And here's the rub.....

So, as I've mentioned in previous posts, I've been fuddling on the road to San Pedro for quite some time. I've felt kind of like a migratory animal. It's time to head south. Don't really have a good reason (unlike migratory animals), but I just knew I needed to go. And I left the states with no expectations other than this was going to be difficult.

After the interview in Miami, I had prepared myself for extreme culture shock. And the way I usually deal with overload or unhappiness is to hibernate. Lock myself away. Watch movies. Be anti-social.

But.....nothing, nada. I feel at home in the city, in my house, in the culture. So I thought the hard part was over. And to be honest, I was a little disappointed. I'm here to grow, am I not? How am I to grow if every thing's pretty easy?

Well, that truck's been hitting me over and over the past couple weeks. I about to begin my THIRD week of teaching this coming Monday. I did the theatre thing. Its exhausting, parents are scary when they're upset, I run out of creative stuff. 6 hours a day with around 30-40 kids. I did this for nearly two months straight, starting a new show practically every week. New set of kids, new set of challenges. I had kids with behavior problems, kids with physical disabilities, kids with learning disabilities....lice.

I thought teaching would be a breeze.

Lord oh Lord, forgive me of my ignorance.

We were told we would receive training. Well, our 'training' was the orientation with all the other teachers who have their education degrees. So we had to learn fast. As I've said, I'm teaching 4-6th. And within my first couple days, I had found my problem kid in each grade. (Interestingly enough, each was a girl from the home.) I have made peace with two of the three. I had to send the one to the principle today because she flatly refused to take a test I was giving.

I don't know how to control a classroom. The worst part of my day is walking into that 4th grade classroom. My job is my life. I have to be at the school at 6:30am and leave around 3:30. I start tutoring girls at the home 3 days a week starting next Monday. And the social aspect of the school, which started off so awesome.....is quickly becoming more caddy than any theatre company or room of Wives of Orange county or whatever. Its sad. And its pretty bad. I'm just trying to stay out of everything. Its difficult though, its my nature to add my two cents and fix things. But I've got to let that stuff go.

SO. What started out pretty scary, didn't seem so scary, until I realized what I have to do here. I'm going to grow, that's for sure. Not in the way I thought. But I guess that's the key to the whole 'growing' thing. Its not the stuff you expect to be difficult. Its the stuff that sneaks up on you or what you expect to be easy.

One thing I wanted to do in this post, since I am the end of a particularly difficult week was make a list of the things which make me believe God has not abandoned me here.

1. Baleadas---a homemade tortilla with black beans, sharp white cheese and sour cream. A staple honduran snack.
2. Rosa Marie, Katherine, my entire 6th grade class, Kevin, Ana Cecilia---students who get me through the day
3. Erica---a teacher who has taken pity on the friendless gringas and is quickly becoming one of my favorite people on the planet. She also cooks for us. You will see a picture of her below.
4. Dogs procreating outside our house---um.....I didn't know they actually got stuck together like that. Hannah and I had a 10 minute conversation about it until we looked it up on the internet.
5. 2 and a Half Men---This is one American import I really appreciate.
6. My Spanish Class---fun and is giving me confidence in little bite sized pieces and is free!
7. Chocolate.
8. The HEAT---I love it. I love being sweaty all day. I love feeling the sun on my skin. I love it. I love it. And I'm not being sarcastic.
9. Big Booty---I'm glad kids are kids everywhere and kids love 'Big Booty.'
10. The sounds of my neighborhood---I love the tinkle of the bell of the 'policemen' who ride by and tinkle their bells to let you know they're watching things, the church worship rehearsals behind our house, the millions of dogs, little blasts of American music coming from cars driving through our alley, our neighbors out and about, the swing of the gates, the tortilla guy "TORTILLAS!" (I wish you could hear me say it---its funny), the water guy "Agua!" with his truck, the trash guy with his horse and buggy "Basura, Basura"

Our first vacation time for school is coming up....we're looking at Tela, Honduras. A small costal town. I'm praying for any availability from any hotel there. But I really want the one that provides hikes through the rain forest.

Here are some recent shots.......
This is the mess that is Hannah and I's workspace. Our lesson planing for the week and day happens here. This is also the home of our massive teacher editions.

This is Hannah and Carmen, Holy Family's secretaria. She doesn't speak any English. And I don't speak Spanish but miraculously we are friends. And converse daily. Not sure how this happens.......

Me and Carmen (She looks scared here, but I promise she is anything but)

And this is our pedicure party!!! Erica's husband's cousin does house visit pedicures. So we had her over and Brenda, Hannah, Erica and I got our nails did.

Its a little blurry but I had a butterfly painted on my big toe! (the pink ones) This girl is an artist. For only 150 lempieras, you too can have a one of a kind pedicure.

Good night dear friends and family. Keep me in your prayers, you will remain in mine. Until next time, the migratory Honduran red head.