As I was wrapped up my two terrific weeks of substitute-teaching the 9th graders, IST received an email saying that the 9th grade English teacher (the incomparable Mrs. Katie Smith) could not return for the second half of the year. IST offered me the position and - Look out, now! - I'm in charge of educating 73 fourteen-year-olds at International School Tegucigalpa!
Phew.
Honestly, as I prepared to leave this past month, I did so half-heartedly. My reasons for leaving consisted of a lack of permanent work and purpose here. However, I definitely wasn't ready to part with all of my friends (much less the cuisine!).
During my subbing stint, I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the 9th graders. I kept thinking how sad it was that I wouldn't be reading the rest of Romeo and Juliet with the students. All the good parts are ahead of us: the wedding, the fight, the domestic dispute, the poison, the dagger . . . My mom even suggested I ask the school if they had a random position open. So, when a something did open up unexpectedly, it didn't take me long to decide that this would be a wonderful adventure and a great way to stay near my new friends.
There are some other reasons to stay in Honduras, too:
Exhibit A: Jacko
This is Jacko, Jean and Jairo's dog. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to be able to actually pet a dog without giving into germaphobism. There are a ton of stray dogs in Honduras, none of them pet-able. In fact, my roommate Julienne explained that she pets dogs with her foot . . . with the shoe on. Even when people keep dogs as pets, the dogs are mostly kept outside where they get dirty and (potentially) flea-filled. It's not a cruel thing, it's just not popular to keep dogs, especially big dogs like Jacko, as in-house pets. That's a very "first world" thing, if I may say that.
Could you leave this face?
Exibit B: Jean and Jairo allow me to do laundry at their house. Clothes dried on a line feel better, I think.
Exibit C: Pupusas!!! I bought this glorious plate of food at school. Pupusas are originally from El Salvador. They are cheese-filled tortillas served with chismol (like a chunkier homemade salsa) and onions as toppings.
Exhibit D: The sun. Michiganders, you know what I'm talking about. I arrived in October and October never ended. Glory! Snow who? These were taken at Jean and Jairo's house.
(Disclaimer: I have been warned about hot season. In fact, the school alters the class schedule in April so that the students leave school around 1:30p. Apparently, the heat is so intense no one can concentrate come two o'clock).
Exibit E: The little adventures . . . like breaking into my own house and pushing Julienne through the bars on the window (Elena and Sarah pictured).
Blurry, but Sarah is trying to get the screen out with a spoon. It only builds character, folks. (On a side note, we have two outside doors to our house, one by the street and one inside the garage. This window is not directly connected to the street. We are safe!).
Exhibit F: A note one of my students gave me . . .
. . . on the back of a handcrafted, recreated Pokemon artifact.
Exibit G: Angry birds. Yes, I was allowed into the Parrot Cage. Good thing they were already eating. Those apple pieces could have been my phalanges.
One of them refused to be photographed. . .
If you can't trust a toucan, toucan you trust? (sorry).
I realized later that this is the only picture I took of IST's resident toucan where a small pile of his poop wasn't outright visible. As it is, I would concentrate on looking at his blue foot or the ginormous beak. Sadly, there were two toucans at IST before Christmas break, but the other one died of depression. I guess wild animals don't like cages. Huh.
Today, I'm going to the mall to buy new professional clothes. The only formal pants I brought have a nice, inappropriate hole in the mid-thigh region. Tonight? Watching the guys play soccer with Jean and Molly.
Hope everyone has a jolly-great weekend!
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