Christmas Time is Here

As I sit in my classroom during my prep period and hear "Silent Night" blaring in Spanish I am reminded that Santa Clara is in full Christmas mode...

Garland and lights have been hung around the school. Honduran teachers are doing holiday arts and crafts. Teachers are using their prep periods to decorate for the Christmas pageant in Profa. Flavia's office. Today all the students are out of uniform to wear Christmas colors. BUT the biggest indicator that a holiday is near is the copious amounts of glitter. Hondurans LOVE their glitter. If the school flooded we would still be here. If an earthquake struck school would not be canceled. If a hurricane hit the students would still be sitting in their desks learning. But if Honduras ran out of glittter - NO SCHOOL!

My kids have all lost their marbles at this point and my days are absolute CHAOS! They are practicing Christmas songs and practicing for the play all during school hours, so when they have to sit in my English class and learn Science, Math, or Spelling they are not the happiest of campers -- and sometimes that lack of enthusiasm is contagious.

I have two spelling tests, two vocabulary tests, a math test, and a science test planned between this week and next. But once next week is over it's party time in Ms. King's room. I'm going to join right in on the madness that is Honduras during christmas time. Once December 13th hits, this class will be cutting and decorating snowflakes, making christmas cards for their families, singing christmas songs, playing with puzzles, etc. If you have any fun christmas craft ideas send them my way. It can't be anything that would require a lot of materials or anything that involves a lot of helping hands. It's me vs. 28 little ones at this point, so there's only so much I can do.

With all of the madness going at school and not having an aid, this week has been hard. I find myself yelling at my kids a lot - which I hate - but sometimes it's the only way to get them to listen. I talk in my quietest of voices to try and get them to come down to my level. But after five minutes of that and trying four other methods my patience runs out and I start yelling. So that's something I'm trying to work on daily.

Today was particularly hard because I had three boys on red for beating up other kids, one kid steal something, one throw a temper tantrum, and the list goes on. Having a room of 28 little kids who don't understand most of what I say is hard enough. When you add in all the extras it can definitely be very challenging.

During recess today I reached for the quote book Peggy made all of us. We've all been having a hard time at school and missing our families so she asked previous volunteers to write about how they were feeling around this time in their experiences, and to give us words of wisdom. Well I read all nine quotes and just welled up with tears, because I was so inspired by all of their words. So for the next nine blog posts I write my quote at the bottom will be from a former volunteer.

The first one is from Miss Beth Mevissen who taught first grade at Santa Clara last year, lived in the house I'm in now, and had the same bedroom I'm in now. I basically took over this girls life here. I've never met her in person but from what I've been told she's an incredible human being and I was definitely appreciative for her words of wisdom:

        "I taught first grade last year at Santa Clara. Around this time I was homesick, stressed, and just plain exhausted. I remember every day was a challenge and at the end of the day I questioned why I was there. Now, however, I can't tell you how often I think about my kids, the volunteers, my Honduran family, and all the great memories -- every memory I have is so special to me! Sometimes I'm just driving down the road and I'll think about something a student said and I'll laugh (or cry). I miss it all so much!
       What I'm trying to say is ENJOY EVERY MOMENT! I know right now you may feel like you're at the end of your rope...but trust me...the journey is only going to get better! You only have a month til Christmas break and to be completely honest, after I came back everything was different. Everything seemed to click! My class and I were having more fun and I saw them start to really make progress! God has called each of you by name to serve this year at Santa Clara -- so serve with a smile on your face! My year there changed my life and it will change yours too...but you have to give it all you've got! :)"

    "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." James 1:2-3