Making Memories

This week was the first week in a long time where we had a classes every day. I had gotten used to the whole 4 day or less work week. However, I have managed to not only survive but to have a mostly excellent week. I say mostly because there were several depressing moments, such as when my 9th graders didn´t do any of the work I assigned and when I did the grades and discovered that several of my classes have only five students passing.

For extra credit in my 11 grade lit class, I divided my kids up into groups to dramatize Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet. They had the liberty to make creative changes. The first group made Juliet 100 years old. They were all guys and dressed up as girls. Erick who was playing Juliet even made himself some breast to go along with his outfit. I laughed so hard I was crying. It made the rest of the day brighter after laughing so hard.

Another source of laughter was on my walk home. Every day I get hit on by random strangers who profess their love for me. Well on this particular walk home, I felt even more special by the unique way this guy expressed his love for me. He was driving a truck that was blaring propaganda for his candidate for all the town to hear. As I walked by, I said in English,¨Hey pretty lady, I love you. You´re so beautiful. I like the way you walk.¨ I couldn´t help but smile.

Smiles kept on coming with the Champapas party last night. It was a cultural celebration of the different parts of Honduras. Each secondary class had a booth from different parts of Honduras and sold the local food from that area. I tried buying something from each booth as all my classes were insisting on my buy from them. My belly was extended as far as possible, I ate so much!!! I had a frita, corn covered in mayonnaise and cheese, horchata, pupusas, and two different types of drinks.

Dancing is essential to any good party and they had a dance competition. To begin, they had invited a group to do a presentation. It was really amazing. they were dancing with machetes and throwing them in the air. It was crazy. The whole dance was a long drama. Of course the 2nd graders were a lot cuter doing their traditional dance. The Seniors won the dance competition and my 7th graders won for having the best booth.

With all the dancing and the sugar I had, I also wanted to participate in the fun of swirling around. So I convinced Kayla (a sm from Union) to dance with me. We were trying to remember some swing moves. One move we tried ended up with me falling on my butt HARD! Fortunately only about 3 people were there to see it. When some of the 11th grade girls heard about it, they were disappointed they had missed seeing me fall on my butt!

Even though my kids are failing and not paying attention, most of them like. I´ve been told i´m the cool teacher. In fact I´m so cool I´ve been invited to several parties. I declined all 0f the invites.

Our first quarter is almost finished. Two months are over. I´m starting to enjoy teaching just a little be more. At least, I´m not thinking of diseases I can contract in order to leave early!