More Adjusted

Today the students had a half day, because it was Parent-Teacher Conferences. Parents were allowed to come from 12-4pm to talk with the teachers. No appointments were made - parents just waited outside until the teacher was free to talk. That was definitely a Latin American version of conferences! They went better than expected, considering that 12 of the 26 students had one or more F's. Some parents were definitely frustrated with their kids. A few parents asked both Jen (my teacher) and I for parenting advice. Neither of us is married or has kids, but surprisingly, sometimes we can offer better parenting advice than parents themselves can provide (at least we THINK we're providing good advice!). Some parents are clueless.

One thing that was interesting is that some of the girls in my class are heading into the "pre-teen" stage. This means that they're having an attitude about things and that they're interested in new things, such as.................. BOYS!!! A few of the girls have formed crushes on boys in our class. Haha....it's pretty funny, the drama that can result as a result of the opposite gender.

Also, conferences were interesting because the meetings (with the exception of two of them) were all in Spanish. My teacher is really fluent in Spanish, because her boyfriend is Honduran and doesn't speak English. So, she spoke really quickly, and I just sat there, trying to soak up all of the Spanish. I understood 99% of what was said, but didn't understand quickly enough to have enough time to add my comments in Spanish. Also, I've only been here for 3 weeks, so I don't know these kids as well as I knew my last students. I wish I could've participated in conferences for my last class, because I think I could've added a lot of suggestions/advice/observations about the students' behavior and patterns.

Not sure what my weekend plans are yet, but I'm determined to learn more about Honduras, whether by going somewhere outside of Tegus tomorrow for the day, or by visiting a few important places in Tegus (such as the Basilica).

Last night I completed a Visit Request for my family's sponsored child (thru Compassion International) to come visit me in Tegus during my last week here. We'll see if it happens, but I really hope it does. It's dependent on how much it will cost me to bring he and a Compassion Representative here (from 6 hours away, north of Santa Rosa de Copan), pay for food and lodging, and any additional costs. It's also dependent on whether 0r not Compassion's local branch approves my request, because I've given them less than 6 weeks to process the request. It would be quite the experience, and I can't even imagine how excited I would be if it actually happened. This is kind of a dream for me ............ so I hope it becomes actualized!

I'm beginning to kind of like it here - this week was the first that I began to appreciate more things about being here. Sure, the school has a lot of rules, and sure, the culture exchange can be annoying and challenging many times, but those things almost make the experience more rich. Maybe it's because I'm teaching more - at my last experience I enjoyed things much more when I was more occupied and more involved in the classroom. I love having the freedom of controlling a classroom. My teacher gives me a lot of freedom that way - when I'm teaching, she frequently leaves the room. Actually, even if she's there, I usually forget that she's present.