Long Daze, Long Nights

                Where am I? What’s going on? As predicted the time has flown by and I can’t believe that it is already the end of the first quarter. Last week was exams, of which I only had to give one (World History), which I got out of the way on Monday. After that I made my escape and fled the country for a few days. Two close friends of mine were considerate enough to get married last weekend, giving me a perfect excuse to go home (thanks Kasey and Alex, and congrats to you both!)

Upon arriving home at 1:30am my first order of business was to stand in a hot shower for at least an hour. Afterwards I collapsed into my own bed for the first time in MONTHS. I swear I almost cried I was so happy.

Waking up the next morning was the weirdest feeling. Where had I been for the last three months? Was I really in Honduras? It all seemed like a dream (probably induced by the anti-malaria drugs I had been taking). I felt like no time had gone by at all. Except that is had, and it was now late autumn instead of late summer.

I spent the following days pretending that Honduras didn’t exist, and eating every burger I could lay my hands on (may I recommend the smokehouse burger at Bob Evans with a side of sweet potato fries. Yum!) The wedding was a great fun (I got the best seat in the house…behind the podium so I could see the bride walk down the aisle. I was the efficient btw.) I relished the food and drink at the reception, and made a complete fool of myself on the dance floor.

But Sunday found me back in Honduras, which was as dusty and full of loud noises as ever. I have decided that there is some kind of break in the flow of time between here and in the US. It feels like I have been away from Honduras for ages (which is good cuz’ if my time home had felt like a dream I may have just turned around and got back on the plane.) It’s sort of like going to Narnia, except it’s eternally summer instead of winter and there aren’t any talking animals…unless you count the occasional parrot.

The school is undergoing some MAJOR changes. We re-organized the classes (8B is now pretty awesome to teach, and 8A has grown in its ability to drive me insane), and we changed the schedule to have shorter classes more often during the week. I now teach World History for 40 minutes three times a week, which is already proving to be a better layout for the kids. Honestly they can’t focus for much more than 40 minutes on anything other than talking or soccer.

We also welcome Michael back to school. He had left the school over a month ago due to a problem with a tube in the back of his head. It helps to drain fluid from his brain and it had become blocked up. As scary as it was, it would have been simpler if Michael had stayed at home. He is WAY behind everyone else now, and I have no idea what to do with him in Art and Activities. His mom is actually looking at sending him to another school (all Spanish speaking, which is great because I don’t think that Michael understands much English), but some nosey busybody decided to stick their nose where it didn’t belong.

This particular olfactory intrusion is some woman that apparently has some kind of vendetta against our organization. I don’t know much, but I gather that she has tried to sue is on multiple occasions, and that she saw Michael as just one more of those opportunities. And so, Michael is back with us, at least for the time being.

It’s only Tuesday, but it feels like Friday I’m so exhausted. From the moment I left home to return to Honduras I was traveling for 16 hours. Then I had to teach the next morning, AND try and do all the lesson planning for the new quarter that I should have done last week. And the grading system on the computer still isn't working and grade are due by Thursday. And we have parent teacher conferences on Saturday, of which I have heard nothing but horror stories. Oh, and the maintenance guys are re-painting the teacher’s lounge and the paint fumes are not helping matters.

At least the weather is nice so I can sit outside.