Mo-Ped Champion!

Luke and I originally thought when moving to La Ceiba we would be buying bicycles to get to and from work. We quickly learned that if you want any decent kind of bike - you need to buy it State side and then ship it down. So we decided to evaluate our options.

Luke was pretty bent on either a motorcycle or mopeds. When he said he really was pretty set on one of those two - I opted for the mopeds so we could each have one. :) Our friends Kimberly and Mierta helped us out and took us around to all of these stores. We finally settled on two and are very happy!

Today was the first day that I drove my own to and from school. I was nervous but as long as we get on the road between 3-4 we are safe (traffic isn't as bad). I am loving the ride and excited to take it to the river this weekend!

Don't worry - I ride with a helmet!

Vive Vida!

Yesterday was the opening of the classic season here in Hondo. In La Ceiba, there are two teams, Vida and Victoria. We spend the first month asking around which team we should invest in... and we were given a 50/50 split. Luke and I then decided that we were going to go for Vida because they were described to us as 'the people's team'.

So, because of the storm warning, we decided to go to our friend Dan's house and cook and watch the game versus going to the stadium. It was super fun to watch and to hang out with people. We bought our knock of Vida jerseys so we were riding in style.

The game was really fun and we didn't get any rain - so next time, we will head a couple blocks over and just see the game at the stadium. In the end, Vida won 1 nil. :)

Vive Vida!

A New Time Killer

I blame Lili for this. When speaking to my lovely cousin about Tangled we began to talk about the actor who played Eugene in the movie (Zachary Levi). I had never heard of him, but Lili, with her infinite TV wisdom told me he was the star of a show called Chuck which was pretty fun to watch.

And so, with some time to kill, I began to watch and was instantly hooked.

Being a nerd myself, I was drawn to the whole premise of a nerdy guy being thrown into the CIA and completing missions while screaming like a girl. The show follows Chuck as he goes and is thrown in the spy world one mission at a time. It is a very funny and semi-light show to kill time with. I would totally recommend it.

Cheers!

School, River and Backyards Oh My!

A long update since plenty has happened. So here is goes broken down....

Rio Cangrejal:

Last Saturday a bunch of the teachers decided that it would be fun to head out to the closer river. We decided to catch a ride and see what this river was going to be all about (since the last one was awesome). This river is the main backpacking river in La Ceiba and is great for white water rafting. So we went to this place called the Jungle River Lodge which was a great spot for jumping off rocks and just relaxing at the bar. I didn't enjoy the jumps but I did like hanging out in the water and soaking up the sun. The owner, Oscar, was really nice and we can't wait to take friends and family there. I think we will be rafting over there once the water gets higher. Here are some photos.

One of the rescue birds there

Second rescue bird at the lodge

River river river

Luke hanging on the rocks

Hanging with some other teachers

School:

It was the first week of school and now we are halfway through our second. To say it was easy... well that is not true at all. I am lucky enough to be the teacher of 28 first graders. It is a lot of kiddos but I do have a rock star assistant named Kimberly. Being a first year teacher - the first week was really crazy, I wasn't sure what to expect but I know that next year is going to run a lot smoother! Teachers just need to not teach curriculum the first week of school - it is all review and games. I figured that out by day two. I really like my kiddos but feel bad with how strict I am, however, it is easier to be stricter earlier then later.

Luke is liking his classes. He was lucky and another teacher took the sociology/economic sections that he was going to have to teach. SO now he is just history, psychology and philosophy. He is also the 9th grade homeroom teacher.

We are loving the school and really enjoy all of our co-workers. I may be coaching elementary soccer with Erika which I am really excited about! The teachers are also going to make a volleyball team that Luke and I are excited to join.


Backyard:

When Luke and I moved in to la casa Martin, the backyard was not good. We met with the gardener down the road and decided to have them come do our yard. It took about 2 1/2 hours but it looks fantastic! I will let the photos speak for themselves.

I will post more as we continue our adventures!

Fanny

Not too long ago the cleaner at my school asked me if I was interested in having someone clean our house. I didn't think too much about it and said that I maybe would. I had been put off of the idea of having a house cleaner because people said they tend to be 'lazy' and invite over their families to watch cable and just hang out. However, after starting work and seeing the lack of time that Luke and I both have, we decided to give it a shot.

Ana (my school lady) is super sweet and mentioned that he daughter was looking for some part time maid work. We said yes to have her come over and see the place and the next day officially had a house keeper! She is coming once a week on Thursday and it only costs $15 a day!

Today was the first day and the house looks AMAZING! She likes the dogs and they were out with her just hanging out. She not only cleaned the inside, but the outside of the house, did the laundry and dishes! We gave her a tip that she tried to refuse, but eventually caved.

We are so excited and are loving this Honduran life style. :)

Rio Maria

Greetings from Hondo! A busy week calls for a semi-relaxing weekend. Over the week we talked to a couple of second year teachers who wanted to head out to a swimming hole in the river and asked if we wanted to join them. We debated.... just kidding. We were all over that like a fat kid on a cupcake. We decided that we would all meet up in the central park and then catch some cabs from there.

When Luke and I got out of the cab we ran into the new student teacher at our school, Justin, and invited him to come along. That just shows how small La Ceiba can be sometimes. Since he is doing some of his student teaching here and some in the states, we were like, 'You only have 6 weeks here, you have to come!'. It didn't take much to convince him. We met up with Jessie, his mom, Jenna, Natalie and Tyler and grabbed a couple cabs out to Rio Maria.

We took a cab like 10 minutes outside of La Ceiba, towards Sambo Creek and pulled over to this dirt path. We paid the man 30 limpera ($1.50) and went on our way. You wouldn't know that this trail lead to anything unless you came with someone that had been there before. You walk by a couple houses with chickens and dogs all running around before you get to a sign that says 'National Park', then you hike up hill for about 10 minutes until you find another little trail and climb down to the most amazing thing ever!

Rio Maria isn't a very popular river here because Lonely Planet hasn't really reviewed it. When people come here, they either go to Rio Cangrejal or the islands, however, I plan on taking everyone here who comes to visit. As soon as you reach the river you are greeted with an awesome swimming hole next to a waterfall - oh but wait, there's more, you keep walking and then there's another waterfall and swimming hole... oh wait! They literally keep on going for miles (awesome). We spent several hours just swimming in the pools, jumping off rocks and just enjoying being by ourselves in this tropical paradise.

All good things have to come to an end, and we packed up and started walking back to the main road. Luke, Jessie, Tyler and Justin all walked down the river and us girls down the path. On the way back it was much easier to appreciate how gorgeous the view was. Over the canopy of palm trees and rain forest there was the sea. Paradise.

We made it to the bottom a little faster then the guys and found a toad just hanging out next to us. Of course, being me, I had to grab it and check him out. Don't worry, he was very much like Wan Tzu and could care less. He just puffed up to make sure I knew he meant business and wasn't to be eaten. lol.

After we met up with the boys we hailed a taxi (the same driver who brought us back from Sambo Creek - SMALL TOWN RIGHT?!) and came back home. The funny thing is it is crazy storming here right now and it is hard to believe that 3 hours ago we were relaxing in sunny warm waters. Oh well - got to love the rain forest!

Here are some photos from our adventure.

Ready for the park!

View from the hike - not too shabby!

Natalie, Jenna and Me cooling off in the pool

Swimming hole #1

Game of Thrones Martin Style

Hiking in my awesome toe shoes! Thanks mom!

A Ceiba Tree - they are amazing

My new friend

He didn't like me as much as I liked him :(

Potted Plants and Peppers Oh My!

Another week in Hondo and the more and more Luke and I are falling in love with it. This week was spent getting our classrooms ready and for me, hosting an open house for some of my families. It was so interesting to meet some of the parents and for me to be the focal point... I think that it went very well and all of the parents seemed pleased with everything I said and explained that we would be doing in class. On Friday, the school had a 'teacher appreciation' lunch where they served sandwiches and wine (another reason why I love this country, 1 in the afternoon at school, sure let's crack open a bottle). The wine and cheese here is fabulous compared to China so Luke and I have been very happy that way. We are both anxious to start school and meet all of the kiddos. We've also been eating at the cafeteria where I am now a frequent purchaser of juice boxes and chocolate milk. Man I am so grown up.

We got some more amazing news which made us really happy. So, when we signed the contracts for the school, they said as a married couple we would only get one housing allowance (lame right?) and one moving/relocation allowance. The only frustrating part of that is that if we came down as two single teachers, we would each get that relocation bonus of 2000USD. We were annoyed but figured it was fine. So at the fair our bosses said they would add the housing allowance to my salary to sort of 'hide' it from the company. On our date of hire, we slyly checked to make sure that we did in fact get that (you all understand after China our nervousness). Well, the woman we talked to had no idea and said that she would talk to Martha about it. We felt so gross thinking that we were maybe only going to get one housing allowance and one relocation bonus. Martha found Luke later that day and explained they had already added the housing allowance in our salary for us and she was going to make sure that we each got our moving bonus! So, in short, we love our boss! Not only did she make sure we got the two housing allowances, but the two bonuses!

Thursday we decided to host a party at our house for people who work at the school. Luke made a pasta bar which was a huge hit. We had about 12 people over and it was so great to get to know some of the other teachers! We are pretty excited to work with everyone here. I think we are going to try to do an every Thursday thing but rotating houses. We will see how it works out.

Friday was a busy day also because not only did we get the house fumigated (all organic, water and green potato), but I went to the local nursery and bought two hanging plants! One reason we also liked this house was how close it was to a nursery (3 houses down). The gardener only spoke Spanish, but we were able to figure out what I wanted and he planted them for me. Luke and I went back to pick up the plants together and started looking at everything they had. We are in talks of reduing the back yard for the dogs (adding grass and some plants). While we were there we saw a pepper plant which Luke got really excited about. The gardener laughed and picked some peppers and gave them to Luke. He was so giddy!

My Spanish is still getting better but I already feel a lot more confident communicating with people. We will see what happens as we continue living down here.

We are heading out to the river today with a bunch of teachers to go swimming and hiking. Cheers!

My Classroom

School has officially started! At least for us teachers anyway. For the past couple of days I have been in my room trying to get it set up for the open house that I am going to have on Thursday. It is still surreal to think that this is going to be my classroom for at least two years and it is all my own. I am pretty excited and so thankful that I was student teaching in a first grade room - I am feeling much more prepared then I think I would have otherwise.

On Monday we went over an orientation with our Superintendent and Principal where they proceeded to tell us all about the rules and regulations at the school. I think what Luke and I were most surprised about was the requirement for lesson plans. As most teachers know, you normally only have to do them every once in a while, at our school we are required to provide the lesson plans the week before so if they decide to come and observe they know what you are teaching. I know it will be a lot of work, but I am actually excited to know that I will have an idea of what I am teaching the next week and I think it will make me a better teacher.

Dress code is very important to them so we got a long lecture on how to catch it early (especially with my little girls), Mary Jane shoes are not allowed! :) It will be interesting to work at a school with uniforms to see if it makes a big difference, that is still a debate in the states so maybe I will have more of an opinion on it now.

All of the other teachers seem extremely nice and I can't wait to get to know them more. One couple named Jessie and Jessi actually went to Western Oregon! I couldn't believe it. We also met the knew PE teacher who is named Daniel; he is Canadian so he and Luke hit it off right away. We are also getting to know a lot of the Honduran teachers which is great and hopefully it will help with my Spanish!

Here are some photos of the classroom, I will update more when things come up. :)