This message has been brought to you by H1N1

While the swine flu epidemic (also known as H1N1) may be nothing more than a faint memory in the minds of North Americans, it is alive and well in Honduras. Yesterday, the entire IST staff was called into an emergency meeting to discuss ways to prevent this disease from spreading in our school. With one Honduran school already shut down this year due to the virus, IST decided to take action before the health department shut us down as well. Their solution: SANITIZE!! Within hours, the whole school building was covered in fliers reminding students to wash their hands, each classroom was supplied a bottle of hand sanitizer to be used as students enter the classroom, students are greeted on their way into school by the principal holding a bottle of sanitizer they must use, and my personal favorite - signs were hung that read:

"Doctors Orders.......keep hands and lips to yourself. NO physical contact. ~Sponsored by H1N1"

Tells you a little bit about Honduran culture, doesn't it? Telling a Honduran to keep their lips to themselves is like telling a soccer player they can't use their feet to play futbol! It is absolutely necessary to greet someone by kissing their cheek! Still, it made me laugh.

The downfall to the "heightened security" though is that students are told if they develop any signs of sickness, even as simple as that of a cold, they MUST stay home from school until they are A.) seen by a doctor and it is determined that they are safe to return to school or B.) stay away from school for at least 7 days, giving their symptoms ample time to clear up. What this means for teachers: STRESS!! Classrooms are half empty due to the new rule meaning many students will be coming and asking for a week's worth of makeup assignments, creating triple the amount of work for us.

Today the school doctor was making his rounds to each classroom to examine all of the kids who felt sick or who "had the sniffles." He graciously made his appearance in my classroom right after I had started to give my students their vocab and novel quiz. When he peeked his head into my classroom and asked that all students who felt ill in any way please stand up and follow him, of course half my students walked out the door!! They returned at the end of the period, healthy and smiling. I now have to make them their own version of the quiz and find a time to let them take it :( Oh the beauty of teaching in Honduras!

Despite all of the downfalls though, us North American teachers are getting quite a kick out of the whole thing and hopefully our sense of humor is enough to help us make it through this ordeal.