Same Old, Same Old

Helloooooo! Anybody out there?

Well, it was worth a shot. I guess that's what happens when you take a really long hiatus from writing on the blog. But alas, I am back, but I am not sure what to really say, I just felt it was time to write something.

The truth is things have become pretty regular here and it can be hard to write about the mundane things that happen in Honduras. At any rate, an update is due and so I will scavenge through some anecdotes to share with you from the past month and try my best to be witty, of which I am quite certain I will fail.

February was the month of visitors, but I am afraid it will never stop. It began with a cousin and some friends and has quickly tumbled into a slew of former BECA volunteers, friends, families, and an older couple who volunteered for 5 weeks and has been living in the apartment downstairs as satellite member of our team. In the past two weeks we have had 2 former volunteers (one who currently works as a foreign service officer), Mr. Mike (the administrator from last year), the Harmons (aka the "wiser" couple), Andrea's two friends, and our most recent arrival, Laurence Birdsey (Exec Direc of BECA) and his friend. All of these people come with different objectives and for different reasons, but they have all made an appearance at communal dinners and gatherings that at one point I was cooking for 19 people.

And the visitors don't stop there. More former volunteers are on the calendar to arrive shortly. A sister, a college roommate, and parents are set to arrive this weekend. Even more people are coming in the week leading up to spring break (including the famous Don Guillermo and Doña Elena) in an endless parade of changing faces. Not to mention we have a new member of our team coming joining up to help out in the resource department for about a month or so. It must seem like a lot to read, it is even more to keep track of when it changes every day.

But at the same time it is really nice to have a constant influx of real chocolate, magazines from the real world, school supplies, cooking spices, and most recently, a 5-pack of Dogfish Head beer (the 6th man broke on the way down). I guess visitors aren't so bad.

The heat has also made its way back into are lives and already I am beginning to feel its affects. The only welcoming part of it all is that the cold water just isn't as cold anymore. It makes showering extremely more enjoyable. I no longer have to dance around and try and withhold the the "yelp" brought on by the bitterly frigid cascade.

The worst part about the heat is that it drives the kids crazy. They are nearly impossible to handle on a really hot day. And you can forget about a pleasant PE experience.

As far as class goes, February was a hard month that caused me to be a lot more strict. There behavior had reached an all time low and I was no longer able to continue teaching if it were going to go on like it was. There little problems were getting in the way of moving forward so I laid down the law. I had a meeting with the parents to describe the situation, most notably how there had been 3 physical fights in 2 weeks, and how I am not a police man. They all seemed to understand and have a bunch of questions, but I held my own in Spanish and get a good chunk of the parents behind me on the behavioral issues. I have finally seen an improvement in things and I hope it stays with them.

And finally I have just one funny story to share from last week in Science. We are currently studying sound and we did the old strong telephone experiment. On the worksheet, one of the questions said, "Now knowing that sound can travel better through a solid than a gas, what could we change about the phone to make it work better?" And the response one of my brightest students gave was:

"We could use a real phone and that would work better."

That-a-boy Johny!