My Addy...

I finally found out what the address is here...

Amanda Corea

Reach Intl. Hogar de Ninos

APDO 20

Santa Barbara, HONDURAS

That's it, hopefully it will work! I shall be patiently awaiting your     letters and gifts ;) haha

I'm Here!

I am now in Honduras. Actually, I've been here since the 3rd, but I've been fairly busy and haven't had many Internet opportunities (i.e. it's slow and I don't have the patience!), so this is my first official post.

So far it's been a slight roller coaster, not a big roller coaster, more like a kiddie coaster. Some days I think that this is going to be fun, some days I just don't want to do this anymore, and some days I'm too exhausted to function properly. As in any situation some days are good and some are bad. Let me start from the beginning:

When I very first arrived I suddenly had this overwhelming feeling and immediately wanted to change my mind. I have been here 3 or 4 times before and it's always fun and games when you are here visiting with a group, but as a "staff" member/volunteer, it's completely different. I realized that living here and working here means that I can't depend on my dad to translate for me forever, I actually have to try to learn Spanish! WHAT!? For some reason I hadn't thought of these aspects before hand. Anyhow, I knew the only way to start was to dive straight in. That first night I moved into my room had to remind myself that this would be a different experience than what I was used to having here, but that's ok. 

Before I left, I was asked the same question over and over again, "What are going to be doing? Are you going to be teaching English?". My reflex response was always, "Ha, No! I'll do whatever they need me to do, but I won't teach English." Guess what... God couldn't be sending a stronger message to me! Haha the guy has a serious sense of humor... it's ridiculous. Not only am I teaching English, but I am teaching english at two schools to 8 grade levels. When I found this out in the beginning I kinda freaked out a little. I went to the high school, colegio, for 2 days and shadowed a teacher to get familiar with the schedule and then I went to the elementary school, escuela, and shadowed there for a day. I felt really strongly that I was not capable of teaching English and especially because I can't even speak their language, so how can I explain things to them. I was really overwhelmed, I can't explain to you how much I DIDN'T want to do this! There was just NO way. I had to let it out, so I complained, whined and expressed my feelings to my dad, just saying that I couldn't do this. When I finished I miraculously felt some what better and thought that teaching might be fun.

So my schedule is now as follows: Monday-Thursday I teach english at the escuela from 7:15 to 12:30 or so. On Wednesday afternoons I go to the colegio and have class from 12:20-2:30 and on Fridays I'm at the colegio all day. Then every afternoon I help both the little kids and the big kids with their homework until 4:30 or 5. The director would also like me to teach and put together a choir at the colegio. In the beginning I wasn't willing to do this, but I'm starting to warm up to the idea. But I won't start the choir until I get better accuatinted with my routine. It will be after school probably a couple times a week. I'm trying to come up with ideas for songs, so if you have any let me know.

My days start early I wake up anywhere between 5-5:30: exercise, have devotions, take a shower, get dressed and go to worship at 6:00. Around 6:15 we have breakfast, afterwards I help clean up, come back to my room finish putting deodorant on or whatever and then it's off to school.

Teaching and having to be organized with lesson plans it a little bit out of my territory, but there's always room to grow and learn right?! Just please pray for me that I have the discipline to actually plan my classes correctly and not treat them like i did my homework assignments, with MAJOR procrastination (if you have any creative ideas on how I can make my English classes fun please let me know because I'm wracking my brain)!!! My friends in the group that I came with and my dad leave tomorrow, so once they leave, my full regular routine begins!

Ok, this is pretty long, my posts won't be this long normally. *sigh* I'm so tired!

Keep me posted on happenings at home!

Ta ta for now!

Mandy

PS - I shall be posting my address soon.