A Christmas like no other

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and new year and those of you going back to work and school aren’t suffering too much. I had an absolutely amazing time traveling; it was hands down the best two weeks of my life. I’m a little sad going back to school after having such a great time, but it was lovely to see my kids again after the holidays and I also have another five weeks of traveling to look forward to in July, so I really can’t complain!

We started our trip early with a 6am bus, to get to our first destination – Copan. The bus was typically Honduran, that is to say it was squished to double capacity whist various people hopped on, stood up at the front and gave sales pitches on anything from smoothies to increase your sex drive to pamphlets to teach your children English. We also had two clowns do some sort of a show for 15 minutes. By far the most enthusiastic of those to come on board was a very lively preacher who gave an hour long sermon at the front of the bus which involved lots of shrieking, jumping around and shouting something about god’s blood. Despite the crowding, the heat and the noise bombardment the scenery made it quite a pleasant journey, as we drove all the way up in to the mountains near the Guatemalan boarder. 

We finally arrived at about 4 o’clock and my first thoughts were how beautiful the place was. Surrounded in mountains, the town itself has quiet cobbled streets and a strong tradition of arts and handicrafts. We spent the rest of the afternoon wondering the streets going into visit the numerous shops selling all sorts of multicolored clothes and fabrics, lovely straw dolls and various Mayan hieroglyphics on necklaces or blocks of wood. One of the artists took us into her studio where she makes all of her crafts: all of the walls were painted different colors and various prints on fabrics were hanging out to dry, it was all very inspiring.

Our lovely hostel - Iguana Azul

Erin's lovely photo of one of the artist's studios

 The next day we went to the Mayan ruins which the town is named after. The Mayans were an ancient civilization that pre – dates the Aztecs. It was so incredible. The main remaining structure is the courtyard where the entire civilization would assemble to hear sermons and to witness sacrifices. Also standing was a large ball court where prisoners would be forced to play a Mayan ball game, and the loosing team was sacrificed! My favorite structure was this gigantic staircase with hieroglyphics all the way up it. Instead of using a book, the Mayans carved their entire history into the 63 steps that make up this stairway. There were 16 kings in the Copan dynasty, all with fantastic names such as Smoke Monkey or Moon Jaguar. Why don’t the British royal family have names like that? When Copan was toppled by war, famine and rebellion some of those left fled to the forest, and as a result nowadays about 20% of Hondurans are from Mayan decent.

That afternoon we went to Macaw Mountain, which is a bird sanctuary for scarlet macaws. Scarlet macaws are so beautiful and now hands down my favorite animal. Red, yellow, green and blue, the closest thing they resemble are what I would imagine a phoenix would look like. We got to feed baby toucans, and have huge macaws stand on our heads. We also learned about the sanctuary, which does really good work rescuing the many macaws that are kept in captivity, educating the local children about the birds and releasing the babies into the wild. We actually had some wild ones fly over our head when we were out walking the next day.

The ball court - looser gets sacrificed!

Some Scarlet Macaws

Erin having a chat with her new friend

Erin's picture of me a blue Macaw on my head

Erin's pic

After Copan we headed over to Utila. After a long bus ride and prettily sickly boat journey (I won’t go into details) we finally arrived on the island. Utila has to be one of my favorite places on the planet. From the Caribbean men playing dominos furiously on the street, to all the people I met from all over the world. There is an atmosphere were nothing is done in a rush, and you can spend all day chilling on the dock, leaning a new card game, playing volleyball or walking on the beach. It was lovely to see all of the other volunteers as well, and hearing about their experiences in their projects across the country.

I also learned to scuba dive, which was amazing. We swam through corals and saw all kinds of beautiful fish – some an array of rainbows colors, others all black with one white stripe through them, or camouflaged in with the coral so you had to strain your eyes to spot them. There is a whole world underwater, that you are never even aware of until you dive, and suddenly you are swimming alongside a shoal of fish in this huge underwater city. It is so relaxing, just focusing on your breathing and taking in all the life around you, and diving really alters your perspective when you surface, it really makes you think about how insignificant we really are in the grand scheme of things.

On New Years Eve, we all went out for a meal at this lovely restaurant called Neptune’s, as it was of the other volunteers, Ione’s birthday. To get there you have to take a boat through a mangrove forest, and it was so peaceful, gliding along the river with my friends, the sun setting behind us. After a delicious meal, we watched the midnight fireworks off the dock. The other Scottish volunteers and I lead a rendition of Auld Lang Syne and then we went to the beach and danced the night away.

We were very sad when the time came to leave Utila, to say goodbye to all of the amazing people we had met, and of course the other volunteers who make up our Hondi family.

Jenny and Jos took this picture of the Utila sea

Trying on some Honduran hats

The Girls on Hogmany

Erin and I on Christmas morning

The family on New Year's

Erin and I then headed up to the little town of Gracias for my birthday and to meet up with Kate and Rachel, two fellow volunteers who had spent the past few days in Guatemala. They had bought lots of lovely wares – including a waistcoat and some flutes. We had good catch up with them, and then decided to visit Gracias’ famous hot springs. However, it turns out that there are two hot springs, and we went to the less famous, and generally worse of the two. This being Honduras, everyone was fully clothed, while we, having just been on Utila, were in our bikinis. We sheepishly shuffled over to the “more” private section of the springs, but even so we soon attracted a staring crowd. I have never felt more like I was an exhibit at a zoo! Despite this, the springs were still really nice and the closest thing to a bath I’ve had since we’ve been here.

After a slightly hair-raising journey home where we managed to get stranded in a small town in the middle of no where (due to misinformation about the bus times), and had to take taxi ride home over a very badly maintained road, in the dark. We did make it in the end, and finally we were back in Sigua.

It’s a bit depressing being back, especially as it is much colder and rainier here, than it was on Utila. However, it was great to see my kids again and I defiantly did miss them. We are approaching the six-month mark now, which is a very frightening prospect, knowing we are half way in to our year. Despite all of the challenges of living here, Honduras has really become my home and I can’t think of what it will be like to leave the dirt – track roads, multi – colored houses and street sellers which have become the backdrop of everyday life.

Erin wearing ALL of Kate's Guatemalan purchases

 

Feliz Navidad!

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a nice run up to Christmas and that you have your Christmas shopping done already! Here, it’s as busy as ever, and next week is the last week at school for us. The school play is on Thursday, which means lots of rehearsals and crafting of wreaths, grinch hands and Who hats. However, the play is coming on very well, and the students are coping very well with the difficult language, as we are doing most of the play in English.

We have also had a few cold spells in Sigua, as hard as that may be you back home to believe. Although it only gets to about 10 degrees, it can feel very cold when there is no heating or insulation and many buildings don’t even have glass in the windows. We are also acclimatized to the Honduran weather now, so have been wrapped up in our hoodies most days drinking hot chocolate (courtesy of my aunt Jane, uncle Danny and my cousins, thank you J). The Hondurans wrap up very well, when a slight chill descends and we have spotted people around town with wooly hats and scarves. Some of my kids looked like they were preparing for an artic expedition with one boy wearing a vest, a jumper, his school t-shirt, then another jumper and to top it all of a massive coat that must of belonged to an older brother or his dad! It was very cute and my kids were all shocked when I told them that it can be this cold all year round in Scotland.

We have also spent the past few weeks preparing for the Christmas parade, which was last night. Each grade was tasked with making a float, however ours was not at school until Thursday, so we had a very rushed time the past few days painting (and then re-painting because the colors were too pale) a cardboard train, and then decorating a float for it to go on. I was quite impressed with what we managed to achieve in the little time we had to make it, but in the end the kids didn’t even get to ride on it because the parents wanted them to walk so that they could see their costumes! I didn’t mind so much as the kids, some of them are just 3 years old and had to walk for about 2 hours all around the town.

The real work of art however, was 11^th grade’s float. They had constructed an entire igloo out of wire and plastic, covered the rest in grass (pulled from the school garden!) and also snuck two benches from school, and borrowed a giant snow globe a 3^rd grader happened to have in their house. They had also acquired two lampposts from somewhere and strung “peace on earth” made from glitter between them. To top it all off they had cut paper bags to spell “seniors 2013” and placed candles inside. On top of everything was snow. It was truly amazing. Now you may be wondering how they got snow on top of everything in Honduras? Well, Erin and I, among others spent many an evening in the past two weeks grinding bits of polystyrene together to make tiny bits of polystyrene that looks like snow. However all the work was worth it, and I wish I could describe it better as this doesn’t really do it justice.

Things are feeling very Christmassy here, as everyone has decorations up. I was particularly impressed with our host family’s effort: we have a Christmas tree, a wreath on the door, a little nativity scene and lights all up outside!

Happy St Andrew's day from Honduras!

Our host family's christmas lights!

Thanks for the chocolate santa mum! Didn't quite survive airmail :(

1st Grade's Christmas door display

My Christmas door display

The school christmas tree

Our host family's tree

As the four-month mark has come and gone, I wanted to share with you all some reflections on my time here so far:

At first teaching was quite a shock. I was confronted by a class full of four – year – olds who had never held a pencil or sat in a classroom before. They also did not speak a word of English, yet I had to conduct all of my classes through the medium of English. It was certainly a challenge. However, I have found that with a lot of enthusiasm and a packet of stickers a lot can be achieved.

Many of the children come from families where the father is absent, often working illegally in the USA. A lot of them were left in the house alone, or with an older sibling before they started in my class, hence many of them struggle to remain seated during the class and to follow rules. However, I feel they have improved considerably after giving them time and attention. Their ability in English has also really improved, as I very rarely use Spanish in class.

I teach the children from 8am – 12 noon, most of their subjects: science and art to English and maths. A bilingual teacher then comes in for an hour to teach them, followed by an hour of P.E. The school has no books for the children to work from, which means that for most classes I have to handwrite 14 worksheets the night before – a lot of work, but I feel I am adjusting to the workload, and making my lessons more interactive makes them more engaging for the students and means less copying out sheets. 

I have also become involved in a project in the local community one afternoon a week, after my lessons. The project takes in very poor children who are not able to afford to go to school. It provides day – care for the youngest (aged 2) and a classroom to give the children a basic education. The children are also given a free nutritious meal, as many do not get adequate meals at home. I teach them an hour – long English lesson and then spend the next hour playing with them in the garden, acting as a big sister and giving them lots of love, time and attention.

I am also currently in the process of setting up after – school sports clubs, as there is very little for the children to do after school and at the weekends. As a brown – belt in Karate I will hopefully hold a karate club for the younger children, and introduce rounders into Honduras with a rounders club for the high school students. I hope to bring you more news about this after the new year.

Personally, I feel I have learnt so much already in my time here. I live with a host family, which has allowed me to gain a real insight into the culture and customs here. My partner and I cook our own meals, which at first I found a challenge but am now really glad I have leaned this vital life skill. My Spanish has also gone from non – existent to a level where I can understand most of what is said to me. I currently get Spanish lessons twice a week from a teacher in school, and in return I give her English lessons. I defiantly feel that I have gained a huge amount of independence so far, and hopefully that will continue to grow throughout the year.

Amanda in her winter coat

Daniel

Nathalie and Clelian

Some of my kiddies

We are off on Friday to go traveling for Christmas, after we have a Christmas dinner with all of the teachers at the school. First we are going to visit the Mayan ruins at Copan, then we are heading over to Utila, one of the bay islands, to spend Christmas and New Year with the other project trust volunteers. Finally we are going to a little town called Gracias which is supposed to be very nice.

So Feliz Navidad! Have a great time and I shall tell you all about my travels when we get back.

Build up to Thanksgiving

Hello everyone,

Although it’s mid – November now, and getting colder, it still feels like summer here, as the trees are all green and it is still hot and sunny most of the time. We are in the full swing of thanksgiving preparations, and next week turkey headdresses will be made and my kids have to sing a thanksgiving song  in front of the whole school (which I’m slightly nervous about).

We also begin working at our secondary project, which is a daycare for children of poor families in the area that don’t go to school.  We had asked what we were going to be doing, and a fairly vague answer was given about helping out in the classroom, playground e.c.t. We turned up on Monday, only to be handed the marker, in true Honduran style, and left to teach a lesson for two hours! We muddled through the lesson, but hopefully next time we will be a little more prepared. There are about 30 kids in the class, and they range from about 2 to 6 years old. There is also very little recourses – they don’t even have paper for the children to write on, however, the staff are all lovely and very glad to have us there, and teaching the kids some English. The atmosphere is much more laid back and friendly and there are no requirements for what we have to teach. After the lesson we play outside with the children for about an hour - just generally having fun with them and giving them some of our time and attention.  The kids are all really cute, and on our first day they took our hands and showed us around the building, then played some duck – duck – goose and after we gave them all piggy backs.

We also got some really positive feedback from the school this week, which is nice to hear. Also, next week Erin and I will also start teaching phonics to 1^st – 3^rd grade after our kids have gone home, which will mean more work, however I am quite looking forward to teaching the different age group. Preparations for the Christmas play – which will be the Grinch  - are also underway, and Erin and I will be helping out with it, starting with the auditions on Tuesday. All and all we are very busy! 

The rest of October

So last weekend was the Honduran folk law celebration day. To celebrate each grade had to make a stall to represent a different region of Honduras. Luckily our kids didn’t have to do one, so we didn’t have any work to do, we just got to sit back and enjoy the day. So each “stall” made the traditional food from their region to serve to us, wore their traditional clothes, and did demonstrations of the dances from that region. Now I put stall in inverted commas, because the word doesn’t really give it justice. Most were made out of bamboo, and almost house – like structures, that took days to prepare. One grade even planted corn because their region is involved in farming and brought in a horse for people to ride! All in all it was amazing day, we ate loads of great traditional food, and it was just so impressive the amount of effort that was put in to it all. It defiantly put school fairs at home to shame.

One day, me and Erin were at the post office when three massive red royal mail boxes were brought our to me. We looked pretty ridiculous walking through the streets with them, and inside was a treasure trove of games, posters and resources for my classroom sent to me by my grandma - who used to be a teacher herself, and whose tips have so far proved invaluable. We now have puzzle days in maths, and the games have proved a great incentive for my kids to finish their work. Thank you so much grandma!

So unfortunately in Honduras Halloween is not celebrated. It is seen as a bad day where actual witchcraft and devil – worshiping is practiced, and just to be skipped over as fast as possible. However, we managed to negotiate a “fun dress up day” for the Friday which despite the lack of witches, vampires, pumpkins (which are the emblem of a satanic sect here) and anything vaguely Halloweeny, there was still cake, sweets and a dancing competition and all in all it was a good day. I also had a bag of very yummy Halloween chocolates that my mum had sent me, so Halloween wasn’t all bad, as me and Erin sat huddled in our rooms, munching away and watching the Halloween TV on the one English channel.

More exciting news, on Wednesday we went to set up our secondary project. Project Trust recommends after spending some time in the country volunteers go out and look for a project in the community they can get involved in, in their spare time. After a lot of asking we went to see this daycare, that looks after children aged about 3 to 7 who can’t afford to go to school and whose parents go out to work, so there is no one left to look after them. They also get a meal while they are there, and get lessons to help them get a basic education. You could tell that the children had very little and they were all desperate for our attention, so I’m really looking forward to dedicating time to them. All the staff were really nice and very happy to have our help, and starting on Monday we will spend two days a week helping out from 1 – 4pm. I’m sure it will be a lot of work and very tiring especially after a full day of classes, but I’m sure it will be worthwhile.

Congratulations on making it to the bottom of what was a very long post! That’s you all filled in (perhaps next time I will write it in more bite – sized chunks).  Hope everyone is well, and feel free to email me or write to me at:

Ellen Morton

Del Sol Montessori Bilingual School

Apto. #  194

Siguatepeque

Comayagua

Honduras

One of the stalls

1st grade in their traditional dress

My Halloween goodie bag!

My new games shelf

The boys dressed up for the party

The girls dressed up

Cowboys on culture day 

Football and the lake

Hi everyone!

You might not know but on Tuesday the 15^th Honduras had its world cup qualifier match. The day didn’t start off great when after snack one of my kids threw up on the floor. However this is not an unusual event, and I was just telling the others to move away and not jump in it when a second kid was sick. As I was sheepherding them to a dry corner of the class another threw up, then another, then another. I just stood still, trying not to get splashed by it, and dodging out the way if someone looked like they wanted to throw up in my direction. 7 of my 14 children had been sick, 7! I then had to jump over the puddles, and lift the kids over the bit next to the door so they could go play outside. The day only got better as, in my last class of the day, when we were outside picking flowers I spotted one of my kids walking towards another classroom. When I got there I found he had pulled down his pants and done a poo on the floor. Not a good day for our poor cleaner either.

However, I was still in good spirits because it was football day. Unfortunately because it was a 7pm kick off we didn’t get the day off school, however the Honduras flags were taken out and plastered all over the school, a speaker played music in the hall all day and classes were interrupted by older students coming in to paint the national flag on everyone’s faces. After school me and Erin headed down to the market to seek out some Honduran football shirts, and feeling fully prepared we headed to the Del Corral with Nicole and David to watch the match.

In the café part of Del Corral massive screens were erected, blue and white balloons blown up, and as many people pilled in as possible. The deal was this: to qualify Honduras had to beat Jamaica. However the odds were in our favour because even if we lost or drew to Jamaica, if as either Panama or Costa Rica won their matches we were also in. The game was off to a quick start as two goals were scored – one for us and one for Jamaica – in the first few minutes. It was then pretty equal until we scored another goal, just before half time. Now when Honduras scored, everyone went absolutely crazy: balloons were popped, fireworks let off outside, everybody screaming their heads off. Things were looking good, not only were we one goal up, but Costa Rica was also leading in their game. However, things soon took a turn for the worse. Not only did Jamaica equalize, but Costa Rica started loosing their game, and Panama were yet to score. It was a very tense second half, but luckily in the last few minutes Panama scored, and won their game, meaning we were in the cup! The spectacle that unfolded was one of the most amazing things I have seen in my entire life! Everyone pilled out of their houses and into their trucks, or onto the street. The streets that had been eerily empty just minutes earlier were suddenly blocked up from all the traffic as people sat in their trucks beeping their horns and screaming as loud as they could. Everyone   else went to the streets running and shouting as loud as they could. Fireworks were set off  and such noise continued for at least a hour. I will never forget running through the streets  with the rest of the town, national flag on my face and my Honduran football top on screaming “HOOOOOONDUUUUUURASSSSSSS!” at the top of my voice. May I remind you we didn’t even win the match.

The next weekend we went to Lago to yajoa, the biggest lake in Honduras, to meet up with some fellow volunteers. The lake is only about 30 minutes away from us, however we forgot that  89sq km is actually pretty big and while it takes 30 minutes to get to the nearest bit of the lake, the big where our hotel was, would maybe take considerably longer to get to. We ended up getting off the bus at the wrong bit, but we called the hotel and in slightly confused English he told me it was only a 10-minute walk. We happily set off along the highway, however after 20 minutes of walking we figured they may have been a mistake and so called one of our friends, who told us it was in fact at lest and hour’s walk! Luckily, we managed to wave down a bus, and finally arrived. There we met up with Kate A, Kate B, Rachel and Hope, and took a boat out on the river for the expense of 40p each! We had a lovely evening of catching up, and then the next day we went to see the waterfall.

Now when I saw waterfall, I mean waterfall. It was the biggest waterfall I have ever seen in my entire life. We decided to do the waterfall tour, which started off with us walking down to see it, being constantly splashed by the spray. When we had to swim through a pool of water in a massive rock to continue, I knew it wasn’t going to staying dry for long. We walked right up to the waterfall, so we were right next to the huge sheets of water pouring down. The next bit of the tour was walking through the falls . Clinging onto the rock and each other’s hands we shuffled along, you couldn’t see anything but blurry water, you couldn’t hear anything but the roar of the fall, it was difficult to breath because of all the water in my mouth. Two of our friends headed back, but we pressed on. Despite all the difficulty it was so amazing and overwhelming, just to feel the immense power of the water crashing on top and around you. We then crawled up a hole, so we were inside of the waterfall itself. The dark and silence was such a contrast to outside, and we just sat in awed silence. I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences in my life, and I felt such a feeling of accomplishment as we walked away and I looked at this immense natural wonder that I walked under, through and sat inside of.

Exhausted from the morning’s adventures we decided to take a nice leisurely walk after lunch, through the nearby archeological site. It was great to chat to the other volunteers who we hadn’t seen since we arrived in Honduras, however we lost track of time and before we knew it night had fallen. We realized we had wondered over to the other side of the river, and now had to get back. We took a road and managed to get to exactly where we wanted to be, only one thing – there was a river in the middle we needed to cross. There were no bridges to be found and thick forest on either side. We asked a local if there was anywhere to cross, so he grabbed his machete, and his English – speaking daughter and we hacked our way through the forest, getting bitten alive, to the nearest bridge, and not long later we were home safe and sound.

Caught in the rain again!

The Waterfall

All in all, it was a great weekend, and we bid our farewells on Monday morning, as we headed back home.

Us at the waterfall

So the internet is being very slow today, so you will have to wait for the rest of my post ... 

Tela round 2

Hi everyone,

So we went down to Tela again last week which was lots of fun! This time we went with fellow volunteers Ione, Kayla and Katie. The night we arrived we went out for a beer and were unexpectedly given the most expensive thing on the menu, an entire steak, with rice, beans, tortillas and tajaras (like crisps but made from bananas instead of potatoes). We were a bit annoyed, but it was so yummy and still only cost the equivalent of £3.

The entirety of the next day was spent on the beach: swimming in the sea and lazing on the sand. We also went on a banana boat which was so scary, especially as we mistranslated what the man said and so lent the wrong way on the banana and all fell off after about 5 seconds! We did also manage to get burnt, and I am now sporting a nice red look.

That night there was a massive thunderstorm. The biggest I have ever seen in my life. It was extremely loud and the electricity kept coming off and on. Luis actually got electrocuted when he tried to unplug his laptop! Luckily he was okay.

When the storm was over Meryl and Rosa took us to a club. When I say club, I mean Honduran club, which is just a courtyard with a corrugated iron roof over some of it and puddles in the middle of the dance floor. A strange mix of Caribbean Garifuna music, salsa, western songs and Spanish rap was played which was cool however, I’m not too sure about the Honduran dancing.

The next day we spent more time on the beach, and then we had to go home because our holiday had been changed because the Honduran national football team is playing a game. That’s right, the holiday was changed to fit in with a football match. Football is a really big deal here,

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful; although I did manage to accidentally tell the man at the school canteen I loved him while I was trying to order pizza (I said te quiero which is I love you instead of yo quiero which is I want!)

That’s all for now,

Ellen