Honduran Time

I've been here for almost two weeks now and I've learned something very important: Honduran estimates of time and quantity are quite different from U.S. estimates.  For example, "You will have your books on Monday," turned into, "The books should be in by Tuesday or maybe Wednesday," turned into, "We'll have the books on Friday for sure, probably," turned into, "I'm going to Tegus to pick your books up today, so you should have them by Monday."  My class, by the way, was scheduled to start Monday.  Fortunately(?), though, only two students have signed up for my class so far, forcing the school to push back the date to "hopefully Thursday or Friday."  I'm going out with the principal on Tuesday to try to recruit more students from a local town.  My proposed class of about 15 students from 2nd-6th grade has become a class of 2 students ages 13 and 15.  Estimates, it has become evident, are more like a picture of the best-case senario.

I sort of feel like life has been dragging me ass-first through these past couple of weeks... which looks a bit like this:

I wouldn't exactly say that I'm overwhelmed; this just isn't what I'm accustomed to.  In the U.S., things are just very controlled.  You know what will happen, when it will happen, who will be there, and where all of the exits are.  The classroom, of course, is unpredictable.  Things that M. Night Shyamalan couldn't dream up happen on a daily basis.  Everything that I learned in school, though, told me that I need to be organized in order to be prepared for these kinds of things.  I don't know how to do that right now, though.  I don't know how many students I'm going to have, how old they'll be, what the curriculum materials look like, when class will start, what my daily schedule will be, or where I'll be teaching.  The one thing I do have is flexibility.  In a duel, I'd put Gumby to shame.

Basically, I have no clue what's going on, but I'm becoming more ok with that.  I don't believe I'd be put in this situation if it's something I can't handle.  Rather, I know that my strength comes from an unlimited, unfallible source.  Plus, the coffee is damn good.

Week 1

Well, I’m here now.  My plane landed in San Pedro Sula Monday afternoon and Jake, the guy who hired me, was waiting there for me.  We drove for about 4 hours to Tegusigalpa, the capitol city, where we stayed for the night.  The next day, we drove another 4 hours to Catacamas, the city I’m working in.  We went to the school and I met Jen, the other American teacher here, and a lot of the other teachers (none of whose names I remember).  The last few days have been sort of crazy.  I thought that they would have all of my curriculum materials ready when I got here and I would have time to start planning this class since they have never offered it at this school and I’m starting from scratch.  I was mistaken.  The principal drove to Tegus this weekend to pick the materials up.  Also, I don’t actually have a classroom, so I couldn’t get that ready either.  As of Monday, I only have 4 students.   Things are a bit disorganized.  They did keep me busy, though.  Apparently, one of the teachers was robbed on Sunday or Monday and basically walked in in the middle of it.  She and her husband got home to find their front door open and all of their things packed up and waiting for someone to pick them up.  They got out really fast before someone came back for the stuff, and they were so shaken up by it all that they up and left.  The city.  And aren’t coming back.  She had just developed a new writing curriculum for 4^th-6^th Grade, too, and was supposed to teach the classes.  I got to the school on Wednesday thinking that I was going to start getting my class ready, but I ended up teaching all of hers, instead.  She hadn’t left any of her lessons at the school, so I had to make stuff up on the spot.  Thursday, the principal told me that the 1^st Grade teacher has a really big class and needs help, so I went and helped her out.  She ended up sending me out with a small(ish) group of struggling students to practice letter sounds with them, which turned into a mild disaster.  Even though the teachers are not supposed to use Spanish in the classroom, she (like a few of the other elementary teachers) speaks primarily in Spanish.  The students couldn’t understand me, so I had a really hard time managing the behavior.  Also, they have been learning the sounds incorrectly since they have not been learning from a native English speaker, and they were a little confused when I was going through the sounds.  I was supposed to do the same on Friday, but another teacher decided to peace out early and asked me to teach his last 3 classes for him – 5^th Grade math, 4^th Grade spelling, and 6^th Grade math.  He, however, left his lesson plans for me.  I really don’t mind filling in for a few classes if it’s needed, but I really just want to get started on mine.  It starts in 9 days, and I have nothing outside of the ideas bouncing around my head. 

Outside of my job, not a lot has really been happening other than just adjusting.  I’ve learned that my Spanish is way worse than I thought… which is unfortunate since this isn’t a touristy town and nobody speaks English.  I’m super happy that I live with Jen because 95% of the time I can’t communicate with our host family by myself.  She also helps me a ton when we’re walking around town and I need to buy anything.  Depending on the topic of conversation, sometimes I can do alright on my own – especially if the person I’m talking with speaks slowly in the present tense and uses common words.  That, however, isn’t very frequent.  Usually when I ask people what they said (hoping they’ll repeat more slowly and I might understand) they give me that oh-you-don’t-speak-Spanish look and shrug.  As far as daily life, things here are really different from the US.  Buildings are way more open to the outside, so bugs (and lizards) are just sort of around.   It isn’t like things are dirty – the house I’m in is actually pretty nice – but it’s just inevitable with the environment.  My host family has chickens in the backyard, so I’m usually woken up by a rooster a few times overnight.  Stray dogs run around everywhere.  The power goes off for a while most days.  You can’t flush toilet paper (which I learned the embarrassing way).  Water is different.  They have running water, but there’s no hot water.  Showers, therefore, basically consist of my dumping buckets of cold water over my head.  Also, the water isn’t drinkable.  I had thought that it was something that tourists shouldn’t drink but that Hondurans do since their bodies are used to it, but even they buy those giant water jugs for drinking.  My host family is really nice.  At first, they thought that I didn’t understand any Spanish and would always have Jen translate things for me, but now they know that I know some and they try talking directly to me (although Jen usually has to help me).  It does get a little frustrating, though, when I can’t express myself without needing help.  Jen and I have walked into town every day so far, and they have way more things available than I’d realized.  I really didn’t need to pack any shampoo or stuff like that because they have exactly what I use.  I basically feel pretty safe.  Some stuff sort of bothers me, but I’ve never felt in danger.  There are guards with giant guns standing outside of a lot of businesses… especially banks and grocery stores.  The police are apparently useless.  Everybody knows where all of the big drug dealers live, but the police are too afraid to do anything and can generally be paid off.  I actually live next door to a drug dealer.  I guess over the summer there was a police officer who decided to arrest a drug dealer, and his head was found in the middle of a field the next day.  From what I understand, most of the violence is drug related, although people will occasionally be held up at gunpoint and stuff like that.  Men shout stuff out a lot, too.  Usually they just stay at a distance, but they’ll sometimes walk into my path so I have to walk around them.  Yesterday, some guy actually followed us in his truck for about a block and kept shouting stuff out to us.  I expected that, though, and I basically just have to be aware of my surroundings and get used to it.

Overall, I’m really happy.  I’m getting used to a lot of new things, but my excitement overshadows the stress.  Mostly, I’m looking forward to getting things for my class worked out and then meeting my students.  I’ll post my address once I find out what it is.

Introduction

In just over a week I will move to Catacams, Honduras for six months to teach an English immersion class for 2nd through 6th graders.  The program that I'll teach is at a school that only teaches in English.  This program, then, is for students who don't know any English and need to learn enough to be prepared to enter that school in the fall and learn all of their classes in English.  This is basically a dream come true for me, and I could not be more excited.  As January 9th approaches, though, I'm growing more and more nervous for four main reasons.  First, I have never been that far from home for more than two weeks, and obviously, Catacamas is quite a bit different from Tinley Park.  Second, I know very little Spanish and my students (as well as most of the other people I will be surrounded by) don't know any English.  Third, I'll be in a combined-age class where most of my students are way older than those that I am used to working with, as all of my experience is in early childhood education.  Fourth, this is my first year teaching -- intimidating in and of itself.

I titled my blog "Horizontes Dilatados" (broadened horizons) because, well, I ripped it off from an informational video about the schools.  But, that's really what this experience is all about -- broadened horizons, not copyright infringement.  My students are coming from a pretty poverty-stricken area with limited opportunities.  This school is a chance for them to learn English, get an education of high quality, and (most importantly) learn about God's love for them and their value and purpose as children of Christ.  This will equip them to pursue life as capable and confident members of God's Kingdom, realizing their significance, purpose, and potential.  They'll see themselves and the world around them differently.  I'll be learning right alongside my students.  I'll learn about my students' lives, my enviornment, the language and culture, being a good teacher, and thousands of other lessons that I can't anticipate.

So the next six months will be pretty challenging.  However, I know that God has prepared me for this, brought me here for a reason, and will be with me.  I pray that I'll teach effectively and learn from my mistakes quickly so that my students will enjoy class, learn a lot, and then be prepared for school when August rolls around.

Basically, I'm thankful.  I'm excited.  I'm nervous.  I'm trying to remember that ink on my back reminding me that I don't need to be anxious.  I'm as prepared as I can be... or at least I will be once I pack.  And I'm hoping that not all of my posts will take as long as this one did.

Phil. 4:6-7