Jobs!...Better late than never, right?

Yes, I’ve finally completed a new blog post...

Me, Friday after school,
 clearly ready for my weekend off.

This wouldn't have been possible without my weekend off, which I am spending in Copan right now. So thank you, Amigos and Copan. I'd also like to give thanks to the beautiful cafe that is providing the wifi for this post, an incredible view (see below) and delicious cheese. 

Cafe San Rafael, bless you and the cows from which your cheese is made.

Yes, this blog post is a great accomplishment, especially considering the number of documents currently cluttering my desktop titled “sadkjfh,” “meeehrrrg” and “blehhskjdfh” or something of that sort, all of which are unfinished blog drafts. None of them feel right. This one won’t either and I’m trying to accept the fact that it's impossible to capture this place in words and pictures. Each time I begin to write, I try to describe everything with the hopes that anyone who cares to read my ramblings will get at least a small, but real, taste of this place. But, eventually, I begin to hate nearly every line I've written because none of it does this place justice. At that point I shut my computer screen and get back to medical work or lesson planning or attend to the cheerful screaming I hear outside of my window (option 3 is my favorite).

So, here it goes… prepare for ramblings, tangents, typos, poor grammar, and mixture of pictures that don't always make sense in …3…2…1… BLAST OFF (yes, teaching pre-school is getting the best of me)

Job Assignments

Job 1: Medical Program Coordinator or something…

Depending on who you ask, you might hear that I am the “enfermera”, “doctora” (even though I repeatedly explain that I am not actually a nurse or a doctor), “encargada de medico” or some of the chiquitos just yell “UNA CURA, UNA CURA!” (“Band-Aid, Band-Aid!”). This all translates to me being in charge of the health and medical... everything? I’m still figuring it all out--stay tuned. So far it has included spending a great deal of time completely reorganizing and ferociously scrubbing down the medical office (I can thank my slight OCD for that), learning about the medical program that was built up tremendously last year thanks to a past volunteer, finding ways to improve the system, going to doctor appointments with the kids, and being the point person for any illness or injury that occurs.

When anyone isn’t feeling well, they either: (1) come in during my “office hours” from 6:30-7:30 am and 4:30-5:30 pm or (2) come to me during all hours of the day (this one is more common). Even if I’m in the volunteer house, where the kids are not allowed, they wait at the gate and yell, “Miss Jillian!” until someone responds. At times, the constant flood of people coming to you about a "problem" that is actually nothing, can become slightly annoying. Still, I'm on cloud 9 with this job. I’m especially excited for the opportunity to learn so much more about medical care as I help the children and adults here.  

After his bone popping out of his skin and months in an itchy, uncomfortable cast, this guy finally got his arm back! This is us on our way back from the doctor office, when I got to scratch his arm for a 5 hour card ride :). He is 13 years old and one of the beautiful children living at ADJ who has special needs. He challenges me in wonderful ways and cracks me up constantly. On a regular basis he manages to sprint into the medical office before I get a chance to shut the door. He is also one of the reasons the legos are the hardest toys to get to in the medical office and why I don't always get work done as quickly as I should. It's always more than worth it, though.

I could write multiple blog posts solely about this little munchkin. His extreme abundance of energy brings an endless amount of happiness and a hint of exhaustion to my days. Any day I don't hear, "Jillian! Jillian! Una cura!" followed by a giant hug, is a tad less joyful. I have so much love for him and his relentless arguments for why he always needs a ninja turtle bandaid. 

Here is one of the jovenes who, again, I could write several posts about. Here he is helping me clean the medical office. He also helps me tremendously with improving my Spanish and we talk about anything ranging from music, to religion, to medicine. He's extremely bright. I've never seen an 18 year old so willing to help in any and every way possible. Every month he puts hours upon hours into the birthday bulletin board, so it is decked out in themes like the ocean, outer space, and minions. Most days he goes from mopping the comedor floor, to helping kids, followed by working in agro, picking up random tasks, and ends half the nights of each month with turno (sleeping in one of the dorms with the kids--obviously the sleep you get is minimal). I'm very grateful for him and all he does.

Thus far there has been a range of injuries from fake crying and no visible injury to the motorcycle accident that occurred a few Sundays ago... 

(medical tangent time)... 

(Caution: if you don't like bloody photos, I advice you scroll fast after you finish this story)

It was a tad ironic that just the day or two before, the volunteers and I played a question game revolving around the most challenging issues for us thus far. At one point we had to choose between “not feeling qualified for my jobs” and something I can’t even remember at this point. I did not choose “not feeling qualified” but that’s exactly how I was feeling this past Sunday morning. I was woken up by one of the boys yelling for me, exclaiming someone fell off a motorcycle and it was an emergency. I ran to the front gate of the hogar to find a man (probably in his later 20s) and woman (around 18-19 years old) on the ground, neither of which I recognized. They were both beaten up with cuts and such but the worst of the injuries (unfortunately, but also thankfully) was the man’s knee. It was completely busted open with large pieces of flesh hanging from the sides, blood oozing down his leg, and his patella clearly visible. I looked back up to find a few of the adults from the hogar asking what I thought and what I could do. (At this point I would have switched my mind to “not feeling qualified” during our question game). Obviously in the states we call 911 or rush them to the hospital immediately. Even more obviously, that isn’t an option when you’re sitting on a bumpy dirt road outside of an hogar in rural Honduras and the closest hospital to care for these things is over an hour away. Still, my immediate reaction was to say he needed to be rushed to a doctor. Then, my developing reaction which takes into consideration what is realistic when living in rural Honduras, was to run to the medical office for any supplies I thought might help. I ended up cleaning his knee the best I could with water, covering it with non-stick gauze, wrapping it, and applying pressure. Luckily, this hogar is filled with incredible and caring people who continued to help in any way they could. I cleaned up some of the other cuts while others held umbrellas above the man and woman, fanned them (especially after the woman fainted more than once), continued to bring water, etc. After about an hour, a truck with family and friends of the man and woman arrived and we got him in the bed of the truck as carefully and comfortably as we could. Initially, some said they would have to amputate. However, the last we heard, he went in for an operation so hopefully they will not need to amputate! Please cross your fingers and keep this man and his family in your thoughts and prayers!

Someone managed to take this picture before I got there. You still can't see all of the damage done beneath his jeans, but it gives some idea of what his knee looked like.

...(end medical tangent)

Job 2: Assistant Preschool Teacher

Acto Civico at school every Monday

Monday through Friday at around 9:30am I make this beautiful walk from the hogar side (offices, living spaces, comedor, etc) to the school. 

Once I arrive, I open the classroom door to be greeted by 8 perfectly crazy, messy chiquitos running wild and one screaming bloody murder (we are working on it...). The next two hours are some of the best, and at times the most tiring, hours of my day. Monday through Friday our kiddos have two hours of class with the Honduran teachers in Spanish followed by 10 minutes of recess and then another two hours with Rachael (a fellow volunteer and main preschool teacher) and I in English. As you can imagine, the facial expressions of 3-5 year olds are hilarious when they don’t understand a word of you’re saying. Still, we’ve come a lonnnnng way since our first class...

(preschool tangent time…)

Before classes started all of the teachers participated in “academy,” which is basically a 45-minute practice run of your classes for the year. When it was time for Rachael and I to begin, we had no clue what we were about to walk into. We had just observed the Honduran teachers with them for 45 minutes and they were complete angels. But, apparently in the 10-minute break before our class, they conspired against us and created plan, “Destroy The Gringas!” Here’s a small glimpse into those 45 minutes: one kiddo biting my knee, as another is hitting everyone nearby and trying to jump into my lap, while I’m simultaneously trying to grab a chair from a different kiddo who is about to nail another little guy in the head. Yep. When it came time to review our class at the end of the day, all the other teachers could only say something along the lines of, “wow, well, uh, you’re both very very patient.” That day we found out preschool is definitely a marathon, not a race.

(end preschool tangent…)

By day 2 we managed to get all of our students into the classroom and by day 4 we only have one regular crier! She’s getting better every day, though. At least a couple days of every week still begin with her on the ground screaming as if we are literally torturing her to death. Then about 10 minutes in (3 on a good day) she puts her arms up for me to carry her. The crying still continues, of course, but usually goes down to a dull whimper. At first it continued for the entire hour (she only comes for 2 hours instead of 4 because she is 2½) but recently we’ve been making huge leaps! She’s started to color and dance with me! Granted, we still have our slipups like our milk fiasco the other week. As she was doing her usual “repeatedly slam all four limbs against the ground” routine, she managed to break off the top of her milk cup, sending milk all over her hair, body, the surrounding area of the room, and my jeans. Apparently throwing milk all over the room is exhausting because after I cleaned her up she decided it was nap-time in my arms. The worst part is, I can’t even be upset—I’m incapable of it. Her cuteness beats out my annoyance or frustration every dang time.

So, that’s just a little insight to my job where I get to simply play with and love on a bunch of adorable kiddos for a couple hours every day. J

Here are our three youngest chiquitos who only come for the first hour. For that hour I'm usually chasing the middle guy around trying to reduce the havoc he wreaks, while getting the little cutie to stop crying (right). The kiddo on the left is a hilarious, precious little angel. When I spend time with him, it's like a bit of a break. Regardless, I'm usually always laughing with them, at them, or at myself. 

Movie Friday!

These are from Día del Niño, or Children's Day, which includes a big celebration of games, food, piñatas, and cake. Here I'm with one of my kiddos. She is amazing. She is arguably the smartest in the class and has an incredible, sneaky sense of humor. Getting to see her personality come out has been such a blessing and I can't wait to continue my journey with her this year.

It's impossible to get a "normal" photo of all the kids together.

Miss Rachael trying to get them to stop meowing so they can finish the book...

Job 3: Science Lab Teacher

The school here at Amigos is more complicated than those in the states. Here, there is BECA (Bilingual Education for Central America), Educatodos (a Honduran program), a few special education classes, and kinder (the name for preschool here). 

BECA runs from Kindergarten through 4^th grade and each year an additional grade is added. It includes both kids from Amigos and the surrounding neighborhood. These students are taught by BECA volunteers, who are usually from the States, except for History and Spanish, which are taught by Honduran teachers. I was told that initially there was a stigma against the kids at Amigos. The neighbors refused to send their kids to school with those from an hogar. Now, after a few parents took a chance, there’s a waitlist for neighbors trying to get their kids into this school. From what I’ve gathered, it is an amazing school, especially when compared to what is typical in Honduras.

Educatodos, on the other hand, is composed solely of kids from Amigos. There are three levels (niveles): 1, 2, and 3, which are supposed to align with 1^st and 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th, and 5^th and 6^thgrades. This isn’t always the case because it is much more complicated than that. In level 1, for instance, there are only 6 kids but the ages range from 8-14 and the abilities are equally, if not more, different. These kids are in Educatodos, rather than BECA, for a variety of reasons. Some because their behavior got them expelled from BECA, others because they came to Amigos at a later age without ever going to school, and/or parts of their past has inhibited their ability to learn at the pace of BECA, etc. These kids have a special place in my heart. These are the kids I prepare science labs for each week—one lab a week for each nivel.

There are definitely more difficulties that seem to come along with teaching Educatodos, rather than BECA. There are days when they are wonderful, and days when absolutely nothing seems to work.

I’m one of the many US citizens who has a mile long list of complaints about the United States’ education system. It’ll be very interesting to see if and how my views change after my time here. The volunteers and I come back from school everyday and share our moments of joy, laughter, and complete frustration. Inevitably, we run into similar struggles and together we try to distinguish between what “issues” are just from working with Educatodos students, versus cultural differences. For instance, the concept of critical thinking is so foreign to many of them. They know how to copy notes off a board and make them look nice (for the most part...some of level 1 is a different story). This combination gives us a classroom of kids who relentlessly question for you to give them the answer. I’m sure soon enough they are going to get tired of my “Yo no se. Usted es muy intelegente. Escribe que usted piensa.” The other week, one of my favorite moments was when one of my students in level 1 tried to grab my answer sheet. When I asked what he was doing, he replied very nonchalantly, “para copiar” as if I would totally understand and hand it over. It cracked me up.

Additionally, we’ve been warned that oftentimes teachers here in Honduras focus on the appearance of work rather than its accuracy. This was a challenge when we were setting up our interactive lab notebooks together. Multiple students were almost brought to tears when I told them they couldn't start over just because they didn't like the color crayons they used to decorate it. It was hard to not laugh at a 15 year old boy begging me for a new sheet to color. 

Amidst all the difficulties with Educatodos, I am extremely excited about these lab classes. Not only because it’s science and I’m a nerd, but because this is the first time they are offering a lab class like this. An awesome Honduran teacher gives the science lectures during the week, while I teach lab on Thursdays and Fridays (in Spanish.. yeah, it's entertaining). But the way I see it is I got lucky because I get to be the fun hands-on class and naturally, I get to push them to workout their critical thinking muscles. My creativity is also challenged as I create labs each week with few resources and little space to do them. Being a teacher here is a challenge, and one that I love.

Level 3 lab. Competition to see who can make an animal cell with the food provided and best explain the function of each part.

Making Interactive Lab Notebooks

One of my very lovable yet challenging level 1 students.

Side Jobs:

Aside from medical and teaching, we all have random side jobs, which continue to pop-up along the way. Every Monday I attend a padrino/madrina meeting or I babysit the 15-20 children who come home from school early (preschool, kinder, and special ed). This is followed by tutoring a few middle/high school boys in English for 2.5 hours. We also fill in wherever we are needed such as “field trips” like the other weekend when I got to go with one of the boy dorms to the movie theater in San Pedro Sula.

And here's a few random photos... 

I was told early on that this place is a place of miracles. Each day I understand more and more what that means and how accurate that is.

This little man. He's a wild one and he'll steal your heart so fast.

The little guys love to draw car tracks in the dirt and play with their carritos

This little munchkin again. It's nance season so the kids are constantly running around gathering nances in any container they can find. 

When the rat infestation is getting to you, just call in the jovenes... they helped us kill a couple but we are now up to 7 dead!!

The calm before the storm of Monday afternoon babysitting :)

One of my other kinder kiddos. She's the oldest and we are trying to shake her hitting habit. I have to hand it to her though, she's really sneaky about it so all we usually end up seeing is the aftermath of someone crying. She's a wonderfully beautiful and unbelievably caring girl and I'm so happy I get to spend this year with her regardless of the high percentage chance that she'll give me gray hairs by the end. :)

The back of the volunteer (middle and top levels) and visitor's (bottom level) house. This used to be the chapel.. note the cross at the top 

Some of the piggies in agro. They are supposed to be our Christmas feast this year but I hope I can save one to keep as a pet... If you have good ideas for how to sneak a pig around for 6 months, hit me up.

Life's hard in the medical office when you're vertically challenged and want some water...