Random Stories

**Creatures:
I don't think I am ever completely alone here. Wherever I am, there is some animal life in close proximity.

• In the morning, it begins with a visit from our neighborhood woodpecker. He apparently wants to be my new 6:00am wake-up call with his loud, incessant knocking. I often get up to shoo him away but then I can't get back to sleep. And I thought the hamburguesa man was annoying.

Then throughout each day I inevitably see:

• Horses - either they are munching on grass by the roadside (sometimes tied by rope and sometimes just wandering around) or men and boys are riding them bareback through the streets or men are riding on horse-drawn carts filled with fruit, vegetables, building materials, and once a family had their entire household belongings squeezed onto one (picture a 1930's-40's dustbowl family packed onto their little truck).
  
• Ants - a constant pest everyday. They are trying, anyway they can, to eat our food (even food you wouldn't think ants would like). They are exceptionally strong here, by the way. Many times, I have seen them carry leaves 5 times their body size. See them here stealing one of my macaroni noodles (they really know how to work together):

• Centipedes (or maybe they are millipedes - but who is going to count all their legs to find out?). They are pretty big but seem harmless. Mostly they come out when it rains (which is almost everyday. The weather here is strange. Almost daily there are, at some point, dark, ominous clouds accompanied by booming thunder and lightening but often not a drop of rain will fall. Though we have already been caught (either biking or walking) in pouring rain 5 times since our arrival.).

• One time a giant, dinosaur-sized, flying cockroach tried to attack Christina and I. Luckily, this only happened once and we had bug spray.
  
• On a daily basis, we ride our bikes past chickens, cows, ducks, turkeys, goats, and, of course, dogs. Our music as we ride consists of the weirdest bird calls I have ever heard, frogs croaking, and the constant, high-pitched buzz of cicadas. One day a cicada somehow got trapped in our "living room". It was so deafening our ears were ringing an hour after its demise. Lest I forget, the ever present mosquito. I have yet to be bitten but Christina is in a constant battle with them.
  

• Bees - for some reason there are always bees in my classroom. They seem to mind their own business but it is rather distracting.
• At dusk my favorite of all creatures appears. Fireflies! These magical, twinkling insects have been right in our own backyard lately. I hope they keep returning to delight me with their enchanting glow.
  

**Free Food:
We have discovered there is a banana tree going in our backyard. Recently, we found a whole bunch of bananas ripe and ready. The best part is they are manzana bananas. Manzana means apple in Spanish and these bananas really do have an apple flavor to them. They also stay ripe longer, which is good since we have so many to eat! I don't think I can go back to regular bananas after these; I have been converted. ** Things that are impossible to find here:

• Ziplock bags - how can you live without these? I really want to know? The second I get to the states I am bringing two boxes back.
  
• Cheese - we once found cheddar cheese but it was disgusting. They have a gross white cheese everyone eats but not us. They also have American, equally disgusting but it is okay for grilled cheese.
• Instant Oatmeal - If you know me well, you know I eat oatmeal everyday for breakfast and often for a late night snack. I would love some right now.
  
• Shampoo and Conditioner - technically they sell this here, but it is insanely expensive so that doesn't count.
  

**The Students:

• I teach 3rd grade here. The reading and writing levels in my class range from PreK to high 1st grade. Two students do not even know all the letter/sound relationships yet. This not like teaching 3rd grade at all. I can't even do read-alouds of my favorite kids books because they are all too high for them and the kids just stare at me with confused looks on their faces.
• Here are some excerpts from recent letters the kids wrote:
• "bicos ju sistar ard pridi" which means "because your sister is pretty"
• "Old yers you have 7 and my have 9 yers" which translates to "You are 7 years old and I am 9 years old."
• And the best student of all: "i af u aro" which (obviously!) means "I have two dogs". At least he knows there are four words and "af" is close to the sounds in "have".
  
• Even the ones who are "high" in English often have to use one or two Spanish words to communicate. Christina told me a student kept coming up to her saying, "I have a dollar in my head." Christina kept asking, "dollar? You have a dollar in your head?" and the student would nod. To clear her confusion, I translated that "dolor" is Spanish for "ache or pain".
  
• By the way, the schools here are so into holidays and celebrations it is ludicrous. We had to stay for a 2-hour meeting after work on Wednesday to talk about the United Nations Celebration. Each class will be in charge of a country, so we should have typical (read: stereotypical) food and costumes. It took 2 hours to say this! At the end, I asked about our upcoming exam week (which is before the UN day) and my comment was brushed aside as unimportant right now. "Oh, you give two tests a day, then school is over" the end. They are really focused on the education here, can't you tell?

**Volunteering and Beach:
Since we don't work until noon, and there is not much to do here except ride our bikes in the heat or go to the beach (or hand wash our clothes...no thanks) or read (I am already on my 6th book in as many weeks), Christina and I have been volunteering at a daycare for very low income families. The little tykes range from babies to age 5 and they are so cute. It is really a great way to start the day. We try to go twice a week. With all the hugs and attention we get, I don't think I can ever stop going. All of you who don't want to have kids are crazy!

We also tried to inquire into volunteering at the Red Cross. We rode our bikes over and went inside. All we saw were offices. We asked if they needed volunteers, they led us upstairs and, very formally, asked us to sit on the couch. We complied and asked again if they needed volunteers. They looked at us with confusion and said "no." What kind of Red cross doesn't need volunteers? Where was the clinic anyway? There are billboards around the city asking you to donate blood and there was an ambulance out front. We will have to try it again. Maybe there is another building. They are not going to get rid of me that easy.

We do end up going to the beach often though (oh, poor us). The water is always perfectly warm and so calm I can just float on it forever. Sometimes the sun gets too penetrating and we take cover under palm trees or a palapa. There are some tarps you can rent but it is not in our budget. If we are lucky, people will rent one for the day and leave after an hour or so. Then we can sneak in and lay under it for free. (By the way, it may look cold, but it has never been below 70 degrees F here. The temperature ranges from 68 to 93 degrees F, even in the middle of the night, even when it is pouring rain, even in January. Oh, poor me.)
One day at the beach, a man pulled out a rainbow-shaped parachute, strapped a motor and giant fan to his back, and began flying into the sky. He actually flew disturbingly high with his contraption. Everyone stared at the crazy man as he soared over the sea and land. Hopefully it all worked out for him.

About every 20 minutes or so, a Garifuna will walk by with coconuts and a machete asking if you want the milk, or if you want your hair braided, or if you want some pan de coco (good sweet bread with sugar sprinkled on top) or tableta (this stuff is gritty and terrible, not sweet at all). (The Garifuna are also known as black caribs. They are a mix of freed African slaves, Caribe, and Arawak races.)

And, of course, the ever present animals. One day, I swear, I saw a baby sea turtle swimming by me. You can often spot a crab darting out of its hole for a second. There are even horses are on the beach:
**Spanish:
One of main reasons I came here was to practice my Spanish. Since only about 10 people in the entire city speak English (including Christina and I), I get to practice my Spanish almost everyday. I am nowhere near as fluent as I would like but at least I am learning more vocabulary and gaining confidence. It is really fun actually (and often hilarious like when we kept asking for directions to the "oficina de correr" (office of running) when what we really wanted was the "oficina de correo" (office of mail - post office).

The best part is that since Christina has dark skin (she is Filipino) everyone assumes she speaks Spanish. So I initiate a conversation in Spanish with someone, they immediately turn to Christina and babble off a bunch of sentences in Spanish. She knows less Spanish than I do, so she turns to me and I reply back to them in Spanish. This triangle continues until they finally realize maybe Christina doesn't know Spanish...ah ha.

Amazing Vacation at D&D Hotel

Friday - After the parade, Christina and I rode for 7 hours by buses to get to the D&D hotel in Los Naranjos. It was a wild goose chase lugging our suitcases around in the heat trying to get on the correct buses but somehow it all worked out. Here is a random house seen from the roadside:The end of the bus ride was in pitch-black jungle on dirt roads. A little frightening. When we got to the hotel, we found it to be pretty booked up so, even though we had reservations, Christina and I had to share a bed in a tiny room. Luckily we had our own bathroom. The hotel was only 150 lemps ($8 US) each per night. We tried to sleep but our room was 1 of 4 that surround a community room and the other 8 guests were using the community room to play cards very loudly until late. With the paper thin walls, we didn't get much sleep. (You can get a private cabin but they are more expensive.)

The hotel is built to be part of the jungle and takes advantage of its beauty. Here is the open-air restaurant area and pool:Saturday - The 8 other loud guests turned out to be pretty cool. They are all volunteering for 3 months at a hospital in La Esperanza. None of them even knew each other before coming to Honduras. We decided to join them and we all took a trip to the Pulhapanzak Waterfall. It was a short bus ride and walk from the hotel. It was the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen. The pictures do not do it justice.
Christina and our 8 new friends all took a "behind the falls" journey. I am not into heart-pounding danger so I opted to stay and enjoy the view from the safety of the bridge. At the top of the falls, there were big swimming holes and a restaurant. You can watch a short (13 sec.) video of the falls by clicking here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4wVpKvscAQ

Afterward, Christina and I tried to go to the lake, Lago de Yojoa, but the bus people didn't understand which part of the lake we wanted to go to. We tried explaining that all we wanted to do was rent a boat. We ended up on 4 different buses and rode halfway around the large lake and only found two small motorboats for rent. Click here to see scenes of the bus ride past all the numerous seafood restaurants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkPFYjHhWwY
By that time it was getting dark and we had to head back to the hotel. At the hotel, we were informed that we can rent a boat and walk to the lake from the hotel.

Sunday - We decided to go to the Cerro Azul Meambar National Park for a hike. From the bus stop, the park entrance is 7.5 km. We were lucky enough to get a ride right away. They asked for 75 lemps ($4 US) each but when we explained that we are volunteer teachers, they did it for free. We hiked the full loop, about an 8km trail. The first 3 hours were all uphill. The trail was well maintained and even had some log steps in parts. We were exhausted but had an amazing view of the lake and surrounding countryside. The lake was hidden by clouds in the photo. It was impossible to capture the real magnificence of it all. We continued our hike and reached the first waterfall. This one you cannot swim in because the water in used for drinking. The second one you can swim in. We walked over a few hanging bridges:
Then we came to a second lookout. We could see an amazing 360-degree view of the entire area. Click on the link to see a video of the view and listen to the chainsaw-sounding cicadas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkqgXzBM3nQ Overall, it took us about 7 hours to hike all the way around while stopping to eat snacks, enjoy the views, and, most importantly, breathe. Afterward, the park offered us a ride back to the main road for 75 lemps ($4) each which we declined because we are poor (and yes, we really are that poor. We only make $200/mo. which, after we pay our internet bill, is about $5/day. You try it.). So instead, we began walking the 7.5km back to the main road thinking we would get a free ride soon enough. Ha, ha.

It began to rain, hard, and we were on a dirt road in the forest. Then it started getting dark and there are no streetlights in the mountains. There were no cars. The few houses we passed were wooden shacks with corrugated tin roofs and outhouses ...but no cars. After already hiking for 7 hours in the park, our legs were dying.

One thing made it all worthwhile...we got to see fireflies after it got dark. There were fireflies all over. They are so rad!

After walking 4.5km mostly uphill, we reached a small village. We were led to a taxi driver's house where, luckily, he offered us a ride all the way back to our hotel (good for us since the buses had already stopped running). After bargaining and pleading about how poor we are, it ended up being 100 lemps ($5) each. So much for us trying to save money. By that time we had been hiking/walking mostly uphill for 9 hours! Wow! Back at the hotel, we ate, showered, and passed out.

Monday - We woke with very sore legs. We decided to take it easy and go spelunking. Actually, it is fairly easy. We picked a very developed cave that has a concrete pathway and colored lights throughout, the Taulabe Caves. Once again using our volunteer status, we got in for the half-price, resident rate, 25 lemps ($1.50).
It was very glittery and much of it looked like dripping candle wax. It was like being in Land of the Lost (an old TV show for you young'ens). There were many interesting stalactite and stalagmite formations. We even saw some fruitbats flying around and hanging on the ceiling.
We finished exploring fairly quickly and headed back to the hotel for lunch. Then we walked down the road to a quaint, fairy-tale like botanical garden. They had a beautiful little river.
They even had some cute cabins and picnic areas with tables and chairs carved from tree trunks.Tuesday - Unfortunately, we had to leave and head back to Tela. But before we left, we still wanted our boat ride on the lake. We woke up 6:30am and ate. The hotel owner showed us his mini-museum of artifacts he has found while living here. Some date back to 600 b.c. He also mines for crystals which he proudly displayed. Then we hired a young guide for the boat ride. He took us out in a row boat that we had to continuously scoop water out of to keep it afloat.
Although he only spoke Spanish, I understood most of his information. He showed us birds, fish, insects, an iguana, and some eggs (I wasn't clear as to what animal these belonged but I appreciated the heart shape, very motherly).
We saw more fruit bats hanging and flying.There was a house along the lake that is only accessible by boat. We didn't see any motorboats, so whenever they want to leave, they gotta start rowing. We also saw some women from the house bathing and washing clothes in the lake.
The lake is large and beautiful. I wish we had more time to enjoy it. But, alas, we had to go back, pay, get our bags, and hop back on the bus. This is the view of me looking back at the road to the hotel and lovely town. I fell in love with its beauty and, although Tela is also lush and green, the people I encountered here were so warm and friendly. This is truly an ideal community. One of the best places I have ever been.
Luckily it only took 5 hours to get back home. Here is a shot along the way:
So many details, people, and photos have been sacrificed in the name of time but when I return you can see and hear about much more. It was one of the best trips of my life. If any of you get a chance to visit Honduras, I highly recommend this town and all its offerings. I will be returning.

A Holiday, A Princess, and A Parade

As you can tell by the title, this week has involved very little actual teaching.

Monday was Dia Del Nino (day of the child). It is a very big deal here in Honduras. It is supposed to be a big party all day with the kids. As school began at noon, my class played multiplication bingo. Halfway through the game, a teacher came by and scolded me for "teaching". I explained that we were playing a game and he seemed to accept that. We continued on with the game and two teachers began setting up a stereo system right outside my class. They turned it on very loud. My class had to yell in order to finish the game. I quickly realized I should not try to "teach" anymore. I decided to let the kids hang out and dance for awhile. The music chosen by the teachers was what would usually be deemed unacceptable for children, at least at schools in the US (like Fergie's "Lovely Lady Lumps" and some 50 Cent songs). After some dancing, I got the food ready. The students brought in pizzas, cookies, candy, chips, soda, ice cream, and tostadas. They ate all of it!

After eating, we played on the playground and watched a few classes burst open the pinatas that students had brought. Oddly enough, all the pinatas were Dora the Explorer. The we went upstairs for the teacher assembly. Christina and I were told that we had to think of some song or dance or something to perform for the kids. We decided to get them involved so we sang "Down by the Bay" and had them repeat every line after us. We made posters to go along with each line (to sneak in some reading). The male teachers all dressed up like women and had a sort of beauty contest. It was interesting. The most frustrating part of the day is just the lack of communication. We had been told to teach the first two class periods, but then were scolded when we tried to and couldn't anyway due to the music. We also kept asking what time the assembly was and no one seemed to know so it made it hard to plan the day. But I went with the flow and the kids seemed to have fun.

Tuesday we actually got to teach the whole day, except the last hour of school when we are still practicing marching for the Independence parade.

Wednesday we went on a "field trip". The entire elementary school was packed into one bus which we rode to another school in town, Institute of San Antonio (the kids were 4 to a seat and some still had to stand...safety first). We were lead into a giant concrete auditorium to vote for a princess for the Independence parade. Each school had picked one 5th grade girl to run for princess (they pick the girl based on if her parents are well known in the community and if they have money to afford nice costumes). Our princess was a girl named America. The whole beauty pageant lasted from 1:00pm until 4:30pm. Wow!
Each princess was paraded around the auditorium numerous times for her school to cheer for her. The schools would scream as loud as possible, chant sayings, and throw confetti (that part was fun). Then each girl performed a song or dance or speech, and then paraded around more. Some girls had 3 different costumes.
By the end of it our school's princess was announced as the winner! The kids and staff were very excited. (I still believe the whole thing was rigged because they was another girl who was very beautiful and did an amazing dance and she wasn't even in the top 4.)
Then we all crammed back on the bus and rode back to our school with everyone scream/singing "Cual es la escuela mas mejor? Jeannette Kawas, si senor." (which school is the best? Jeannette Kawas, yes sir). Maybe a waste of a day but at least it raised our school spirit a lot.Thursday, also involved little teaching. I gave the kids a math test, we practiced some phonics/spelling, they went to computers, and then recess/lunch. After lunch the students practiced marching until the end of the school day. So they marched from 2:20pm until 5:00pm. I felt sorry for them and kept letting my group sit down and rest. The students are put into different groups for the parade: baton twirlers, the band, pompom girls, honor roll, and then my group of just the left overs. I found out for the real parade I get to march next to the princess! That night in town we watched a band from another school practice for the parade. Click on the link to see them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQl-fJv4ISU

Friday our whole school met at 8:00am at the park at the entrance to town. Our school was #16 in the line-up. The streets were packed with what seemed to be the entire town. Each group had their own uniform. Here are the band and baton twirlers:One boy dressed as a Native American:
The Pompom girls did routines throughout the parade that matched the beat of our band:
The parade route was only about 10 blocks but it took us two hours to march them. We ended up at the central park in town. During the entire parade, the sun was beating down on us. We were all melting. The worst part was that with all the time we wasted for the last 3 weeks having the kids practice marching everyday, the parade was so slow everyone just walked. Let me say that again so it sinks in: THERE WAS NO MARCHING!!!

With the parade finished, Christina and I are now leaving for a long weekend trip. We have Monday and Tuesday off so we are taking a 6 hour bus ride to a lake, Lago de Yojoa. You can rent boats for the lake, go on jungle hikes to waterfalls and swimming holes, and explore caves. We are leaving Friday after the parade and will be back on Tuesday evening so check in next week for photos and stories.

Hurricane Felix

(If you're on my email list, most of this is a repeat)
On Sunday, we got warning that Hurricane Felix was headed right for us and was now a category 5 (the highest possible).On Monday, our principal, Vanessa, called to let us know school was canceled and she could take us into town for supplies. We bought a large bucket to store water, extra candles, and food. The stores were crowded and running out of essential supplies. At home, we scrubbed the slime out of our pila (a large, outdoor washtub) and filled it with emergency water.
As we awoke on Tuesday, school was again canceled. The hurricane was projected to reach us Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. It was very warm and sunny outside so Christina and I decided to go into town for some errands and then head for the beach. Why not...we have the day off and nothing else to do, right? We rode our bikes to town, paid our insanely expensive internet bill (especially because it doesn't even work half the time) and bought a longer ethernet cable so we don't have to sit on the floor to type. (Our week-long roommate bought a router so we could be wireless but, alas, he took it with him when he bailed).

Right after the purchase, it began to pour. Instantaneously, the streets were flooded. We decided against the beach, although it was still hot, and rode home in the downpour. It was really quite fun. We got home completely drenched. We then walked to the store for ice, in case we needed to store food in the cooler, and walked back home, casually enjoying the outdoor shower coming down on us.

Once home, we realized it was only noon and we had the whole day to do...what??? We were trapped in the house. The internet was not working so I read, painted my nails, listened to some NPR podcasts (This American Life, Hearing Voices, Nature Stories, etc.), and then we watched part of a movie. We thought about taking a walk but right then it started raining again. Finally, at about 8:00pm, our internet began working again so we could talk to our family and friends and let them know we were fine.

By Tuesday night, the hurricane's path was changing course and heading farther south of us. It had also been downgraded back to a topical storm. At about 2:00am, I woke up to some wind and heavy rain but still not too bad. The tin roof over our clothes lines almost blew away. That was the most exciting thing at happened. So far, we still have water, electricity, and internet. Our backyard and streets seem pretty flooded but luckily we only had only one small leak in the house.

Wednesday morning, everything seems calm and, except for lingering clouds, the storm seems to have passed us unscathed. School is canceled again and will resume on Thursday. By the end of it all, the storm now looks like this (what a scam!):
Wednesday night, the electricity and water were shut off for about 3 hours. We read by candlelight and watched movies until our computer batteries died. We had to bucket flush the toilet. Overall, the hurricane was quite a letdown. But at least we're safe.

San Pedro Sula - The Big City (and roommate news)

On Saturday, Christina and I sat around all day hand washing our clothes (you really wouldn't believe how much energy it drains from you just to do one tiny load), reading, and watching a movie on my computer. So we decided on Sunday we needed to get out and explore something new.

We woke up at 5:00am on Sunday, got dressed, applied sunblock, ate our pancakes, and walked up the street to catch the bus to San Pedro Sula. San Pedro is the 2nd biggest city in Honduras. The bus came quickly and was half empty. Honduras uses old school buses from the US for public transportation here. Often they do not even repaint them so they are still yellow and display names of various US school districts on the sides. The ride was $1.50 and took about 2 hours to get to the bus depot in Progresso. The scenery was amazing: just lush green hills and valleys with a few rivers and streams and small villages thrown in. One hilarious (or possibly annoying if we knew more Spanish) part of the ride was a woman who stood up, faced the passengers, and began preaching a sermon for about an hour. The she walked around to try to collect money. The weirdest part was we randomly happened to get on the bus with her again on the ride home and she repeated the whole act. Luckily, I had my iPod. When we reached the bus station in Progresso, we had to transfer to another bus which was about $0.75 and took a 1/2 hour to get into the center of San Pedro. From there, we walked over to the Parque Central (central park- where everyone just hangs out and people watches. Most cities here are built around one). It was quite crowded with mostly men, a preacher, some photographers, and even a clown making balloon animals. They even had a lovely waterfall. One of the guide books proclaimed this the most beautiful park in Honduras. Although it was fairly small, I have to agree compared with those I have seen so far.
Then we walked across the street to the cathedral. It had extremely high ceilings, stained glass windows, and nice paintings, statues, and altars. It wasn't as impressive as others I have visited but still very pretty.
Then we walked over a few blocks to the Museum of Anthropology and History. It is free the first Sunday of each month (which was one of the motivating factors in making the trip today). They had many interesting displays of artifacts with descriptions in Spanish and English. One display contained some preserved animals: armadillo (they are so cool), lizard, and turtle.
Another display contained human skull remains. The teeth shown had some designs and alterations made to them which was apparently a popular way to decorate your body many years ago (maybe this is when "grillz" originated). Wacky! They had some well preserved statues:
The museum even had two life-size huts they built to simulate those used by the original people here.After the museum, we walked around the city awhile. Unfortunately, San Pedro has imported numerous US food franchises. Within a few blocks we stumble across: Popeye's Chicken, KFC (complete with a statue of the colonel sitting on a bench in front), 2 Pizza Huts, Little Caesars, Baskin Robbins, McDonald's, Wendy's, and even a Cinnabuns. It was very overwhelming. Instead of these imports, we decided to eat lunch at a more authentic, local outdoor market that even had live band playing. It was delicious. Some of you were shocked to see my students eating pizza. Here is proof we have actual delivery available also (not that Christina and I could ever afford it. On our salary, we get to eat a cheap dinner out only on Friday. The rest of our week is basic food like Top Ramen, pasta, bean burritos, eggs, pancakes, cereal, I even found soy milk (yippee!), and PB & J).
Then we explored the local outdoor market. It was pretty much like a swap meet: some junk, some useful items, and some food to try. The market was huge and just kept twisting and turning endlessly.
We then hopped on the bus and repeated the journey home, with the preacher woman and all. Unfortunately, our bus broke down only about 30 minutes into the trip and we had to switch buses. The new bus was extremely crowded and we had to stand for half the trip. The leftover US sign on board read "84 people maximum". I counted over 100 squeezed in. Overall, the bus ride was very enjoyable, mostly because of the lovely scenery.

On other news:
We also got our new roommate and co-teacher (for less than a week). Our new roommate, James (originally from Connecticut but taught for 2 months in El Salvador last year), arrived and moved in on Monday. He seemed really nice. He began teaching on Wed. and he really enjoyed the students (he was teaching Literature for 7th - 11th grades - They graduate in 11th grade here ). On Friday night, we went to dinner with him and another volunteer from our school, Kim (originally from Belgium, she has been here 3 years now and is engaged to a Honduran). At dinner, James mentioned he wasn't sure if this was the place for him. He was considering moving to Nicaragua to teach in a smaller village but he wasn't sure yet.

Well... when we came home from San Pedro Sula, he was gone with only a note left on the table. He had taken most of his things (and left a few random items for us to throw away for him) and he had apparently flown off to Nicaragua. We were upset with him because he didn't even have the respect or courage to tell the school he was leaving. We had to call the principal and let her know. We both thought it was very inconsiderate and rude. I didn't even have a chance to get a photo of him. So it is now back to just the two of us and we have a spare bedroom now (want to visit? or even better, come teach here with us???). So here is our only remembrance of him: