Update on Life in Honduras
Hello everyone!
Today marks the end of the second week that I have been in Honduras--time has gone by so quickly! Over the past two weeks, I have been getting to know my cooperating teacher, my students, and the culture here. I started teaching reading last week and will continue to teach that for at least the next four weeks. So far, we have been learning about nonfiction text features and how they can help us understand nonfiction texts. Teaching about labels and diagrams has been my favorite lesson in that subject so far! The students demonstrated their understanding by creating a model of a person out of clay and labeling it. Watching their process of creating humanoid creatures was quite humorous!
This week, I will start teaching science in addition to reading. I have been planning out a unit on energy that will last a few weeks and have enjoyed the process of deciding which content to cover and in what order.
As a student myself, I have also been working diligently on a series of lessons that I will be teaching and being assessed on by a national board in order to receive my teaching license in Minnesota. Drafting and creating lessons that I will be teaching immediately and those that I must prepare for this observation has left me exhausted at the end of most days! Nonetheless, I have still been able to enjoy the beautiful weather, adventure into the nearest large town (1.5 hours away by car), and spend time with other teachers and staff here. God has been reminding me of his sovereignty and love over my life; I have been encouraged by the other teachers and missionary staff here to be thankful for all of the little ways that he works each and every day. I have also been reading through the book of Joshua and recently started Judges, which has conveniently aligned with this topic. I have been daily challenged to be faithful to my God who has rescued me from death and its lifestyle and to instead walk in the fullness of life that he offers.
Another thing that has been on my mind lately is my philosophy of teaching. Observing different teaching styles and management approaches, as well as reading critiques of education, have left my mind whirling with a myriad of questions: What do I think education is and how should that manifest in the way that I teach? What assumptions do different schools hold about education? Do I agree with them? What do classroom and school-wide practices say about people's assumptions? What is my place in the realm of education? I have been grappling with these questions for the better part of these two weeks and hope to gain some wisdom and understanding about them during my time here. These are questions that I would like to have answers to by the time I have my own classroom, so I am again left trusting God to guide and inform me.
Finally, I would like to share some interesting anecdotes.
First, there is a student in my class who has the most interesting wonderings that I have ever had the pleasure of beholding. One of his most recent wonderings was, "does other people's skin taste different than my own skin?" I was the potential subject of this experiment and was asked very politely several times, "Ms. Arien, I can taste you?" to which I politely declined. Another one of his revelations, after talking about how I would have to leave Honduras before their school's open house, was that he could simply stick me through the copier and send a copy of myself home to the states, leaving the real me here with them! Laughingly, I commended him for his creativity, wishing the photocopy of myself the best as she completed my next placement at a middle school.
Living in a tropical climate has also brought its share of surprises. Moths, lizards, and spiders are common companions in my house, especially in the evenings around dusk. The largest spider that I have seen was the size (including its leg span) of roughly a silver dollar coin. That spider was on the wall in our house and required several attempts in order to kill it. I also encountered another spider last night as I was taking my clothes off the line. It was dark because I had forgotten to take them down before night had fallen. I had a flashlight with me to illuminate the ground in an attempt to avoid stepping on a scorpion with my bare feet. As I took one of my shirts off the line, I was startled! Instead of a scorpion, however, it was a fat spider who was making his web along the clothesline and my towel, which was still hanging on the line. Hastily, I looked through the clothes that I had gathered in my arms, fearing that more critters had taken refuge in them as they hung to dry! I quickly grabbed the rest of my clothes, took them inside, and spread them out across our dining room table to search through them for more bugs. Thankfully, I did not find any more hiding in their folds!
Power outages are also a regular occurrence here, and we have had several since I have arrived. Some have only lasted for a few minutes, while others have lasted hours. I have been informed that, in the past, there have been weeks during which there is no power for any given 24-hour period! Thankfully, we have not experienced that extent of power outage. However, one particular afternoon, me and my classmate had a meeting with our supervisor at North Central. This meeting was scheduled a half hour before we were supposed to zoom in to a class that accompanies our student teaching experience, which also happens to be taught by our supervisor. Our professor/supervisor was late to the meeting due to technical difficulties, but we were able to talk and finish our conversation with about seven minutes before class started. We said our goodbyes and promptly started to complain that we had to zoom in for class. Immediately, the power shut off. Without power, we did not have access to WiFi and could neither zoom in for class nor make any other video connection with our classmates. After we realized that we had no way to attend class, we decided to instead spend the evening at the beach. That power outage was a humorous answer to prayers and a timely opportunity to enjoy the outdoors that we have been blessed to live in!
Last, but certainly not least, I have been able to experience several different types of foods since living here. The most exciting of which I was able to try today after lunch. One of our neighbors has a cacao tree and let us eat some of its fruit! Inside the cacao pod are tons of seeds, each of which is surrounded by a goopy white substance. This milky goop is fruity and tastes like skittles! Usually, people spit out the seed which actually contains the cacao. I however, decided to try it. It was incredibly bitter and tasted like cocoa powder, but it was tolerable when I ate it with the milky white coating.
Overall, I am doing well and am enjoying a new lifestyle! I have been stretched in several different ways since being here and am excited to continue growing. Daily I am reminded of God's faithfulness and his majesty as I gaze over his creation--I definitely take so much of it for granted! Through it all, I am thankful for the blessings that I have been given and for the people who surround me. Life is indeed beautiful, even if it is challenging and stressful; I am thankful for that reminder and hope to carry it with me throughout life.
Thanks for reading this long update about me!
May God bless you!
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