Vegetarian?

     I’m not sure I would have made it all the way through this week without the Lord’s strength.  Monday afternoon felt like Wednesday and Wednesday felt like Friday.  There was never a day that I actually ate my lunch during lunch, which is actually okay since we have lunch at 10:45AM.  I think that because so many students missed school right after Christmas break; everyone is trying to catch up and get extra help.  I really enjoy helping students during lunch and after school, but this week just seemed like during any free time, there was someone who needed a little help.  It’s actually been fun for me to be able to help students one-on-one though.  I really love to see each one when they get that “Ahh…Now it makes sense!” look on their face.  Makes me remember that I really do love teaching. 

     Since you all can’t be in my classroom I’d like to give you an example of a actual conversation takes place:  It all starts on a Thursday…
Me: “Okay class, we have two more sections in this chapter and next Thursday we are going to have a test over Chapter 7.”
Class: (groans)
Me: “Come on guys, you know this stuff, don’t worry you’ll do great!”
Fast forward to the following Tuesday (Keep in mind, since last Thursday the words “Test on Thursday” have been written on the board):
            Me: “Okay your homework is the chapter review and we will go over it tomorrow in class and review all of Chapter 7 for your test on Thursday.”
            Ricardo: “Mees, we have a test?”
            Me: “Someone answer that question for Ricardo.”
            Rene: “What stuff is on the test?”
            Me: “Come on guys, we just finished Chapter 7, you have a test on Thursday on Chapter 7!”
Wednesday (Review day, the class is split up into groups of 4 and we play a review game all day during class)
Thursday:
            Me: “Put away all of your notes and get out a pencil and your calculator.”
            Ricardo: “What are we doing?”
            Daniella: “Is this a quiz?”
            Me: “Nope, today is your test.”
            Ricardo: “We have a test?”
            Rene: “What chapter is the test on?”
            Vivian: “Oh Mees, I’m going to fail.”
            Me: “You guys will be fine, we reviewed all day yesterday and the test is just like the review.”
After taking and turning in the test…
            Leda: “Mees that was a hard quiz.”

     I was thrilled to be able to stay at the Humuya Inn (best Hotel in Tegucigalpa, and all of Honduras for that matter) on Thursday night.  The Crooks put me up in a comfy room, and I was able to just have a night to myself.  It was really great and just what I needed.  I didn’t get any work done, but I think that was just the ticket!

     After school on Friday, Jess, Laura and I went with the Crooks to the Varsity girl’s soccer game.  It was a fun game to watch, but it ended up in a tie (0-0).  Why someone once decided that leaving a game in a tie was okay is beyond me?  Who wants to go home after a tie?  I’m pretty sure there is no other sport besides soccer that there doesn’t have to be a W or a L.  I tried to explain my concern, but no one else seemed to have such strong feelings on the matter.

     After the game, we headed to the Humuya Inn to just relax and burn some time until our 7:00 movie started.  We went to see Tangled with the girls, which was my first time going to a movie theatre here.   Mimi had called around and found the only place that had the movie playing in English.  We were pretty pumped because we had planned to go the weekend before but it didn’t work out.  Finally we were going to see this movie that we had only heard good reviews about.  We got our popcorn and drinks and headed in.  We walked in as the previews were rolling, and quickly realized our dilemma.  Spanish.  They only had it in Spanish, so we had two options.  Go to a different movie, or watch it in Spanish.  We chose the latter.  It actually was still really cute, and Andrea helped me through most of the movie.  She would lean over and update me every so often to make sure I was still following along :)

     Saturday morning I went downtown to the market to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.  Danielle and Diana had told me that they always go, because the produce is really good and insanely cheap.  I got tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, carrots, mandarin oranges and a pineapple for a little over $4.00.  There are so many people, and countless numbers of vendors selling all sorts of things.  Somehow, we ended up going down the meat alley.  This could have been a mistake for me, but it’s an experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget.  It’s definitely a smell I’ll never forget.  I saw livers, stomach lining, chicken feet, cow tongue and I don’t even know what half of the other things were.  I may just become a vegetarian.

      Living in Honduras never fails to provide me with new experiences.  Some better than others, but all very different!  I'm grateful for such a diverse experience, just imagine the stories I'll be able to tell my children one day about walking under a waterfall, playing soccer with street kids and so many teaching tales! 
 
(pictures to follow hopefully)