So what's the 411??

After being here for just about two weeks Kat & I are settling in nicely. Our first weekend was an interesting one to say the least. Lessons had not yet started but we came home from school on Friday evening feeling tired, sick and slightly homesick. Although teaching hadn’t started the days here are long (waking up at 6:30!) So our first weekend started with a trip to the river for a swim before having fresh watermelon & oranges on the river bank then jumping off the rocks into the water. Safe to say this definitely took our minds off the daunting idea of teaching. Come Saturday morning & our failed attempt of a lie in Kat & I headed to the local supermarket, 6 bags full and 800L (about £30) poorer we headed home with our food ready to cook the following week. Following out shop we attended one of our students (Angie) dance practises for her upcoming quinceanera, a Latin-American celebration of a girls 15th birthday (the equivalent to a sweet 16th), where Kat & I both attempted (and failed miserably) to learn the waltz.

Saturday night Alex (the girl from Alabama) made us some uh-mazing fried chicken in bbq sauce with this Honduran potato-like vegetable/ fruit called mazapan (also incredible).

The last place i though i'd be spending my Sunday morning at 6AM would be in some 'natural hot springs' - basically a sewer-like hole with natural hot water on the side of the road, a lot less glamorous than any 'hot springs' you probably had in mind - but anything goes here hey?! So to put it into a little more context and not leave you totally confused with that image, Kat, the couple from El Salvador and a local family (Angie, a student from school, and her dad) went on an early morning run where we were taken to this concrete hole where naturally boiling water collected from the mountain, apparently many Hondurans go there to bathe! It was an experience to say the least. As soon as we got home from our crazy early run Kat & I showered and went straight back to bed - i don't think early morning runs are my thing...

First week of teaching was a pleasant surprise. I am now teaching 6th, 7th and 8th grade so wasn't as worried to teach, but teaching was still a daunting idea. With only 5 days training received on the Isle of Coll, I was going into this head first. The children are very sweet, on my second day of teaching I received two notes from two of my 6th grade pupils saying I was their favourite teacher which was quite adorable. The teaching itself isn't too bad as we've been given teaching books with the school curriculum and everything we need to teach along with some homework resources. The difficult part is keeping the children focused and involved for sometimes, two straight hours of an English lesson. Although my biggest class is only 13 pupils (my smallest class only has 3!!) this is still a difficult job as they get very hyper and excited at times. Keeping pupils focussed has proven most challenging at the end of the day when the kids are very tiresome and get agitated. Although I sometimes feel like i'm in the same boat, also tired and want to get home to sleep, I do my best to keep them engaged - gold star stickers have become my new best friend! Even my 8th graders love the stickers. Although my smallest class (8th grade) has only three pupils, even keeping them focussed on the work is a struggle as times. They are a very chatty bunch and love to question me on many things, their favourite question has been "do you have a boyfriend?" or "what's your favourite song?" I've already established that they don't know who Stormzy is, I guess i'll be teaching them a little more than just English grammar and reading! Although Kat & I obviously do have our favourite tunes from home, we have been really enjoying Honduran music, especially the Spanish hip hop & rap which seems to be a big genre here.

The second week back the children were already being tested on their knowledge, they were given a 'quiz' on reading, grammar, spelling & phonics. This seemed quite intense for Kat & I as we were never given proper tests as 8/9 year olds, especially after a week of school coming back from summer holidays! But the children didn't seem to mind, I guess they're used to the system. We had a parents evening this week where I met all my students' parents, and although I couldn't actually communicate properly with them as my Spanish is very limited as was their English, they seemed very nice people and very grateful to have Kat & I here to teach, which was obviously a nice thing to hear.

Lesson planning seems to be going well (I don't want to jinx anything), but we seem to be getting the hang of it and are getting used to our new routine, although the 6am start might take a little longer to get used to! I think our jet lag has finally wore off which is a plus!! We've been having breakfast and lunch at school and so far so good, my favourite thing is definitely the fresh orange or lemon juice they give us - it's to die for.

So... after a long first week of teaching Kat & I definitely wanted a relaxing weekend, well what better way to spend it than on the beach all day with the volunteers (Ted & WIll) in Tela. The views were AMAZING, the sea was warm and the sand was even warmer. Although we did put suncream on Kat & I definitely underestimated the power of Honduran sun, leaving us getting a bus home looking like tomatoes. The journey there and back was eventful to say the least. Bad planning and lack of phone credit meant that we didn't actually know where we were meeting the boys in Tela. Although we were told to head to the 'plaza' there had been an evident mix up as apparently there are two 'plazas' in Tela. After a quick ice cream stop and a clueless wander about we decided not to wait for another 45 mins for the boys to find us, we'd find our own way. We got in a taxi and drove towards the area we though/ hoped they lived and ended up driving around for probably half an hour, the driver even called one of his english friends to translate over the phone. Luckily we stumbled across a pink bungalow (where the Tela boys were living). What a miracle!!! So after a long weekend soaking in the sun and relaxing on the beach we were definitely ready for our second week of teaching...

As I write this we have already planned to visit another beach town this weekend called La Ceiba which we're very excited about. Teaching is still going strong (touch wood), although I have had occasional moments where I just want to leave the classroom and have a cup of tea (which by the way I haven't had one in TWO weeks - WHUTTT), but the precious kids make it all worth while.

We are having a blast, thanks for all your love and support <3 <3 <3

Buenas Noches

Ffi x