The last couple of days

5/4
This morning when we woke up, it was pouring! But then after not long, the cloud had gone and it was back to sunshine! I guess it hasn’t rained here in about a month, so it was nice to get some, especially when it’s during the night! I was very relieved that the “agua man” – the truck that sells the big jugs of purified water – came by this morning as we were almost out! Juan and Vilma were the first to class today, and brought their kitten (“Teresa”), who looks a lot like our kitten, but is only a month old! I told them that she could sit with them in class today since they were already there, but that today’s the only day – she should be at home with her mama! Vilma had already colored Teresa’s tiny little nails pink. They were amazed when I told them that my cat at home is 20 years old, and asked if she’s really huge since she’s so old, but I told them, no, she is normal cat size, and actually a little smaller since she is so old. Every time another student arrived, they told them about my 20-year-old cat that and that I’ve had her since I was two years old. We made new cards for the wheel on the wall using clothing words, and played that til some more kids got there, and then they colored for a little bit before starting at 9:00. Today we worked on questions and answers again, using mine/hers/his/Diego’s/Sahory’s/etc. Between classes, I went to the beach to read – it’s such a beautiful day today! Hot, but not unbearable, and a bright blue sky with puffy white clouds :) I went to get some fruit at Funez’s (a pineapple and 2 bananas for a dollar!), and Oscar said I can go to see his high school class Friday evening. He asked what I studied in college, and when I told him neurobiology, he told me about how he used to study biology, chemistry, and biochem, and now teaches a bio class in the evenings at the high school. He said they have a lab with 20 microscopes that were donated by a German organization. I’m looking forward to seeing it! Later, I went over to Martyn’s afternoon class to see if there was anyone there for the 4:00 advanced class, but since there was only one, we just went to the field with the rest of the kids to play for 45 minutes. In the evening, we had the English class for adults. We had 6 students return from last week, and 8 new ones! Some even came from neighboring towns – one guy came up to me after class to introduce himself and said that he goes to school in La Ceiba, but lives in La Unión, the next town over. Tonight we did a lot of review since there were so many new students, and then moved on to “Do you like….?” “Yes, I do.” “No, I don’t.” and the names of various fruits to use for the questions. I’m looking forward to class tomorrow, and seeing how many people show up! For dinner, Heide made us a dish that her family makes – boiled potatoes and green beans all mashed/cut up, with a hardboiled egg on top, and a little bit of sauce made from milk/butter/spices. After dinner, Heide and I chatted for quite a while, and then it was already time for bed!

5/3
Went to class this morning and the door was locked from the inside. Since the owner of the classroom lives next door to it, I went over there, but the house, like many of the houses here, has a gate around it which is padlocked shut, so you can’t go knock on the door, and no one was outside (you can see the backyard from our yard). I went to go ask my neighbors across the street if they knew how I could get the school unlocked, and they said to just go bang on the gate really, really hard, so I did, and then the owner came out and said she’d unlock the school door from the inside. Partway through class, an older woman came and asked when the clinic next door opens. I told her that I’ve never seen it open, and I live right next door (the clinic is the only thing in between our house and the classroom, and it’s actually in our front yard). She said she got a prescription yesterday and that the doctor said she could fill it at the clinic, so I told her that there is another one about two blocks down the street which is open, and may be able to fill her prescription. I hope they were, since she said she is all the way from Yoro! She was a really sweet lady, and asked if I was the teacher, and when I said yes, and she called me a beautiful gringita, and thank the Lord I am here….so sweet! 10 kids came today, and we moved on to asking if a thing was somebody’s else’s (“Is this Sahory’s pen?”), which led into learning that “el/la [cosa] de [nombre]” = [name]’s [thing], and that “el/la mío/mía”=mine, “el/la tuyo/tuya”=yours, and “el/la suyo/suya”=his/hers. Juan asked if I like kittens, and I said yes, so he asked me if I wanted one – he and Vilma have one that is only a month old. I said, no, we already have one kitten and don’t need another! So then everyone wanted to see our kitten. After class, the kids came over to meet Nigel, but most of them didn’t end up staying too long since Nigel was not exactly excited about 10 kids wanting to see him. After the kids left, I did a bunch of laundry, which takes a while here since it’s all by hand. I’ve learned to next time not bring light colors! The water turns white things a bit brown, and my khaki shorts and bag have orange spots on them from the water…and since it’s from the water, there’s really no way to wash it out. Later in the afternoon, I went to Martyn’s class to do the speaking portion of the test he gave his kids today (asking the kids questions that they had to respond to in English). Around 5, I went for a walk to the beach, and then read some more of my Guatemala book til Heide and Lola came back and we started making dinner. The power got turned off around 6:30 or so I think, so we made bets on when it would come back on – unfortunately, it passed all of our first bets, and all of our second bets, but only missed Heide’s second by 2 minutes – 9:07. It’s amazing how incredibly dark it is here when there’s no electricity…I guess I can see why people find it a prime time to rob anyone that’s out. One good thing, though, is that you can see SOOO many stars!

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