Happy Birthday Leyla!

Leyla has been waiting for her birthday ALL week! She knew it was coming because we bought her some presents and told her she could open them on her birthday. We talked about getting a pinata, too. So she was waiting for it! We explained to her - not today, not tomorrow, then the next day, and so on. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, but I wanted to celebrate it at school with the kids and Monday was the only day I had space in my schedule. So, when she went to bed last night, I asked her, "Do you know what day it is tomorrow? And she said, "Yes. My birthday."

She woke up this morning and we sang happy birthday to her then got her all dressed to go and took the party supplies. Mrs. Ochoa made her a birthday "crown" that was so cute. At 10:30 Marcos came with the pinata and we took the kids out to swing at it. Of course none of them could break it, but they had fun trying! Then we lit a 4 candle on her cupcake and sang happy birthday. At the end they sang, How old are you now? And every time Leyla said "Four!" And held up her 4 fingers :) Then everyone got their bags of candy and a balloon. It was lots of fun! I can't believe she is getting so big :)

 Her Hello Kitty pinata we had made specially for her!

 Getting ready for the pinata! (She has on the crown Mrs. Ochoa made her)

 Stella, Amy Camila, Leyla, Pamela, and Daniela

 Everyone in a circle waiting their turn.

 Leyla goes first! They usually count to 10, but since Leyla was the birthday girl she was going to get 15 hits. Only, the kids don't know how to count in English past 10! So they all stopped at 10 anyway. It was pretty funny.

 Go Kevin!

 We had to break the pinata ourselves for them, poor things are so tiny! They are so sweet though, taking turns, and when we got to "10" they gave up the stick - nobody fought to keep hitting! What well-behaved little kiddies.

 Running back to the classroom for cupcakes!

 I made chocolate cupcakes with pink cream cheese icing. They were yummy.

 Leyla's class!

 At home opening presents!

 She was excited to get her Three Little Pigs Play-doh kit!

 Perfect paper for her :)

 A purple fairy Barbie with wings, to match her purple fairy dress from Abuela.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEYLA!

The New Routine

Leyla is doing so great in daycare! She has really adjusted and made friends. She is even happy to go in the mornings and doesn't fuss at all when I tell her bye (sometimes she used to). I am very proud of her! The girl that watches all the little ones is very sweet and I can tell she does a good job. Leyla is always happy to see her and she gives her hugs and kisses bye-bye! She loves her new friends too - one time she fell asleep in the same bed with the other little girl, Aime. She tells me when the play together, too, and that she had fun. I am so happy that she enjoys it and I am so glad that we decided to put her there - I think that was the best decision we could have made!

We have our routine in the morning, too. We get up and eat breakfast together, brush our teeth, get dressed, pack her backpack, and catch a taxi. In the afternoons she "helps" me wash the dishes or the clothes or whatever, sweeps, mops, and then we play with her puzzles or read books.

She has gotten really good at doing puzzles! She loves to do them all by herself. One of her other new favorite things is singing (well it's not new, but she's gotten better at it). She sings "Ee-i-ee-i-ooo" all the time and in tune- she even tries to pronounce "had a farm" and "moo moo there." She sings "Baby Bumblebee" and can say "it stung me!" and "ugh, yucky!" She also sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and in her mumbled singing I can here "high" and "sky" at the ends of her phrases.

She has definitely gotten to be very defiant and well push the limits! But, we are learning to be firm and ignore crying episodes and she will comply. Most of the time I have to tell her over and over "You can't have any candy until you eat your broccoli" and eventually she will get it. It's amazing really how much she understands - you just have to be firm and not give in, and she will know that you are serious. She understands all the rules but tests you!

My big helper! After I finished mopping she wanted to mop the entire house again and did so for a good thirty minutes!

I Love My Pilot Pens

I love my Pilot pens! They make life so much more colorful! Every day that I have to sit down and make lesson plans for school is a chore; so I write them with my pretty pens! I also make a heading at the top with the day of the week. I wanted to see them all together, and thought they would look neat in a calendar or something, so I took pictures of each one (yes, of each one) and cut and pasted them together (yes, I know, I'm a dork). Here is the result. Aren't they pretty?

Which one is your favorite? (Click on it to see them bigger)

La Celebracion del Dia Tipico

Today we celebrated el Dia Tipico at CAB. Basically it's a day just to celebrate the culture, the food, the legends, the dress, and everything "typical" of Honduras. They had food and more food and the kids did skits, dances, and sang songs. The school was decorated really nicely and there were people everywhere!

 Leyla and I getting ready to leave!

 The skit that 9th grade performed, "La Susia." Basically it's a legend about a woman who seduces men. I think.

 All the little girls dressed up in their Honduran dress!

 "La Susia." AHHH!!!!

 All the girls (9th grade + Gladys) whose hair I braided! I really like to braid but don't get much practice since Leyla won't sit still and it hurts my arms too much to braid my own. So I was happy to do theirs!

 From the back! Don't they look pretty?

 Jairy - love her long, curly hair, but man it takes forever to braid! :) It looked pretty though, especially with the roses.

 Claudette has beautiful long hair (trying to convince her to donate it) and it's not quite as thick so her braid turned out really well.

 Leyla with Jailine's baby!

The decorations at school. This is where they had all the food set up. The teachers did a great job!

Summer so far...

It's summer here in Honduras and it is HOT. Really, it's hot...probably in the 90s. It is tough trying not to suffocate. Usually it cools down at night or rains at least once a week - but not now! Nope! Don't count on any of that! Just blazing heat and sticky skin constantly.

First semester exams are coming up by the end of the week and I am feeling good about my classes. I have done really well sticking to my plans and feel on track for finishing the units (or the whole book) I need to finish by November. Most of my students are passing all the classes so far (without their exam grade totaled in) except a few of the younger students who just haven't adjusted to high school yet. Hopefully next semester things will turn around for them.

The puppies are getting so big and cute! I will take pictures as soon as I can - Marcos borrowed my camera so it will be a week before I can take any. The puppies are 4 weeks old now and all are walking around and come to the door when you open it, or come to the food bowl when you feed Lizzy. We've started giving them a little puppy food mush a couple times a day and they are eating it pretty well. They are all good and healthy and very playful :)

Leyla has learned some new words: she says "puh-puh" (purple) and "boo" (blue). She tilts her little head when you say "vamos!" saying, "C'mon!" She says "pee-pee" if I sit her on the toilet (although she won't pee IN the toilet) and she loooooves to dance to Father Abraham on her Bible Action Songs DVD. She says "mamamamama" when we read "Llama Llama Red Pajama" - her new favorite book. And sometimes I catch her playing hide-and-seek! She is really sweet too and gives everyone a hug and a kiss before saying goodnight :)

First Week of Classes!

Classes started Monday! My schedule is a little rough this year - 36 hours!!! But, it went really well. I felt really prepared and I think I made a good impression. It helped being organized. I gave them the class rules, the grading policy, and a student inventory. We decorated folders for their portfolios, too. We started Thursday with more classwork and diagnostic tests. I felt good about my lessons because there was good participation from all of them, so it made me feel like I had planned well, or that they enjoyed the activities. I hope so. I don't know if they were fun, but at least they all participated!! That's a good sign, right? I want to have daily activities and less lectures, but I hope they will learn the information that way, too. Wish me luck!!

Back to School

School starts February 7th! I am working my butt off trying to get ready. I will be teaching Science and 3 English classes (Language, Conversation, and Spelling) to 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. It adds up to 36 hours a week - and since I wanted 4 days a week to have a 3-day weekend, it's not going to be easy. I had thought I'd be teaching from 9 to 2 (that's 6 hours a day) which adds up to 24 hours. But with that many classes, I'll be on a full schedule, from 7 to 2 and with no free hours/planning periods!! Talk about rough....but I guess I'd rather do that and have my Friday off.

I'm partially excited about it because the pay is double what I got last year and will really help us get ahead with our savings. And, since I taught the same English classes last year and am already familiar with the books, I shouldn't have to plan as hard. It's the science that will take up most of my time. Speaking of which, I will get those books on Monday with exactly a week to plan the entire year!! Oh and I don't have a calender either, so I don't know the dates for the Partials or any holidays...

So here's what I'm planning. I'm going to make course overviews and Unit plans for the first partial for each of the classes, and then work a week to 2 weeks ahead with lesson plans, and write some really good classroom rules and disciplinary action to take, like a good teacher! I'm hoping it will be so much better this year, being more prepared. I'm going to do the best I can with what they give me and with the few, few teaching skills I have, and just simply NOT get frustrated with the students. So it will be a great year!

Last Week of Classes!

I finished all the exams last week, and this week I have classes for those who did not pass. Then Monday they have their second exam and I will be done! (If they still fail they have to come back in January). and in two weeks I'll be home in Nashville! So excited!!

Also I thought I'd post a recipe. Marcos brings bananas home from the mountains all the time and they ripen all at once, so I've been making lots of bread! and everyone loves it! It's a really good recipe.

1 cup melted butter
2-1/2 cups flour
7 large mashed bananas (use ripe ones)
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

350 for 1 hour. Just mash all the bananas, mix with the sugar and butter, add the beaten eggs, and then the flour and the rest. I also add cinnamon :) Here's the website I got the recipe from:


http://www.banana-bread-recipe.com/recipes/big-banana-bread-recipe

Back to work

Well this week it's back to work. No more vacation!

So far it's been GREAT....yeah, that was sarcastic. First of all there's no water in the house. I cleaned the pila, and then the water left - and hasn't come back. I spent so much time letting it run and drain until it finally ran somewhat clear and then, it was complete mud again! So I drained the pila again....and now it is completely dry because the water hasn't come back. But, it has been raining really heavily every night and we've caught rainwater....however, it didn't rain last night, so we are really out of water now.

Yesterday Maria and I went to the market to look for a huge barrel to catch more rainwater (Marcos is in the mountains) and brought it back ourselves walking. I'm sure we looked crazy. And it was heavy! My hands were hurting by the time we got back.

Then I tried to fix Leyla's crib. Got all the nails in except one and it WOULD NOT budge. I think it must have hit a knot or something. I was exhausted and frustrated and hit my thumb twice, and my back started hurting like crazy. Then after all the pounding another side of her crib came loose. Finally I gave up and let the nail bend! At least the other three are in straight.

Then I stayed up all night typing English verb tense exercises for my students....soooooo tired. Leyla and I are both sick with colds AND Leyla has been spitting up a lot and crying for me constantly. I'm afraid her stomach hurts her, too.

I will be glad when Marcos gets home, and this month is over....and then we will be in Oklahoma for the weekend!!! That will be a nice break.

New Schedule

I'm finally getting a break at school! Although it will probably mean less pay, I am excited to be able to spend more time with Leyla.

Some parents have been complaining about the kids' math grades and saying math is too hard, bla bla bla, and that maybe if it were taught in Spanish they would do better. However, Andy (the principal) and I, know it's not the language, it's the kids' bad attitudes. So, to appease the parents, he found a new teacher to teach them math. That means I only have English classes! Now, I am off Monday, and Wednesday only have two hours of classes. Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday are the same. The only problem is that I have like 4 hours straight in the same grade, so that will not be fun for them. And they already hate me (I feel like). Plus I don't know how permanent this will be. We'll see how the parents like it.

Exhaustion & Frustration

This is my second week back at school. I still haven't gotten over the cold I picked up in the US and have started losing my voice, so teaching has gotten even more difficult. When I came back last week, we went immediately into exams and I only went from 9:30-11:30, so that was not bad. This week starts back classes, so I'm staying until 2:00 again :(

I have one exam left: Math. It was supposed to be today for both 7th and 8th grades, but the principal called Sunday and said it was changed to NEXT Monday. Some of the kids had mentioned that but I hadn't heard anything about it so I left them material and reviews as if the test were today. I am extremely frustrated with the school constantly changing the schedule and not informing me ahead of time - I feel sooo out of the loop.

This morning I was talking to a teacher who had spent several years in the US and teaches and speaks English. He shares my frustrations, so today we were venting together. He mentioned teachers' meetings and asked why I was never there! What? meetings? huh? There's another reason I hate teaching there. I never hear a thing about meetings. I feel like they just don't involve me in anything. I'm American and have a degree and they pay me for speaking English and for having a degree and I negotiated my pay - I feel like being American alone means they don't include me! I have no idea when meetings are, no one ever tells me, and I have no idea most of the time until the day of when we're getting out early or not having school the next day. Just today one of the students asked if they could have time to practice a dance for a competition they were having on Friday...dance? friday? Does that mean I don't have classes? I don't know how many times I have come to school prepared to teach a certain class and been told I don't have that class.

That's another thing. There are SO many holidays and "celebrations" and every one of them means a day off. It is ridiculous. They need class time to practice for the celebration. They get out half-day on Thursday because they have the celebration Friday. and of course Friday there are no classes and they celebrate. Classes are more important than celebrations! They can do like every other school I know (well, in the US) and schedule time AFTER school hours to celebrate, play sports, compete, whatever. No wonder the kids don't place any importance to their studying!

Every day is a struggle for me. I go in hopeful and thinking maybe today they'll pay attention and we'll get something done, and every day I go home depressed and searching for yet another strategy to make them listen and help them learn. I'm exhausted with it. and it certainly doesn't help that I have absolutely no training in education or in 13 and 14 year olds.