Tarantulas, mosquitoes and hurricanes!

Let me start this off by apologising for taking so long to update this blog. Things have been slightly crazy this week and so I had set aside the weekend for emails and blogs - and then the power went and so that put an end to my plans!

OK...so I moved into my house at the school, it's a lovely house but oh so so so dirty! We've cleaned as much as we have time for right now and yet the cupboards are inches thick in grease and grime. We had an ant infestation over our worktops, but we seem to have killed them off for now. On the first full day in our house I was less than impressed to discover another visitor on our kitchen worktop...you've guessed it..a tarantula. I hate them so much! This wasn't a fully grown one and so wasn't at it's biggest but it was still big and still a tarantula! I think I coped very well, I simply called Amanda (my Canadian housemate) and she very bravely got a plastic jar and scooped it in with a spoon. I, meanwhile, was standing on the far side of the room ready to run out of the door!! This lovely addition to our household then proceeded to stay in the jar on our worktop for a few days until Sue came to visit - so she could be the one to release it and stand on it! I wasn't going to risk it I can tell you! Although I consider myself to have been very brave it then left me a nervous wreck for the rest of the day. SO much so that I decided to put my mozzie net up! No-one else uses them here, but I can't cope with the idea of a tarantula crawling across me at night! I have yet to see a scorpion. Apparently they are everywhere - the little reddish/brown ones. They fall from the ceilings sometimes, but I haven't seen this. The weather is going mad as Sigua used to be a very cool place and so didn't have an issue with spiders and it was never humid and so the scorpions never lived here either. I seem to be the lucky one to arrive at the same time as all the wildlife, just as the weather changes. Between the mosquitoes and ants (who knew there were so many varieties of ants?!) we are being eaten alive! There is something that bites or stings and a couple of hours later the bite feels like it is burning hot and oh so itchy. I have woken many times in the night feeling like my foot is on fire! Strangely enough it is only my left foot that is being attacked - weird!!

It does get very, very hot here - but I love it. It does, however, mean a lot of washing, I have got very brave about going into the laundry room to find the washing machine - it is a spider heaven! Talking of weather we haven't had any dealings with Hurricane Dean which I am pleased about. However, on Friday evening we did have a very strange storm (could it be related?!) The wind suddenly whipped up at about 4.30pm and there was a small sand storm and some of the corrugated iron roofing blew off the school roof, and then the torrential rain - and the power cut! We all stood on our porch and watched it happen, it was very spectacular. It only lasted an hour or so (the weather I mean, the power stayed off!) Power also went off on Sunday - apparently this is a regular occurrence on Sundays as it saves money!?

Now...my housemates. I am very very lucky with the people I am living with. The other teachers are Noel and Amanda, both from Canada. They are both younger than me and both only here for a year - less than a year as they leave around June when school finishes for the year. The house is divided into 2 halves with the middle door locked. So it is effectively like 2 big flats, one for the blokes and one for the girlies. So Amanda and I are sharing together and Noel and Mark are next door (Mark is arriving in 3 weeks, also from Canada). Amanda and I get on so well, it's amazing that we have only just met. She has her guitar and loves singing, we're very similar in lots of ways. She is to be the high school P.E. teacher (that is where our similarity ends - she goes running at 6am and I stay in bed!!) Noel is one of the High School English teachers. It is amusing to see that they are picking up my British accent and yet I am not effected by theirs - as it should be! It is amazing how different our vocabulary is...there is so much I say that they don't understand and needless to say I am teased mercilessly for it! Hopefully that will wear off soon!

So I'm not only learning Spanish I am also learning Canadian now! I understand far more Spanish than I can say, although when I went into the market I found I could say quite a bit. I am too shy to speak it around Sue or any English speaker who speaks Spanish, yet when we were in the market I was able to help out Noel and Amanda with the language.

We have had a week of meetings at the school which have all been translated for us. A team from Canada was down to try and help out with organising the school. This week they have gone back and we are getting on with it all. The children start next Monday. I have had a meeting with Silvia who is effectively my boss and it seems they are all counting on me to change all sorts of things. No pressure! I am to implement a new style of teaching - a style that doesn't include sitting in silence in rows. She has started writing the curriculum for Grade 1 English, but I have to write it for Grade 2. Hmmmm. Well we shall see how it goes! I have started decorating my classroom and making it colourful. It is a bit of a shock to the Honduran teachers! The High School, the Elementary school and the Kindergarten all have Principals and then Silvia is Director of all of them. Very confusing! But Silvia is my boss! Proffe Edit is my Principal and is lovely. She doesn't speak much English but understands it all. She reminds me completely of Sue McCue (you'd be impressed Sue!), she looks like a Honduran version and has very similar mannerisms. Well she has taken a liking to me, which is good considering how much I have to change and the fact she won't like the changes! I get on very well with her.

I went to church this weekend, clearly didn't understand much, but Spanish words are easy to follow so I sang with gusto!

I have so much school stuff to do now - like planning what on earth I am going to do! The Grade one's are supposed to know some English, but they don't know any at all - hence why the old teacher was sacked and I was brought in!! The Grade two's don't know much more though! Help!!

I am finding it is getting easier to settle in now, though at times it is still hard - especially when I can't talk to the staff here. The sky is always so beautiful and the sunsets stunning colours. All around our town are mountains and so it is simply beautiful. Every night there is lightening flashing around the mountains, we sometimes sit and watch it as it is just so bright!

I promise my next blog will have lots of photos!! I have been very bad at taking them so I will make it my mission tomorrow. Keep leaving comments!