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. :)

Sprucing up the Place

Luke and I have been talking about different ways we can make la casa de Martin more ours and we decided today that we would spruce up the living/dining room area. We went to our local Carrione and picked up some curtains, a table runner and place mats. Wan Tzu really likes the curtains so we are trying to keep him from rubbing his head against them too much. We are excited to entertain anyone who wants to come see them in person. :)

Welcome to the Tropics Where Everything Grows Bigger!

As Luke and I were watching 'Friends' minding out own business when a giant moth came flying into our living room. Luke proceeded to shriek and I grabbed my ice tea and a book to defend myself. Let me just preface this with - we weren't sure if it was a bat, small bird or butterfly when it entered. Eventually, Luke was able to scare it out and he saved the day. Here is a photo (which doesn't do it justice), but like they say, everything is bigger in the tropics.

Sambo Creek

Today we went on a fantastic adventure to Sambo Creek. Sambo Creek is a small beach town about 15 minutes outside of La Ceiba, it isn't anything too fancy but a fun get away where the beaches are cleaner and so is the water. We had heard of a place called 'Helen's' that was supposed to have fabulous margaritas so we decided to start our adventure.

We left La Ceiba a little late because Natalie and Tyler had to sign the lease for their house that they are renting *exciting!* and so we met up with them around 11. Another teacher at the school, Erika, explained that we could get a cab to Sambo Creek by walking over to the north side of town and taxis will be there for that very purpose. Sure enough they were and $6USD later we were in our Caribbean paradise.

The driver dropped us off and we walked along the coast looking for 'Helen's', sadly...sort of, we missed it and ended up walking along the beach for a while. It was amazing because there was no one on the beach at all! A couple local people, but really, no more then 7. We walked until we found a bar/hotel with a pool and we decided to stop. It was a great place to jump in the water, sun bathe, eat and drink. We stayed there for two or three hours before continuing on our journey.

We asked the owner, a nice man from Boston, if he knew where 'Helen's' was, he laughed and pointed us back the way we came; it was right next door to 'The Canadian'. When we got their we knew why everyone raved about this place. It was very tranquil and the food and drinks were amazing! We will for sure be going back there.

It was a great day in our new home. It is nice to know that we are so close to a beach getaway and have a nice place to take people when they come to visit! Here are some photos.

Perros y Comida

Everyone has been asking 'how are the dogs?' so I thought I would throw a post out there for them. Wan Tzu is adjusting well but he does really enjoy the air conditioned room. Tofu is the same. Our friends Natalie and Tyler are bringing down a 'firminator' which helps strip the undercoat of long haired dogs, so we are going to do that to Tofu to see if that keeps her cooler. They are enjoying being pampered but I do think they miss their cousins at home.

On another good note, a lot of people we curious about the food down here. We have found that most of the food is either fast food (no Taco Bell though) or foreign food. We have a sushi restaurant, and Italian place, a steak house and so much more. Luke and I have been taking to cooking at home because it is more affordable and we can make staples like beans and weiners and so on. However, my gem of a husband came back from the market the other day with something so glorious I could not believe it....

MAC AND CHEESE!

Yes, I think I will do just fine here.

Mr. Martin

We stopped by school and we able to get into Luke's classroom. He seemed pretty comfortable as soon as he saw the giant AC unit in the back.