A funny thing happened Friday. Our teacher bus couldn't make it up the steep hill that leads to school, so it had to back all the way down the hill, in order to get enough momentum to make it up. We joked that maybe school would be canceled because the teachers couldn't get to school. Two full buses of IST students passed us, before the driver decided to unload us and have us get on another bus.
This got me thinking about the things that make Honduras unique:
**I'll be adding to this list as the year goes on and I discover more about this country : )
In the classroom:*Students will choose to play soccer rather than watch a movie.
*You will be called "Miss" (pronounced: MEES) only and you will get confused when there is another female teacher in the room.
*You will spend extra time teaching them how to ask a question. Then the next day a student will ask for something: Miss, lend me a pencil? or Miss I borrow you marker.
Okay..from the top!
*Students will use
silly bandz bracelets as collateral. I swear that they multiply, because each day the students come back they have more. There are bracelets up to their elbows. And I predict that one day, a student won't be able to move their arm due to the amount of bands (and rings) they're wearing.
*A student will come to you one day and tell you they're moving to the States. You ask them questions and they don't have a response.
Where? I don't know. Why? I don't know. When are you leaving? I don't know.
So let's say goodbye and hopefully you're not leaving till the end of the quarter.
*Praying at the beginning of class, before a test, and to open parent/teacher conferences is completely acceptable.
*You will assign a U.S. Regional Food project and one student will bring in fish "from California" and forget to take it home the day before parent/teacher conferences. With fans blowing and windows open, it will still take a few days to get the smell out.
*You will probably get invited to a student's birthday party. It will most likely be held at McDonalds. You will wrap a couple Dorito's bags inside a tissue box and the kid will be ecstatic.
*The school will put up their Christmas tree the day of the Thanksgiving dinner. : )
Around the city:*Every restaurant has a play place for kids. Some restaurants even have a separate building to house the playground area.
*If you want typical Honduran food, you will probably end up eating outside (open air restaurant or buying pupusas off the street).
*Your housemate will get 2nd place in a 10K race and win an all-out paid vacation to a resort in Ceiba.
*You can't get a taxi when you want one, but when you don't want one, every taxi honks at you as they drive by. This is especially true on a Friday night when it is raining and there is a Christmas tree lighting at the mall.
*When you climb in the taxi you will hear one of three things: 1) 80's music (they LOOVE it here; especially Michael Jackson), 2) Love songs in English, or 3) Gospel radio. One time a cab driver kept playing the song "Stand by Me" on our drive and the 5 of us started singing along.
*You will give the driver a complement if the taxi's seats are not falling apart and they have an air freshener on the dashboard. You never know until you get in.
*You will see little to no birds, then one day will drive home on the bus and see two bright red macaws sitting in your neighbor's tree.
*You will enjoy the late-night trumpeting of a neighbor's birthday party down the street.
*You should never try to order "agua fresca" at a corner restaurant. They will only give you a strange look and bring you Canada Dry.
*Also--try to avoid an awkward situation and NEVER ask for "bebes", if you forget the word for drink (bebida), just say Sprite or Coke.
*You will carry small bills for the fruit guy, a L.20 ($1) for a taxi ride or granita (delicious coffee drink), and L.100 just in case you walk by the grocery store and you realize you're out of bread.
*People talk on their cell phones at work, while driving your taxi, in the middle of church, and pretty much whenever it rings. I'm learning that Hondurans value relationships and Americans value time.
*Store owners examine your L500 ($25) so closely you'd think it was a $100 bill.
*You will take a trip out of the city, and be so excited to see stars, that you tell everyone around you to look up.
