Siguatepeque has cool breezy nights, pine trees, a nice view, a lake nearby, a really fun camp, and some great people. It was a wonderful vacation from Cofradia life. I was able to get pretty involved in life at the camp, which involved two service trips that were staying at the camp - one from Indiana and one from a city called Toronto. It felt like a really small world. Ken Vissers used to be quite involved at pioneer camp, and I met his son Josh last year when Josh came up to be a camper at Boys camp. One of the trip organizers from the group from Toronto found out I went to OPC and during one of our first meals he asked, "so do you know Ruston Martin?"
hahaha, yes...yes I do. Quite well actually.
I ended up being involved in hoisting wheelbarrows of rubble, helping Sue Vissers teach swimming classes, helping belay for high ropes, and (get this!) helping translate for groups of kids that the groups ran sports events for (soccer and other games). That´s right, I´m officially a spanish translator. That´s going on the resume.
It was a really fun change of pace and change of climate! I also really appreciated the warmth and hospitality of the Vissers home. I was fed well and given some great company - Ken, Sue, Josh, Hannah, and Theo Vissers. I got to go paintballing with Josh on Saturday, which was totally wild! I was the crazy gringo that got painted all sorts of colours and was out first just about every round we played - the kamikaze strategy didn´t work so well.
Highlights were some great conversations with some other volunteers and workers at the camp, sweet games of "Settlers of Catan," and tagging along with the Toronto group to their trip to Tela (a coastal town) on Sunday and Monday. I love the ocean. I finally got home late last night and began to plan lessons for grade 4 for the last week or so of school.
Time seems to be speeding up and I don´t have much time left! For those of you that are wondering, my camera has been broken for the whole time I´ve been here (I don´t know what happened), therefore I have no cool photos for ya. My bad.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Estoy occupado.
I would like to give you a snapshot of what my life looks like these days. I don´t have a really clever way of displaying this information, so I´ll just lay it out for you nice and simple-like.
Morning: wake up etc., teach a geography lesson to the Collegio (grade 7-9) students, chill at school with kids/volunteers, help with grade 2 english, and help with grade 1 (which has recently become a busy job because the grade 1 teacher is has left).
Noon: Almuerzo. (Lunch). throw frisbee with crazy children or kick a soccer ball around.
1245-2:10: the last two periods of the day. Normally with grade 1, 2 or my old class (grade 4).
After school: This has been the really fun but tiring part...After a day at CBS, I normally feel like taking an extended siesta, however the past week or so has involved a pretty packed schedule which hasn´t allowed for much napping. Options are as follows:
Go to a students house (today was Lissy´s house, Monday was my old student Jeff´s house) - always a great time where I speak with broken spanish and receive wonderful hospitality.
Go to Gaby´s to help teach english and learn some spanish at the same time.
Go to Marlen´s to help tutor her in math and english.
Try to write child sponsorship proposal for CBS.
Night: dinner at Ben´s place, talking about the future of the school and planning for the proposal I am trying to write at the moment.
Get invited to random Cofradian events...last night was a birthday party for Gaby´s husband´s cousin´s (Carlos - I´ve started helping him with english) grandmother! There was a Marimba instrument and I spent over an hour with a large group of children making funny faces and laughing - Gaby even joined in the fun as well!
Bed: I try to get there by 10 or 10:30, which is very different to the rest of this year.
Despite the full schedule, I have managed to find time to enjoy a good book (The Curate´s Awakening - thanks Dad for the recommendation!), go for the odd run, and just spending time thinking and praying and appreciating the beauty of life around me (or trying to). I feel so blessed to be back here, and each opportunity to see a family or receive a high five or a new nickname is a gift.
Things to look forward to: tomorrow I am heading down to Siguatepeque to spend a few days at the Scripture Union camp there and connect with the Vissers family who run the camp. I´m pretty excited about that!
Also, at the end of this week the current grade 4 teachers are leaving, and with 2 weeks to go, that leaves me in charge of doing the exam review and preparing the final exams for my old class! With the help of Mr. Phil, Ms. Kami, and my friend Laura (who taught these guys in the fall) I will hopefully be able to review all the stuff they have been learning and hang out with my favourite class for the last 2 weeks of my visit. I´m super pumped out of my mind! When the announcement of this plan was made in class there was a large cheer that occured...the funny thing about the cheer was the chorus of "NOOOOO´s!!!!!" that came from students like Mayra and Cielo..."love boo´s" we called them. Man, they are funny kids.
For those that are wondering...today´s new nickname was "SUPER GANZO!", which means super large duck. Yep, that´s me.
peace.
Morning: wake up etc., teach a geography lesson to the Collegio (grade 7-9) students, chill at school with kids/volunteers, help with grade 2 english, and help with grade 1 (which has recently become a busy job because the grade 1 teacher is has left).
Noon: Almuerzo. (Lunch). throw frisbee with crazy children or kick a soccer ball around.
1245-2:10: the last two periods of the day. Normally with grade 1, 2 or my old class (grade 4).
After school: This has been the really fun but tiring part...After a day at CBS, I normally feel like taking an extended siesta, however the past week or so has involved a pretty packed schedule which hasn´t allowed for much napping. Options are as follows:
Go to a students house (today was Lissy´s house, Monday was my old student Jeff´s house) - always a great time where I speak with broken spanish and receive wonderful hospitality.
Go to Gaby´s to help teach english and learn some spanish at the same time.
Go to Marlen´s to help tutor her in math and english.
Try to write child sponsorship proposal for CBS.
Night: dinner at Ben´s place, talking about the future of the school and planning for the proposal I am trying to write at the moment.
Get invited to random Cofradian events...last night was a birthday party for Gaby´s husband´s cousin´s (Carlos - I´ve started helping him with english) grandmother! There was a Marimba instrument and I spent over an hour with a large group of children making funny faces and laughing - Gaby even joined in the fun as well!
Bed: I try to get there by 10 or 10:30, which is very different to the rest of this year.
Despite the full schedule, I have managed to find time to enjoy a good book (The Curate´s Awakening - thanks Dad for the recommendation!), go for the odd run, and just spending time thinking and praying and appreciating the beauty of life around me (or trying to). I feel so blessed to be back here, and each opportunity to see a family or receive a high five or a new nickname is a gift.
Things to look forward to: tomorrow I am heading down to Siguatepeque to spend a few days at the Scripture Union camp there and connect with the Vissers family who run the camp. I´m pretty excited about that!
Also, at the end of this week the current grade 4 teachers are leaving, and with 2 weeks to go, that leaves me in charge of doing the exam review and preparing the final exams for my old class! With the help of Mr. Phil, Ms. Kami, and my friend Laura (who taught these guys in the fall) I will hopefully be able to review all the stuff they have been learning and hang out with my favourite class for the last 2 weeks of my visit. I´m super pumped out of my mind! When the announcement of this plan was made in class there was a large cheer that occured...the funny thing about the cheer was the chorus of "NOOOOO´s!!!!!" that came from students like Mayra and Cielo..."love boo´s" we called them. Man, they are funny kids.
For those that are wondering...today´s new nickname was "SUPER GANZO!", which means super large duck. Yep, that´s me.
peace.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
To beard or not to beard?
The first thing Lissy said to me was, ¨Mr. Tim jou look ugly without the (waves hands around chin/face area).¨ Now I´m not saying I´m gonna grow back the ol´Abe Lincoln, but that was an opening line that I thought I just had to share with everyone. It´s nice to be made fun of for something other than my lack of spanish fluency anyways.
Which brings me to my next topic: I have been pleased with my spanish at times, and it is exciting being in on the jokes sometimes, but I am trying really hard to simply not sound like an idiot most of the time. Alas, I don´t think languages upload themselves into my brain as well as I would like them to, but maybe someday it will click. I´m trying really hard, and I was also able to stop by Gaby´s house (my wonderful spanish teacher) on the weekend and re-unite with her family. My Cofradian spanish lessons will resume with Gaby this Thursday! They are such great people and Gaby had a new (very cute) baby daughter since I left, so it was nice to be introduced to the newest member of the family as well.
I also bumped into one of my old students, who now attends a local public school in one of the barrios - she now has no exposure to english and she attends classes with about 50 other kids in them. She invited me over to start tutoring her after school, and that has been a really great experience as well. My routine now involves a really fun tutoring/hanging out session with Marlen and her hilarious parents. They always give me free stuff from their shop, and they have even offered to pay me! (Which is ridiculous because it´s so much fun and I definitely don´t need to be paid by a family who can´t afford the 30-40$ monthly school fees at CBS).
I finished ¨The Courage of Children¨by Peter Dalglish (the guy Remy and I volunteered with in Nepal) and I really loved it. Peter has lived a fascinating life and I hope you guys get your hands on a copy at some point. (Thanks Mom for the recommendation!).
Hope all is well on the home front. peace
Which brings me to my next topic: I have been pleased with my spanish at times, and it is exciting being in on the jokes sometimes, but I am trying really hard to simply not sound like an idiot most of the time. Alas, I don´t think languages upload themselves into my brain as well as I would like them to, but maybe someday it will click. I´m trying really hard, and I was also able to stop by Gaby´s house (my wonderful spanish teacher) on the weekend and re-unite with her family. My Cofradian spanish lessons will resume with Gaby this Thursday! They are such great people and Gaby had a new (very cute) baby daughter since I left, so it was nice to be introduced to the newest member of the family as well.
I also bumped into one of my old students, who now attends a local public school in one of the barrios - she now has no exposure to english and she attends classes with about 50 other kids in them. She invited me over to start tutoring her after school, and that has been a really great experience as well. My routine now involves a really fun tutoring/hanging out session with Marlen and her hilarious parents. They always give me free stuff from their shop, and they have even offered to pay me! (Which is ridiculous because it´s so much fun and I definitely don´t need to be paid by a family who can´t afford the 30-40$ monthly school fees at CBS).
I finished ¨The Courage of Children¨by Peter Dalglish (the guy Remy and I volunteered with in Nepal) and I really loved it. Peter has lived a fascinating life and I hope you guys get your hands on a copy at some point. (Thanks Mom for the recommendation!).
Hope all is well on the home front. peace
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Sticky, Hot, Amazing.
It didn´t sink in until Eddie´s motorcycle swung past a higwayside town called Brisas Del Valle. In the Fall of 2007, some of my students had lived in Brisas and taken the ¨chicken bus¨ down the highway to school. All of a sudden the dust in my eyes and the sweat covering my body started to feel a little bit more comfortable. The next turn off was the same old Cofradia I had left behind at Christmastime, almost a year and a half ago.
Things have changed: the town has developed (now complete with a partially paved road!), there is an entirely new community of volunteer teachers, 80 students have left the struggling Cofradia Bilingual School (including 12 from my class of 30 grade 3´s last year), and there is a new restaurant serving great Baleadas (which I had to eat on my first night here). But it is definitely still the hot, dusty town with a gritty and truly Honduran feel. I´m glad to be back.
I have had one day at CBS so far. Upon entering the school, I was accosted by 5 or 6 of the grade 4 (my old grade 3´s) girls and dragged into the grade 4 classroom. After some great high fives and hugs from some of the most awesome children on the planet, I was being ordered to teach alongside the current grade 4 teachers (Mr. Phil and Ms. Camy), which I knew was not in the cards. Getting to see those kids, throw a frisbee with Victor again, get a high five from Juhn, and being latched onto by Aryani, was a real highlight of my time so far. I have also been able to reconnect with some of the amazing Honduran staff members at the school, like Mr. Gavino and Ms. Gladys, as well as having a lunch yesterday with Ninoska, Betty, and the wonderful family of the school´s secretary, Hilda. Every time I have ever planned a lesson in the school´s little office, or gone in to grab some water or spare markers, Hilda has managed to put a smile on my face. She is a wonderful lady.
At the moment I am helping with Ms. Dida´s grade 2 class (Melanie´s old class from last year that I used to help with), and I´m teaching Geography to the Collegio (grade 7-9) class. Teaching is great fun as always! I´m also looking forward to connecting with the kids whose families I was close with (Like Jeff, Jordi, and Victor), and hopefully getting to see some of the kids who have left the school. Ben (the man who started CBS) and I are also working on writing a proposal for a child sponsorship program for all of the impoverished children that are on ¨scholarships¨and need their school fees paid for them. I will let you know more as we begin this process to help the school continue to serve these children in a sustainable way. Because of a some dedicated volunteers (including Carla, who plans to stay next year and be the school director) the school is going to continue to function; however, it will need to be supported in order to keep the children at the bottom of the social ladder from falling between the cracks.
This has been a fairly long blog entry, but the first days here after a long absence have obviously put a lot on my heart to tell you about. Thanks for reading. Hope all is well back home, or wherever you are. More stories to come!
Peace
Things have changed: the town has developed (now complete with a partially paved road!), there is an entirely new community of volunteer teachers, 80 students have left the struggling Cofradia Bilingual School (including 12 from my class of 30 grade 3´s last year), and there is a new restaurant serving great Baleadas (which I had to eat on my first night here). But it is definitely still the hot, dusty town with a gritty and truly Honduran feel. I´m glad to be back.
I have had one day at CBS so far. Upon entering the school, I was accosted by 5 or 6 of the grade 4 (my old grade 3´s) girls and dragged into the grade 4 classroom. After some great high fives and hugs from some of the most awesome children on the planet, I was being ordered to teach alongside the current grade 4 teachers (Mr. Phil and Ms. Camy), which I knew was not in the cards. Getting to see those kids, throw a frisbee with Victor again, get a high five from Juhn, and being latched onto by Aryani, was a real highlight of my time so far. I have also been able to reconnect with some of the amazing Honduran staff members at the school, like Mr. Gavino and Ms. Gladys, as well as having a lunch yesterday with Ninoska, Betty, and the wonderful family of the school´s secretary, Hilda. Every time I have ever planned a lesson in the school´s little office, or gone in to grab some water or spare markers, Hilda has managed to put a smile on my face. She is a wonderful lady.
At the moment I am helping with Ms. Dida´s grade 2 class (Melanie´s old class from last year that I used to help with), and I´m teaching Geography to the Collegio (grade 7-9) class. Teaching is great fun as always! I´m also looking forward to connecting with the kids whose families I was close with (Like Jeff, Jordi, and Victor), and hopefully getting to see some of the kids who have left the school. Ben (the man who started CBS) and I are also working on writing a proposal for a child sponsorship program for all of the impoverished children that are on ¨scholarships¨and need their school fees paid for them. I will let you know more as we begin this process to help the school continue to serve these children in a sustainable way. Because of a some dedicated volunteers (including Carla, who plans to stay next year and be the school director) the school is going to continue to function; however, it will need to be supported in order to keep the children at the bottom of the social ladder from falling between the cracks.
This has been a fairly long blog entry, but the first days here after a long absence have obviously put a lot on my heart to tell you about. Thanks for reading. Hope all is well back home, or wherever you are. More stories to come!
Peace
Friday, April 24, 2009
Preparation for departure
Hello! ...without wasting any time, here is a quick recap of my life recently:
I have spent this past year studying lots of fun things (English major, Spanish minor) at the University of Guelph. It was a very different style of life to the previous years adventures, but there were many awesome adventures nonetheless. One thing I realized fairly early on was my frustration with the University "bubble" I found myself in. I was able to get connected to a great community in Guelph in the Willow Road area. I was given the opportunity to have a great group of friends ages 18-23 this year, but Willow Road Primary School and the Shelldale Centre (local community centre in the Willow Road area) introduced me to a community of friends ages 1-13 (but mostly grades 1-5) as well as some awesome parents and older volunteers. I was challenged, learned a lot, and it made my year 5000 times as amazing as it otherwise would have been. I can't wait to go back there in the fall. The program I have been a part of at Willow Road Primary School is called the "Run and Read" program, which is all over Ontario and it is organized by KidsFest Canada. It's pretty awesome. You should check it out. I also met a whole bunch of friends at Guelph that are really awesome. They are people that want to live in intentional community with each other, people that want to live selfless lives, and people that make me laugh a lot. I have enjoyed spending time with such awesome people, and I look forward to next year. Props to the Home Street Home and the future inhabitants of 6 Mutual St. - I hope some of you are reading this.
Now that you have some idea of what I've been up to recently, I am excited to tell you that this Tuesday I will be returning to Honduras! I will be going back to Cofradia to reconnect with students and families there, and to help out at the school - teaching etc. I am very excited about the opportunity to go back and I can't wait to catch up with 30 fantastic grade 4 students that I have missed hanging out with this year. I will also hopefully get the chance to visit a camp run by Scripture Union as well. It is a camp for many of the poorest kids/families in central Honduras, and I am very excited to see it and connect with the Vissers family who run the camp.
Preparations are underway; departure is very soon. Feel free to check back here for updates from Cofradia over the next month. I will be back at the end of May. See you then.
peace.
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