Pictures of El Ruby (the waterfall trip)

So someday I'll get to ride a chicken bus, we were all prepared too, no money or jewelry, looked like we just woke up, and we rode in a van, booooo.  But here are some pictures of the trip, there are more on facebook, but I just don't feel like saving and putting them here because who knows if the power'll go out and I still need to wash the dishes. So here they are!

                                                     Just climbing a rock

                                                              Walking up

                                                 Yea, I definately had to scale some rocks and go through a little whirl pool to get over there, it was awesome

                                           You can kinda see the waterfall in the back

                                  Just some of the obsticles we went through to get there

                         All done, walking back

                                               Gorgeous!

                                           I'm not drowning, they wanted us to put our hands in the air and tred water, wellll I don't have abs of steal! I failed a little, but that's the waterfall right behind us, I didn't get too close or I'd be sucked under, but I went close enough

No Chicken Bus

So I have to write this fast because the power has been on and off all day.....why? ......no storms, well now some are rolling in, but mainly because we're in Honduras and it just goes out when it wants to.  We heard from another teacher who heard from the lady in the market it was a scheduled outage all day today, but who really knows, crazy Hondurans.  So this weekend was packed with loads of fun!  Friday we all went to happy hour at this place called Twisted Taynas.  It was a nice little cafe/bar thing in town.  It's usually pricey (and by pricey, it's pricey for down here, their beers are normally like 3 bucks).  So from 4-6 or 3 maybe it starts?  We went at 4, its 2 for 1 drinks, and they have food specials, we didn't eat, but I did try the carrot cake and it was AMAZING.  Now I say all cake is amazing, but this was by far the best carrot cake I have had, well ever.  Ok, so some ate, we drank, we talked, we all had a pretty rough first week getting adjusted and what not.  It was nice.  So after we went to another place, but didn't stay out late (heres a normal night time setting....6ish it's dark, so by 10 it's usually best to be heading home, so I have yet to be up past midnight, which leads to very productive days).  So at this new place, Barcita, there were some backpackers that we met.  Everyone who comes through town is super nice.  Well the next day some of the teachers decided we were going to go to a waterfall El Ruby.  These backpackers that we met the night before came with.  The waterfall was amazing!  We thought we would get to ride in a chicken bus, but unfortunately we just got a van to take us, bummer.  So the van dropped us up a dirt road and we got out to walk (we had a guide and his macheti with us).  We hiked for like 15-20 minutes.  Then we got to it.  It was a real waterfall!  Of course we all got in, it was rocky and my feet got pretty beat up, but I swam in a waterfall!  Then I went climbing, with others, on some of the other rocks to look around, it was beautiful, definately something out of a travel brochure.  I'll put pictures up once my roomate puts them on facebook so I can copy/paste haha. (she has an all weather camera, prettttyyyy awesome).  So we were gone for the whole afternoon pretty much, and when we got back we had a dinner party again.  It was at a different house, and everyone came!  Well minus one teacher, but he's old and hasn't come to anything yet.  Even our new backpacking friends came, they all had really cool stories to tell and what not.  I am really excited for weekends cause I guess that's what happens, you meet people traveling through and hear their stories and talk about interesting things and they go on their way on Sundays.  I thought my life was pretty spectacular, and it is....for cityfolk, but these people have seen so many cool things!  One guy had lived somewhere over in the Middle East, I can't for the life of me remember what country, but he had pretty awesome stories, and another just traveled from the coast where he went on a night dive in the ocean. One girl was from Australia but has been everywhere.  I am excited for all the people and stories I'll get to hear!  So dinner was great, great ending to the day.....then the power went out.  So it was like 10ish something, and the one married couple were walking home, so we went because it's safer to travel together and have a male.  However, no one bothered to bring flashlights because we hadn't really needed them.  So we were using our cell phones, and we got to our street.........  There were a bunch of people outside, with candles (cause there was no power) sitting, talking, there was a tent and looking back I can recall the conversation I was having (the couple lived and taught here last year) and the guy was saying something about a wake.  I obviously wasn't paying attention and the wife was telling mandy about how wakes are down here, they stay out all night, casket and all.  Well I guess thats what the husband was telling me, but all of the sudden one of my students recognized me!  It was pitch black!  I have no idea how she recognized me, I mean there are 2 other ladies here who are about my height, white, American, but this girl just goes Hi Miss Polly!  I was taken off guard and tried to get my cell phone out so I could see her, I recognized her and asked how here weekend was, etc.  Then I said, well have fun at your party! and walked away.  Mandy and the couple were dying!  They said it was a wake, not a party, my face was beat red, which no one could see.  They said the casket was out and people just sit outside all night.  Welllllll now I know, that they don't party all night, it's wakes.  Hopefully the girls family had no idea what I said, and the girl hopefully doesn't remember/understand, uggghhhh awkwardddddd.  Then I woke up to no power, got a trim, bought a few grocieries, came home to no power, so we cleaned.  Then a little tease of about a half hour of power, then we cooked and ate in the dark (well Mandy cooked).  And now we've had power for about 45 minutes, so that's a good sign!  O! I did laundry today too, the pictures are of my pila (the place I wash my clothes, then the clothes line, and then there are a few of my view from the balcony upstairs.  Yea, I get to see that everyday.  Ok, that's all for now, have a good week!

                                                          cooking in the dark

                The left is clean water to soak our clothes & rinse, the right is where we scrub, however the soap is a circle and we just roll it over the clothes, so I guess that's pretty convienent

                                                           My awesome clothes drying

                                       This is just another evening here, it looks like a storm, but it's really nothing big, just dark clouds, it comes every evening.

First Week of School!

So I survived my first week of school!  The hardest thing to adjust to is the talking.  I talked to some of the teachers from previous years though, and I guess it's just in their culture to always be talking during class, sooooooo that'll get annoying.  I do "today in history" on the board and birthdays, and Rex Grossman's birthday was this week......they had no idea who he is, I told them they were going to make me cry because they had never heard of him and they thought I was serious.....another note to self, they do not understand sarcasim.  This is going to be a long year if I'm the only one laughing at my jokes all the time.  I definately didn't follow the rules though and spoke to them in Spanish.  It was to help clarify and they got a little nervous I had known this whole time what they were saying, but it hasn't been a problem, they still talk in English when in class.  They are a lot lower in writing than I initially imagined.  They are still doing literal translations, which I understand, I started that way too, but they are in 5th grade, and I thought they would be past most it, like they still say their birthday, "I have 11 years."  Which is how they would say it in Spanish.  So that is kinda frustrating.  So far I have been pretty tough on them and mean because they are not as well "trained" as the kids in the states.  They barely know how to walk in a line and not talk in the hall.  It's also weird they hate to read.  Literally, they told me they hate reading and won't do it.  Which also is frustrating, they talk back....baddddddd. Which is why I wish they knew sarcasim, but I think they think I'm just yelling at them when they're talking back and I basically talk back at them, but I guess if I think it's funny, o welllllllll. The next couple weeks should be interesting too because they are still trying to get down parts of a sentence and how to avoid run-on sentences, which if you're over the age of 10 reading this, you'll probably figure out that I'm a terrible writer and grammar/spelling is definately NOT my best subject.  So basically we'll be learning together.  Last thing!  The juice boxes here are HUGE! Not your ordinary juicy juice, these are hard core juice box fans down here.  Don't worry, I have a picture to prove it! and my class (even though today, Friday, they were horrible in the afternoon, the morning was great!)....Viewer Discretion: They might look like angels, but they are pre-teen, so their faces are often misdeceiveing...even though 2 girls tried sucking up today by buying me a chocolate popsicle, of course I accepted, I do not turn down sweets especially since they are rare around here, but I can see behind their motives, I was in fifth grade once is what I keep telling them.

This my coffee cup (just an ordinary coffee mug) with the gigantic juice box


Ok, this next picture needs some explaining.  The lesson was about Friendly Letters, so everyone wrote to a friend, some wrote to teachers from last year and I had 2 write to me saying how they like my class.  Well this is what the boy wrote, he is a trouble maker and I am constantly on him about following directions and paying attention, but I guess I'm doing something right. (the "jaja" part is how they write their laugh, its like "haha"; the "obed" is "obey", i think "fathers" is "others"?  I told them they need to be good for all their teachers, Honduran ones too; and "engry" is "angry"; the boy who wrote it is the one second in from the right in the picture)

First Day of School

I wasn't going to write about the first day because it was pretty uneventful, but thinking back there were some funny things.  First, the children down here, even though it is the first day, with almost all new teachers throughout the school, are not as well "trained" as kids in the states.  Hopefully it smoothes out from here.  Some funny things though were I had them guess my age.  I was telling them about myself, and told them my birthday.....Note to self, if an adult can barely figure out someones age from saying what year they were born, children can definately not do it.  The first guess was 58.  I was a little taken aback, that's probably the oldest that's been guessed.  I laughed a little and asked if their parents were even 58.....they had no idea.  Then someone guessed 37, more acceptable for me.  They probably guessed 5 or 6 times, before getting to 25.  O well, I'll get it over it.  Then they kept asking about if I had a family, husband, kids, boyfriend.  The look on their faces, was pretty much like I was an outcast to society.......priceless.  But I guess down here, they're all married and 3 kids by the time they're my age.  However, at least I wasn't asked when the baby was coming. ......Yes, the other 5th grade teacher had a student come up, touch her stomach, and ask when the baby was due.  This teacher probably weighs 100 lbs and definately does not look pregnant, but again, at our ages I guess that's common?  The last part of the day I let them ask me questions.  Of course one was how tall I am.  Well thinking like a dumb American, they were throwing out numbers like 1 and a half and 2, and I was like no no, are you kidding, 1 foot is (I showed them with my hands) ......welllllll down here, for those of you who thought like me, they do the metric system....yes I will someday teach the youth of America.....anyways, once I figured that out, I told them I guess about 2 meters because I had no freaking idea.  So then I asked if anyone knew about feet or inches and could guess that.  Some of the more with it kids were guessing and a legit guess was 9 feet tall.  I was a little baffled, especially since I showed them how big a foot was, with my hands, so exact measurements of course, I said enough guessing for today, I'm about 6 feet tall.  That ended our question session.  Other than that, pretty uneventful day, the kids seem great and excited to learn.  They're reallllyyyy chatty, but I did not leave that class until I assigned seats and set up a reward system.  Now it's time for potatoes....yup, just potatoes, it's pretty much like college again and just eating whatever we have enough money for since we haven't been paid yet and refuse to dip into our savings, but don't worry, we bought like 8 potatoes for like $1, so we'll eat all 8 tonight, carbs for our walk up the hill tomorrow ( and by hill I mean mountain side)  Have a good week!

 Just a normal day walking home from school.......o, with a beautiful view!

My First Week!

Hi! So we got to the country about noon (Chicago time) so it was about 11am here.  We then had to wait for the bus, which came at 2pm.  We did, however, meet some other Americans while we were waiting, one guy came down by himself and was going to volunteer at an Orphanage somewhere in Honduras, so if you think we're crazy, he is insane, especially because he didn't know Spanish.  We took a bus from the airport into the main city, San Pedro Sula, where we transfered buses to come to Coapn, that's when the kid went a different way, soooo hopefully he's still livinggggg.   The bus ride wasn't bad at all, probably because as soon as we sat down, I fell asleep (shocking, I know).  When I awoke, with all my limbs and belongings, we were close to Coapn Ruinas.  It was GORGEOUS, kinda like my face, but in a "natur-y" way.  So we pull into town, but the main road to the bus station was washed out or there were cows in the way or something, so we couldn't get by.  So we went into town to get through.  Now, after walking through town and being here a week, I still can't believe they tried to maneuver that.  The streets are all the size of like one-way streets, barely enough room for 2 cars to pass by each other.  In case you haven't seen the pictures on facebook, I'll try and get them on here, I just don't really know how yet, we live in the mountains.  Not like at the bottom in a valley, but literally in the mountains, they put the town of Copan Ruinas smack onto the mountain side.  So not only are we going to come back with "jacked" calves and leg muscles, cars/tour buses, like we were on, have to try and go almost 180 degrees up the roads.  Weeelllll, it was raining, so we couldn't get up one road, the bus physically could not get enough juice to get up the hill.  So we backed up and tried another.  Ok, so we got into town at about 6pm, and now it's like 7pm and we're still trying to get to the bus depot, where, mind you, our ride is waiting for us.  (To put a time frame on this, we can walk from one end of town to the other in probablllyyyy half-hour to 45 minutes).  So it's about 7:30 and the bus driver comes on and tells us (in Spanish so Mandy had no idea what he was saying) to get off the bus, it can't get up the hill, and we were to get out in the middle of town.  Sooooo we get off, a little freaked out  because we have no way to get ahold of Cathy, the primary school director coming to pick us up.  However, while waiting for our luggage to be taken off, a white lady comes up behind us and asks if we're Polly & Mandy, the sigh of relief we had was huge that the Hondurans even know we were panic-ing haha.  So she takes us to our apartment, a littlllleee different than we saw from pictures of the other American teachers here in town, so it was a little disappointing, but now we've come to love our little apartment because our kitchen is huge with cabinet space, that not many other teachers have!  So we meet a few other teachers above us, and they feed us because we hadn't eaten since like noon, at Wendy's in the airport, which I might say was delicioussssss.  I had my first taste of rice & beans here and they were amazing!  Then again, I'll pretttyyy mucchhhh eat anything.  So we then come back down to unpack and take it all in.  So then starts the week, teacher orientation.  It was pretty low-key, nothing too exciting happening.  The other 5th grade teacher is awesome though, low-key like me, very mellow, so we'll get along great.  I love "Honduran Time" because it's basically like "Polly Time" in the states.  No one is ever on time.....for anything, so obviously I fit in perfect.  The other teachers are great, everyones super nice, we hung out with them Friday and Saturday night.  Saturday night, we had a big potluck dinner, which I loved!  Our new friends Love & Ashley came over to cook chicken with us.....and by us I mean, they cooked and I watched, why mess up food when we have to feed like 15 people.  Also, luckily, the girls upstairs, hosted so I didn't even have to put shoes on!  We've been inside alot with school, so my goal of looking like a Honduran when I come home for Christmas is failingggggg.  I have, in only a week, gotten back in my Spanish speaking mode, so I'm really happy about that.  Other silly things we've come across....A lady in the office at school was telling us about "winter".  She said the kids will come in hats & gloves, all bundled up, so I asked well what does it get down to?.....ooooo like 50 degrees......I pretty much laughed in her face because I still am wearing shorts in 50 degree weather.  I guess it'll be chilly at night and when we get to school, but then it'll get warmer.  I will definately be taking pictures of all the bundled up children.  Another experience will be hand washing our clothes.  Notttt too excited about that, but I guess I have to be clean.  Also, while walking home one evening, there was a house that was blaring Lady Gaga Poker Face…in English, they love them some Gaga…..and the Black Eyed Peas.  And, I know all of you were wondering, but The Biebs is not cool here amongst the little kids.  A fourth grader saw my board and asked if I liked Justin Bieber and I said he is an amazing artist, and she made a face, so I asked if she did, and she said no, he's not cool. Sooooo that's the same as the states.  So far, knock on wood, the food has been spectacular! Probably because I haven't had to make anything more than pouring cereal or pbj (which my sandwhices are awesome I might add).  Our "landlords", they're the parents of one of the administrators or teachers, I can't remember.  They are awesome! They're an old couple and their son and his family live down here too.  It's really nice and we feel really safe....especially because theres a huge dog that always barks down here, but he's a nice dog.  Ok, I can't remember anything else funny that happened, I think you can ask me questions on here? I don't knowwwwww....but you can call us 847-454-7622, it's the magic jack, so it's hooked up to the internet!  I'll write mas another day!  Miss you all!  Come visit, it's cheap to travel here and everything is relatively inexpensive! Ok bye!