Doctor's Visit and School Fair

I've done really well healthwise until now, but have now succumbed to another dose of bronchitis which I suppose comes with the colder weather we've been experiencing.  It's been getting down to 21`C at night.  'Oh, no!'  I can hear the Tasmanians crying.  ( facetiously of course!)   Still something good and interesting always comes out of all problems.   I was taken to the doctor's last night at a clinic called El Buen Samaritan.

Vanessa was very kind, borrowed her brother's car and drove me into Tela.   The clinic is lovely and clean and reminded me of the doctor's surgery in the early 60's in Tasmania.   It's was all clean and bright and open, no televisions and brochures to make more money for the drug companies and the female doctor was so sweet.   The nurse took my blood pressure with an antique machine while the rubber pressure bulb using for inflating the band around my arm kept coming off.  Finally she managed to get a reading, which of course was very good.  

The doctor was wearing a pink apron with pictures of Marilyn Munoe all over it in keeping with the era.  She diagnosed a throat infection and a lung infection by looking down my throat with a good flashlight and using the stethoscope decided I had laryngitis. Not much money in pathology testing here!    I had to have one injection which was bought from the chemist outside and given in my buttock by the nurse.   ( It was a clean needle and syringe, I promise.)  I was also prescribed some antibiotics and some more cough medicine, the same as I had before which had no effect whatsoever.

I'm not feeling much different today but coughing much less.  I just can't talk much with such a crackly voice.

We are having an Honduran travel expo at school.  It's being called 'Feria', which means festival to make, firstly, the school look good and then the Hondurans love their country, second.   Any presentation like this involves total neglect of all school discipline, everyone is encouraged to make as much noise as they can and more, including the teachers.   All normal routines go out the window. 

I've had to sit in with the Spanish teacher who spent 2 whole 40 minute Spanish sessions organising the food for the day which the children are going to eat while the boys yelled, slid around the room, made paper planes and giggled.  My evil looks did nothing to change the situation and the boys just continued their behaviour.   Every now and then I would hear my name being mentioned and the kids would tell me what I had to do in the artline, but I couldn't do anything because there are no materials to use.   The children have to go out and buy whatever we need with money they get from home.

We are into the second week of preparations now, the first week was only noisy in the Spanish lesson, now it's noisy everywhere in the school and all lessons have ceased.   I was only at school on Monday when it rained all afternoon, Tuesday, I went to school and found I had a new student, a boy who's been deported from USA.    When the other boys were poking each other with umbrellas and running around the room and I could hardly get a sound out of my throat first thing in the day, I decided it was time to go home. 

Glenn came home early on Tuesday and Wednesday to keep and eye on me and today, it's been decided there's no school for the children while the staff continue preparing for the fair. The children take all their work home and get their parents to do it better. Glenn and I just couldn't get any information on what we had to do with the children for the fair and the more questions we asked the more we got ignored or fobbed off with very unhelpful answers.   We're definitely in the way.  It's really hard and stressful for us to stand back and watch the Honduran teachers work their butts off while we do nothing.

Tomorrow is the big day, starting at 7 am, finishing at 1 pm.  It's going to be a big event with the local television channel coming to photograph the students being tourist guides in their classroom dressed in traditional clothes.   I do hope all the hard work makes it a great success for the school.