beauracracies

Got the sh#$ kicked out of me today at work. And not by my students, as you might suppose. Instead the deadly blows came from my short, quintessential-teacher-looking, Mormon boss.

It all happened around 8:45 a.m. I had managed to get my 10 B class quiet and reading. The lights were dim and sigu ros was lulling them into an unusual state of calm. Then, SWOOSH! My boss barges in the door. First it's to complain about mistakes with my grades. Then she notices that one of the students is wearing the wrong socks (we have uniforms). She proceeds to yell (in Spanish) and shake her head disapprovingly at both of us. Then she has the brilliant idea of inspecting EVERYONE in my class. She drags four boys and me outside the classroom and again yells and nods disapprovingly. All the while I'm trying to accomplish my first silent reading hour. It was going well before she came.

Why did she disrupt my class and completely disregard any thought for MY classroom rules? Why did she decide, AT THAT MOMENT, to deal with a very important issue like uniform when I myself was finally having a good class?

When I have the answers to those questions (and hundreds others like it) hell might as well have frozen over.

i want to join the circus

Had an eventful weekend. Here are some highlights from Saturday night:

1. The night started with the Renato Circus. It was amazing. I asked the manager afterward if there was any room in the circus for me. He just laughed. So instead I'm thinking about writing a book entitled, "Behind the Makeup: Circus Stories". Would you buy it?

2. Next was a painting exhibition at Ki'Bok, my favorite cafe in La Ceiba (the only cool one). My new friend Sonia, a Brazillian painter, was featuring her work. It was a delightful occasion.

3. Last I went to a festival in Corozal. Essentially the festival is just a reason for people to dance and drink all weekend long. Here you see older women singing and dancing punta, the traditional dance of Garifuna communities. The ladies were really sweet and tried to teach me.

living alone = creative exploration?

Living in my own apartment in a foreign country is fun at times and lonely at others. This year I'm trying to be more productive in my times of boredom (i.e. I'm trying to watch less TV). To show you how this new year's resolution is going here's a pic of a poster I created a few days ago from an old calendar. I love it!

sometimes it's cool being a teacher...

Just wanted to share this essay with you. It was written by one of my 11th graders. It's so sweet and I promise I didn't pay her to write it!

In case you can't read the picture, here's what is says:

"I think Ms. Moberly has done an excellent job with us in English. No English teacher has ever been as enthusiastic to give a class like her. She stimulates our learning by playing and having fun. At first, most of us didn't like to write, and had a horrible way of writing and expressing in paper. Now, personally, writing is one of the easiest things for me. One of my favorite subjects has always been English, and now more. The way she has opened us to learn to talk and write in English will always be there to help us in the future. Writing essays is not always boring. It all depends on the theme. She always gives us a fun topic, or sometimes lets us choose. Some still don't like to write. Personally I always over-write the amount of words she assigns. She has inspired me to write. It makens that when I grab a pen and paper I feel free and let all my ideas flow through. I never thought I would write abotu Shakespeare or one of his novels. In fact, I was never interested. She has shown us that English is not boring. Instead, it can be mroe fun than what you may expect. I hoipe future generations get to meet her if she still teaches in teh future. I hope she keeps making a difference in others' lives as she has made in me."

Monday.

Hi!!! Here's what I look like today and an hour-by-hour look at what I've done so far. Enjoy!

Today:

8 a.m. Wake up. Turn on T.I.'s new cd. Get ready for the day.

9 a.m. Go to school. Try to print copies of my final exams only to find that the copier is not working. Typical.

9:30 a.m. Go to the mall with Micah to make copies. Decide to only copy what I will need for tomorrow because I don't want to pay for all those copies!

10 a.m. Get coffee at Espresso Americano with Micah in the mall. See our friend Eric. Have a business meeting about starting a publishing company in La Ceiba.

11 a.m. Leave the mall. Brainstorm about other business ideas. Try not to itch all of the bug bites on my feet. Be embarrassed by how gross they look.

11:30 Enroll in Spanish School! Yay! I get a special deal since the school is owned by the parents of one of my students. My one-on-one class starts tomorrow from 4 to 6 p.m.

Now (noon): Go home. Blog about my day. Talk to my landlord about finally paying my rent for last month. Tell him about my leaking sink. He promises to work on it. Make a Kanye/T.I. playlist. Think about how I should spend the rest of my day.

I'm BACK!

After about 18 hours in transit and various flights, buses and taxis I arrived back at my Honduran apartment last night.

I've never returned to a foreign destination after a few weeks of absence. It's definitely a weird experience, but good at the same time. I almost feel like I'm seeing Honduras with new eyes. The initial fear and nervousness I felt when I first moved here last August is gone. I know what I'm getting myself into now. I'm not exactly looking forward to school, but I'm excited about what the next six months will bring.

So far my time back has been rather uneventful. I've spent all day unpacking and grocery shopping, stopping now and then to play with my landlord's son and his friend Willy. I gave them each a fun dip candy and now we're best friends. It helps too that I have a guitar! Enjoy the photos:

My landlord's son ... I can't remember his name.

Willy


Rockstars

review of '08, goals for '09

Many people breathed sighs of relief when the clock struck midnight signifying the end of 2008 ... for many they were just happy to have made it to the new year. For me 2008 was mostly great. Here's a review:

1. My college newspaper won first place for general excellence beating out every other college newspaper in Arkansas.
2. Our newspaper also placed 5th in the nation at a conference in San Francisco.
4. I chaperoned a newspaper staff trip to San Fransisco. It was AMAZING!
4. I graduated!
5. I made new friends and had an awesome summer job working at a hotel in San Diego.
6. I moved to Honduras, became a teacher, got my own apartment for the first time and sort of started speaking Spanish.
7. I had my first international article published.

On a sadder note, my Grandma Vicky died last summer.

My goals for 2009:
1. To not get so mad at my students. They say, "Miss, you don't look as pretty when you're mad."
2. To write an in-depth piece about gold mining in Honduras (and get it published!)
3. After my contract is up in Honduras I want to support myself working as a journalist full-time.