Yes, I work here.

Hello, all! I'm back in the Hondo and week two of teaching is already over!

I arrived here on August 14, happy to see the city among the green mountains and to hear rrrrr's rollin' everywhere. Instead of living in an apartment by myself, I'm living with Estee, my friend from DC. What an upgrade! We spend most of our time drinking diet coke and watching Funny Cats on youtube.

As far as teaching goes, there are a number of big changes. First, International School Tegucigalpa built a new high school and we moved in right away.  Well, almost. We started school a day late because the water pipes were leaking. Instead, we spent that Friday trying to flush all the toilets and to run all the sinks at the same time in order to test the pipes.

Check out some pics of my new classroom!

My wall of art.

One of my students drew this last year. The Black Plague was his inspiration.

My students drew this in response to Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak. 

Another beaut from my great group of students last year.

Isn't this gorgeous? My student, Stephanie, painted this for my art project last year.

My essential question posters. This year, the 9th grade English theme is "Decisions, Actions, and Consequences." We started on The Giver this week.

My three rules.

Oh, yes. I work here.

View from the end of the hallway. 

Couldn't resist.

 I love how the rows of houses are built into the mountains.

View from the stairs in between floors. Everything is so green and open. It's nice.

The hallway to the polideportivo.

The poli. Eventually, there will be basketball hoops.

A view of the poli from above. My room is to the left on the bottom floor.

Other big changes arrived (or didn't arrive) with the new building: no fans in classrooms, no curtains, no projectors, no internet, no classroom shelves . . . yet. These changes are really difficult at times because these are all luxuries we enjoyed in the old building, which is now used entirely by the middle school.The media room has no media (none of the promised computers, projectors, laptops). The cafeteria remains unfinished; the students eat lunch wherever they can find space. Many rooms are even missing whiteboards. Can you imagine teaching calculus without sufficient board space? The science departments are working in their labs permanently for lack of desks. Most of these things will  be arriving in a shipment that is scheduled to be delivered in October (so November). 

From what I understand, the delays are partly due to the immense amount of general stuff required to build and accommodate a new school, but mostly due to "Honduras-time." Honduran culture is much more relaxed about schedules, and deadlines in general. Most of the time, this cultural change is welcome. Hondurans definitely know how to relax and simply enjoy life and enjoy each other's presence. But business-wise, I think it might be driving our North American principle crazy. :)

So, we carry on. I actually think not having internet has done spectacular things for my work ethic. After a summer of relaxation and ice cream, teaching is tough, of course, and very draining. However, running my own classroom feels really good. Last year, I took over for another teacher's class and, while my students were fabulous, it was a difficult transition because I didn't make the rules and I didn't know what her students had learned. 

Estee has also contributed to this whole "work hard" thing. I always tell her how efficient she is all the time. She can be ready and elegant in 5 minutes flat. She creates delicious meals in 20 minutes. She makes the best hot chocolate ever. I'm a snail when it comes to most tasks, so Estee's been helping me focus and things feel much better that way. 

Another difference from last year is that I'm teaching drama as an elective. I'm teaching from a book called At Play: Teaching Teenagers Theater by Elizabeth Swados. She prefers to teach students that have no experience with theater and her workshop eventually leads the students to write their own play. The class is both thrilling and scary to teach because it's pretty experimental. We are doing all improv games and activities. We're not doing actual scenes yet because I want to students to approach performing in an authentic way, rather than mimicking what is seen on TV and in film. Amazingly, I have at least three students from each grade level in my class. I have eighteen students in total. This is a big number considering that each high school teacher is responsible for an elective. The students (from what I can tell) love it. In all honesty, it doesn't take too much to share and enjoy the magic of theater. We make up ridiculous stories on the spot. introduce ourselves in rap-form, and generally just laugh at each other. My students have been asking me about a Christmas play, but I'm not sure if I could organize a consistent time to rehearse or an appropriate play (without an over-abundance of cheese) to perform. I'll keep you posted! 

Overall, my second stay in Honduras has been even more wonderful than the first. It was difficult to leave my family again, especially because I was nervous about teaching, but my experiences just in these last three weeks have been incredibly rewarding.

I miss my pets, too. However, there's always skype: 

WARNING: The following pictures were taken this Saturday morning, a.k.a not my finest hour. 

Emma has a face only a mother/aunt could love. When Karen asked, "Where's JuJu?" Emma cocked her head to the side as pugs are wont to do.

Did I skype my two cats? Please! I read about it in Becoming a Cat Lady: A Fool-Proof Method. From the picture, you can tell I'm really enjoying it.  

Unfortunately, Bo couldn't be reached for comment. Sad face.

I will leave you with this: a scorpion. This was the first of three scorpions to be found in my classroom this past week. He is stuck between my promo for The Fellowship of the Book (my student book club) and the glass door. Eeck.

Hope you are anticipating pumpkin pie, apple cider, and leaves falling. Have a wonderful weekend!

Julie