Weekly Update

I have to report that things have been pretty calm this week here in Juticalpa. That is, pretty calm if you are used to writing out report cards and collecting grades from a multitude of different specialty class teachers who are running on Honduran time. :-) The week has been pretty uneventful and full of TONS of paperwork. I now do not envy all of the teachers that I had growing up. In fact, I have a newfound respect for them.

My kids must have sensed how much work I had to get done last week. They rewarded my fatigue by making sure to come to school with extra sugar in their systems. I had to deal with a lot of side drama last week, including one student trying to stab another one in the eye with a pair of scissors. Welcome to first grade! Never a dull moment!

In any case, I was feeling pretty exhausted this weekend. Only in Juticalpa would I be ready for bed by 8:00 on both Friday and Saturday night. I went out for dinner with Lissy (a teacher from Nazareth) and her friend Roberto (who owns Plasticos de Juticalpa) on Friday night with Bree. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of laughs. I am amazed at how my Spanish is coming along. I'm able to hold full conversations with people now, and I am really starting to actually prefer listening to and speaking in Spanish over English! Sure, I talk primarily in the present tense, but I figure it is better than where I was at when I arrived in August! In any case, it was a fun night out. I confessed to Roberto; whom we all call "Roberto Plasticos" due to his family's store that I genuinely thought his last name was "plasticos" for months on end. This created a good amount of laughs. It's so funny how I am continually saying ridiculous or funny things and everyone is so good natured about it.

Anyways, off I go to grade a stack of papers about a mile high and finish up some paperwork for Annie for report cards. Next weekend will provide some much needed R&R as Bree, Ginny, and I head to the South coast. We will be headed away for 2 nights to Isle de Tigre, which is a small island about 90 mins south of Tegus. It should be interesting. It will be my first time getting to lay on an actual beach in my six months here thus far. Can you believe it? I; Erin, Beach Bum of the World, have been living in a climate where the temperature exceeds 80 degrees everyday and I've yet to lay on the beach. I am very much looking forward to it! Love and miss you all and sending you some sunshine to freezing cold Boston!