. It's basically a relay race. But, it was fun to play with a bunch of people, plus my team (the women) won, which makes it even better.

Things I miss about home: These are not in any particular order, just some things I've been missing about home: my family, having a car, the 3 houses, Target, dryers, the ease of grocery shopping, being able to find the things I want (both inside the store and figuring out which store might have it), being able to communicate with strangers (i.e. taxi drivers, cashiers, waiters, etc.), wearing sweatshirts, my Dr. Martins for teaching, our comfy fouton, TV shows online (appearently they are only available in the US), my coworkers at Wood MS, playgrounds at the park, going places by myself, Albertson's on my way to work, being able to stop and pick up a few things at a store.

Things that are harder in Honduras: Figuring out which stores have what items. I walked through the entire mall by our house and could not find a matress cover. I think I have to go to Diunsa, which is kinda far away. Laundry: there are no dryer so I have to hang everything, wait for it to dry, bring it in, fold it, and iron a ton of stuff. Once we find a maid/cleaning lady, she will do it for us, which will be amazing. Grocery shopping: I can't figure out why though. I think it has to do withnot being able to find things because they don't look the same or have the brands I got at home. It is also hard because you have to load and unload groceries from the taxi and carry them up the stairs to our apartment. When we go, we get a lot so we don't have to go as often. Most things at work because I don't know the system yet and they have complicated (and often very dumb) requirements for simple things.

School: Overall, the students are great. They are very polite and always call me "Miss" as in, "But Miss, I didn't understand problem 33." There are a few annoying ones and one who is just a butt, but I really like them. I only have 16-17 students and I can't imagine my classes in the states that each had 30. It doesn't feel like there are a bunch fewer of them here. Maybe because my room is smaller? The kids travel in sections, like 7A, 7B, etc. There are 5 sections but the kids in each section are always in that section and travel everywhere together. It's an interesting concept since at my old school we tried to not keep them in bunches like that. Everything falls off the walls here. Every day when I go into my classroom I spent at least 10 minutes re-taping posters and papers on the wall. It's really annying. Each class is only 40 minutes, which flies by. Also, the schedules are super random. You don't always see the same section during the same period. Like on Monday I only teach 2 periods and on Thursday I teach 8. So I have block classes but they all fall on different days of the week so the classes are doing different things on the same day. It's confusing and I'm having trouble planning activities.

My feet hurt because everything here is tile or cement and all the women wear sandals all the time. I need to get some sandals that are more supportive.

It's very hot and I never realized I could love air conditioning so much. It is amazing.

Natalie: She still cries every morning when I drop her off at school. She always says she wants me to stay with her or go home. When I go to pick her up she gives the assistants who are with her big hugs and tells them "hasta manana" and tells me she had a good day. When I ask her what she did she always tells me "read book" and "play toys." Even when I ask her about specific things she doesn't answer.

Basketball: One of the women who lives downstairs who has lived here for 4 years but is from the States invited me to play on her basketball team. I went for the first time today and it was really fun. I haven't played basketball with women since high school. I'm planning to continue playing while we are here.

My hair: I'm seriously contemplating cutting my hair really short. I'm thinking something like one of the images below.

I think I like the 3rd one the best. I have several worries about doing this: (1) I will look too manly because I already don't dress very femininely and don't wear make up. (2) It won't work with my crazy curly/wavy hair. (3) It will be too much work to keep up with it. Like blow drying, gel, etc.

So, let me know what you think about the hair. If you can't post here, send me an email (lisavolke@yahoo.com) or message me on facebook.

Seriously, I need some advice about the hair.

School

Yesterday was the first day of school for the students. It was good to have them in class. I can tell their English is rusty from not using it over the summer. Overall they are very well behaved and cooperative. It's going well so far.

We got a call on Monday night around 9 PM saying that the Toddler classes (Natalie's class) is going to be postponed until next Monday. The principal said that we could just bring her and they would take care of her this week. Here is a picture of her in her uniform this morning. She is so cute. Everyone (teachers, students, parents, etc.) keeps telling us that.

We're off to the grocery store. Not my favorite thing to do here. Much more complicated than in the states, but that's another story.

The Students are Coming!

Tomorrow is our first day with students. It was supposed to be today, but last Thursday the board decided that we should wait until Tuesday for a few reasons. First, the elementary school teachers were in a training all week so they only had one day to prepare their classrooms. Second, the early childhood center (ECC), where Natalie will be going to school, was still under construction. Third, the high school (where David teaches) doesn't have a principal or a vice principal in charge of discipline (they have one vice principal). As of now, they still don't. And David said that I should add that he doesn't have his schedule yet and they are supposed to be off work today in 30 minutes.

Anyway, the kids come tomorrow. I'm excited to meet them. I'm curious what they're going to be like. From what I've heard many of them are quite spoiled. We'll see how it goes.

It is also Natalie's first day of school. I promise to take and post a picture of her in her uniform. I think the bag of all of her supplies is going to be bigger than her. I'm hoping she has fun, but she has been going down for a nap significantly before they have it scheduled for her. Also the other parents are bringing their kids for a couple of hours and staying with them. I wish that I could do that too, but I have to work. Thankfully, my principal and vice principal (They are awesome!) arranged for me to not have a homeroom so I can drop her off in her classroom everyday.

I plan to write tomorrow to let you know how it went, but I make no garuntees.

Paper Trail

So here at EIS (our school) there is a paper trail for everything. I have been trying to get supplies for a couple of days now. It is quite the process.

1. Find the "bodega" book. The bodega is the place you get supplies from. You have to hunt down the book that the forms are in. It can be difficult because you have to take the book with you to get the supplies and there is only one book per school.
2. Fill out the supplies you want. You have to guess what they might have because there is no list of supplies.
3. Find the vice principal and have her sign the form in the book. (I think it is a triplicate document.) She didn't even look at what I was getting and signed it.
4. Walk across campus to go to the bodega. But, they don't open until 7:30 (we have to clock in by 6:45 with our fingerprint). Hence, I am sitting in the library computer lab typing so I don't have to walk across campus to my room to wait the 20 minutes I was early.
5. Wait for them to gather the supplies. I'm not sure how long this will take. I haven't done it yet.
6. Hope that they understood what you were asking for because I wrote in English and some of them only speak Spanish (I heard this from other teachers).
7. Walk back to my classroom with my bag of supplies.

Also, I found out that to make copies I have to get the principal or vice principal to sign a copy form and then take it to the copy room. I am still unclear if there are people there who make the copies or if I make them myself.

It's 7:30 and I'm determined to get my supplies. Adios!

Pictures of our house!

We have home internet (finally!). So, here are a bunch of pictures of our house (apartment).

Our Apartment (los apartamentos a tras de CNA)

Our kitchen. All drinking water comes from the tower on the right.

Each jug costs 33 limperas (limps) to refill which is about $1.70.

Our eating space. We actually got a new table and will post a new picture soon.

 Our living room. The door is to the left of the TV. The picture is taken from the dining room.

If you turn around from where the living room picture is taken, here is the hallway.

On the left and right are large closets (but the doors stick so they are really loud to open).

 The main bathroom just past the right closet.

 David and Lisa's bedroom from the doorway.

Natalie's bed is the same size as ours. Pictures of her room coming soon.

David and Lisa's room from the foot of the bed. The door is on the left. Our walk-in closet is first with wire shelves on the left and hanging stuff on the right. Beyond that is another bathroom (but the hot water in the shower isn't currently working. Here they don't have big water tanks but have water heaters at the as part of the shower head).  

 The view from our doorway.

 We are the end apartment. This is from the top of the stairs next to our door.

Looking over the balcony. All the houses/apartments here are gated and have an armed guard.

I will post more pictures soon. We have some of our classrooms and school campus, but it takes a long time to post and title everything. Things are going well and our Spanish is getting better already (especially David's). Today we visited a market (mostly for tourists because a lot of the sellers spoke some English). We got two unfinished wood pieces - a mini chair with a flip over desk (picture to come) and a small table with two shelves to use as a night stand.

We made it!

We're in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. When we arrived the first day we kept saying and thinking "what the hell were we thinking?!" Getting through the airport customs was interesting (Natalie had an accident because we were trapped in a section without a bathroom. I convinced her to go in her pull-up and after much protesting she did. But, it leaked and we were both covered in pee.). We were very over whelmed.

Things have steadily gotten better as more foriegn hires have arrived. Our apartment is know as "apartamentos a tras de CNA" which means we the apartments behind CNA, which is a big warehouse with a sign that says "CNA". There are 11 apartments total with a front patio gated with a guard. It's normal here to have your house gated and have an armed guard. We live in number 11 (which is awesome because it's my favorite number). The entire top floor, 5 apartments, is people who work at EIS (Escuela Internacional Sanpedrana where we work). There are also 2 single women who live downstairs who also work at the school. Most of them speak more Spanish than us, which is helpful when we are trying to get around.

Things are going well. The school has treated us very well. Yesterday we went to a private beach to play and do some training. It was great. Natalie loved playing in the ocean. We also got a game of beach volleyball going and Natalie played in the sand with some of the women here. It was great!

We're having a good time. Love to all.