Pride and Prejudice

Pick one of the following questions and write an answer.

1. Where does the opening scene take place?

2. What does Mrs. Bennet want her husband to do?

3. Why does Mrs. Bennet seem excited?

4. What does Mrs. Bennet consider to be her mission in life?

5. Why does Mr. Bennet favor Lizzy?

6. Who does Mrs. Bennet say will probably visit Mr. Bingley first?

7. How much money does Mr. Bingley earn annually?

8. What is meant by the word “let” in this sentence?
“Netherfield Park is let at last.”

9. What does Mrs. Bennet say a woman with five grown daughters should give up?

10. How many years have the Bennets been married?

Flying Rocks and Fire

My kids know how to keep me on my toes. Just when I think I´m getting better at the whole class management idea, my kids show me that I have not!

The other day while 8b was taking their literature test two things happened to make me quite mad. First, I caught a student cheating and had to take away his test and suspend him. When most the students were finished, they were standing outside the door looking at the primary level playing during lunch. When someone got the bright idea to through paper at the kids below. Well one boy from 3 grade decided to wrap a big rock in paper and through it back. The missile came sailing into the class room and missed me by a couple of feet. That did not make for a great day.

Luckily for me, two days later in 8A, I was to have another experience to try my patience. While I was writing on the board, I heard the girls giggling. I turned around to find someone had light a piece of paper on fire. Oh the headache they give me! So the counselor and I had to investigate who was the culprits. Eight girls confessed so that one wouldn´t get in trouble. So for their punishment they had no recess and had to pick up garbage during lunch. Picking up garbage is the worst punishment for them.

Today we have parent teacher meetings all day, so I don´t expect any rocks or fire. But you never know!

Bribes in school

So my kids are always asking to go to the bathroom. Usually they disappear for 10 minutes. I almost always deny them permission, except when it looks like they are going to pee their pants. The other day, my 9th grade students were not wanting to do their work. Several asked if they could go to the bathroom. I said no as they could wait 5 minutes to the end of class. When they persisted I said it would cost 5 lempiras. They bargained with me and I conceded to let them go the bathroom for 3 lempiras. I ended up making like 18 lempiras almost a dollar on bathroom passes in the last two minutes of class. With that money I bought prizes for the game I played with my kids.

So I did feel mildly guilty, but not guilty enough. I´ll probably charge them again.

Christmas Vacation

The past three weeks have been full of adventure and fun as I spent my vacation wandering around. I won´t bore everyone with the all the details and will go straight to the interesting stories.



I started my vacation with a trip outside of Honduras to the lovely country of Belize. I had been there before in my six month trip through Central America and it was one of my favorite countries. I took the boat from Puerto Cortez to Dangriga, Belize. Even though the ocean was calm and the boat pretty empty, I got horrible seasick. Just as I about to send my inside out the window a guy told me to come sit in the back of the boat where it was open. That helped greatly and I didn´t throw up. As matter of fact, I ended up falling asleep with the ocean spray on my face.



I spent my time in Belize visiting Mayan ruins, hiking in the jungle and canoeing. I did go on a canoe trip into a cave. There were the best stalagites and stalagmites formations that I´ve seen. I also got see a skull of a Mayan sacrifice and some pottery in the cave. It was quite the canoe trip. I spent a couple of days at the lodge in the jungle and enjoyed the tranquility before heading back to Honduras.



The trip back was definately more exciting then coming to Belize. I ended up running out of US dollars and Belize dollars. So I had to trade my lempira with some gringos heading to Honduras. Finally I had my ticket and my passport stamped to leave the country. The only problem was that the boat was too full and we had to wait for another boat. I was put in the other boat. At first I was annoyed but in the end it was a good thing as there was plenty of fresh air and wind to keep me from being sick. About half way back, the other boat started to get water in it. So the boats got side by side and five more people got in ours. Needless to say after all that adventure, I was very glad to be on solid ground!



Christmas Eve brought excitement in another form. I got an infection and had to go to the doctors. I don´t really like going to the doctor and I especially don´t like needles. I had to get an IV of antibiotics. In theory it shouldn´t be that bad of an experience. Unfortunately, my phobia made it all the worse. I started shaking, hyperventilating and turning blue. The doctor was very nice and kept patting my head and holding my hand. It didn´t help. It took me about twenty minutes from when they took the IV out till I was calm enough to sit up. I spent the rest of the evening watching Christmas movies while laying in bed.

My best friend, Krissy came down for a week. We had a wonderful time together. While in La Ceiba we went rafting. The river was so much fun. It had several drops and small slots. It was like creeking in a raft. The guides were amazingly good too. I enjoyed myself even though I wasn´t in a kayak. Another highlight was the Copan Ruins. They were pretty cool, especially going in the tunnels to see the buildings underneath the ruins. Unfortunately our time in Copan was cut short when we found out that the buses weren´t running on the first. We quickly packed up and got the last bus to San Pedro Sula. There, we spent New Year´s Eve locked in our hotel room. We watched the ball drop and then had to wait a hour before it was a new year here. During that time a siren went off. We both looked at each other not knowing what to do. Just as we were about to leave our room, it stopped.

After dropping Krissy off at the airport, I headed home. School has started again and its good to be back to a regular schedual. Five more months and then I´m DONE!!!!

Church Poems

One of the difficulties of not being able to understand Spanish is having to sit through church. It is hard to pay attention when church is in English, and it is almost impossible when its in a language I don't understand.

To cope with the boredom, I scribble out poems. My poem collection has greatly increased because I write at one or two every week. Usually they are about some frustration I had during the past week. This past weekend I was really frustrated with how little I understand and thus my two poems on communication and understanding.

Power of Words
Words—the essence of communication
Words—can warm the soul
Words—can break the heart
Words—can inflame or calm a situation.

Communication—the essence of relationships
Communication—solves the problems
Communication—shares the love
Communication—begins with the lips.

The lips—communicates love with a kiss
The lips—says anger with a frown
The lips—brightens all with a smile
The lips—can send two into a state of bliss.

The words form from the lips and communicate
What the heart has to say.
If there is no understanding then your
Communication will never be okay.

Entiende, yo espero.
The words
Jumble and rumble
Inside my head
Still the meaning
I do not know.
Entiende?
Nada!

Sounds I recognize
Words I hear
Understand? Nope!
Estoy….
Enojada!

Will I ever
Be able to say
Yo hablo, Yo entendio?

Or will I stay
At the place of
Trying to understand,
My head hurting
From the strain of
Escuchando, piensando
De palabras?

Will my words
Ever come out like
A calm river, instead
Of building blocks
Falling.

Una dia,
Hopefully,
Estara’
Bilingual.

I'm excited that I only have two days of teaching left and then VACATION!!!!

I´m Still Alive!!!

Sorry for being a deliquent blogger. Much has gone on since I last posted. Edwin Fisher came down to study for his boards and the two of us have had some fun adventures together. We got to spend 4 days at Roatan with the Wilburs, family friends. That was very relaxing and I hated having to come back to school. While in Roatan we took a kayak out to go snorkling and tipped over. We ended up losing Edwin´s mask but after praying about it, we were able to find it and his sun glasses. Another fun event was a scavenger hunt that I hosted. We had to run all over the town doing silly things. My team won. After the game we watch a movie. I had about 20 or more people crammed into my house. It was a great time. Then on Sunday we went to Valle de Angeles. Edwin, Paul and I ended up climbing a mountain. It was great.

To make up for the fact I haven´t written in a long time, I have pictures!!! Thanks to Edwin.


Tired after running to the top of the mountain

Trying to talk to trees

Mis amigos, Claudia and Paul

Edwin, Paul and I at the top

I was hungry

I¨m not drinking don´t worry, I used it for my bug bites!

Watching the sunset

Edwin and I

Lounging under a tree

Riding around with Aunt Jeanette

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!