Firstly, I apologise to all those who are reading my blog often enough to notice that I haven't updated it in a while. I've been incredibly busy recently. In fact, even now I should be marking a stack of grade 6 "Adaptations" Science quizzes.

Let me explain why I'm so busy. I am a grade 4 homeroom teacher. This means I teach them 5 lessons a day: Maths, Science, Reading, Grammar and Spelling. I also teach grade 6 Science four times a week. All these lessons take a lot planning. A quiz also needs to be prepared for the end of the week. These quizzes need marking. That's six sets every week for me - 5x21 for grade 4 and 1x17 for grade 6; that's 122 quizzes to mark each week. Every student's book needs marking every week and they have two each for each subject; a workbook and a notebook. That's 244 books to mark every week. As a homeroom teacher I am also responsible for the grade 4 student's weekly reports and, as I am currently worrying over, their quarterly reports which go out two weeks before exams. We also have to write exams four times a year. Other things such as recording and organising points for good homework, behaviour and attendance, have to be fitted in amongst all of this planning, marking and examining. I must be clear here by saying that I am not complaining. I actually love this work. I have always loved being busy and this is keeping me more than occupied! I love that feeling of getting home from an exhausting, yet rewarding day at work and collapsing on the sofa.

Since my last blog, which I wrote nearly a month ago (again, I apologise) a lot has changed. I now live with Graciela and Raul who are the parents of my host Vanessa and two other teachers at the school. Graciela is really sociable. If she's not at school (which she set up), she's organising a church gathering or at one of her many political meetings. This means that she and Raul are usually out, so Alix and I still have to buy and cook our own food. This is fine with us as we really enjoy cooking. We've recently purchased two very exciting new vegetables, one called patastillo which sort of resembles a light green, elongated pear crossed with a spikey cucumber without the seeds and more of a potatoey consistency. The other one looks a bit like a squash, but we don't know its name and haven't cooked with it yet, so I have no idea what it tastes like.

We now live a lot further from the school. We were a minutes walk from the volunteers house but now we're a forty minute walk or fifteen minute cycle ride from the school. I enjoy the cycle though. On our bikes it goes quickly and I get a chance to shout "buenas!" to about 20 different people shouting "hola teacher!" at me. And, our new home happens to be exactly 3 minutes and 30 seconds away from a usually deserted, white sandy Caribbean beach! We visit every weekend, but only early in the morning or late afternoon because at any other time we risk getting fried alive! Not just by the sun, but also by the burning hot sand! To get from my towel into the sea I have to embarrass myself with a flappy, screamy run and I'm pretty sure today I burnt the bottoms of my feet on that sand. It's worth it though to reach the sea. This morning the sea was particularly beautiful, it was so clear and warm! It's sometimes hard to believe I'm actually here. It feels a bit like a dream. Like I might wake up tomorrow and still be desperately trying to raise the last £1,000 to come here. I also keep remembering that this real-life dream must end one day. However much I miss everyone at home, I don't like thinking about leaving this place and like the beach on the weekends, I will have to reluctantly drag myself away.

This weekend we are off to visit the Copan Mayan Ruins on a school trip! We're also going to renew our VISAs! I'm really excited! The Mayan ruins are one of the main tourist attractions of Honduras and the temples , sacrificial tables and everything are meant to be incredible. I read a National Geographic article on my Kindle recently about the Mayan calendar ending in 2012 and how it's sparked this end of the world obsession. I'll let you know if you should be building an arc or a nuclear shelter after my visit! Until then, keep living as though you only have 84 days to live!