closing out honduras

My sparsely-documented time in Honduras has come to a close. It was quite a challenging year; teaching is the hardest thing I have ever done. The heat and humidity was overwhelming, making teaching (much less – planning!) nearly impossible. I quickly realized becoming fluent in Spanish (goal #1) was going to be very hard, considering English is widely used on Roatan. Secondly, I was disappointed to learn how ‘poor’ my students actually were. The wealthy will always be able to find an education and provide for their children, but the poor can not always choose – often someone else has to choose for them.

Needless to say, as time passed I enjoyed living on Roatan more. I slowly got into a routine, learned how to cope with the heat, and became close with my roommate, Amy, and the other teachers. The parents were very kind and welcoming to me, and felt like friends.

In the end, I have come to the conclusion that I do love teaching, and I believe I am a good teacher. I really enjoy the first grade, and absolutely LOVED my students, with their incredible excitement for life and learning, their surprising and humorous comments, and their unconditional love!

Some highlights:

Spending Thanksgiving with my friend Dulce and her family in La Esperanza

Many nights of Boggle and Scrabble to ease the stress of teaching...

...and planning.

We dressed up as the power plant and the boys as the phone company for Halloween

Amy and I climbed Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala, just weeks before it erupted

The beautiful beach wedding of Sarah and Roberto, friends we made in Roatan.

My family came to visit - what a nice break from teaching!

Jason at the Iguana Farm

Chantelle and I and a huge starfish

birthday party for Ms. Jessica

Ivan and Lisa reading

Field trip!