Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The President

Our class field trip to the Palacio Presidencial ended up being just as rushed and trying as it began. We learned only one week ahead of time that this particular day would be the perfect day to go visit Tegucigalpa's version of the White House because several important people, including the president, would be conveniently absent. We were invited by the father of a third grader from another class. So, we quickly threw together the outline of a field trip, slapped a permission slip together, and got all our kids on board in only a few days time.

The day of our field trip started out fairly uneventful... excluding my student whose two-cars of bodyguards had to follow close to our bus and hang out with us all day. However, sometime during the trip down to the city it was revealed to us that we would have the chance to meet the president when he arrived at the Palacio at noon. How exciting! The kids strolled through the halls of the Presidential mansion on air, knowing that soon they would get their picture taken with the president. One of my students planned to ask him why she sometimes doesn't have water at her house.

To make a long and frustrating story shorter, I will summarize by saying that the President's people kept changing what they told us. First, we could see the president before we left to get to Pizza Hut for our planned lunch. Then, it was better for us to go eat lunch and then return to the Palace for pictures with Mr. Prez. Then they decided it was better to wait for him. Finally, they changed their minds and said we should go to lunch and come back in an hour. So, knowing that we were already dangerously close to our deadline of having our school buses back up the mountain, we flew our kids to the Pizza Hut down the road, force-fed them while curious parents pretended to help, and jammed them all back into the bus within 45 minutes.

At this point we should have already been back at the school. The deadline for the buses to be back is 1 hour before dismissal. We took the liberty of stretching that a little, but knew we were pushing our luck a bit. However, our contacts told us that the president was definitely THERE waiting for us. Well, It was a lie. After herding our kids off the bus and into a room where we would await the president, we learned that he was "on his way" and he'd be there "in ten minutes". So, already waaayyy late, we had to break 66 third-graders' hearts and tell them we just had to leave. Talk about disappointment!

But, this story gets better!! I guess the president felt bad for standing us up. SO his people called the school before we had even made it back to school and said that the president wanted to come get his picture taken with the third graders at school the next day. Doubtful, we decided not to even tell our students that this might happen. BUT it DID!! The president showed up the next day and took a picture with all the classes! Our kids were SO excited (me, too... not gonna lie!). President Micheletti is a friendly, grandfatherly, smiley man. It's too bad he's no longer the interim president as of January 27th, when Pepe Lobo takes over.

So that's the story. Cool.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Feliz Año Nuevo

I just got back from a glorious and well-deserved (if I do say so myself) two week vacation in Florida. I must admit that the time at home made me long to live in the States again soon... a sentiment that I don't always feel. (especially after my nightmare of a flight home, which began with me being forced to buy a return ticket since I don't yet have my residency visa... and ended in the wee hours of the morning when I finally arrived in San Pedro--just 4 hours away from my home...) (p.s. I am sorry to complain about air travel. Anyone who has watched this guy on youtube should feel guilty for griping about the miracle of human flight. )

If you haven't heard, I signed on for another year here at Pinares. And despite my previous statement about living in the U.S. again, I'm looking forward to the year ahead. I wont dwell on that lurking, 'what-might-I-be-missing-back-home' feeling that tends to dwell in the back of my mind. I'm excited at the opportunity to live in the city next school year, instead of up here on the cold mountain. My Spanish is improving daily and I love when I realize that I can now express some thought that I previously had to skirt around for lack of the right words. My students melt my heart every day. Life is good.

So, 2010 is going to be great. I'm setting my mind on making it so.