Saturday, May 18th

On May 18th we headed to the island of Roatan. Roatan is located in the Bay Islands and is a very popular tourist destination. We took the ferry at 9:00 a.m. in the morning and we sat outside on the deck of the boat and began soaking up the sun. We arrived an hour later and took a taxis over to the West Bay where the resort Coconut Tree 2 is located. When we arrived we checked into our room on the water and headed down to the beach. We layed on the beach all day reading, swimming, and just relaxing. We got some lunch at a restaurant on the beach and then returned to the beach to tan. We ended the night at a restaurant with live music where Brion James was playing. Roatan is a definite destination when traveling around Honduras. It is absolutely stunning. We had an amazing day.

Always Trying New Things

Casabe – a flatbread (pan) made from yucca (yucca is a root) Purchased this at the supermercado (super market) and since it comes uncooked (although it is hard, similar in texture to a wasa cracker or maybe stale pita bread…) what Luis showed me to do was smooth a garlic butter over the bread and then bake it in the oven. Delish garlicky buttery treat.  We enjoyed it along with chimole, frijoles y quesillo (beans and cheese).

Chimole – very similar to pico de gallo, or fresh cut salsa. Los ingredientes son : chiles (chili peppers) cebolla (onion) tomate (come on now) pimientos verdes (green peppers) y jugo de lima (lime juice) oh and salt y pimienta (salt and pepper to taste) There are many varieties to this recipe.  Awesome light form of veggies!

Machuca – when on Cayos Cochinos (the Bay Islands off the northern coast of La Ceiba) we had lunch in a Garifuna village.  The Afro-caribe-honduran-creole lunch we selected was Machuca.  Well well well this is a coconut fish soup, with a whole fish in it!  On a side plate was white rice and mashed plantains.  You are supposed to take a spoonful of the sides and a scoop of soup and enjoy! The fish was delicious and you only had to watch out to not swallow the small/sharp bones.

…And revisiting old favorites:

Ceviche – this variety was of camaron (shrimp) concha (conch) and pescado (fish) served with saltines. My favorite!

Now comes my guilty confession: We have eaten at KFC (the Hogar kids go after church most Sundays) but I will say we had pollo, camarones y papas.  Burger King (because of the AC and free WIFI) hamburguesas papas y te helado…. Pizza Hut (because WHO doesn’t like pizza on a Sunday) and Subway in the mall un sandwich, oh and a Baskin Robbins for a malteada aka milkshake. Guily (culpables).  For the record, La Ceiba is FULL of chain restaurants, you can’t go down the main road without seeing all of the familiar fast food icons.

In the classroom:

In the fifth grade the daily routine goes roughly as follows:

·         Matematicas

·         Espanol

·         Ciencias Naturales

·         Estudios Sociales

(M,W,F,  Ingles) (F computacion and if there is time physical activity, the kids wear white tops ands red shorts with sneakers on Fridays)

In reflecting on how the educational system in Honduras works, working in one school under unique circumstances, gives me little/limited ability to describe it.  I would be more than happy to have a conversation and tell about my experience, or answer any questions. 

Briefly: the Jungle School the students are respectful of their teachers (and volunteers) they are responsible for cleaning the classroom both at the beginning and the end of the day.  The school day is from 7:00am to 12:20 (with a 30 min recess) so to compare it to U.S. schooling, the day is most definitely short.  Textbooks stay in the classroom, so the students copy their assignments from the board or the pages of the books to take home as assignments.  The kids took direction well and were able to work alone and/or in groups with little intervention from the teacher.  Without the Jungle School (Built, funded and kept up by HHK) I doubt that many of these children would receive an academic education.  It is wonderful to see the work of HHK, the teachers, the families, the volunteers and everyone else involved have such a positive influence on the community.  I am grateful to have participated J

 

Friday, May 17th

Today, May 17^th we got the bus in the morning and headed to school. The routine started as normal. The kids said their morning prayer and cleaned the classroom. The teacher was busy doing something so the volunteer teacher had the kids singing songs. When the teacher arrived she took attendance and I handed out vitamins to the kids. The kids finished copying down the Spanish paragraph from the day before and then started a new one. When they finished copying down the science the English teacher came in and they had class. The kids went over their shapes, and numbers and then they reviewed how to spell some of the numbers for a quiz on Monday. The kids then moved on to Spanish and learned the letter Ll and ll. After learning the sound it makes and how to spell using it the kids started remembering words that had the letter Z in it. After recess the kids brushed their teeth . After brushing their teeth the kids were given time to draw pictures. While the kids drew their pictures I worked with the teacher on English.  After they were finished drawing the kids had gym where they stretched, play games, and hop scotched. The kids had so much fun at gym. After the gym the kids were given five minutes to take a ciesta which at first they thought she said a fiesta but she didn’t. While they took a ciesta we wrote their homework in their notebooks and then the day ended. We took the bus back to the Hogar where we are hanging out with the kids until they have church at 6.

Thursday, May 16th

On May 16^th, we went to school for a half day at 9:00 because we had hoped to Skype with the school for my check-in. However, due to other scheduled events at home they were not able to Skype. We got a ride to school with the other group of volunteers and when we got there we helped them carry up the food that they were bringing to the families. By the time we were finished it was time for the kids to have recess. Recess went a little longer today because it seemed that all the teachers gathered for a meeting. The kids didn’t mind they were singing and playing games. After recess the kids were given ten minutes to finish their math which consisted of writing the numbers from 1 to 100 down. When they finished their task was to draw pictures and write the names of the items next to them. After this the kids began natural science. In natural science class they learned about the reproduction of animals. After school we headed over to the Hogar where we helped the kids with their homework and just hung out. We left the Hogar around 4:45 and headed into town to go souvenir shopping and to dinner at the restaurant the Ex Patriates. After we went home, relaxed, and went to bed nice and early to rest up for an early day.

Wednesday, May 15th

On May 15^th, we woke up and went to school as usual, catching the bus as 6:00. Today the first grade teacher was absent so the director, a volunteer, and one of the high school girls Charlin taught the class. To start the day off I reviewed with the kids the shapes, and numbers in English. When we finished that the kids moved on to Spanish dictation. They reviewed all the letter sounds such as ma,me,mi,mo,and mu. In the middle of this exercise the English teacher came in so the kids put away their work and started English for ½ an hour. When they finished with English they went back to dictation where they had to combine the different letter sounds to make the words and write them into their notebooks. We then moved on to math where the kids practiced writing the numbers from 1 to 100. After math the kids had recess and snack time. The kids had fun doing math today because every time they would finish copying the section they would get to shout goodbye as the director erased it. After recess the kids had natural science. In natural science the kids talked about different plants and what they can be used for. They acted out eating the fruit and acted out making a salad. The kids then drew pictures of the different foods and had to write the names of the things next to it. When we got home we relaxed and took a shower. Luis then took us into town to see the mass celebrating the patron saint of La Ceiba, San Isidro. The mass was huge with tons of people. When the mass was over there was fireworks shot off from the middle of the street and it was like a mini carnival. Lined along the street were different games you could play and food you could eat.

Tuesday, May 14th

On May 14th, we caught the bus as normal at 6:00. To start off the morning in the 1st grade the kids did their chores and prayed. When they finished this they started Spanish class and reviewed their letters and the sounds that they make. The kids listened and discussed the difference between n and ñ.  The kids then continued on to do dictation in their notebooks where they used the chunked letter to make words. (One of the coolest things I have learned while here) When the kids went to write the words they counted the syllables so they knew how many letter chunks were in the words. While the kids were doing dictation the electricity went out again so their was no lights or fan. The teacher had to work on some paperwork so she had me finish the lesson on dictation. At recess time a whole bunch of kids and went and ate snack while others ran around playing. After recess Ms.Edwards and I took a break to regroup and plan for the next couple of days while the kids took a test. After recess was over the kids worked in their Spanish workbooks on learning about names. They learned that names are all special and that there is a difference between short names and long names. The electricity at our house in El Sauce went out today. The kids cut out a group of long names and short names and had to order and group them in two groups. When we got home from school Ms.Edwards had her interview and after we walked all the way down 14 de Julio to check out the sights. When we were done at 14 de Julio we went to the Megamall to walk around.

Monday, May 13th

Today started our second full week of school. We got back into the practice of waking up early to be on the bus by 6:00 a.m. When we got to school the kids played around for a little while and then had their usual Monday morning welcome ceremony. After the ceremony I headed to the class with the first grade where they started off the morning with English class. In English class  the kids first reviewed the animal names, colors, and other items. Then they started to learn their numbers. They copied into their journals numbers one to ten. They then reviewed the numbers, how to spell them, and what letters made up the numbers spelled out. Today was one of the girls birthdays in the 1st grade her name is Heylin. For Heylins birthday the kids sang to her. When they were finished with English the kids started math. Today in math the kids practice addition. For example, they practiced 10+1=11 and 11+1=12 and so on. The kids had to copy the problems down into their journals and then write in the answers. The kids went to recess, brushed their teeth, and then came back and finished their math. When they were done with math they started class using their Spanish books. The lesson in their books was about first names. The assignment was to cut out the picture of the girl and boy and glue them in the right spot and trace their names. While the kids worked on this assignment a story called "Ali Baba" (I think, or something like that) was read to the kids. When the kids finished this assignment they went on to the next two pages which were about capital letters and lower case letters. They did an exercise where they had to trace the letters that were capital in green and the letters that were lower case in read. On the same page there was a second exercise where they looked at pictures that had a word caption and had to color only the pictures that started with an upper case letter. When they all finished with the work in their books we wrote their homework in their journal and they began working on it until the end of the school day. Tommorow we are going to school again and then after school we have to come back to our house because Ms.Edwards has an online interview.