Never a dull moment

OH MY GOODNESS!!!  I wish I had more time to blog because I don't want to leave any of these crazy happenings out...but you get what you get.

Well, school started last week on Wednesday.  Luckily it was half day so each class was only 25 minutes long.  Oh, but did I mention that Tuesday night I got word that my schedule had changed and was teaching an entirely NEW class!  That's how things work in Honduras!  It may not make sense, and it may not be fair, but they can do what they want!  Not only did teachers get new schedules, but they didn't get student schedules changed so from Wednesday to now...I don't even know what students are supposed to be in my room.  I just take who shows up and go with it!  All that said, Wednesday ended up being successful...simply for the fact that I walked out alive! 

 First day of school pics!

Thursday was interesting - in good and bad ways.  There is a tradition at DelCampo that Seniors get a special entrance!  So it starts by them getting to sleep in.  Then all classes get stopped so that we can all go to the entrance of the school and watch the Seniors parade in.  Supposedly this was one of the BIGGEST and BEST entrances ever!  This is also DelCampos 25th anniversary so it had some other perks as well.  Anyway, it first starts with a helicopter that flies over the school with our school logo on it in celebration of our 25th year.  Then Seniors begin coming in....on horses, motorcycles, old classic cars, SUV's, trucks, you name it!  It was pretty crazy!  Then they had a live DJ set up outside with a stage for the seniors to dance around on.  It was hot, so all of us were dripping in sweat (or just me because I'm a freakin sweat mess!)  Regardless, the hype was quite fun.  And it meant one less class that I had to teach!  

 Helicopter entrance...

 Moto entrance...

 Cool car entrance...

And then the big shabang with their motto!  

The pictures don't even begin to represent the excitement of this event.  Family came to see it, last years Senior came to watch, and everyone from 1st-11th grade was there to watch!  Crazy!  After the entrance it got a bit boring...Seniors jumped around on stage and a few of them gave speeches...

Then the owner of the school spoke for a bit about the 25 years and blah blah blah.  

Ending the hoorah was awful...because we technically ended during 3rd period (which is my plan).  However, I get to my room and students start piling in.  I asked them what they were doing and they were told to go to 4th period.  I wasn't sure what to do but hey...it's Honduras so you go with it.  So I get everyone sat down and then someone knocks on my door and announces that all students should be in 3rd period.  REALLY?  C'mon!  Make up your mind people!  So for 10 minutes, they leave and then report back for 4th period.  After is lunch - and this was my lunch duty day, yeah for me!  I had no idea what I was supposed to do, and it was crowded and hot in the lunch room so I left and went back to my room.  I had to prepare for my class of Seniors coming in after lunch.  Well, nothing could have prepared me for them!

Mind you, this was the Seniors first class of the year and of the day and they just came in from their big entrance.  Not to mention, my roster had 19 students...and 32 students showed up!  AHHH!  Minor freak out made by me!  Seriously!  So I walked out of my room (to find another teacher to help me) and I had a sworm of 10th graders looking for my room because they were supposed to have class with me!  WHAT!?!  Something is terribly wrong right now!  In these moments, the super/principal comes walking down the hallway and looks at me as if I have caused this mad mass of students.  I gave him the skinny and he began to take care of it.  He took half the seniors out and I started class.  I got all the left over seniors to get name tags made, etc...and Mr. Rinaldo comes back with the students he had taken minutes earlier and said that he needed to switch some kids out.  So I go from expecting 19 to getting 32, then back to 19 and by the end of the hour I had 26!  So, with the 26 seniors (one of them standing because I only have 25 desks) and only 15 minutes left of class, I had to do something.  BUT I COULDN"T becasue all 26 seniors were using their 'outside' voice and speaking in Spanish.  I got their attention and told them, 'i understand this is your first day and you're excited so I'm not asking you to do work today, but I need you to speak English because that is a schoolwide policy.'  They all agreed and .5 seconds later all 26 were blabbering Spanish again.  After getting on to them at least 3 times, I finally had to take away their talking privileges.  Literally, for the last 8 minutes of class I did not allow them to say a word!  They all left wishing I would get sick and not show up ever again...it was awful!!!  

BUT, God is good and hears the prayers of the needy!  Friday came sooner than I could have imagined. Most of my day went well.  Then lunch came (which meant Seniors were coming shortly).  I was uncontrollably nervous for this class bc I had no idea how I was going to handle them again.  So, I literally prayed through my entire lunch period - laying hands on all my desks asking that God would grant me patience, and grant them understanding....and He answered!  It was so great!  Granted, my mindset was better and I attribute most of Thrs craziness to the first day of school excitement.  It did help that I rapped for my classes - which I think won over a few of the 'harder' students!  It seriously ended on such a great note!  It reminded me why I teach!  :)

Friday after school the foreign hires and I got an invitation for a day trip on Saturday to a beach complex owned by Mrs. Facusse (school owner).  I had planned on spending my entire weekend planning for the next two weeks (since lesson plans were due Monday) but I couldn't pass up a free beach weekend!  So Saturday morning we packed up and took off!  

I THANK GOD FOR CREATING PEOPLE WHO CREATED DRAMAMINE!!!  I would not have survived the 3 hour bus ride on the worst roads ever without that drug!  And I didn't even sleep but for an hour of it!  It was incredible seeing the land on the way to the island!  Totally different than Tegus.  Roads were worse, houses were sad, people were walking up hills barefooted carrying 20 pound bags of food on their head...just unbelievable sights!  And then what an immediate change when we hit the private property of the Facusse family!  Paved roads and beauty!  Welcome to our weekend paradise!

The pool practically spilled into the ocean.  Granted the ocean was kinda nasty, but the pool made up for it.  There was a 'pool' house there on the left with a TV, couch, hammocks, bathroom, and such.  Straight ahead was just a 'dining/social' area.  And the to the right was a bar and more tables...and the kitchen with a full staff!  :)  We were seriously in paradise!  I could go on and on and on but let me tell you my absolute favorite part (aside from the view, the being waited on every moment, and relaxing waters...).  On Sunday we were layin around the pool and Fabricio (guy in charge) noticed I was lookin a bit bored.  So he offered to give me a ride on his moto around the island!  (There is a side story to this...Sat night he was tyring to fix some things in the house and Jenn mentioned that Fab  and I should date so that way we could come here all the time...I told him this but I think my Spanish wasn't as good as I thought it was...we may or may not be dating now???  haha.  jk).  Anyway, so he took me out on this ride and we went to another mini island.  Here Fab started asking me if I had a boyfriend back home, what my type of man was (all in Spanish mind you!) and I was beginning to feel a bit nervous that I was on an island by myself with a man I didn't know and well...yeah.  (Sorry Mom!  The girls knew what I was doing so I was fine!)  Anyway, we had a nice conversation - and I'll leave it at that.  ;)  Anyway on the rest of our tour around the isle we saw...a HUGE lizard, deer, monkey, turkeys, peacocks, and I'm sure more.  There were talking parrots who would say HOLA and ADIOS; it was SO FANTASTIC!!!  Except the part where my foot got attacked my ants and Fab had to touch my nasty feet to get them off!  *a sign of true love!  hahaha.  Anyway it was a fantastic trip!  Definitely won't forget that weekend!  Didn't get any lessons written but OH WELL!

Oh yeah.  Can't forget our colorful friends who hung out with us all weekend long!

Anyway, the weekend came to an appalling halt when we got back home and had NO WATER!  ARG!!!  We were waterless until tonight (Tues).  And they will have to replace our water system so that will take several days and who knows how many times our water will stop in the meantime.  Ahh crazy life in Honduras...how I love you!  P.S. We showered at the other house so don't think we went 5 days without a shower!

Well, this is our first full week with students.  Schedules are still screwed up but I'm learning to deal with it.  Students are great!  So many of them remind me of my old students which brings a smile to my face!  Several of them are SO goofy and others SO smart!  They are absolutely great!  Tomorrow is a half day so that's always good news!  I'll keep you all posted as much as possible!  Love you all!