1,2,3,4,5...does it pay to be a math teacher?

There is never a dull moment in Guate. Standing at the whiteboard all of a sudden the ringing of kids screaming, "get down, get down, get down," and rushing to the door while you feel yourself swaying back and forth with the building. Just when you think it should be over you still feel yourself swaying and think, "is the earthquake still going or is it because I am on the 3rd floor." Finally it stops and you get a little feeling of relief...the building didn't landslide off into the hole right outside of my classroom.

This was only the beginning of a long, or as the students might say a short, afternoon. My 4th period prep had just started when I saw students running by, then Teresa says, "we are all supposed to head down to the soccer court." Yep that is right another earthquake hit, this time it had a magnitude of 5.8. We sat outside as many of the teachers and students pulled out their blackberry's checking the news about the quakes. It was then that we found out that the epicenter of the quake was only about 45 mins away from us in Santa Rosa, Guatemala.

The chaos of the kids was finally calmed and students started heading back to their classrooms. I again started in on my preparations for the next class period when bam 10 minutes later there it was the 3rd earthquake. It wasn't quite as big nor did it last as long, but it was quite surprising to feel 3 quakes in one day even to the Guatemalans. This time when we had gone outside it was raining =(...standing in the rain waiting and waiting to see if it had finally stopped.

We all headed back up to the classrooms and before 4th period was over we felt the fourth quake. As little as this quake was it was still shocking enough that the owners of the school decided to send students home early.   I am not sure I have experienced a school cancelation due to anything other than snow or power loss. After all the students had left we teachers had a meeting with the principal to come up with some type of evacuation plan, it was then that we felt the 5th and hopefully final earthquake for the day. Speaking with some of the local Guatemalans, they said they haven't ever felt 5 earthquakes in one day.

Having lived in the Northwest most of my life I have little experiences with earthquakes and feel a bit frightened when they hit, especially that many in one day...yikes! Your prayers for our safety would be much appreciated, as well as calm nerves =). Thanks!

Heather

P.S. An update on our adventures for the past 4 day weekend is soon to come....