o-ri-en-ta-tion

August 13, 2010

orientation: (n) an introduction, as to guide one in adjusting to new surroundings, employment, activity, or the like.

First early morning thus far, looks like vacation is over. At 7:30 yesterday morning a truck arrived to drive us up the mountain. All of the teachers gathered in the office for morning devotional and prayer. Both were said in Spanish, therefore I didn't understand either of them. Mr. Lara gave an address to all of the teachers before he had us individually stand up and introduce ourselves. I tried my best in Spanish, hopefully I was understood. During introductions I noticed something; there are so many females. Do you ever notice that? Out of 9 new gringo teachers this year, only 1 is male. The general pattern that I have observed in my life is that females outnumber males in churches, mission trips, and elementary education. However, in high school and college there tends to be more male teachers than females. Why? My only guess would be that the maternal instinct within all females makes them more attracted to positions in which they are the care takers or teachers of younger children. As far as church and missions, I have no ideas.

Moving on. We split up into English and Spanish speaking groups for the rest of orientation. Rules, there are lots of rules. I started getting antsy sitting in the classroom where the temperature was climbing as the hours grew closer to noon. A break for a mid morning snack saved my stomach from digesting itself since there was no time for breakfast earlier. Some more orientation, some more rules, procedures, yadda yadda yadda. Lunch came and then… waiting, for what seemed like forever. All has been chaos this week for the administration in Gracias. The school has found itself short 2 teachers the week before school is set to begin. The administration actually pushed back the start of school date because of this. They have been arguing with Jake and the administration of the La Union school about wanting to keep Andrea and me in Gracias instead of sending us to La Union. So while they sit in the office and debate, those of us who are staying in the city (at the bottom of the mountain) wait. We were saved by the other teachers who had arranged for a truck to take them to town and back for a grocery shopping trip.

Once we were back in the city, the remaining hours of day were ours to do with what we please. Some more hammock time, nap time, and then out for a walk on the town. Jake showed us the old "haunted" church in town. Something about throwing a rock through a stained glass window, and Mary's eye. No stained glass windows in this church though. Another colonial church which I had seen last summer is next to the central park. After walking through the park somehow we stumbled onto Raquel's house (another teacher at the Gracias school) where Tabitha is staying. Within the 5 minutes it took us to walk from the tranquil park to Raquel's house an entire assembly had gathered in the park. All the sudden we turned around and there was a parade marching down the street. As we approached the parade we saw that not only was there a marching band, but hundreds of people, a stage and street vendors. The whole production assembled in less than 5 minutes. International Day of Youth was our best educated guess on what the cause of celebration was. We hung out for a while before retreating up to Guancascos. We talked over dinner about the teacher situation in Gracias. After which, Andrea and I contacted everyone we could think of that would possibly consider moving to Honduras next week to start a teaching job. The search lasted late enough…

This morning there was breakfast, sweet bread and papaya. LOVE the sweet bread, not so much the papaya. Orientation only lasted until mid morning break this time. The chaos and arguments continued over the whether or not Andrea and I would be staying in Gracias. I was ready to move to La Union. Posada Lenca is beautiful and we've been pampered all week HOWEVER, living out of a suitcase is only fun for so long. Our desires to settle in increased as our chances of leaving Gracias decreased. We happened to be around waiting again during these debates. I should have brought a book to school. We found a way back down to the city again and took lunch at, you guessed it, Guancascos. Jake joined us later wearing his battle scars in the expressions on his face. "We are going to La Union tomorrow," he said. He fought a good fight for us and won, releasing both Andrea and I from limbo.

There is a fort at the top of Gracias which we hiked to after lunch. It's beautiful, historical, and apparently serves as a make out "hot spot" for Honduran couples. You can see the entire city from within the fort walls. You can also see when bad weather is coming. We decided to hit the markets for some necessities before the rain arrived. My only necessity: Nutella. I also wanted to shop THE MARKET before heading back to the hotel but all that remains of it now is a pile of rubble and some outer walls. Not at all sure what happened in the 12 months since I've seen it, I only know that it is under reconstruction. For our last meal in Gracias we decided to mix things up and eat at the Chinese restaurant in town. Ordering Chinese food in Spanish was an experience. My stomach, currently readjusting to a Honduran diet, did not allow me to eat much, but the food was good none the less. It did, however, take 5 of us to not even finish a single order. For any future travelers, the serving sizes at this restaurant are mountainous.

Of course the night before we are scheduled to make a 2 1/2 hour trip through the windy, hilly and all dirt roads to La Union, the rain is merciless. The storm was nice to fall asleep to though…