Sunday, August 17, 2008

A day in the life....

Well I must say this last weekend has been pretty crazy. We had a teachers orientation this weekend which sounds nice and all but it was different then expected. First of all I realized that I am the only teacher out of about 140 that is from anywhere other then Honduras. I also realized that very few speak English. Only about half the teachers on my staff speak some form of English. Then lastly every speaker this weekend spoke in Spanish so I could pick out hardly anything that was being said so it was kind of a culture shock. Other then that the weekend was fun I did get to meet the other teachers on my staff and they are real nice even if I couldn't understand what they were saying exactly. Here is a picture of me and most of the staff I will be working with for the year. Osuna the guy on the right will most likely the guy I will be living with for the year. He is from Nicaragua originally they he lived in New Jersey and now is working here. He's kind of a crazy guy so it should be fun.

As for other events from this weekend the power went out one night so we had to get around without electricity. Today driving down the road there was a big float driving around shooting confetti advertising some product holding up all sorts of traffic. Life is much different here then in the states to say the least.

A few statistics about Honduras that I learned through the orientation.
60% of the people in Honduras life in extreme poverty.
25% of the people can't read or write.
Half of the population is 18 or younger.

I think that is about all... As for next week I head out to La Union with textbooks that are about 10-20 years old and set up my classroom for the start of class which is September 1. Pray that I learn some more Spanish and become more comfortable with it so I can meet people easier. Wow I am going to miss wireless internet for the rest of the year....God Bless!

2 comments:

ncompaan said...

Wow, we will be praying you can pick up spanish quickly, and adjust to life there fast! We know you can do it, and do it well, you always do things to the best of your abilities. Wouldn't your high school spanish teacher get a laugh out of this! :<) Sounds like your room mate will be a little help acclimating if he has been in the states a bit. We will be praying you hit it off well with him too. This will be a life changing and challenging year, but we know you will impact young lives! Stay in touch a little if you can, although we know it will not be easy, so we won't expect too much. You will be in our thoughts and prayers! Mom and Dad

Jacob said...

i didn't really get to read this much but I saw the picture of all of us and it made me miss you and the girls! I'm at training and have a 15 min. break! Tomorrow I FINALLY LEAVE!! Its going really well and i'm meeting amazing people but its weird the whole faith thing not being a big part of it all but its cool! Miss you brother, and I bought a couple v-balls to take with me!

Jacob