Monday was tough. I arrived at school at school at 6:45am to print out all of my worksheets for my day and the school printer wasn’t working (note- this is a common occurrence here. Technology has a very short life due to the heat, humidity and dust). I had 3 lesson plans to print and two worksheets. Panic… a bit of anger. I worked all weekend on these plans!
I ran across the street to the Zelaya’s house (the wealthy and very generous family who built the school) to print in their office. Their 35-year old son Andres helped me with the printing. In the process of helping me, Andres told me he had an oral test for his English class tomorrow and asked me to help him after school. I am very behind on lesson planning, I feel super-overwhelmed, and I have a list of things to get done after school. The last thing I want to do is go over to his house after 7 hours of school and teach him English… I said yes. I then cursed under my breath, and marched over to school to make the necessary copies.
I got my copies made and rushed to teach my earth science class. They are sawing metal 5 feet away from my class. They are welding a stairway for my new classroom that they are building (more on that later) and there are sparks flying in through my open window into the classroom.The noise is racking on my brain, and no-one can hear me. I do my daily homework check and half of my ninth graders didn’t do their homework!! Not only did they not do it, but one of my ninth graders excuses was “I was in San Pedro (the big city) all weekend.” This was the last straw, I yelled “Digna, if you think that going to a big city and enjoying yourself for a weekend is an acceptable excuse for not doing your work, you are sorely mistaken! You are a 9th grader and you need to take responsibility for your actions.” Deep breath.
I walk to the board write out the warm up and suddenly get a whiff of a really awful smell. I lookdown and there is a disgusting pile of unidentified excrement. Is it vomit? Is it poop? Is it the entrails from an animal. The only possible culprit could be a coati (a Honduran rodent that looks like a raccoon). It must have come in through my window (there is no glass on our windows…. Allows for better air flow in rooms without A/C). Whoever left it, whatever this pile is it is right where I am supposed to be teaching. I get a broom and shuffle it out of my class. Maybe I should start teaching something today, I think to myself.
This is a little window into the challenges that we face as a volunteer teachers in a bilingual school in Honduras. The littlest thing (like a non-functioning printer, your kids not doing their work, a construction site 5 feet away from your whiteboard, or an animal shitting on your floor) can throw you over the edge. Add a bit of heat, no A/C, and waking up at 5:45am, and you have the perfect recipe for a crappy Monday pie.
We have a phrase among the group of volunteers that is a sort of mantra when we are faced with challenge and adversity. And that is “Embrace it or it will crush you!”.
There is only so much one can embrace in the period of an hour on a Monday morning… before you start crushing children.
*Disclaimer- There were neither children, nor coaties harmed in the preceding events presented in this blog.
