Learning and Teaching

I have officially spend a little over two weeks in Honduras. If we have a normal day of school tomorrow, it will be the end of our first full week. The last week or so was crazy busy!

 Last Wednesday, there was a "desfile" (parade) in town that all the private schools participated in. I had never really experienced a parade before. I come from a variety of small towns - what chance or reason did I ever have to go to a parade? None. It was very interesting. Each school has it's own theme, dance, marching formations, or music that they were performing . There were definitely good and bad things about each school. Desfiles are important to many schools, so I was glad for the experience that helped me understand the culture a little bit more.

The least helpful map of all time

      On Thursday, Friday and Saturday the family I'm working with (the Hosier's) had company. Three adults (all teachers from Tegucigalpa) and two children (about the ages of the children I nanny/teach). 12 people in one house! It was insane! We went hiking in Panacom (nearby forest reserve/ resort). We barely made it to our goal, which was an elusive waterfall "45 minutos" away- (see picture of sign). Minutes? Really?? No distances or levels of difficulty were listed. I was skeptical, to say the least. We soon discovered that this hike was NOT going to be easy. The path was treacherous in most places and I found myself saving a 10-year-old girl's life more than once.

Great view. This is about half of Honduras :D 

 We also encountered a broken water main that was spewing out massive amounts of water, creating a waterfall so intense you could not avoid it if you wanted to continue the hike. Bring it on Honduran jungle!! Still not sure how my camera (or my 10-year-old friend) survived the hike. On one particularly steep switchback, I declared, "The next moving water we come to is our waterfall!!! I don't care what it is!!" Luckily for my companions, the next water we came to was, in fact, the waterfall. It was about 60feet high and Emma, Morgan and I greatly enjoyed standing under it and taking a powerful beating. That water felt fantastic after all the pain we'd been through. On the hike back that same 10-year-old girl said several times that this was "the worst day ever and the waterfall was definitely NOT worth the hike"....Uh...how do you respond to that? I told her she'd feel differently the next day. She did - fear not - hikes with Christine are always fun :D.


The rest of the weekend was spent doing restful things: visiting the city some, lots of cooking, buying a cheap CELL PHONE. I tried to avoid it, but as a caretaker of children - it is much safer if I have a cell, especially since there is no land line in their home. We also visited a local children's home and school for extremely poor children. Great experience - one of the teachers has a dream of opening a children's home and school similar to the one we visited and I told her, in all seriousness, if she got it started in the next couple years I would be willing to come back down and teach at it.

Sunday was church! I really like this church. I've been WAY more outgoing with strangers here than I ever have been en los Estados. I want friends! And I am slowly making friends with a variety of people. I love being greeted at church with hugs and kisses :D. (Greeting people and spending time to get to know fellow Christians so we can share one another's burdens was the topic of the sermon.)
This week of school has proved to me that I have A LOT to learn about teaching. Every time I encounter some thing in a 5th grade textbook that I don't have a clue about, I am humbled. 'I passed 5th grade with flying colors,' I grumble to myself and then I get serious about learning it so I can teach it back to my student. My 3rd grade level boy struggles with doing work with out guidance and I am learning how to help someone believe in their own abilities and work independently. Hard lessons to learn and teach. Algebra is my current nemesis with my 8th grade level girl. Can I admit something? I'm not good at teaching math. I understand it fine, but I open my mouth to explain things and sounds like

"Uhhhh....hmmm....grrrr" come out. Helpful? NO. We're working through it together though. My biggest learning/ teaching obstacles are Spanish and Honduran Sign Language. I haven't even really jumped in with them yet because I am so intimidated (and was really sick Tuesday and recovering Wednesday). I've learned a lot of sign this week though, and I've been assessing the children's knowledge of Spanish so I'm going to dive in head first tomorrow afternoon!

Splatter painting fun :D 

I am amazed at how quickly this family has accepted me into their own. I know things won't be perfect, but I am praying that God continues to bless both of our ministries and gives us unity as we work for Him. I'd also like to ask prayer for creativity. I only have so many cool ideas stored up from camp and student teaching. And that I continue to serve God and those around me humbly, without expecting anything in return.

OK thanks for reading a LONG post. I've had more time to process life down here and had a lot to say!! Love and miss you all :D

Landing on my feet

OK! I have officially arrived in Honduras. Well, I got here on Thursday of last week. It has taken me this long to get the energy to sit down and WANT to write this blog. Writing is a bit of a chore for me, but I want to share my experiences with you all and I made promises...unfortunately. That's enough negativity for one post, the rest will be really upbeat! After forgetting my passport and having to leave a day later than planned (yes I have officially had the worst travelling experience EVER) I did make it here. I panicked for about 5 mins in the airport because my flight got in early and the family who I am working for was no where to be seen. I had no plan B. Stupid - I know. Luckily Americans are easy to find and inside the airport I was very safe. I did finally find them and they fed me lunch and the "getting-to-know-each other" phase began.
There are 3 children in the family I am working for (3rd, 5th and 8th grade). They are high-energy and very fun. I am getting along with them and their parents very well so far! Today was day 2 of school for me and I help, teach and guide for 3-4 hours in the morning, then we eat lunch like we haven't seen food in days - learning is hard work! Afternoons are for chores, playing and secret learning (when Christine tries to sneak learning into everyday activities). I am also developing a learning schedule for Spanish and Honduran sign language. Phew! My brain hurts just thinking about it!
Over the weekend I got to visit the town and learn more about Honduras and the specific town we live in, Siguatepeque. It is a good sized town half-way between the two major cities in Honduras. The most important thing I learned was that, even though we're really safe in our home (which is beautiful - more on that later) I have to be aware that when I step through the gate, I am in danger. Crime (drugs, stealing, killings) is just a part of life in this city and as an American female I need to be aware of the dangers all the time. Essentially, I stay out of the bad parts of town, I don't go places alone and I don't get in taxis. (Sorry Mom, Dad and Laurie...I know this is scaring you - God is keeping me safe!!) On Sunday I went to church with my family. It is a small North American style church that has services in English, Spanish and Honduran Sign language. I met about a million people on Sunday! There are also Wednesday night services. I think I am going to enjoy being a part of this church. I will be helping with children's church occasionally too!
Another thing I will hopefully have the chance to do is volunteer at the VERY SMALL public school nearby. Many of their teachers are untrained and Paul, the dad in the family, I am working with, said they would love to have me help out there. Also Paul works with a children's home that has many special needs children and they are struggling with education for them because they aren't sure what learning disabilities the children have. He asked if I could help test them and talk with the teachers there about specific way to teach children with learning disabilities. Do you know how exciting and terrifying both of those things are. I am so young and so inexperienced, but with the little experience I do have and with God on my side, I know I am qualified to help in some way!
Can I tell you the craziest thing? These kids think I'm cool. I know some of you are thinking - man I wish I could tell them some stories about how weird Christine really is. But they love my weirdness, they think I know cool games, they love crafts and playing outside. They also love to ask questions. I told them I am seriously considering making a list of the questions that they ask me everyday and posting the answers as well so I can say "Refer to questions #7 on the list on questions you ask everyday". Question #1 is: Do you like the cat? We adopted a gatito on the way home from the airport on Thursday. He is SO ugly, but has the best personality of any cat I've ever met. He is going to be cute some day (when all his hair grows in and you can't count every rib...) and he will be irresistible then. Already, it has conned me into sharing ice cream with it twice, in 5 days- I'm a sucker!
This house is I'm living in is nice! Lots of plants indoors, room  to play outside and I don't have to share a bedroom!
This is getting really long.
I will leave you with this thought. We talked about how truly great Christians are the ones who serve others, put others ahead of themselves, and bear one another's burdens. It left me thinking, because by virtue of my job right now I am a servant. I chose to come here and volunteer for a school year to help this missionary family. BUT, that doesn't mean I have a true attitude of service or selflessness. It is something I know I am moving toward and need to work on everyday.
If you are reading this and you are my friend or family - I love and miss you!!!