Saturday, June 02, 2012

Six Things I Might Not Miss Much


Leaving Honduras will be hard and painful, but here are a few things I don't mind leaving behind...

1. Nannies

When I used to think of a nanny, I imagined something from the book The Nanny Diaries--A recent college grad's temporary position before finding her big break.Now when I hear the word nanny, my mind automatically jumps to the young women who leave their homes and their own children to raise rich people's kids. The ones who do all the work preparing and setting up our classroom parties, who my students blame when their lunches aren't to their liking. They wait with the kids for the bus in the morning, and they are there, ready to take their backpacks, when the kids get home.  It's not that I dislike nannies, exactly. It's more the general child-rearing philosophy for which I've lost respect. 
The Nanny Diaries (film)
image: wikipedia

2. Bluntness regarding weight, 
but indirectness with most everything else.
El Gordo y La Flaca
[image: IMDB]
Indirect:
 A letter from a Honduran parent might begin with a paragraph or two wishing me the best and hoping to find my family and I in good health, before getting to the actual point; "Jorge will not be in school tomorrow. Thank you."

Blunt:
One cultural communication aspect that is so very contrary to North Americans in the way they discuss your figure.  It is perfectly normal for a husband to call his wife, gorda,  and she doesn't care! Or, it might actually happen that the lady at church tells you, while squishing your arm fat, that you used to look so delgada but now, not so much.  Umm... I might be a little scarred. 

3. Riding the school bus
I'm all for free transportation... but not for having to be in teacher-mode before and after work.

Ok, but when they're this cute it's not so bad!  :)

4. Teaching important people's children
Eight year olds should NOT have iPhone 4s, nor $200 headphones for them.
They also should not need two bodyguards to follow our school bus on the way to our field trip (my first year here, that happened...)
Don't get me wrong; I adore these specific children.  I just won't miss the kind of pressure associated with teaching such important kids.
 Picture found here, with a relevant article...
5. The deterioration of my English
What?  It's incorrect to say, "I made good grades?"  But it sounds right....
At least when I accidentally let slip a, "How many years do you have?" or a "Where is the book of Diego?" I know that I've made a mistake. It's when the mistakes start sounding right that I know I've got a problem!

A door I once made... and need to remember!

6. Fear
I won't miss not being able to take a walk outside.
I won't miss the jello-legs I get every time a man seems threatening.
I just won't. 

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