Things That Help Me Get Through the Bad Days

1)Holding up Gabi and, cheek to cheek, having an impromptu science lesson while watching a spider devour a fly it had caught in its web, then hearing her sweet voice through her endearing underbite say, “Kimmie, la quiero muuuuuuucho.”

2)Having a first grade boy do his English project on pink construction paper because it’s my favorite color and then writing both our names on the front: Jeison + Kimmie.

3)Getting to hold a 14 year-old’s hand while she went on an escalator for the first time.

4)Hopping up my favorite 5 year-old on a granita de café and then having her lapse into a sugar coma on my lap on the bus ride home.

5)Making lists (tongue firmly in cheek).

6)Knowing I can totally do this for another 10 months.

Vacaciones

Due to Independence Day, we had two days off school. I changed my work weekend so that I could have a four-day weekend. This also means that I will not have another day off until October 3rd, but I think it was worth it. On Thursday, a group of 8 of us headed up to Lago de Yojoa. In the process, we were schooled by at least six forms of Honduran transportation. We made reservations to stay at the American-run D&D Brewery. Along with being the first microbrewery in Honduras, it is set up as a little hostel with cabins, a restaurant, and pool. We spent all of Thursday in transit, so Friday was our day to play.

We first headed up to Pulapanzhak, which is a beautiful waterfall. An elderly lady at the hostel had suggested we do the under the falls tour. We found a guide and talked him down to 70 lempiras a person (about $3.50). Now, I thought this would be a lovely little walk behind the waterfall where we would get a light mist; after all, if the old lady could do it, so could I. Little did I know that we would be fully under a really powerful waterfall. It is probably the most dangerous thing I’ve done in my whole life. I fell twice and was rescued twice. The spray was so strong, and we all know I’m not a good swimmer (floating is a little challenging for me). At one point, I couldn’t see in front of me, so the guide scooped me up and carried me through waist-high water. When we arrived at our destination, he told me to duck my head and breathe through my mouth only when necessary. We ended up in these caves with water up to our shoulders. It was so cool, but I also had a claustrophobic, I-feel-like-I’m-in-the-Titanic moment. And, of course, we were completely soaked by the time we were done.

We then headed back toward our hostel and grabbed lunch. We had the famous fried fish. It’s literally a whole fish that’s been fried. Ours had everything – eyes, teeth, fins, the works. I think Dad would be pretty proud that I ate it. Afterwards, we decided to rent a boat to take out on the river. The lady with the oars convinced us that the 7 of us who wanted to go would definitely fit. That was seriously called into question when we saw the boats, but we did it anyway. I ended up in the bow as the figurehead, the guys noting that no one in their right mind would expect me to row. It was slow-going at first, so two of our boys decided it would be a brilliant idea to get out and swim while pushing the boat. Turns out they were more like anchors, although we gave them props for effort. Somehow, to the great amusement of passing catrachos, we made our way through a highly questionable marsh/jungle. We ended up at a lake and took turns jumping off the boat and swimming around. All in all, the day was great bonding for our group. I was very proud to be elected tribe elder/matriarch on account of my tenure upon the earth. We’re coming home with all kinds of inside jokes and “gringos cheat death” stories, all of which I will not share here for benefit of my mother, grandmother, and former students. Don’t try this at home, kids.

Dia de Independencia

Today, we celebrated Independence Day. We took the WHOLE RANCH to the nearby town of Talanga. And let me just say to Puyallup that the Daffodil Parade has nothing on Talanga. I got up at 5:00 to make up the little girls who were going in costume. In the parade, NPH was represented with two carrozas (cars done up as floats), a group of little and big paleonas (baton twirlers), a colorguard, a percussion group, pompom girls, and each class from Pre-K to 6th grade was assigned a different theme such as Flora and Fauna or Heroes of Honduras. We had "Etnias" in first grade, so all our kiddos were dressed up as campesinos and indigenas. It was so precious! It was so hot and the march was pretty long. When we arrived at the end of the parade, we all had ice cream cones (the director nicely ignored that I bought one for my darling ahijado). We like to do a lot of "hurry up and wait," so while we were waiting for the bus, I ended up sitting on the dirty sidewalk with Gabi, Moises, and Carlos asleep on my lap. We got back at 1:00, and I was so upset because we were going to have to go back to school to work in Montessori. But we ended up having a lovely lunch of spicy Italian pasta, salad, and chocolate cake. It was a despedida for Iris, who is going to Casa Suyapa to be the coordinator there. I was in training to take her position, but fortunately I get to stay in first grade with my little sweeties. I think Momo is pulling for me to stay more than one year. Don't tell my mom. Here are some pics of the parade for your viewing pleasure.

Godparenting

Here at NPH Honduras, we have godparents for just about everything. Each child can have up to 9 godparents who sponsor them through a monthly donation to the home. The children also need godparents for important events such as confirmation, quinceañeras, and graduations.

I have two sponsor children: Azucena in El Salvador and Axel here in Honduras. I met Axel on my first trip to the Ranch and was immediately smitten (I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his last name Enamorado means “in love”). He is now 12 years old. When I came this year, it took him some time to get over his shyness with me. I think he’s finally realized that I’m really staying. Normally, after 3 weeks, I would be gone already. He’s not a super high maintenance godchild, and he’s always good for a hug. On one of my free weekends, I decided to go hang out in his hogar for an evening. He asked me if I could play chess, and I said yes (meaning that I know how the pieces move, but we all know strategy is not my forte). He completely destroyed me but was really sweet about it. I only managed to take one of his pieces, and he piped up, “At the very least, you got a rook!!” One day, when I was having a bad time, I realized I was walking around with a piece of candy in my pocket. I went in search of my godson because I knew putting a smile on his face would put a smile on mine. I went to his hogar, and they told me he was in percussion class. I walked over to talleres, called his name, slid the candy across the floor to his feet, and off I went quite tickled with myself.

Two boys have asked me to be their madrinas for graduation. Fortunately, the graduations are on different days. Very early on, Yeremi asked me to be his godmother for sixth grade graduation. It was actually more like told me than asked. I asked as to my responsibilities, which he said were to show up to school and wear a pretty dress. Done and done. More recently, I was chatting with Bryan (one of my absolute faves at the Ranch) and his visiting godparents from the States. We met two years ago when he was 14; he was one of the boys who called me Geisha. He’s grown up into a great kid who has done really well in school. It actually brought me to tears when he asked me to be his madrina for his ninth grade graduation. He’ll go on to his internship in December and January and then come back to the Ranch for a year of service. From there, he’ll go to high school in Tegucigalpa. I’m so proud of him. It’s traditional to give your godchildren gifts for graduation, and I want to come up with something really special.

Now all I need to complete the set is a godchild for quinceñeras! Somehow I don’t think that will be a problem.

School

I have 19 monsters. Imagine a classroom full of 19 (fill in the name of wildly naughty child here)s, and that’s what I have. It’s not surprising, given the background of these kids. In 8 years of teaching, I have never been struck by a student; here at Escuela Rancho Santa Fe, it has happened FIVE times. Most recently, a girl was bothering a boy who was working. This somehow erupted into a fistfight, which I proceeded to break up. The boy calmed down, but I had to forcibly remove the girl from the room, at which point she hit me twice and also pinched me. This was the third time with the same kid, and I was livid. I had her suspended for a day and also took away her privilege to have Proyecto Familiar. This is the time once a year when the kids come to the volunteer house to cook dinner and have time with their biological brothers and sisters. It was a serious consequence for a serious offense. I had the full backing of Montessori and several of the tías, but I know there were others who didn’t agree with what I did. After a good talk with Mom, I knew I was doing the right thing. And my strengths in discipline are why they brought me here. When I explained to the little girl her consequence and why I was doing it, she said nothing but started to cry. And this is a tough kid who comes off really strong. Today, she gave me the biggest hug, apologized, and worked really hard. I couldn’t have asked for a better reward. It was an awful experience, but I’m so glad I stuck to my guns.

It’s not really true that they’re all demons. I have 4 or 5 who really love to learn. There is one boy in particular who I absolutely adore working with. He was taken from his home due to “riesgo social.” His family let him wander around the city unsupervised, and before he got to the Ranch, he was hit by a car. He still has serious scars on his legs that make me cringe every time I see then. But his attitude is wonderful, especially given what happened to him. I love showing him new activities because he always tells me how much he likes them. We’re able to joke around too. One time, he teasingly refused to let me into the religion classroom until I knocked appropriately. Our relationship reminds me of the one I have with a certain munchkin I had at Zeiger who shall remain nameless.

One thing I always enjoy at work is the people I work with. Montessori is Momo’s baby. She is an ex-pequeña from Mexico who is married to the former director and founder of NPH Honduras. She is all about the constructivist school of learning, and so am I. I love how child-centered and development-oriented Montessori is. Momo is also flexible enough to let us start a behavior system with our group of first graders, even though it isn’t very “Montessori” of us. I came up with a system where the kids can earn 2 stamps each day. I made the chart by hand (oh, how I miss the teacher store). In the morning, half the kids do math activities with me, and half do Spanish (reading and writing) with Kenia. After recess, we switch. They get a stamp if they work hard and respect the teacher and their classmates. When they reach 10 stamps, they get to choose a ticket for a special privilege like an extra PE, time on the computer, etc. I thought it would be better to reward with an experience rather than something material. It’s working pretty well most days. We still have our “bombas” that explode, but things are really improving.

It looks like I’ll be getting my own classroom just for math. I’m excited to have my own space, but it also means I’ll have to clean it myself and set up an aseo chart for the kids and then enforce it (oh, how I miss Larry aka the best custodian in the world). I’ll also miss being with Kenia every day. She’s such an awesome person, and my Spanish is improving so that we can really joke around like girlfriends. Whenever we have a specialist, we go to the cafeteria together for baleadas or tortillas con quesillo and a Pepsi. She invited me to come have lunch with her family one day in Talanga (her husband is a tío in Casa Suyapa), and I should get to meet her 3 year-old daughter tomorrow. All of Montessori is going to a park (with TWO swimming pools) tomorrow for El Día del Niño. There will be games (I made Pin the Tail on the Donkey…by hand), a delicious merienda as well as lunch(we are killing two pigs especially for the occasion), and surprise gifts (sandals, barrettes, and socks for the girls and boxers, gel, and watches for the boys). I can’t wait, even if I do have to wrangle 19 little devils.

Daltónico

On Friday, I helped diagnose one of my kids with colorblindness. He came to the Ranch in March. His mom passed away just a few weeks ago. In May, his teacher reported to the psychologist that he was having trouble with his colors. Because there are so few staff members to help with this sort of thing, he was just now tested with the volunteer occupational therapist. She came to talk to us today to tell us that he did indeed have trouble with his colors. Several teachers had been working with him over the past few months on this skill to no effect. Having known three colorblind people (a student, my great-grandpa, and my physics lab partner in high school), I suggested that the problem might be visual instead of mental, especially given that he has no other issues beyond trouble reading. We took the child back into the therapy room. He had to go through a series of obstacles and then choose a ball of a specified color from a blow-up kiddie pool. He struggled especially to find pink at all even though there were several. With other colors, he would have the right one in his hand and then put it down. I could tell he was really embarrassed. The therapist got out a puzzle where he had to match things that were the same color. I remembered going to the Pacific Science Center with Grandma as a kid and taking the test for color-blindness. There was a design made of dots in red and green. There was a nine in red surrounded by a background circle of green. Grandma explained that colorblind people wouldn’t be able to find the nine because they couldn’t distinguish between the two colors. Sure enough, this child tried to put together the red and green items. On Monday, I’m looking forward to talking to him about it. It’s not something we can fix, but I want him to know it’s not his fault, he doesn’t have a learning problem, and he can learn coping skills to deal with it. I’m also going to make sure there’s a note in his file so his future teachers know about it and don’t think he has some kind of deficiency (e.g. he shouldn’t be docked points in English class for not knowing the colors when he can’t distinguish them). Neither the therapist nor the other teacher had ever met someone who was colorblind before, so today I felt really useful and like I helped a child.