A rap by Emery Harstein and Maggie Bellino.
Hello from Honduras, saludos a usted,
we were going to write a story, but chose to rap instead
We'll begin by recounting our past few weeks at school,
A lot of which was difficult, most of which was cool.
We encourage you to look up all the words that you don't know,
Prepare, for this is Maggie and Emery's "Update Flow."
We don't know how your day starts, but we're goin' tell you about ours,
we wake up to a chorus of noisy cats, horses and a parade of cars.
6 am breakfast consists of oatmeal and Mahonchos,
more than likely its raining, and we're grateful for our ponchos.
school starts with a prayer, and a salute to the flag,
and ends climbing a huge hill with a heavy book-bag.
in between the two, our day is pretty hectic,
working with children that are, to say politely, pretty reckless.
now you may ask yourself,
"self? How is a high school and first grade teacher feeling the same way?"
But you would understand if you lived here just one day.
Attitudes are pretty synonymous for grades all around,
Each kid seems to think the classroom is their personal playground.
Its hard to keep their attention, even in detention,
which inevitably leads to a detention-extension!!!!
First grade loses recess, and thinks its funny to stay in at lunch,
Tears flow whether they are taking a pencil or giving a punch.
A beehive in a classroom, seems to BEE no thing,
And yet we are not immune, even after the tenth bee sting!
In both classes we've experienced lesson plans a-crashin'
Which have successfully turned into discussions on compassion.
They may not be able to sit in their chair,
but they are learning that what's right isn't necessarily what's fair.
They are expanding their boundaries, and for that we are proud,
we remember this when we can't speak because our classroom is SOO loud.
one kid thinks he's a dog, another shoves himself in lockers
and those two aren't even our talkiest of talkers.
A pick-up game of soccer, to calm all our senses
our not far-away field is just a jump over prohibited fences
On a dimmer note, it is not all beauty, we have found
Remarkable scenery if you look up, and hazardous waste if you look down.
syringes and blood samples cover the ground
and we're not talking "a little bit", hospitals empty it by the pound.
Stray dogs are emaciated, and sometimes get their heads stuck in fences
in fact we were almost attacked by a few, leaving us defenseless
It was pretty scary we will admit, but grateful to report that's as scary as it gets
Adventures are like Lychas, delicious and unexpected
Like the time we stumbled upon 2,000 locals partying to get the president elected
Or our Independence Day desfile, which is Spanish for "parade"
you should be looking up these words by now 'cause there will be a quiz for a grade
We alternate our weekends from adventure to lesson planning
Today we spent our day in the hot springs bathing and tanning
We want to talk about food, but honestly just aren't that impressed
so far we like Lychas, fresh garlic bread, tajadas and choco-bananas the best.
One of our favorite things, however are conveniently close to our casa
a fresh coconut sliced so we can drink the water, get healthy, and reduce the grasa
All in all life is growing.. when One teaches, Two learn
even though our rap story isn't all smiles, please don't have concern
We couldn't be happier about our choice to get to know our Honduran sisters and brothers
We are infinitely learning about ourselves and others
We look forward to hearing from each of you very very soon
and please remember, you're always with us everyday in our classroom.
HA! you thought it was over, but you've been sorely mislead
remember that quiz we mentioned? Teacher's always keep that stuff the back of their head
lucky you, its multiple choice, we begin with question 1
and thanks for reading our rap/story we had a lot of fun :)
A lycha is a type of?
A) honduran dance move
B) scary disease
C) fruit that looks (and tastes) like it came out of Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who
Grasa is a synonym to
A) ravenous dog
B) disappointing Flan pastry
C) fat
Mahoncho is a fruit similar to
A) Lycha
B) disappointing Flan pastry
C) BANANAAAAAAA
teachers note: sorry if our rap made you dumber, but every answer is C.
Emery Hartstein and Maggie Ballino are two best friends who rap from the heart. Many rap duo’s inspiration comes from a tough life on the streets, but their unique rap relationship happened through travel. They were climbing a volcano in southern Chile when they started to rhyme and realized they were way bueno. So they collaborated efforts and like the volcano, they erupted. Since then, they’ve kept on flowing. They call themselves EMANCIPATED MAGMA to represent the freedom in their flow, the freedom to speak transformation and empower every individual to grow. Today, the two live in Honduras working as teachers and learning everyday.