a typical day in our lives.

today, jenny and i took a personal day to go apply for a new passport at the US embassy in tegucigalpa. this was something that we've known we should do since we got our temporary passports in costa rica, and we were excited about missing school today to do it, as it means a 5-day weekend thanks to some honduran holiday.

when we got in the embassy, we were again pleased to see that being north americans, we had no line to wait in. neat.

but that's where our luck ended. we were talked to first about not having the proper official identification (note: we DON'T HAVE ANY). that problem seemed to resolve itself and eventually we got to the part where he let us apply for the passport. things were looking good, and he even let us sit down to wait for our interviews. but then just as he was letting us sit down, he pulled out a hole puncher and a stamp and mutilated our temporary passports. (note: as i mentioned before, we have NO OTHER identification)

we were slightly concerned about the state of our identification, but then we forgot about it for awhile as we were interviewed and told we could leave. but then we realized, without a honduran residency card, a united states passport, a united states driver's license, a birth certificate, or any identification at all, we're very much out of luck. the atm cards that are on our way? we can't get them because we need ID to be able to pick them up. residency cards? forget it--i'm doubting whether they will ever show up. we spent a good 2 hours in the bank trying to figure out how we could even access any of our money from our accounts. the answer? we can't.

it's so frustrating, because there seems to be no reason for killing our passports this morning. we paid good money for those, and they're still valid for about 8 months. people get new passports while having non-mutilated passports in their possession all the time. agh. i don't think the US embassy knows how much trouble they've caused.

here's a (censored) picture of my poor little fake passport.


(i can't figure out how to rotate it and i've just given up. turn your head.)

semana santa: FAIL(?)

this week has been the long anticipated semana santa, or holy week. schools have off, and so my housemates and i planned a trip to costa rica, thanks to wicked cheap airline tickets. sounds great, right?

we flew to san jose monday night and then rented a car tuesday morning to drive to the nicoya peninsula, which is about 4 hours away on the pacific coast. it was pretty enough--tropical with a beautiful beach. we packed our car up wednesday morning and headed to the beach. while we were parked there enjoying the waves and heat, someone got into our car and stole absolutely everything. well, not quite everything. but they got all of our clothes, except for kendra´s suitcase, all of our cards and money, except for bethany´s, and two passports. since it`s semana santa, all of the businesses and offices are closed until monday, which means that jenny and i can`t fly out today as planned, because we no longer have passports.

that day was just unbelievable. we had everything stolen, which we found out about by about 1:00. then we tried to get money wired to one of the girls who still has a passport, and then we hit the road. it took us about 12 hours to get all the way back to san jose, since we couldn`t get on the ferry we had been aiming for. then, while waiting in the line of cars for 2 hours to get on the ferry, a bird actually pooped on my leg. it was a thing. it happened. and it really worked to be a metaphor for the day.

basically, we havent had an amazing time in costa rica. we`re fairly jealous of our two roommates who get to go home this afternoon, while we`ll still be here for another several days at least. it doesn`t seem like a bad thing, and we`re going to do our best to make the most of it while also pinching colones and doing our best to not run out of money. we are considering a coffee tour which involves acting out the coffee making process. cheestastic? yeah, but it might just turn this thaaaang around.

one thing`s for sure. we havne`t been able to have taco bell yet because of semana santa businesses closing, but rest assured: we WILL have taco bell before we go back to tegucigalpa. probably many times.

you're welcome, 1st grade.

today while i was teaching kids about maps (think painful amounts of repetition and acting out bird's eye view), i noticed an especially blotchy kid sitting and looking hot (it was, after all, about 97 today, sources tell me). i ask the kid if he itches, and he says no. i ask if a bug bit him, and he looks at me all confused. then one of my good english kids threw out the spanish word for chicken pox. my itchy blotchy kid said, 'yeah.' and i just got confused. excuse me?! send your kid to school with the chicken pox? when you know he has them?! the other kids promptly moved away from him with scornful, "ayyy, eduardo!"s. then i asked the kids to raise their hands if they've never had chicken pox. most raised their hands. thinking it was a language misunderstanding (after all, most 1st graders have?) i changed it, "raise your hands if you have had them" and the other kids raised their hands. awesome. thanks, eduardo, for single handedly taking out half my class in the (very) near future.

dead fish wednesdays

so i love wednesdays anyway, but today i stumbled upon something that makes them so much greater. today, my first graders played Dead Fish for the first (of MANY) time(s).

the 23 6- and 7-year-olds walked around the room, showing off their swishy/bubbly noises and rocking invisible fins. when i said "dead fish!" those 23 children dropped to the floor and were completely motionless and silent. it was unbelievable. and some of the positions these kids chose to drop in were hilarious! i had one little girl with her hands framing her open-eyed face. VERY risky move, those open eyes. but she lasted quite a long time. i had little boys piled on top of each other using their friends' arms as pillows. strangely enough, my most hyperactive and noisy kids were the best at the game. we will definitely be playing again. probably as soon as they come back from library.

gringas.

as white american females, it's fair to say that we get a bit of attention on the streets. walking anywhere will warrant kissing noises, vulgar comments, or just general "flattering" words. tonight we were walking back from the store and there was a 10ish year old boy with an adult. they were playing with a ball and they stopped to watch us pass. the older guy said to the younger kid as they stared at us shamelessly, "do you want to get a gringa? you have to study."

and that's why hondurans are staying in school.

blizzard in tegucigalpa?

today at school, kids and teachers alike came to school bundled up for a cold that one would've thought comparable to blizzards in the states. kids were bundled up with long sleeves under their uniforms, leggings, sweatshirts and coats, scarves, mittens, and ski caps.

why the fuss over the weather? because it's 65 degrees! crazy hondurans.

i'm not one to talk; i'm freezing. :)

back at it

today was pretty great. it was fun to be back with my kids. 7 were missing, likely because it's only a 2-day school week and parents are likely figuring on starting them up again on monday. we spent time talking about our christmas breaks. we talked a bit about the snow, and the kids were amazed with my (mostly made up) tales of the things i did in the snow. one of my little studs said in an extremely serious spanish voice, "it's always been one of my dreams to see the snow." his face was precious, and i really just wanted to take him to michigan for a bit. i showed them a drawing of a snowman becuase i was modeling what i wanted them to do. even though i made it very clear that i wanted to see what they did, i still wound up with about 15 snowmen drawn on papers. little liars. oh, and one little girl wrote that she went to el salvador, but she was very efficient in her translating and wrote that she went to "the salvador."

it's good to be back.