We're The Five Best Friends That Anyone Could Have.

I've said it once and I've said it again-- I have made some of the BEST friends while being down here in Honduras. Sarah and I have discussed, many times, about how awkward it is to just put yourself out there and made friends. Here we are, in our early 20's worried about making friends. But it's so true. It is not comfortable to go up to people and say "Hey, I don't know anyone here, will you please be friends with me?" But in the end it can be so, so worth it.

Case in point? Hector, Daniel, Cristian, Sarah, and myself.

At one point in time, we didn't know each other. We saw each other in passing and our conversations centered solely around teaching and our students. But then one day someone took that awkward step, someone reached outside of their comfort zone, and an incredible friendship was built.

I thank God each and every day for placing these wonderful people in my life. Multiple times a day I find myself thinking that I am so blessed to have such incredible friends-- both here and in the States.

After spending two long, treacherous weeks apart, the five of us decided to head on up to La Ceiba for some much needed R and R. And vitamin D. We left Sigua after school on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday mid-morning. I don't think we stopped laughing the entire time.

The highlight reel.

The weekend was filled with flat tires, sand sculptures, baleada eating on the beach, trash talking, and name calling. We listened to "Call Me Maybe" more times than I could count and more times than any of the guys would care to admit. But it made a perfect weekend.

La Ceiba from our hotel, Art Deco Hotel.

I love my friends. I love Honduras. I love this Honduran life of mine.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.

Christmas has slowly started taking over CEE. All of the classroom doors are decorated with various Christmas paraphernalia, as well as the comedor and library. Sarah's gone all out decorating each of her classroom and, not to be left out, we've done our fair share of decorating in Grade 1 and 2.

Grade 2 got the ball rolling by decorating paper Christmas ornaments and hanging them on the Christmas tree on our giant bulletin board. We also colored Christmas stockings that are now hanging throughout the classroom. Just to lift our holiday spirits some more, we did all this while listening to Christmas music. Which included listening to "Feliz Navidad" on repeat. Over and over and over again. Just a little bilingual fun at the bilingual school.

Grade 1 quickly followed suit by making paper plate snow globes and strings of paper Christmas lights with their names written on them. They've been begging me to decorate Christmas stockings and Christmas ornaments, so that's on this week's agenda.

Reading Buddies has been a HUGE part of our Christmas festivities as they've really helped my kiddos with all their Christmas crafts.

Each day we read a little bit of the Christmas story and then talk about the real meaning of Christmas. No presents here, these kids are all about Jesus. And fireworks. Christmas and fireworks go hand in hand down here in Honduras.

Our Christmas party is coming up this week and I just cannot wait to celebrate with my Grade 2's. As much as we all love each other, we're all ready for a break.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

...that's what my Grade Ones are made of.

 

I adore my Grade Ones. We've had weeks worth of struggles and there are certainly still days where we are all staring at the clock, counting down until 2:15. But that doesn't mean that we don't love each other. Drive each other crazy? Yes. Love each other at the end of the day? Yes.

My cuties.

But it has taken us a long time to get to this place. We've put in weeks worth of routines and butting heads and tears before finally reaching this place where we actually enjoy being together. I wanted to share some of my joys, as well as struggles, with everyone here at CEE, so Cristian and I decided to switch classes for one class today. He taught my Grade Ones while I taught his Grade Threes. Hands down Grade Three is the easier class. Poor Cristian had no idea what he was getting himself into when he agreed to this.

 

So I teach two classes of Grade One before Cristian comes into my room. I explain to my Grade Ones that I had to go somewhere, that Mr. Cristian would be their teacher, and that I expected them to be on their verrrrrry best behavior. I walk out the door, smirking to myself, and head on up to Grade Three.

 

Easiest 40 minutes of my life. The kids were engaged, they were quiet, they participated. We made a little deal that if they could all get to "Terrific", I would give them each a Siguabuck. We finished class a little early, so I gave them about three minutes to talk to each other. They chose not to. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I almost wanted to shut the door, teach through recess, and let the kids go home early at the end of the day. It was incredible. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Mr. Cristian's experience in Grade One.

 

While I wasn't there and can't say exactly how the students behaved, I can say that my Grade Ones weren't exactly at the top of their game today. Not exactly the best day for a guest teacher and certainly not showcasing off their best behaviors. I definitely received a negative report from all teachers involved and a firm "I am NEVER doing that again!" from Mr. Cristian.

 

Despite the fact that it was a nice, easy break in my day and the fact that my Grade Ones were downright dreadful, I was glad to return to the classroom after recess. They were nowhere near as calm as Grade Three, but they're mine. My precious, rambuctious, wild Grade Ones. Who are funny and goofy and really, really smart. They've got a tough exterior, but crack through that and the tough exterior actually seems worth it.

 

Mr. Cristian might not be coming back to Grade One for a long, long time, but that's okay. Because I couldn't imagine giving them to anyone else.



Dive In And Explore Grade One And Two!

Pretty catchy title, huh? It works wonderfully for my underwater bulletin board and my sad attempt to have an underwater themed classroom.

I know it's hard to believe, but I am actually living in Honduras because I am working here. I'm not just here taking a nice little vacation, hanging out with friends, and traveling on the weekends. But I promise you-- my Monday through Friday is a whole different sort of enjoyable.

My Grade Ones are improving each and every day. They can now recite our class rules to me without any prompting-- thank the Lord. We're working on actually being able to follow the class rules, but as of this week, they have been able to tell me that I moved their clip down because they broke rule number 3. While I'm not a fan of how I'm a slave to the clip chart these days, it's working for my kiddos, so I'll put it up with it.

Grade Twos and I are kind of at a stand-still right now. We aren't doing terrible, but we certainly aren't on a roll or anything. Between the cold temperatures and overcast skies and the fact that Christmas vacation is just too far out of reach to be able to count down to it, we're all a little antsy. Their attention spans are short and my patience is even shorter. We're making it work, but no one is absolutely loving it.

I feel like I say this every time I talk about what is going on at school, but there is ALWAYS so much going on! In the month of Novemeber we had the CEE Anniversary, the Spelling Bee, a couple different birthday parties, and some fun activities in Grade One.

Since pictures can explain these events better than words can, I've uploaded some of the winning shots for your viewing pleasure.

CEE Anniversary

The Spelling Bee

Grade One Science

PANACAM-- Where the Scenery is Beautiful and the Guests are Cranky.

Disclaimer: Personally, I loved this trip. I had an amazing time with my friends and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was with my some of my closest friends here in Honduras on top of a beautiful mountains. While the weekend did have it's ups and downs, I would give it a positive rating overall. My tone in the following play-by-play doesn't exactly convey that, but it's true. The weekend spent in PANACAM was filled to the absolute brim with adventures, laughter, and memories as well as a lot of crankiness. Mostly memories though.

 

Another weekend, another set of travel plans, right? Absolutely right. This weekend we packed up and headed up to PANACAM which is a forest (rainforest?) with great hiking. Our entourage consisted of myself, Sarah, Cristian, Hector, Daniel, Ricky, Ricky's friend, Lauren, and Erika. We had a bit of a late start while leaving (shocker) and arrived at PANACAM around 6:15ish. In theory.

 

Yojoa from PANACAM Lodge

Weekend Adventure #1. We were in the final stretch of our drive to PANACAM. Quite literally in the driveway to the hotel we were staying at, about five-ten minutes from our final destiantion. It's dark and rainy and there was a giant delivery truck blocking the road. As in, it was horizontally across the road making it quite impassable for us. So we turn around, find out there is no other way up to PANACAM Lodge, and wait for something to happen. And wait. And wait. And wait until we finally got a hold of the people at PANACAM who said they would drive down to the truck and then walk to meet us. We could leave our cars at the pulperia where we were waiting and get them in the morning. Sounds like a legitimate plan, correct? Except it was raining and dark and we all had our backpacks and blankets and it was at least a 45 minute walk. Idea vetoed. We eventually found some people who would let us park at their house, drive us to the truck that was blocking the road, and then the people from PANACAM would drive us the rest of the way. Honduran people have such big hearts.

 

 

We arrive at PANACAM Lodge, get settled in to our college dorm room/ camp cabin, and make our way to the restaurant for dinner. It's about 8:45pm at this point, so I think it's safe to say that the restaurant staff was less than pleased with us. We ate some dinner, played some cards, moved to a table outside, built a fire, played some more cards, and finally quit when we were all cheating so badly that we couldn't actually finish a game. That was around....2am.
 

Despite the nights adventures and the intense card gaming, some of us still couldn't fall asleep once we got back to the room and ending up having some intense teacher bonding. It was needed and successful, don't even worry.

 

 

A late breakfast and some hummingbird watching before starting on what turned into a treacherous hike. The hike itself was diffcult, but managable. I survived and enjoyed it, but it was certainly tough. But EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of us was wearing our cranky pants. Cranky. Cranky. Cranky. It was too hot, the hike was too far, we were too hungry, we were too thirsty, we didn't know this is what we were getting ourselves into, the hike was too hard, we were too tired. If there was something to complain about, I can certainly guarantee we complained about it.

 

 

We finish the hike, shower, all ready to go back to Sigua. Oh wait, the truck that is supposed to drive you down the mountain to the pulperia isn't here, just wait over there. Fine, done. OH WAIT. You have to wait TWO hours. Now let me tell you, out of the five of us who completed the hike and were waiting to drive back to Sigua, there were ZERO people who dealt with hunger well. You can only imagine the crankiness and nastiness that ensued. We were not pleasant people to be around. We finally made it to the pulperia and stopped for dinner at the lake. After consuming some tasty, tasty fish, we were back to our normal selves.

 

At the top. Hot, sweaty, and so cranky.

Roll into Sigua late on Saturday night and I was asleep the second I touched the bed. Oh PANACAM, you provided me with more 5 Year Perspective stories than anything else has in a long, long time.

 

 

Thanksgiving Is The Best Holiday...

... No presents are required, all you have to do is eat, and you're expected to take a nap at the end of it.

While being here is everything I could have hoped for and more, I frequently miss people, events, and activities at home. Especially Thanksgiving. This year there were no days off from school, no Macy's Day Parade, and no Black Friday commercials. On the Honduran homefront, it was just another week.

Luckily the Hagler's stepped up and hosted an American style Thanksgiving at their house. Filled with lots and lots of food, great company, and some intense card games. And football, of course. Sarah and I tried our hand at cooking and prepared four traditional dishes-- corn casserole, scalloped potatoes, apple pie, and cupcakes. All delicious, if I do say so myself.

Afte gorging ourselves with a disgusting amount of food, we settled in to play some Uno and then Hand and Foot. Standard Thanksgiving festivities.

We had our fair share of Thanksgiving talk in Grade One and Two as well. We made turkeys a couple different times for Reading Buddies. Of course, I had to introduce my Honduran lovies to making handprint turkeys. They may not be Americans, but they have an American teacher. We talked and talked and talked about what we were thankful for and prayed to God many times thanking Him for all of the wonderful things in our lives. 

So, what is Mees Clatelin thankful for this holiday season? In no particular order-- my Top Five Things To Be Thankful For In 2012.

1. My family. Standard, right? But in all seriousness, Momma, Daddio, Seester, and Broski have been more than supportive in my international endeavors and I cannot even begin to express how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family.

2. My friends. Another standard. But the more I travel, the more wonderful people I meet. And in turn, the more I appreciate all of my crazy, wild friends back home. It would be a lie to say that I'm not counting down the days to see them again.

3. The opportunity to travel the world, meet new people, and experience new places. 2012 has been filled to the brim with adventures. From my time in Brazil to a brief pit stop in the States, and finally my new Honduran life-- my life has been abundantly blessed.

4. Getting to see Vilma each and every week. Four years was too long to wait. Though it's only ten minutes a week, it's easily the best ten minutes of my life.

5. Technology that allows me to stay in contact with everyone who is important to me. It may sound shallow, but having such easy and instant access to the Internet allows me to still feel like I am involved in the lives of everyone back home. I can reach someone in an instant if I am feeling homesick, my friends and family are only a call away. There have been times in my life where this has proved to be invaluable to me.



I'm In Love All Right...

...with my crazy, beautiful life.

 

 

Well, we did it again. Two weekends in a row we've had what could be called the "best weekend ever." Not unlike last week, nothing incredibly monumental happened. But when you spent the first 9 weekends of your time here sitting in your house working on school work, anything is an improvement.

 

Friday night consisted of more fireworks. Of course. Cristian took us to the fireworks market (seriously, that's what it is) and I took a particular liking to one booth. All of the fireworks sold are pretty much the same, so it doesn't really matter which booth you buy them from. I just happened to really like the lady and kids at one booth. So now she's my firework dealer. She's pretty much the only lady that I'll buy fireworks from.

 

 

It was at my fireworks dealer that we got to witness Cristian's awesome translating abilities. The lady shows us a firework and says "Pew! Pew! Pew!" Okay, got it. Cristian looks at us and goes "She just said 'Pew! Pew! Pew!'" Yeah, thanks, sound effects are pretty universal.

 

8:30am Saturday morning rolls around and my phone is ringing. No one calls anyone before 9am unless it's an emergency, so something had to be going on. Right? Wrong! "Hello?" "What are you doing?" "Umm, I was sleeping...?" "Oh, want to go to the Lake today?" Really?! Luckily our conversation still followed the standard pattern, but 8:30am?! Cristian, you're killing me. Despite the 8:30 wake up call, we didn't leave until about 1pm. Standard.

 

Pick a fish, any fish.

So Cristian, Hector, Jorge, Daniel, Sarah, and I all pile into Cristian's car and drive on up to the lake. 45 minutes later, we're hanging out at the restaurant waiting for our freshly caught tilapa to be brought out to us. We actually got to chose the fish that we wanted to eat, which kind of grossed me out a little bit. In typical Honduran fashion, we had our share of vendors coming up to us trying to sell us various things. Which included Kenny Rogers CDs because that was the only CDs they had in English. Nahh. I'll pass. Jorge did end up buying some weird magnetic bird things that we included in a litle science experiment the other day. Our fish come out and we chow down. Including eating the eyeballs. Disgusting. I actually only ate half and it was sandwiched in between two pieces of plantains. It was just so slimy. That isn't to say that I didn't take the eyeballs out of everyone's fish and pile them on my plate. Because that definitely happened.

 

Love is blind.

Back into the car for the drive back home to Sigua and we find ourselves completing a little

science experiement. Can we stick the magentic bird on the hood of the car and have it stay all the way to Sigua? The answer is no, we cannot. Well, yes, we can stick the bird on the hood of the car. No, it cannot stay on the hood all the way to Sigua.

 

 

We also stopped to pick up some fruit. Like licha, but bigger and better. One of the many things that I love about Honduras is that everything is so relaxed and chill. For example, as we're eating these licha on steroids, we're just throwing the skins and pits out the window. And that's totally normal. It wasn't even a big thing, just a very small drop in the bucket that is my time here in Honduras, but it caused me to have one of those "Oh my gosh, I am living in Honduras. This is my life right now." moments.

 

 

We stopped at some random house that I THINK is Hector's property, but he doesn't actually live there. I'm not exactly sure why we stopped, I missed that part of the conversation, but I ended up chopping down a banana tree while I was there. With a machete. Yepp, that happened.

 

 

Upon returning to Sigua, we decided that we were going to go to the movies. What was playing, you ask? Tinkerbell. Yepp. Two girls and three guys all over the age of 22 went to see Tinkerbell. Don't even worry, we did have Hector's niece and nephew with us, so that softened the blow a little bit. That doesn't change the fact that Sarah and I were super into the movie because we could actually understand what was going on. Yes, the movie was in Spanish.

 

Post-movie included fireworks and a trip to Wendy's. Not a huge excitement, but Sarah and I got to drive. Cristian graciously handed over the keys and let us take the wheel. So let's check that one of the bucket list-- driving in a foreign country.

 

And there you have it. Yet another play by play of an unexciting, yet completely wonderful weekend in Honduras. It truly is the people who I meet who make or break this experience. And I have met some fantastic people who are fun and spontaneous and who have become huge aspects of my life.