Orientation and the First Day of School

On Friday, we had 7th grade orientation and open house. I'm not used to 7th grade students being in high school, so they seem so small to me! They were excited to see all of their friends and find out who would be in their classes. During the parent session, I talked about the purpose of the Guidance Department and gave some tips for what parents can do to support their students. Afterward, a mother approached me to talk. After sharing her concerns about her daughter, she told me about the rest of her family. We had a great conversation in Spanish and I could tell she was relieved that she could share her concerns without trying to translate them into English. At open house, I sat at the welcoming table in the high school office to hand out achievement test scores to parents. I met every parent and student who came, which was really nice and also really exhausting. There's no way I will remember every student and their parents, but hopefully they will recognize me as a friendly face when problems come up in the future.

Today (Monday) was the first official day of school for the high school. We started off with devotions in my friend Nicole's classroom. We prayed for her and for the students in her class. Shortly afterward, students flooded the school, excited to see each other and the returning teachers. First period was full of helping students find their classrooms and lockers. After that, I met with a 7th grade parent to talk about transitioning to high school. The middle of the day is when I teach both of my Statistics classes. The electricity was out for the majority of both classes, so it looks like I'm going to be limiting my use of technology in the classroom, including lights (not that there's really much technology available anyway). The students were VERY talkative. I'm hoping to be able to attribute some of that to the excitement of the first day, but I have a feeling my students are very social people in general. Hondurans tend to value relationships much more than tasks, and I think North Americans have a lot to learn from that. I hope to find a way to balance having relationships with students, showing I care about them and what's happening in their lives, and teaching content so they will be prepared for college. Overall, it was a good first day and I'm excited to see how the rest of the week will go!

Home Sweet Home?

I have been in Honduras for a little over three weeks now, and I have to admit that I am starting to feel really comfortable here. School provides a routine so that I know what to expect each day. I'm so excited to have students starting on Monday. I am starting to build relationships with other teachers, and even some Hondurans. I hope to continue to invest more in community as time goes on. I am starting to feel like this is my life and not a vacation.

I have lived in other countries before, but only for short periods of time. There has always been an end date in mind. I never felt like I could get too comfortable because as soon as I did, I would have to leave. Another hindrance can be living with a host family. While the families I've lived with have frequently been the best part of living abroad, it is hard to make someone else's home feel like your own. In Honduras, I have my own apartment (that I share with three other girls, but it still feels like "our place"), my own office, and my own job. There things help me to feel like I live here and I'm not just a visitor. I will be here for at least a year, so I can allow myself to settle in a little bit. And who knows, maybe I'll be here to longer. There are still so many things that I don't know or can't do, but little by little I am figure it out.

I hope to show you all pictures of this wonderful place soon, but until my computer gets fixed I don't have a way to upload them. Hopefully you will all be waiting in eager anticipation when that day finally arrives!

Community

One of my biggest fears in moving to Honduras was not being able to find community. A place where I could know people and be known by people. Sure, there were certain cultural differences that made me nervous, but nothing like the thought of being alone. I know that loneliness is part of the process of being a stranger in a strange land, but there are certainly different degrees of loneliness that vary with degrees of community.

As life transitions have occurred, I have become familiar with saying goodbye and hello to different groups of people. I left a wonderful community of people behind in Ohio (and other states as people have started to spread out). These people know my heart. They know my personality. They understand the quirks that make me uniquely me. It's hard leaving them behind knowing I'll have to start fresh and probably feel misunderstood during the transitional period. However, letting go of one community means being able to embrace another. If we never say goodbye, then we will have no room in our lives to meet more of the wonderful people out there waiting to cross our paths.

Teachers at Pinares come from all over the United States and Canada. I now have friends from Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ontario, Connecticut, and Oregon (and probably some others I've forgotten). I may have never had the chance to meet these people had I refused to leave my Ohio University community.

In thinking about the idea of community, there are three questions that come to mind: 1) What does community look like in a new place? 2) What does it mean to have fellowship with the people around you? 3) What is the result or response of community and fellowship?

Community

One of the characteristics of Pinares that influenced my decision to work at this particular school is the built-in community. Most of the teachers live in an apartment complex on campus or in houses just outside the gate. We live together, work together, and spend our free time together. This kind of community looks different than your average US public high school. We have care groups (small group Bible study and prayer groups) and morning devotions. We fill our free time with potlucks, movie nights, game nights, and trips to the city. Last week I only cooked dinner for myself twice. Every other night was a community dinner of some kind prepared by an individual or a group. We've watched Top Gun, The Sound of Music, and Fiddler on the Roof. We've played Dutch Blitz, Mao, Apples to Apples, Crazy Uno, and Canadian Salad. We've gone to malls, the city center plaza, church, an open air market, and grocery stores. Needless to say, there is no lack of spending time together. We share beliefs, values, and a love for both Christ and education. While our relationships are not yet deep, I hope we will continue to grow together as we share these experiences.

Fellowship
The Bible has many things to say about fellowship. The church in Acts 2 had certain characteristics that increased their fellowship: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer...All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people" [Acts 2:42, 44-47].

These are the disciplines I hope will characterize our community. I have seen many of them exercised already in my short time here. People are devoted to teaching, including regular local church attendance. We break bread and pray together. We live together and share our possessions as we find a need. We meet together daily to begin each day focused on Jesus.

What was the result of this kind of fellowship? "

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved" [Acts 2:47]. This is our vision and dream for the students and staff of Pinares.

Community + Fellowship

We have been blessed with community and fellowship. Now what? What is the result, the response, to this blessing? The Bible says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" [Hebrews 12:1]. As we look forward to the beginning of the school year, I pray we will not be entangled by sin or obstacles and that we will persevere no matter what challenges we face.

11 (Interesting?) Facts About My Life in Honduras

Some of you may be wondering what my life is like here in Honduras. If not, why are you reading this? If so, continue on. You may be thinking, "I wonder if things are completely different than in the States or if there are similarities." Well rather than bore you with all the things that are the same, I have compiled a list of interesting little quirks about life in El Hatillo (the mountain I live on).

1. The electricity was out for a few hours on 5 different days in the first 13 days I was here. Candles and matches abound in our apartment.
2. You cannot flush toilet paper. Anywhere in the country. You put it in a trash can next to the toilet. This takes practice.
3. There is no hot water in our apartments (or on campus as far as I know?). This takes some getting used to.
4. We have electric showers in which the water runs through a heated coil in the shower head. It is also known as The Widowmaker because it's an accident waiting to happen.
5. We cannot drink tap water due to bacteria and amoebas. I don't even think most Hondurans do. Most people buy purified water, but we have a natural filter in our apartment.
6. We soak our fruits and vegetables in bleach water to sanitize them because of the bacteria in the fertilizer and water used to grow and harvest them.
7. The construction going on in the high school has pushed back the start of school about a week and a half. Last week we were able to get into our offices and classrooms for the first time, but the abundance of dust and noise does not allow us to stay there for long.
8. Our maid, Rosi, is a magical woman. It is expected as professionals that we have a maid or we look very cheap and stuck up. Rosi is a blessing because she cooks for us twice a week (which I hate to do), does laundry, keeps our apartment clean, and helps us practice Spanish.
9. Hondurans are very relational and it is expected that we greet everyone with a holy kiss. This makes some people uncomfortable and provides entertainment for the rest of us.
10. Our school/apartment complex is gated and there are guards that keep watch 24/7. This is great because we can walk around campus safely after dark, which I take for granted in the US. In Tegucigalpa, it is very unsafe to walk around after dark.
11. Many, many things come in a pouch or plastic bag - cooking oil, condiments, refried beans, crema (kinda like sour cream), licuadas (smoothie-ish), water, tomato sauce, hot chocolate mix, etc.

This is all I can think of for now. There are many wonderful and interesting and quirking cultural differences to note. However, they are simply adjustments that need to be made and hopefully they will become habit soon.

Bienvenidos a Honduras

Where to begin...

So many interesting things have happened here in Honduras so far that it would be impossible to write about all of them. Everything is so new and exciting in the beginning, resulting in sensory overload. Here have been some of the highlights so far:

• Community - Upon arrival, there has been no lack of community. There are game nights, movie watching, and potlucks galore as we figure out what fellowship means here in Honduras. Both the new and returning teachers have done a great job of making everyone feel welcome. More on this in a later post.

• Extended Preparation Time - The high school start date has been pushed back to August 29th as we wait for a remodeling construction project to be completed. However, we still have to be on campus from 6:55am-3:00pm everyday. For some, this means finding things to keep them busy. For me, it means extra planning time to figure out what it looks like to teach Statistics.

• Climate and Weather - Living on a mountain with a high elevation means cool temperatures (which are so very welcome after the humid, hot summer temperatures of the Ohio Valley). Most days are in the high 70s (F) with temperatures dipping down after it rains (almost daily for a short period). While mostly an ideal weather situation (in my humble opinion), storms cause many power outages.

• Shopping in Tegucigalpa - Each Saturday, the school provides a bus that takes teachers into the city to buy groceries. We have visited several stores and supermarkets to get a variety of options. Today we went to an open air market (that we'll visit twice a month) in the parking lot of the National Soccer Stadium. The abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, the colors, and the non-stop Spanish conversation were amazing.

After reading some of my fellow teachers' blogs about Honduras so far, I realize how far behind I am in updating everyone back in the States. However, I don't want to get your hopes up that I will be updating regularly because I know myself better than that. Low expectations with high hopes, everyone :)

11 Lessons Learned by a School Counselor

This year I had an internship as a school counselor at a high school. As this experience has recently come to an end, I have begun to reflect on the lessons I learned during my time as an intern. Here are just some of the things that come to mind (in no particular order):

1) It takes a looooong time to earn the trust of a teenager who has been continually let down by the adults in his or her life.

2) Familial influence determines so much of how adolescents see the world: relationships, school, work ethic, how to show feelings, definition of success, etc.

3) Negative influences can be overcome, but it takes a lot of time and effort to reverse the effects of abuse or neglect.

4) Each day is new. A fresh start can be a good thing or a bad thing. Just because yesterday was a good or bad day does not mean today will be the same.

5) No one is a blank slate. Everyone has a story. Taking time to learn that story and giving students a voice can be more important than any other lesson in high school.

6) There are a multitude of influences affecting adolescents every day for good or for bad. You can be one of them. Do not be discouraged by the influences you cannot control, but instead focus on having a positive impact by doing what you can do.

7) There is an overwhelming number of students who have considered committing suicide at least once. Do not be afraid to ask hard questions. You could save a person's life.

8) Students appreciate having someone care about them, even if they do not always show it.

9) Sometimes it is the students who seem like they are the hardest to reach or the most resistant that end up appreciating you the most.

10) When a student's situation seems overwhelming and hopeless to you as a counselor, imagine how that student must feel. Rather than adding to the discouragement, be an encouragement and help him or her to see there is always hope.

11) Taking time to tell students specific things you appreciate about them or ways you have seen them grow over the year can do wonders for both the self-confidence of the students and your relationships with them.

I could probably continue to add to the list and elaborate on each separate point because I have learned so much this year. I could attach several stories to each lesson, but I do not want to break confidentiality or make this entry impossibly long. It is my hope that educators, including myself, will look at this list on a hard day and remember that all the hard work and emotional exhaustion is worth it.

You can make a difference. You can have a positive impact. You are important in the lives of the students you work with.