Job Discussion Forums

Chazz · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:58 pm Post subject: EBH School in Honduras

Well, I have not posted in months...whatever happened to moonraven? Did she get the boot or has she merely become estranged or did she take up another "hobby"....
I digress...
I took a job at EBH a few months back and have been here in Comayagua for two months, working for a month or so...
The school is legit, well-respected and comes through on all of their promises. The homes provided are nice and your coworkers all pretty good folk.
Don�t be scared because they are looking so late in the year. It is just typical ESL BS...a last minute cancellation, a rookie who found she had no taste for it and an old hand who grown to comfortable with the way of things in Korea and Japan to deal with Central AMerica�s laid back ism.
Your money will get you quite far here and Honduras is a beautiful, amazing country full of beautiful people (not to mention desparate ones).
That being said, lets not kid ourselves here - this is the third world. I may teach the richest kids in it but at the end of the day I still have to make my home in this country. We don�t live in a particularly romantic part of this fairly decent town. Getting comfortable will take time. Here, you basically take the same chances as anywhere else so if you�re latin american savvy and have some common sense you oughtta get along fine.
The Best:
The local business folk are very gracious to you and it has a sorta small-town feel. Everything is affordable and there are myriad weekend travel opportunities to blow minds. The weather until dry season. Best cigars, fruit and coffee in the world (though they export most).
The Worst:
Men here are more in touch with their inner pig and women aren�t always that subtle either...lotsa machismo. The dangers of living in a small gringo commune amongst the rough folk of a poor country. No matter what you think, what you have or how you try to spin it, by almost everybody here (but for the wealthy folks we work for/with) we are seen as Rich.
hmmmm...
I hope that my rambling on has served one of you job-searchers well. Best of luck.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:47 pm Post subject:

Welcome back Chazz,
Glad to hear it's working out positively. How's the Spanish coming?

I think being seen as rich is something we run into all over Latin America, and compared to the majority, we are. So is the rampant sexism, which I don't see much hope of changing. (Though I keep trying, one small mind at a time.)

Have you found anything good to do in your spare time? In terms of getting out of the gringo community, getting to know the country (the way it really is) and really getting the local idiom perfect, I have found volunteering to be invaluable. And met a lot of great people along the way.

Anyway, take care, and keep us posted.

Justin

Chazz · Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 2:32 pm Post subject: Hey JT.

Not too involved with the locals yet. We have been robbed a lot and our neighbourhood�s not too cool. all the same we party a lot and hang out with locals on the weekedns and at soccer games and church. I really make a point of patronizing a few locals businesses as folk are really gracious in that context. My lady is at home and so I am given more to solitude and so far I have only done a little volunteering. Working at the school is not only disappointingly English but quite tiring for a first time teacher.
I like travelling on my own. Bending my Spanish and stretching it so that I get on the right bus and don�t get ripped off by cabbies.
Oh well. Pleanty of time...

Firecat · Joined: 22 Jul 2005 Posts: 14

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 12:22 am Post subject:

But to be fair, we need some definitions. how did you get robbed? It's never good, but some ways are a lot worse than others. Also, how often is a lot?

Those of us who have been on the road for a while don't get too worked up over an occasional nonviolent robbery.

Regards,
Justin

Chazz · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:43 pm Post subject:

Whoa, sorry about being so vague. It didn't really occur to me that I ought to specify.
So, TO CLARIFY: Our neighbours/coworkers were robbed of all valuables - they were broken into while on a trip. The next week people again snuck onto our property and while we slept stole whatever they could from outside our homes - shoes, laundry...pathetic...then the next week we lost more shoes and a bike...I don't know, there have ben something like four break-ins / one serious robbery and the rest petty theft.
Now we have security and and protection and things are much better. I blame part on the fact that we are 14 gringoes living in a not-so-sweet neighbourhood, part on the fact that the school took their time getting us secured and part of it on shit luck. AT LEAST THERE HAVE BEEN NO VIOLENT INCIDENTS!!!

Oh well, you just move on and DON'T BECOME TOO PARANOID. If I had known how "unsafe" it can be I would have come anyways. The school should have been smarter about securing us but likewise this is the third world and I didn't really expect bad things not to happen.
This is only one of our perspectives but I always hear about people getting jackd for this and that down here and I try not to let it affect me in any manner other than carrying myself with caution.

Enough said and then some.

Flo · Joined: 29 Mar 2004 Posts: 112

Hey Chazz - it sounds a lot like my experience in Peru. Being a foreigner does make you appear wealthy to all the locals, regardless of how much money you have. It also makes you a target for robbery. Do all of you have to live together? Seems like that would just make all of you stand out more.

In Peru we had a maid that kept an eye on the place. The neighbors also had a guard dog that probably scared most people away. She was a big baby but had an intimidating bark!

I loved your line about the men being in touch with their inner pig. Laughing

Chazz · Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:55 pm Post subject:

Hi Flo...
Ya, we all live together. 15 or 16 of us. I call it the gringo ghetto and once joked that we put up and American flag with a dollar sign emblazoned on it. I don't know how thoroughly the school thought things out but really, everybody, even those robbed badly, is settling in, getting along, doing their respective things. All is well in our humble little ghetto and someone showed this week to fill one of the positions.
Anyways, thanks for the reply. Stay classy, San Diego.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

I have experienced robbery only once. It's sad to say it but I'm about 90% sure that it was one of the outgoing foreign teachers who ripped me off, not a local person.

If there are a rash of robberies occurring in your area, you may want to consider that possibility. Who else knows your work schedules, what possessions you have in your residence, etc..?

Chazz · Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 5:30 pm Post subject:

Ya, there was a rash of robberies in the area. I actually feel slightly "safer" now that we've been stolen from...hopefully they don't figure we've got as many nice toys anymore if word has gotten around, which it does here.
Oh well, I gave up worrying long ago. I sleep like a puppy and have since I've been here with few acceptions, on account of worry is not in my character...WORRY IS A SORRY WASTE OF TIME, just ask Buddha.
I basically don't think about it...these ladrons cannot rob me of much anyways and I am pretty sure that white people (all be it innocent and well-intentionned as they may be) getting robbed down south or anywhere poor for that matter is all part of some twisted cosmic balance or something....maybe not....there's that stupid white liberal guilt shit surfacing again.
Damn.
Oh well, back to the platter at hand. Back to work and life and maybe getting some sun for my pasty white e-mailing, chatting, homebodied ass...

clean_sanchez · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 7:33 pm Post subject:

Hey Chazz... I just got picked up at a school in La Esperanza not too far from Comayagua... since this is in the same general area of Honduras, I was wondering if you've heard anything good or bad about La Esperanza

Chazz · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 10:06 pm Post subject: La Esperanza

Well...only been in L.E. briefly...same shit, different place. Much smaller than Comayagua, and probably better for it. It�s a little more temperate too (ie not quite as hot as hell with the nice mountain breezes). I have heard some nice things about school and life there. Apparently there�s a nice market. It is peaceful...but I am no expert, by any means! And, hey, if you get bored, you can always call me in Comayagua and we�ll party...if indeed that is what you do...or not party. It is a good country out here...what you make of it anyways.

PEACE.

P.S.: Good call on Mr. Vonnegut. Smile

clean_sanchez · Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:50 pm Post subject:

Right on... thats about what Ive heard about it... peaceful small town atmosphere.

By the way I'm from Canada... it wouldnt be Canadian of me NOT to party... I might take you up on that offer