Ah where to begin describing this week's events at Casa Amarilla. It must have started a few weeks, perhaps a month ago when I noticed things were not right with my belly. After each meal my stomach would feel icky and on the fritz, I of course with the help of WebMd and various other resources self diagnosed myself on Monday night with a parasite. According to numerous reports, though not easy, it is possible to rid yourself of a parasite in natural ways such as eating garlic, pineapple, carrots, and tomatoes. I decided to begin immediately and with the support of Sarah, ate a whole clove of garlic. At least I would keep the vampires away, if not kill the parasites. I am no doctor and can't prove any correlation, but I am 92% sure that Michael Bolton ( my parasite) revolted and began singing woeful love ballads all day and night on my intestines. Either way, I ended up terribly sick on Tuesday and actually had to leave school early to go to the doctor.
Side note: Going to the doctor here is quite an experience because if you weren't sick and nauseous before you left for the doctor's office, you will definitely be sick from the ride getting there. Then, at the doctor's office you are sitting knee to knee with other patients and then there are the frequent passer bys that drop in just to chat with another. The actual office has only one chair and barely enough room for 2 people. The exam table is definitely not large enough for a person above 5 feet and my legs were dangling off at the knee.
But, the doctor was nice but didn't believe my nausea, light headed, weakness, tummy cramps, to be a parasite but a colon issue which he prescribed 2 medicines for. I got home and promptly took the medicine as per docs order and then ate a little, then I realized the pills weren't going to stay down. In fact, after that moment nothing wanted to stay down, not even water. Another trip to the doctor and the lab for some exams was definitely in order. I can honestly say it was one of the most challenging experiences I have had since being here. I went to the doc feeling horribly ill and afraid that I would up chuck all over the doctor and my super sweet colleague who was there translating. He gave me a shot to help with the nausea, which wasn't helping, and they were afraid they would have to take me to the hospital. Then the most dreaded incident happened. Homeboy doctor decided he wanted to give me an IV to give me more medicine and rehydrate me, I would like to mention that I have never had an IV before and desperately didn't want my first one to be in Honduras. Perhaps my veins sensed this and retreated because try hard as he could and and after much poking and prodding, he could not find my vein and we had to call it quitsies on the IV. Instead he gave me another pill and when I was feeling well sent me home. After a ton of prescriptions, all of which need to be taken at different times, I am finally on the road to recovery! Yay!
Then, there is the matter of Esperanza....she was hit by a car on Tuesday afternoon and we thought for sure that her back left foot or hip was broken. We were prepared to take her to Santa Rosa because there is no vet in town but luckily, each day she is getting better and better and putting more weight on her foot. Esperanza and I were able to keep each other good company and get some nice bonding time while both of us were falling apart. We are both on the mend and she is returning to her puppy self. Ah, the life in Honduras...you just never to know what to expect!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Lessons on being humble
Another week of work completed, well mostly completely minus the ridiculous amount of hours I will spend this week working on preparing our own tests. To all my teacher friends, please never ever take having resources for granted! And when I say resources I mean a copy machine and the ability to print without tallying the number of pages you have printed, let alone a paper slicer. I wish I could say that my artistic abilities have grown since the necessity for visuals is astounding but sadly, I still draw mis-shaped stick figures that only slightly resemble either male of female irregardless of the beautiful triangular dress I attempt to represent the ladies. Good thing I still have a few (8) months to perfect my drawing skills!
This week has been crazy busy but for the most part I truly enjoyed it and have helped me to grow as a teacher and a person.
Monday after school I went to the doctor to find out what my tummy was up to and turns out I had some amoebas in my belly causing slight mayhem. The doctor was an interesting experience for sure, he was very nice man but searched around poking and prodding my belly as it had never been poked or prodded before and asking if it hurts. If my fingers were digging into your innards you would probably think it hurts a bit as well. Conveniently though the pharmacy was located just down a little walkway from the doctor's office. Feeling much better these days! or perhaps its just fear of fingers digging into my intestines either way works for me!
Tuesday, after school the high school students had a dance competition in a nearby town, which I am ecstatic to say that they did a fabulous job and won first place, out of 3. I can't fail to mention the process in which Kate and I went through to actually arrive in Bellin. There was no room in the car of a colleague so Kate and I decided to hitchhike there, I mean porque no? everyone in Honduras does it. Eventually we found a man who take us a bit closer to where we were going but couldn't take us the whole way, so we hopped in the back and held on for dear life as tore down the streets of Gracias, never mind the potholes and speed bumps. At one point we definitely exchanged looks of Oh man what did we get ourselves into.... While clinging to life in the back of this truck we hear a series of honking and turn to realize it was some other colleagues who were on their way as well, unfortunately no room in their car either but they called the bus driver and told him to pick us up. A bag of Doritos, a Fanta, and about 30 minutes later yet another colleague drives by and we flail our arms and flag her down, finally a car with some room. We gladly hopped in and arrived safely at our destination.
Wednesday, Kate and I met with a nun living in Gracias to set up a tutoring session with a family who desperately wants their children to learn English. Then, had a meeting at work which I will attempt to explain the goings ons of such meeting. The meeting began at 6:00 and we walked in to see an agenda on the board which was actually quite surprising and we had high hopes for a short meeting that was efficient and right to the point. Ha ha ha we must have forgotten which country we are living in. The school was nice enough to bring in a guest speaker who is a pastor in Gracias. His coworker had some interesting games for us to play as he set up a power point presentation, quite impressive right? Well these games consisted of standing in a big circle giving each other back massages and tickling, yes I said tickling each other. I go back to beginning of year meetings in HS where a lawyer presents an hour long presentation on how it could be perceived as harassment to compliment each other, he may have had a heart attack if he saw us patting each others stomachs. After some discomfort amongst us gringos we go back to the meeting for some marriage counseling....Finally, we reach the most important parts of the meeting but are all so frustrated and tired by this point that the environment became slightly hostile. After 2 1/2 hours the meeting came to a close and we rushed home to finally relax a little.
Thursday, we met with sister Brenda and the family of the children we will be tutoring. They were the sweetest family and so appreciative of our help. This family has a house but was talking about how hard it is to live here but was even worse working in the US because he couldn't be with his family. This man has worked hard all of his life and it was evident from the lines on his face and the heaviness in his eyes. He wants the best for his children but can't afford to send them to a bilingual school. I had never realized before how much I enjoy giving and helping. I know opportunities to help are everywhere but have never been so in my face. Again I am so thankful for this experience and chance to grow. I am so humbled by living here.
Some things I can't forget to write about:
Remember when....
....I tried playing kickball with my kids and they didn't understand the rules but ran around for 30 minutes having a blast
.....Kate made a comment about a room smelling nice when I then pointed out that the lovely fragrance was in fact Raid
......school meetings encouraged sexual harassment lol
.......when a bat sized moth flew into my classroom and the kiddos ( and myself included) went a little bit crazy
.......the water isn't even safe enough to brush your teeth with
........when our English daily digresses and we have begun speaking Spanglish
......my kids are seriously awesome and I dearly love them even when they lose a tooth and I throw up in my mouth a little bit
This week has been crazy busy but for the most part I truly enjoyed it and have helped me to grow as a teacher and a person.
Monday after school I went to the doctor to find out what my tummy was up to and turns out I had some amoebas in my belly causing slight mayhem. The doctor was an interesting experience for sure, he was very nice man but searched around poking and prodding my belly as it had never been poked or prodded before and asking if it hurts. If my fingers were digging into your innards you would probably think it hurts a bit as well. Conveniently though the pharmacy was located just down a little walkway from the doctor's office. Feeling much better these days! or perhaps its just fear of fingers digging into my intestines either way works for me!
Tuesday, after school the high school students had a dance competition in a nearby town, which I am ecstatic to say that they did a fabulous job and won first place, out of 3. I can't fail to mention the process in which Kate and I went through to actually arrive in Bellin. There was no room in the car of a colleague so Kate and I decided to hitchhike there, I mean porque no? everyone in Honduras does it. Eventually we found a man who take us a bit closer to where we were going but couldn't take us the whole way, so we hopped in the back and held on for dear life as tore down the streets of Gracias, never mind the potholes and speed bumps. At one point we definitely exchanged looks of Oh man what did we get ourselves into.... While clinging to life in the back of this truck we hear a series of honking and turn to realize it was some other colleagues who were on their way as well, unfortunately no room in their car either but they called the bus driver and told him to pick us up. A bag of Doritos, a Fanta, and about 30 minutes later yet another colleague drives by and we flail our arms and flag her down, finally a car with some room. We gladly hopped in and arrived safely at our destination.
Wednesday, Kate and I met with a nun living in Gracias to set up a tutoring session with a family who desperately wants their children to learn English. Then, had a meeting at work which I will attempt to explain the goings ons of such meeting. The meeting began at 6:00 and we walked in to see an agenda on the board which was actually quite surprising and we had high hopes for a short meeting that was efficient and right to the point. Ha ha ha we must have forgotten which country we are living in. The school was nice enough to bring in a guest speaker who is a pastor in Gracias. His coworker had some interesting games for us to play as he set up a power point presentation, quite impressive right? Well these games consisted of standing in a big circle giving each other back massages and tickling, yes I said tickling each other. I go back to beginning of year meetings in HS where a lawyer presents an hour long presentation on how it could be perceived as harassment to compliment each other, he may have had a heart attack if he saw us patting each others stomachs. After some discomfort amongst us gringos we go back to the meeting for some marriage counseling....Finally, we reach the most important parts of the meeting but are all so frustrated and tired by this point that the environment became slightly hostile. After 2 1/2 hours the meeting came to a close and we rushed home to finally relax a little.
Thursday, we met with sister Brenda and the family of the children we will be tutoring. They were the sweetest family and so appreciative of our help. This family has a house but was talking about how hard it is to live here but was even worse working in the US because he couldn't be with his family. This man has worked hard all of his life and it was evident from the lines on his face and the heaviness in his eyes. He wants the best for his children but can't afford to send them to a bilingual school. I had never realized before how much I enjoy giving and helping. I know opportunities to help are everywhere but have never been so in my face. Again I am so thankful for this experience and chance to grow. I am so humbled by living here.
Some things I can't forget to write about:
Remember when....
....I tried playing kickball with my kids and they didn't understand the rules but ran around for 30 minutes having a blast
.....Kate made a comment about a room smelling nice when I then pointed out that the lovely fragrance was in fact Raid
......school meetings encouraged sexual harassment lol
.......when a bat sized moth flew into my classroom and the kiddos ( and myself included) went a little bit crazy
.......the water isn't even safe enough to brush your teeth with
........when our English daily digresses and we have begun speaking Spanglish
......my kids are seriously awesome and I dearly love them even when they lose a tooth and I throw up in my mouth a little bit
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