Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tanks Dad
I read a couple of whacky essays by Bertrand Russell last week. Bertrand Russell was a big brained guy who had a pretty firm grasp on what was happening in the world around him. I was reading his thoughts on education when I came upon this nugget:
“Teachers are more than any other class the defenders of civilization”
That one struck me like a ball-peen hammer right between the eyes. Defenders of civilization. I wish someone had told me that when I was a kid. What old Bertrand said about teachers got the little gerbil running around the little wheel inside my head. I thought about my dad and tanks and the silliest lie I ever told.
I needed my father to drive a tank. I needed my father to drive a tank like a ninja needs a pair of black pajamas. It was a very real need. But my father didn’t drive a tank. He was a wood shop teacher. And there was absolutely nothing I could do to make him into a tank driver. So I lied.
I told my entire second grade class that my father was a sergeant-major in the US Marine Corps and that he drove a tank for a living. On an aircraft carrier. Why would someone drive a tank on an aircraft carrier? Fortunately, none of my classmates asked that obvious follow up question.
I enhanced the lie about my dad driving a tank with the bit about the aircraft carrier for two important reasons. First: What is cooler than having a dad who drives a tank? Nothing. The only way to improve the situation would be to place the tank on an aircraft carrier. Check. If you are going to lie, go with the big lie.
The second reason for placing the tank on the aircraft carrier was that this portion of the lie came with hard evidence. My dad had recently retuned from a teacher’s conference in Florida. He and some of the other defenders of civilization toured the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga while they were in Jacksonville. He came back with all kinds of stories about how awesome aircraft carriers are. He also came home with an official USS Saratoga baseball cap, the kind with gold laurels embroidered on the bill.
I stole his hat and brought it to school for show-and-tell. I used it as irrefutable evidence that my dad was a tank driver on an aircraft carrier. The stupid lies of little kids are often jarring and easy unravel. I don’t think I convinced a single person, even with the hat. My teachers didn’t believe me because by time I got to second grade my dad had been teaching wood shop in my school district for over twenty years. He had, in fact, helped some of the teachers in my school construct gun racks and bird houses out of wood when they were in school themselves.
The funny thing is that I told this outrageous lie to conceal the truth, that my dad was a teacher. Because I so desperately needed him to be a defender of civilization. And now I understand the whole truth. I agree with Bertrand Russell. My father was as much a defender of civilization in his wood shop as any tank commander on any aircraft carrier anywhere.
That one struck me like a ball-peen hammer right between the eyes. Defenders of civilization. I wish someone had told me that when I was a kid. What old Bertrand said about teachers got the little gerbil running around the little wheel inside my head. I thought about my dad and tanks and the silliest lie I ever told.
I needed my father to drive a tank. I needed my father to drive a tank like a ninja needs a pair of black pajamas. It was a very real need. But my father didn’t drive a tank. He was a wood shop teacher. And there was absolutely nothing I could do to make him into a tank driver. So I lied.
I told my entire second grade class that my father was a sergeant-major in the US Marine Corps and that he drove a tank for a living. On an aircraft carrier. Why would someone drive a tank on an aircraft carrier? Fortunately, none of my classmates asked that obvious follow up question.
I enhanced the lie about my dad driving a tank with the bit about the aircraft carrier for two important reasons. First: What is cooler than having a dad who drives a tank? Nothing. The only way to improve the situation would be to place the tank on an aircraft carrier. Check. If you are going to lie, go with the big lie.
The second reason for placing the tank on the aircraft carrier was that this portion of the lie came with hard evidence. My dad had recently retuned from a teacher’s conference in Florida. He and some of the other defenders of civilization toured the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga while they were in Jacksonville. He came back with all kinds of stories about how awesome aircraft carriers are. He also came home with an official USS Saratoga baseball cap, the kind with gold laurels embroidered on the bill.
I stole his hat and brought it to school for show-and-tell. I used it as irrefutable evidence that my dad was a tank driver on an aircraft carrier. The stupid lies of little kids are often jarring and easy unravel. I don’t think I convinced a single person, even with the hat. My teachers didn’t believe me because by time I got to second grade my dad had been teaching wood shop in my school district for over twenty years. He had, in fact, helped some of the teachers in my school construct gun racks and bird houses out of wood when they were in school themselves.
The funny thing is that I told this outrageous lie to conceal the truth, that my dad was a teacher. Because I so desperately needed him to be a defender of civilization. And now I understand the whole truth. I agree with Bertrand Russell. My father was as much a defender of civilization in his wood shop as any tank commander on any aircraft carrier anywhere.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Friday Fun
Friday was an incredibly busy day for us- hence the short blog post. As the National Honor Society adviser at our school, Tom was in charge of organizing a fundraiser for the school.
This "Pop-A-Prize" fundraiser was a definite hit. The idea was that people bought chances to pop a balloon, and inside was some type of prize ranging from a sucker to airfare to Roatan and a dolphin encounter. Needless to say, I bought 20 chances. Although I didn't win the big prize, (dolphin trip) I did win dinner for two at Expatriates and two pineapples! I also won some brownies, pizza and sodas, so we had a yummy lunch on Friday too.
We had to rush home from school to get ready for the annual Mazapan Thanksgiving celebration. This is a chance for all the teachers to gather together and eat really good food- all Thanksgiving style. The all purpose room was decked out for the event, and the teachers were too!
The food was delicious, and the company was fantastic too. Each teacher was asked to bring a dish to share (enough servings for about 30 people). Tom signed up for mashed potatoes (we used your yummy recipe, Carole!) and I brought some homemade stuffing. Our food was, of course, served in Polish Pottery. We even got to bring home some leftovers, so I believe that the holiday eating season has officially begun!
This "Pop-A-Prize" fundraiser was a definite hit. The idea was that people bought chances to pop a balloon, and inside was some type of prize ranging from a sucker to airfare to Roatan and a dolphin encounter. Needless to say, I bought 20 chances. Although I didn't win the big prize, (dolphin trip) I did win dinner for two at Expatriates and two pineapples! I also won some brownies, pizza and sodas, so we had a yummy lunch on Friday too.
We had to rush home from school to get ready for the annual Mazapan Thanksgiving celebration. This is a chance for all the teachers to gather together and eat really good food- all Thanksgiving style. The all purpose room was decked out for the event, and the teachers were too!
The food was delicious, and the company was fantastic too. Each teacher was asked to bring a dish to share (enough servings for about 30 people). Tom signed up for mashed potatoes (we used your yummy recipe, Carole!) and I brought some homemade stuffing. Our food was, of course, served in Polish Pottery. We even got to bring home some leftovers, so I believe that the holiday eating season has officially begun!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
La Playa
Honduras has been celebrating Independence Day for almost a week now (Officially on Sept 15). We began celebrations on Friday at school- complete with traditional dress, dances, chasing a pig covered in manteca (basically Crisco), and games involving a mud pit and students.
After the festivities at school, Tom and I started off the weekend with a relaxing day at home and a visit to the paint store. We bought the paint to turn our pepto-pink guest room into a baby boy's beach room. Today, Tom has promised me that we will start painting!
To be truly inspired, we decided to take up a friend's offer to visit her beach house for a couple days. One of the lovely ladies who works in the library with Tom offered for us to go out and use her beach house for a couple nights to get away. This house is just 20 minutes from our own front door, but just far enough out of town that the water is clean and turquoise. Besides a few cute kids from the nearby villages, or fishermen paddling by in their canoes, we don't see or hear any other people!
One highlight was bringing Ruby with us. This was her first time swimming in the ocean, and after getting over the initial fear of those crazy waves, she loved it!
Ruby and Tom spent hours playing fetch with a tennis ball. Tom would throw it out and most of the time, Ruby would go bounding into the gentle waves, doggy-paddling out to her new favorite toy. (The other times, Tom would go swim after it and bring it back) While all this was going on, I just floated and swam in the warm, Carribbean waters. It was pretty nice.
After playing in the salty water, we all came back to the house for a dip in the private pool! It was awesome to have this little pool right in front of our hammocks. Whenever we got hot, a quick dip would cool us off. Ruby liked the fact that she could drink this water. (The ocean proved to be a bit salty for her digestive system).
You might think that the green hose in the picture is filling up the pool. It is not. It is actually our makeshift "long leash" for Ruby. When we first arrived, Ruby showed us that she is not yet ready to handle being completly free, so we improvised by tying a 30 foot garden hose to her leash. This slowed her down enough that she didn't stray too far from the beach house, and still had the freedom to wander around a bit.
And here I am in my favorite outfit of the weekend. I brought all these clothes, but just wore my swimsuit the entire time. I guess that's how it goes at the beach!
The reason I'm posting a picture of myself in a swimsuit is only to show how preggo my belly is getting. This picture was taken at 19 weeks and 4 days. For those of you who don't do weeks- it's about 4 and a half months. I'm halfway there!
The other activity of the weekend was reading. We both spent hours and hours in our beachfront hammocks, reading our books. On Monday morning, I began reading Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen. This is a book all about life in the circus back in the day. We blogged about the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI back in July, and found out that much of the research for this book was done at the museum. I LOVED this book. I didn't put it down till I had finished the last page on Monday night. I can't remember the last book I read all in one day like that- but I'd highly recommend it- especially to anyone who liked the movie Toby Tyler when they were a kid!
After the festivities at school, Tom and I started off the weekend with a relaxing day at home and a visit to the paint store. We bought the paint to turn our pepto-pink guest room into a baby boy's beach room. Today, Tom has promised me that we will start painting!
To be truly inspired, we decided to take up a friend's offer to visit her beach house for a couple days. One of the lovely ladies who works in the library with Tom offered for us to go out and use her beach house for a couple nights to get away. This house is just 20 minutes from our own front door, but just far enough out of town that the water is clean and turquoise. Besides a few cute kids from the nearby villages, or fishermen paddling by in their canoes, we don't see or hear any other people!
One highlight was bringing Ruby with us. This was her first time swimming in the ocean, and after getting over the initial fear of those crazy waves, she loved it!
Ruby and Tom spent hours playing fetch with a tennis ball. Tom would throw it out and most of the time, Ruby would go bounding into the gentle waves, doggy-paddling out to her new favorite toy. (The other times, Tom would go swim after it and bring it back) While all this was going on, I just floated and swam in the warm, Carribbean waters. It was pretty nice.
After playing in the salty water, we all came back to the house for a dip in the private pool! It was awesome to have this little pool right in front of our hammocks. Whenever we got hot, a quick dip would cool us off. Ruby liked the fact that she could drink this water. (The ocean proved to be a bit salty for her digestive system).
You might think that the green hose in the picture is filling up the pool. It is not. It is actually our makeshift "long leash" for Ruby. When we first arrived, Ruby showed us that she is not yet ready to handle being completly free, so we improvised by tying a 30 foot garden hose to her leash. This slowed her down enough that she didn't stray too far from the beach house, and still had the freedom to wander around a bit.
And here I am in my favorite outfit of the weekend. I brought all these clothes, but just wore my swimsuit the entire time. I guess that's how it goes at the beach!
The reason I'm posting a picture of myself in a swimsuit is only to show how preggo my belly is getting. This picture was taken at 19 weeks and 4 days. For those of you who don't do weeks- it's about 4 and a half months. I'm halfway there!
The other activity of the weekend was reading. We both spent hours and hours in our beachfront hammocks, reading our books. On Monday morning, I began reading Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen. This is a book all about life in the circus back in the day. We blogged about the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI back in July, and found out that much of the research for this book was done at the museum. I LOVED this book. I didn't put it down till I had finished the last page on Monday night. I can't remember the last book I read all in one day like that- but I'd highly recommend it- especially to anyone who liked the movie Toby Tyler when they were a kid!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Too Much Fun!
I realize that we've pretty much dropped the ball for the month of March. I cringe every time I think of something cool that has happened, and I haven't blogged about it. It's true that we still don't have internet at home and we've been either extremely busy at school or on vacation. Nevertheless, I ask our blog readers for forgiveness.
I can't begin to list the millions of exciting things that have happened since the last post, but here are a few highlights...
- Mazapan school Father's day program. My kids sang "We Will Love You", a Karine-original to the tune of "We Will Rock You" They dressed up like rock stars and were incredibly cute.
- I co-hosted a baby shower for our friend Ashley. Way fun times with a bunch of our lady friends.
-Tom has developed his fine culinary skills a bit more. He's quite the gourmet chef lately!
-Ruby is bigger. Big surprise?
-Probably most exciting, my friends from Minneapolis, Ann and Megan came down for Spring Break '08. We took a long girls' weekend to Roatan, worked on our tans, avoided sand fleas, laughed and caught up on life. Megan discovered her calling as a snorkel master, and Ann has honed her Spanish skills to a fine art. Once back in La Ceiba, we enjoyed meals a la Tom Lewandowski, swam in the Rio Cangrejal. Today we're having a quiet day, complete with coffee on the front porch, neighborhood walk with Ruby, and internet time at school. Hopefully I'll be able to load some pics later this evening.
I can't begin to list the millions of exciting things that have happened since the last post, but here are a few highlights...
- Mazapan school Father's day program. My kids sang "We Will Love You", a Karine-original to the tune of "We Will Rock You" They dressed up like rock stars and were incredibly cute.
- I co-hosted a baby shower for our friend Ashley. Way fun times with a bunch of our lady friends.
-Tom has developed his fine culinary skills a bit more. He's quite the gourmet chef lately!
-Ruby is bigger. Big surprise?
-Probably most exciting, my friends from Minneapolis, Ann and Megan came down for Spring Break '08. We took a long girls' weekend to Roatan, worked on our tans, avoided sand fleas, laughed and caught up on life. Megan discovered her calling as a snorkel master, and Ann has honed her Spanish skills to a fine art. Once back in La Ceiba, we enjoyed meals a la Tom Lewandowski, swam in the Rio Cangrejal. Today we're having a quiet day, complete with coffee on the front porch, neighborhood walk with Ruby, and internet time at school. Hopefully I'll be able to load some pics later this evening.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
We're still here!
It's been awhile since we've posted anything very interesting. This is not because we've been sitting around being boring people- It's just that we've been busy, or else without an internet connection here at home.
School is going well. I think our students are about ready for summer vacation. Unfortunately, we've still got over 3 months to go. So, that just means that we teachers need to keep things extra-exciting. Here's a quick video of my students re-enacting a battle for their spanish social studies class. They were insane- but had a blast.
Tom was the P.E. substitute this week, and he had a lot of fun doing it. (My students had a lot of fun with him too!) He played soccer with the senior boys yesterday for almost an hour, and today he's moving a bit slower than usual.
Our dog is gigantic and dirty today. She just received a hose-bath. Ruby has officially outgrown her "bathtub". (We had previously used the pila, an outdoor sink, to bathe her, but she's too big to fit inside now!) Ruby had a morning playdate at the park with her friend Fisher, while I enjoyed chatting with a friend.
We are one step closer to being actual certified scuba divers. Last weekend, we ventured out to Roatan with a dual purpose. One purpose was for Tom and Jason to play music at a nice resort and the other was to do some open water dives for our certification. Both were an adventure.
Picture Tom's upright bass (6 feet tall and 3 feet wide) and amp being toted along with our island weekend gear to the ferry station. At the ferry docks, the men took Tom's novia (Spanish for "girlfriend") away in it's soft padded case. We weren't sure how it would be treated in the cargo underbelly of the ferry. We were pleased to find it in one piece upon arrival in Roatan. All we had to do next was secure a big ride to the resort (a 25 minute drive from the port). After negotiating with a taxi driver who has a "very big vehicle" Tom and I, the bass and amp, the guitarist and his girlfriend, and his musical gear all arrive at the car. This car was a 2001 Toyota Corolla. 5 people, 2 instruments (one extremely large), 3 bags, 2 amps, and 1 bungee cord holding it all against the trunk (obviously the trunk didn't close) and I was a nervous wreck. Tom sat in the front seat and a calm came over him. I think he had just handed the whole thing over to fate. I, on the other hand, sat in back with my neck craned, watching the creaking trunk lid go up and down, and Tom's bass rock with it. A half an hour later, I was in disbelief that we had arrived safely and everything was still intact. Needless to say, we shopped around for a van to take us back to the ferry on Sunday afternoon.
Our other Roatan adventure was scuba diving. We went on 2 open water dives on Saturday. We saw so many cool things, but the highlight was seeing two sea turtles! Tom is a natural underwater and really got the hang of it quickly. I'm not quite as gifted, so I spent a bit more time going up and down. Real scuba divers know that you're supposed to make a straight-like line. It might be a diagonal, but it's pretty smooth. My line was shaped like a bunch of WWWW's. We have one dive left until we're officially certified, so over spring break we will get that finished up. I'm excited to polish my skills a little more- and hopefully see some more of those sea turtles!
We had a great Valentine's Day- complete with candles lit all over the house. Though we are very romantic people, it was a necessity as the power went out for a few hours. No worries about Lost though- the power returned just in time! Wow- that show is exciting.
School is going well. I think our students are about ready for summer vacation. Unfortunately, we've still got over 3 months to go. So, that just means that we teachers need to keep things extra-exciting. Here's a quick video of my students re-enacting a battle for their spanish social studies class. They were insane- but had a blast.
Our dog is gigantic and dirty today. She just received a hose-bath. Ruby has officially outgrown her "bathtub". (We had previously used the pila, an outdoor sink, to bathe her, but she's too big to fit inside now!) Ruby had a morning playdate at the park with her friend Fisher, while I enjoyed chatting with a friend.
We are one step closer to being actual certified scuba divers. Last weekend, we ventured out to Roatan with a dual purpose. One purpose was for Tom and Jason to play music at a nice resort and the other was to do some open water dives for our certification. Both were an adventure.
Picture Tom's upright bass (6 feet tall and 3 feet wide) and amp being toted along with our island weekend gear to the ferry station. At the ferry docks, the men took Tom's novia (Spanish for "girlfriend") away in it's soft padded case. We weren't sure how it would be treated in the cargo underbelly of the ferry. We were pleased to find it in one piece upon arrival in Roatan. All we had to do next was secure a big ride to the resort (a 25 minute drive from the port). After negotiating with a taxi driver who has a "very big vehicle" Tom and I, the bass and amp, the guitarist and his girlfriend, and his musical gear all arrive at the car. This car was a 2001 Toyota Corolla. 5 people, 2 instruments (one extremely large), 3 bags, 2 amps, and 1 bungee cord holding it all against the trunk (obviously the trunk didn't close) and I was a nervous wreck. Tom sat in the front seat and a calm came over him. I think he had just handed the whole thing over to fate. I, on the other hand, sat in back with my neck craned, watching the creaking trunk lid go up and down, and Tom's bass rock with it. A half an hour later, I was in disbelief that we had arrived safely and everything was still intact. Needless to say, we shopped around for a van to take us back to the ferry on Sunday afternoon.
Our other Roatan adventure was scuba diving. We went on 2 open water dives on Saturday. We saw so many cool things, but the highlight was seeing two sea turtles! Tom is a natural underwater and really got the hang of it quickly. I'm not quite as gifted, so I spent a bit more time going up and down. Real scuba divers know that you're supposed to make a straight-like line. It might be a diagonal, but it's pretty smooth. My line was shaped like a bunch of WWWW's. We have one dive left until we're officially certified, so over spring break we will get that finished up. I'm excited to polish my skills a little more- and hopefully see some more of those sea turtles!
We had a great Valentine's Day- complete with candles lit all over the house. Though we are very romantic people, it was a necessity as the power went out for a few hours. No worries about Lost though- the power returned just in time! Wow- that show is exciting.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
The Girl Who Spelled...
When I was in 3rd grade, one of my favorite public-library movie rentals was The Girl Who Spelled Freedom. This made-for-TV movie (based on a true story!) was about a Cambodian girl who came to live with an American family and ended up winning the big spelling bee championship. Thus, my infatuation with spelling bees began.
This week, I was asked to be a caller at the National Spelling Bee (for all bilingual schools) here in La Ceiba. They wanted a native English speaker to pronounce the words for the students. By luck of the draw, I was assigned to 4th grade.
Yesterday morning, I showed up at the National Spelling Bee and was greeted by a giant tissue-paper bee (Think pencil eraser with a small square of tissue paper, dip in glue and stick to paper). This bee was at least 20 feet tall... They go all out here!
So my story of the day... After calling about 200 words for my 17 4th grade finalists, I pull the next word. Here is a script of how it went down...
Karine: Your word is "flicker"
Child: flicker? Can I have it in a sentence?
Karine: Flicker- I watched the candle flicker in the darkness. Flicker
Child: Can I have another sentence?"
Karine: The lights will flicker as the electricity goes out. Flicker.
Child: Can I have a definition?
Karine: Flicker- to burn unsteadily, shine with wavering light . Flicker.
Child: (Sigh) Flicker. F-U-C-K-E-R. Flicker.
Karine: I'm sorry, that is incorrect.
I had to work pretty hard not to giggle. I held it together. The final word that determined the champion was "vague" ("Vague v-e-g Vague.")
This week, I was asked to be a caller at the National Spelling Bee (for all bilingual schools) here in La Ceiba. They wanted a native English speaker to pronounce the words for the students. By luck of the draw, I was assigned to 4th grade.
Yesterday morning, I showed up at the National Spelling Bee and was greeted by a giant tissue-paper bee (Think pencil eraser with a small square of tissue paper, dip in glue and stick to paper). This bee was at least 20 feet tall... They go all out here!
So my story of the day... After calling about 200 words for my 17 4th grade finalists, I pull the next word. Here is a script of how it went down...
Karine: Your word is "flicker"
Child: flicker? Can I have it in a sentence?
Karine: Flicker- I watched the candle flicker in the darkness. Flicker
Child: Can I have another sentence?"
Karine: The lights will flicker as the electricity goes out. Flicker.
Child: Can I have a definition?
Karine: Flicker- to burn unsteadily, shine with wavering light . Flicker.
Child: (Sigh) Flicker. F-U-C-K-E-R. Flicker.
Karine: I'm sorry, that is incorrect.
I had to work pretty hard not to giggle. I held it together. The final word that determined the champion was "vague" ("Vague v-e-g Vague.")
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Our School at Christmastime
They definitely don't mess around with Christmas Lights down here in Honduras. It is serious business. We'll post some pictures of our neighborhood next week. 
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Guaruma
I went on a field trip today with 20 sixth graders to the small town of Las Mangas. Its quite a ways into the mountains. We visited the Guaruma Organization. Check out their website. They are awesome. They do wonderful things for the community and the local ecosystem. Today they did something wonderful for me because they taught me how to take good pictures. They tried at least. Here are some of the results.
Vote for your favorite picture and you may become eligible to win a frozen turkey. The winner may be announced as soon as Dec. 23. Merry Christmas!!!
Vote for your favorite picture and you may become eligible to win a frozen turkey. The winner may be announced as soon as Dec. 23. Merry Christmas!!!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Another week!
It's been another busy week for the Lewandowskis. A happy belated birthday to my mom and Kristin! The days are flying by so quickly that I hardly realize what day it is until it's too late.
United Nations Day at school on Wednesday was a success. We had students dressed up from several continents around the world. One thing I learned is that Honduran Estudios Sociales (Honduran Social Studies curriculum as dictated by the Ministry of Education) only recognizes 6 continents. Here, there is no such thing as North America and South America. The continent that is home to Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Honduras, Argentina, and Brazil is known simply as America. So in the picture below, you'll see the parade in our school gym of students from the continent of America! Lots of cowboys, traditional Honduran and Guatemalan dresses, and a few futbol players from Brazil. Tom and I dressed up from the continent of Asia. I knew that I had moved my traditional Chinese silk outfit down here for a reason! Thanks Matt A. for the perfect gift of the Kung Fu shirt- Tom and I matched perfectly... (Ruby came from Germany- "her people")
As our friends with children share their stories of their babies discovering their feet and putting them in their mouths, we do have our own "baby story" to report. We are happy to report that Ruby has discovered her tail. It's her favorite toy. It's difficult to capture it on "film", but here you can see her playing with her new favorite toy.
Tonight, I'm sitting at home watching the CRILATON 2007 on TV. Crilaton is La Ceiba's version of the Jerry Lewis telethon. It's a pretty big deal here. Tom will be making his television debut tonight at 8:50. As he's been playing around town with a couple different groups, he's making a name for himself! We can't get our vcr working yet, but I'm going to take pictures of the tv screen. (Just added!)
And here's a video of Tom and Jason singing "Hey Ya" on Honduran National TV!
Tomorrow morning, we're heading to Trujillo, a town about 2 1/2 hours east of La Ceiba. Our friends work for an orphanage. It's a small family-style orphanage on a beautiful beach. It's been rainy and cool here the past few days, but we're excited to get out of town anyway. Ruby is coming too- we're renting a pickup and spending the night in a little resort just down the beach from the orphanage.
That's all for now... Going to look for my husband on tv!
United Nations Day at school on Wednesday was a success. We had students dressed up from several continents around the world. One thing I learned is that Honduran Estudios Sociales (Honduran Social Studies curriculum as dictated by the Ministry of Education) only recognizes 6 continents. Here, there is no such thing as North America and South America. The continent that is home to Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Honduras, Argentina, and Brazil is known simply as America. So in the picture below, you'll see the parade in our school gym of students from the continent of America! Lots of cowboys, traditional Honduran and Guatemalan dresses, and a few futbol players from Brazil. Tom and I dressed up from the continent of Asia. I knew that I had moved my traditional Chinese silk outfit down here for a reason! Thanks Matt A. for the perfect gift of the Kung Fu shirt- Tom and I matched perfectly... (Ruby came from Germany- "her people")
As our friends with children share their stories of their babies discovering their feet and putting them in their mouths, we do have our own "baby story" to report. We are happy to report that Ruby has discovered her tail. It's her favorite toy. It's difficult to capture it on "film", but here you can see her playing with her new favorite toy.
Tonight, I'm sitting at home watching the CRILATON 2007 on TV. Crilaton is La Ceiba's version of the Jerry Lewis telethon. It's a pretty big deal here. Tom will be making his television debut tonight at 8:50. As he's been playing around town with a couple different groups, he's making a name for himself! We can't get our vcr working yet, but I'm going to take pictures of the tv screen. (Just added!)
And here's a video of Tom and Jason singing "Hey Ya" on Honduran National TV!
That's all for now... Going to look for my husband on tv!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Our Dog Loves to Read!
Ruby got a job working with Tom in the library at school. Her qualifications....she is really cute and she loves to read! She's just a junior library assistant right now, but she has a lot of potential. She likes to hang out under Tom's desk and read Magic School Bus during the day.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Spanking and Hugging
The school culture here in Honduras is a bit different from the U.S. in a few ways. Tom and I have been taking a graduate school class this week (along with the entire staff) from noon to 5 every day. We teach from 6:55-11am and then learn all afternoon. Our class is designed to allow us to form a School Improvement Plan. 5 hours per day of discussing our school with our colleagues has made us realize and appreciate some of the unique things about teaching in Honduras.
1. Hugging- Every morning I have at least 6 fourth graders waiting at the classroom door by 6:40am. They are so excited to learn! They greet me with warm smiles and hugs. Several times throughout the day, students come up to show me work, drawings, and things they find interesting. Often times, they’ll initiate a hug afterwards. In the library, Tom is greeted every Friday morning by his first graders with a big group hug. Touching is common and encouraged. It’s great to literally be able to give students a pat on the back or a little squeeze when they get something right.
2. Spanking- I remember birthday spankings from my childhood. I don’t actually remember who they would have come from, but I do remember the idea of a spanking for each year and “a pinch to grow an inch” at the end. After teaching in the U.S. for 3 years, I know that birthday spankings in the classroom would be a quick ticket out the door. It’s simply not done! Yesterday, one of my 4th grade girls approached me to let me know her birthday would be next week. She asked me if I would please, please, please give birthday spankings. "In school?!” I asked her. “Yes! All of the teachers do it! In third grade and second grade. The whole class counts and then we get a big one at the end!” I replied, saying that I didn’t do that, but we could definitely celebrate in some other way.
It got me thinking about how touchy we are about touch in the U.S. The birthday spankings don’t hurt them, and anyone who works with kids would agree that every child needs physical touch from adults who care. I’m still not convinced that I’m the kind of teacher to do birthday spankings, but it got me thinking…
3. Socializing- When you live in the same small town you teach in, it’s not uncommon to run into your students outside of school. While at the mall on Sunday, Tom and I saw 5 different students out with their families (and half of the staff too!) The older kids greet Tom with a “Hello, sir!” or “What’s up, sir.” The younger ones usually see us and cry out “Meeester Lew!!” or “Meeesis Lew!” and then get very shy. It’s incredibly sweet. This week, the Family Lewandowski was invited to a 4th grader’s birthday party at Pizza Hut. She invited the whole class and her teacher too! Unfortunately, we’ve got our grad school class at the same time. The teenagers often frequent the bars and dance clubs, so it’s a regular occurrence to run into some underage students when out for the evening. Since our friends are mostly teachers at Mazapan, it’s always a little funny to see students out on the town at night.
All in all, it’s a refreshing change. It’s kind of like turning the clock back 20 years and forgetting all of the “fear of a lawsuit/politically correct” mentality. While some things about this can be frustrating, it also brings back a warm feeling of really connecting with people as fellow humans.
That’s all for now. I’m baking banana bread (Thanks, Dole, for the free banana samples!) and it’s almost ready to pull out of the oven!
1. Hugging- Every morning I have at least 6 fourth graders waiting at the classroom door by 6:40am. They are so excited to learn! They greet me with warm smiles and hugs. Several times throughout the day, students come up to show me work, drawings, and things they find interesting. Often times, they’ll initiate a hug afterwards. In the library, Tom is greeted every Friday morning by his first graders with a big group hug. Touching is common and encouraged. It’s great to literally be able to give students a pat on the back or a little squeeze when they get something right.
2. Spanking- I remember birthday spankings from my childhood. I don’t actually remember who they would have come from, but I do remember the idea of a spanking for each year and “a pinch to grow an inch” at the end. After teaching in the U.S. for 3 years, I know that birthday spankings in the classroom would be a quick ticket out the door. It’s simply not done! Yesterday, one of my 4th grade girls approached me to let me know her birthday would be next week. She asked me if I would please, please, please give birthday spankings. "In school?!” I asked her. “Yes! All of the teachers do it! In third grade and second grade. The whole class counts and then we get a big one at the end!” I replied, saying that I didn’t do that, but we could definitely celebrate in some other way.
It got me thinking about how touchy we are about touch in the U.S. The birthday spankings don’t hurt them, and anyone who works with kids would agree that every child needs physical touch from adults who care. I’m still not convinced that I’m the kind of teacher to do birthday spankings, but it got me thinking…
3. Socializing- When you live in the same small town you teach in, it’s not uncommon to run into your students outside of school. While at the mall on Sunday, Tom and I saw 5 different students out with their families (and half of the staff too!) The older kids greet Tom with a “Hello, sir!” or “What’s up, sir.” The younger ones usually see us and cry out “Meeester Lew!!” or “Meeesis Lew!” and then get very shy. It’s incredibly sweet. This week, the Family Lewandowski was invited to a 4th grader’s birthday party at Pizza Hut. She invited the whole class and her teacher too! Unfortunately, we’ve got our grad school class at the same time. The teenagers often frequent the bars and dance clubs, so it’s a regular occurrence to run into some underage students when out for the evening. Since our friends are mostly teachers at Mazapan, it’s always a little funny to see students out on the town at night.
All in all, it’s a refreshing change. It’s kind of like turning the clock back 20 years and forgetting all of the “fear of a lawsuit/politically correct” mentality. While some things about this can be frustrating, it also brings back a warm feeling of really connecting with people as fellow humans.
That’s all for now. I’m baking banana bread (Thanks, Dole, for the free banana samples!) and it’s almost ready to pull out of the oven!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Friday Fun
Friday was packed full of exciting activities! We started out the school day with some peace day activities. Here is a picture of all the students at our school gathered in the mango field in the shape of a peace sign. This was the culminating activity and our students did a great job!
After school, we were thrilled to get some free bananas and pineapples as Dole celebrated 108 years in Honduras. There was a gathering for all employees in the school gym after school. We got some free samples and dinner. There were displays showing the tools used in the banana harvesting process. Also, we got to try one of Dole’s newest hybrids- the apple banana. It tastes like a cross between a banana and a green apple. Yummy!
Perhaps the most difficult thing for us to see was that pineapples can be displayed a lot more creatively than we did for our wedding centerpieces. I guess a bride needs to contact professionals at Dole to get pineapple artistry like this.
We finished off the evening with a visit with the puppies. They’re growing so much every week. We’ll be able to take our little pup home in about 3 weeks. We’re going to try to go back some day this week around 4pm. This is their active playtime, so we’ll be able to see personalities come out. Once we decide on which pup we want, we will put a little collar on her and visit often!
After school, we were thrilled to get some free bananas and pineapples as Dole celebrated 108 years in Honduras. There was a gathering for all employees in the school gym after school. We got some free samples and dinner. There were displays showing the tools used in the banana harvesting process. Also, we got to try one of Dole’s newest hybrids- the apple banana. It tastes like a cross between a banana and a green apple. Yummy!
Perhaps the most difficult thing for us to see was that pineapples can be displayed a lot more creatively than we did for our wedding centerpieces. I guess a bride needs to contact professionals at Dole to get pineapple artistry like this.
We finished off the evening with a visit with the puppies. They’re growing so much every week. We’ll be able to take our little pup home in about 3 weeks. We’re going to try to go back some day this week around 4pm. This is their active playtime, so we’ll be able to see personalities come out. Once we decide on which pup we want, we will put a little collar on her and visit often!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
International Day of Peace
Hey everyone- tomorrow (Friday) is the International Day of Peace. Last year, from Woodbury, MN, my students participated in a Peace Day activities. We wrote poems and essays, created "pinwheels for peace" and had a moment of silence along with thousands of other people worldwide. This year, our school in Honduras is participating with a march carrying banners, posters, and "pinwheels for peace" and we are gathering all of the students into a huge peace sign.
On Friday, you can participate by taking a minute of silence at noon (this will be an on-the-hour event, as noon comes at different times around the world). During this time, you can send your prayers and hopes for peaceful solutions in our world.
The International Day of Peace
Peace Day - September 21
Join the worldwide movement to create
a Global Ceasefire
and day of peace and nonviolence
Last year more than 3500 Peace Day events took place in 200 countries
(including all 192 member nations of the United Nations)
for a CULTURE OF PEACE
http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/
Monday, September 17, 2007
Almost Home
We've been slacking on the blogging this week and spending a great deal of time on making our new house a home. Last night, Tom and I had a picture hanging party. It was really just the two of us. And it was more picture hanging than partying. But, we did make some serious progress in getting this house set up.
Here is our kitchen...
And our living room...
And our dining room...
More parts of the house to come- as we get them set up.
I did a little laundry on Saturday... (I finally have a washer/dryer that I can use without scrounging for quarters and waiting for my apartment neighbors to be done with their loads!)
Since electricity is so expensive here, we only use the dryer during rainy season.
Other than setting up our house, we celebrated Honduras's independence from Spain back on Sept. 15, 1821. To celebrate, all of the students in the country perform a civic act. Most schools in La Ceiba march with their band and dress up in traditional costumes. Our school celebrated on Friday by hiring some local dancers and musicians to come in and perform at our school. It was two hours and fifteen minutes of cultural excitement!
Here is our kitchen...
And our living room...
And our dining room...
More parts of the house to come- as we get them set up.
I did a little laundry on Saturday... (I finally have a washer/dryer that I can use without scrounging for quarters and waiting for my apartment neighbors to be done with their loads!)
Since electricity is so expensive here, we only use the dryer during rainy season.
Other than setting up our house, we celebrated Honduras's independence from Spain back on Sept. 15, 1821. To celebrate, all of the students in the country perform a civic act. Most schools in La Ceiba march with their band and dress up in traditional costumes. Our school celebrated on Friday by hiring some local dancers and musicians to come in and perform at our school. It was two hours and fifteen minutes of cultural excitement!
Friday, September 7, 2007
Fin de Semana!
Happy Friday everyone!
Tom and I are happy to celebrate yet another week of teaching the children. School is well underway and we already sent home mid-term progress reports. I had my first parent concerns brought to my attention today. ("Why is my son receiving a B in spelling?!!) It's nice to know that parents are concerned with the education - or at least the grades- of their kids. The school environment is a positive place, and we really enjoy it so far. The campus is beautiful, and it amazes me daily that our "hallways" are walkways in a jungle-tropical paradise. Everything is outdoors and green and flowery. It's beautiful.
We've received notice that our household goods are in the process of leaving the port here in Honduras. We had hoped that they would arrive today, but as things work in Honduras, we'll wait until manaña. Here, Mañana could mean tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day, or sometime in the future. We're pretty sure it will be Monday or Tuesday though.
We bought a bunch of cleaning supplies and we're going over to our pink house tonight to do a bit of cleaning before we mess it up with all our stuff. No other big plans for the weekend- but that doesn't mean it will be boring! I'm sure we'll find something exciting to occupy our time and energy.
For those non-Spanish speakers, "fin de semana" is the weekend! We love our weekends. Next weekend is Independence Day and every school in La Ceiba has a marching band that marches the streets to play for their civic duty. The marching band at Mazapan is not functioning currently, so our students will perform their civic duty next Friday afternoon by eating local foods and seeing typical dancing. I don't know how that qualifies as fulfilling a civic duty, but it should be entertaining and yummy!
That's all for now!
Tom and I are happy to celebrate yet another week of teaching the children. School is well underway and we already sent home mid-term progress reports. I had my first parent concerns brought to my attention today. ("Why is my son receiving a B in spelling?!!) It's nice to know that parents are concerned with the education - or at least the grades- of their kids. The school environment is a positive place, and we really enjoy it so far. The campus is beautiful, and it amazes me daily that our "hallways" are walkways in a jungle-tropical paradise. Everything is outdoors and green and flowery. It's beautiful.
We've received notice that our household goods are in the process of leaving the port here in Honduras. We had hoped that they would arrive today, but as things work in Honduras, we'll wait until manaña. Here, Mañana could mean tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day, or sometime in the future. We're pretty sure it will be Monday or Tuesday though.
We bought a bunch of cleaning supplies and we're going over to our pink house tonight to do a bit of cleaning before we mess it up with all our stuff. No other big plans for the weekend- but that doesn't mean it will be boring! I'm sure we'll find something exciting to occupy our time and energy.
For those non-Spanish speakers, "fin de semana" is the weekend! We love our weekends. Next weekend is Independence Day and every school in La Ceiba has a marching band that marches the streets to play for their civic duty. The marching band at Mazapan is not functioning currently, so our students will perform their civic duty next Friday afternoon by eating local foods and seeing typical dancing. I don't know how that qualifies as fulfilling a civic duty, but it should be entertaining and yummy!
That's all for now!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Ready for the first day of school!
We've been working extra-hard this week to make sure we're ready for our students to come tomorrow! Karine has 20 students in her class, and Tom has the whole school in his library! Karine will be responsible for changing 7 bulletin boards per month in and around her classroom, so any creative ideas are welcome!
An exciting 4th grade development for Karine has been the realization that she hasn't practiced the Palmer Method of cursive handwriting since her 4th grade days. Tom has been busy checking out all of the textbooks and materials to the teachers for the past few days. Everything at this school stems from the library. He will be very busy!
A funny phone call came into the school office on Friday. It went a little something like this. (translated into English)
Maid (on phone): Hello, front office?
School secretary (on phone): Yes?
Maid: I noticed that Karine and Tom had some laundry in their basket in the closet. Would you tell Tom that he can tell his wife that there is a washer and dryer right near their house?
School Secretary: Yes! (To Tom) Tom, you can tell Karine that she can do your laundry just 3 houses down from your guesthouse.
Tom: I will be sure to tell her!
Karine: (Later that night) What?! I'm still a feminist from the U.S. You need to separate your whites and colors before I'll do your laundry!
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Happy Birthday Dad!
It's my dad's birthday today! I wasn't able to get to a phone yet to call, so this is my official proclamation to the world- Happy Birthday Dad!
We both spent a bunch of time in our respective classrooms today. I spent time unlocking cabinets and sorting books. Each of my students will have a cubby to keep their textbooks and school supplies in. I've already sorted out each student's textbooks, and they will each have a number assigned to them. Their number is inside of each book. Pretty simple huh?
I was also excited to see that my classroom has a loft that I will use as a reading corner. I'm looking for some bookshelves to house all of the books in the 4th grade classroom library.
Tom wants to get his library more set up before we post any pictures of his space.
We went for dinner tonight to the Expatriates Bar here in La Ceiba. We were intrigued when our chips and salsa appetizer came. We had homemade tortilla chips alright, but the salsa wasn't what we expected. The Spanish translation for salsa is "sauce". So our chips were served with a white "sauce" that tasted very much like ranch dressing! Oh well. We added a bit of hot sauce to the "salsa" and that spiced it up a bit. Not too bad! The rest of dinner was pretty tasty though.
We both spent a bunch of time in our respective classrooms today. I spent time unlocking cabinets and sorting books. Each of my students will have a cubby to keep their textbooks and school supplies in. I've already sorted out each student's textbooks, and they will each have a number assigned to them. Their number is inside of each book. Pretty simple huh?
I was also excited to see that my classroom has a loft that I will use as a reading corner. I'm looking for some bookshelves to house all of the books in the 4th grade classroom library.
Tom wants to get his library more set up before we post any pictures of his space.We went for dinner tonight to the Expatriates Bar here in La Ceiba. We were intrigued when our chips and salsa appetizer came. We had homemade tortilla chips alright, but the salsa wasn't what we expected. The Spanish translation for salsa is "sauce". So our chips were served with a white "sauce" that tasted very much like ranch dressing! Oh well. We added a bit of hot sauce to the "salsa" and that spiced it up a bit. Not too bad! The rest of dinner was pretty tasty though.
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