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Friday, May 17, 2013

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

 

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