Orientation: Things Come Together

Things are starting to come together and I'm feeling really content and confident. We've had two days of orientation at the school now with all the ALCS teachers. Yesterday was the first time we visited the campus and it is so so beautiful. The school is located outside of Gracias within Celaque National Park and is part of the way up Honduras' tallest mountain and only cloud forest.

a view of Mt. Celaque from the school...soccer fields are right behind those trees

a view of part of the campus from the courtyard...my classroom will be the one on the left in the center building

another view of the courtyard

The first day of orientation on campus was a half day with a broad overview of a Christian philosophy of education as well as overviews of ALCS's history, expectations, and procedures. After orientation and for lunch, we went to a hotel that the school built which is a 5-10 minute walk from campus. They've built it in part to teach and train high school students in hospitality and tourism. The hotel is absolutely beautiful and we had a delicious lunch--a meat and potatoes meal, which I wasn't expecting now that I don't have Dutch mothers to cook for me ; P



After lunch, we did some exploring of the grounds around the hotel--hiking down to the creek below and through some of the surrounding fields.

The hotel's rooms and dining area from the courtyard

Casa Hotel Celaque

A view from the balcony looking down toward the creek we hiked down

Balcony

After finishing our hike, we headed back to town and got some much needed time to relax.

possibly my favorite thing about Honduras so far...

After some rest time, the 8 of us needing housing in Gracias got to go apartment hunting! Mr. Lara and Mr. Calderon (our two principals) showed us several options around town. After some deliberation, it has been decided that 6 of us (everyone but the married couple) will be living in the same apartment complex among 3 different 1 bedroom apartments. The apartment complex is close to a lot of the shopping and restaurants in Gracias and only a 10 or 20 minute walk to some of the other teachers' houses. I'll be sharing an apartment with Sarah, a Honduran who just graduated from ALCS in La Union and will be working as a teacher's assistant in Gracias while taking classes at a local university to study architecture. Although I'm a bit nervous to room with someone I barely know, I am so excited about the opportunity to live with a native Honduran--this should be a good mix of a homestay (which I had originally wanted but decided it'd be better to have my own space) and a private apartment. Long story short, we found our place last night, moved some things in tonight, and will finish moving in tomorrow (though Sarah, who has been here the past two days for orientation, will be returning to La Union for the weekend and coming back on Monday). I am so thankful that we've already found a place and can move in so quickly--and thankful to all the Honduran men from the school and apartment complex who worked really hard to lift all our heavy suitcases and the furniture the school provides. I can't wait to get in there tomorrow and set everything up.

After all that, we had dinner with everyone at a really delicious pizza place, which makes my Chicago heart happy, and then a lucky few of us got to return to the hotel by the school to stay the night.

Our second day of orientation, today, we got into more of the nitty gritty details of teaching and classroom management at ALCS with English Language Learners (ELL's). Talking with other people, hearing more information, and being able to learn from the wisdom of experienced teachers makes me eager to get in the classroom and more confident that I can and will do this--even if it is a serious challenge at time. One thing we talked about a lot today is the need for us to be our students' teachers, not their friends. Starting the year off well is so important and I hope and pray that I can be consistent and firm, especially in the beginning to teach my students to respect my authority so that the we can have a good year of enjoyable learning in our classroom. I also found out my official teaching responsibilities (unless it changes again) today-- I will be responsible for 5th grade language arts (reading, spelling, vocab, penmanship, grammar), math, and art --which is the one I was not expecting and am a little intimidated by. I will also be teaching a 7th grade math class--and as a result will not be responsible for the 5th grade science class. I am so excited to teach a middle school math class. I knew before coming here that I may be expected to teach at a higher level, and if it would be anything I wanted it to be math. Thank the Lord that it's a class I like and feel confident in and not something like history. I'm also selfishly a little grateful not to be teaching science, but am a little concerned about how not teaching that now may affect me professionally. One year at a time though...and once school starts I'll be making it through one day at a time!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for me so far this week. I have felt so at peace so far with everything and I know that is by God's grace.

A few more pictures....

A view of Gracias from the patio at the hotel

Giant grasshoppers-- these I find kinda fascinating and they're really cool when flying because their wings are red underneath...however, I will admit when one unexpected landed on me I freaked out a little