Sunday, July 18, 2010

Playing for Pizza

Not just a Grisham book anymore

DSC09546For months I had no idea that the owner of the best pizza joint in town was a rock/blues lover with a selection of guitars and amps to boot. Having eaten there many times (during our Tortilla and Beans Acclimating Period TBAP), we knew Jim (see picture: man on the right) and his place pretty well and later caught wind that he liked to play guitar, but it wasn’t until February when I finally decided set a date to jam.

It was incredible, a true win-win. I went over to the shop around 10AM, a few hours before people started coming in. He had several really nice guitars (Gibson SG, Strats, Tele…), and he let me playDSC09380 whichever one I wanted. I played through a really high tech Line 6 amp(which made me sound pretty good). We then just strike up a jam track and go. I then started trying to play weekly, and sometimes a familiar Copaneco named Saul (see top picture: the person on the left) would jam with us. He played the keyboard and was more or less the rhythm section, playing chords while the piano track supplied the bass and drums, and Jim and I soloed over top. Sometimes we actually sounded pretty darn good if I say so myself. Well, I was getting my guitar fix big time, and to top it off, Jim gave me a pizza/dinner every time we played. Talk about a real deal.

I continued to jam with Jim regularly until we left, which came in handy towards the end because we got lazy and stopped wanting to cook, but it was OK because we could eat there for free!

Bottom Line: Jamming with Jim is just one of the many things I’m going to miss from such a unique and wonderful experience in Copan. Ahhh, what a life it was!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

LDOC

2nd Grade A on the Last Day of Classes

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4th Grade A on the Last Day of Classes

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As a farewell present for the 4th graders (and us teachers too), we went to El Jaral, which is actually the name of a nearby town but has become synonymous with the only attraction there- the Aqua Park. It was great to be with my students outside of a school context like riding down the highway in the back of a pickup truck singing the popular jams. They had a blast and wanted Michael and me to be apart of everything. Some even bought us lunch. By the end, all the sliding, swimming, and paddling helped soften the goodbyes and will hopefully leave them with fond .memories of 4th grade.

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Oh yeah, check out the lifeguard for the big slide.

Required uniform for employees of El Jaral:

  • Cowboy hat (to protect skin from dangerous UV rays)
  • Polo shirt (read: “better be careful cause I don’t want to get wet”)
  • Blue jeans held up with a polished belt buckle (because only little boys and girls show their legs)
  • Genuine leather boots (apparently appropriate for any and all situations)

They love me!…They really love me!

One day our disciplinarian asked me if I had seen the Copan kid’s paper yet. I told her I hadn’t, and she brought me this copy.

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Translation:

Front page: Copan Newspaper- A children’s newspaper for the boys and girls of Copan Ruinas.

Page 3 (top left) Mayatan Bilingual School- My name is Maricruz. I study in Mayatan Bilingual School. I like it a lot because I am learning English. I am in 4th grade. My teacher is Mr. Allan. He is very fun and intelligent. He doesn’t like it when we speak in Spanish.