Escuela, Mangos, Niños, y Libros

Today is the last day of school! It's been a good year and all the kids I've worked with have worked really hard and put in a good effort. As I could've predicted, the last one standing is Michaila. While all others have been wooed by the fancies of summer break, Michaila has pulled through, working a full week after everyone else was finished! Both of us are very relieved to be in the final hours of this year... and approaching the beauty of summer freedom!

Of course, I am feeling a little sentimental, taking too many pictures, perhaps. It's just been a really great year and I've learned so much and come to love so many people here. It will be hard to leave. Even being in the Cabildo today.. the dreaded Cabildo that I always wished would be closed for maintenance (saying I wished it would burn down just sounds too dramatic) so we didn't have stare at its blank walls and burn in its heat... made me a little sad. I will even miss the Cabildo.

Save for that bit of sentimentality, I'm glad to be done! It's Friday and we're approaching MK Camp which means we're also approaching (the week after MK Camp) my FIRST full week at Loma de Luz without a JOB! YIPPEEEEE!!!! I imagine it will be a great vacation before I head home and start the job hunt.

Well, I have another medical issue I guess I ought to alert you on. I'm covered in a rash from an allergic reaction to MANGO TREE SAP! :( It's sad. But, more than anything, I can't believe I'm getting beat up so badly! I feel pathetic.

Yesterday I went to the Children's Center and finally got some pictures of the niños. I'll post a few here and probably, a little later, on Facebook.

Last update is that I'm almost finished with my first Spanish chapter book! Se llama "La Princesa que Creia en Los Cuentos de Hadas". Y estoy muy emocionada que CASI he leido un libro con capitulos en Español.

Ta-ta for now.

Asi es la Vida

Wow, a whole month (on the dot) since my last post! It has been a crazy May. The week that we got back from Tegucigalpa I consumed myself with preparing an ESL lesson at the bilingual school (conjugating verbs… yikes!).

ESL classes at the bilingual school ended last Friday. I think the kids and I learned a lot this year. I'm especially proud of those from the Children's Center, they really shined in the classroom and some of them throughout the course were very persistent in asking for help and wanting to study. We had a big pool party at the Mckenney's to celebrate the last class, it was good times.

I've had an exciting little health era. I started getting worried about my blood because I kept getting big, ugly bruises. Thankfully, when I went to the hospital to get it checked, I found out that not only is my blood fine but I'm no longer anemic! I also discovered a few weeks ago that I had scabies. It was kind of going around but thankfully it's easy to treat and I managed to get rid of it before it got too irritating. And, recently, on the soccer field, I broke my toe! So… it's been interesting. I'm definitely bummed about the toe; please pray it will heal quickly. I'd like to be able to play at least one more game before I go!

Sammey's birthday was last week. We celebrated with a girl's party at her house including DDR, makeovers, and the yummiest peanut butter/chocolate cake I've ever had in my life! (Props Sydney!)

Last weekend 4 of us went to the Water Jungle. The Water Jungle is basically a Honduran water park and it's very nice! Big slides, tubes, wave pool, the works! It was a good time. And, we got picked up from the Water Jungle by a caravan (okay, fine, there were only two… but one was PACKED!) of Land Cruisers to go the Carnival in La Ceiba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Ceiba_Carnival). The Carnival celebrates the patron saint of La Ceiba and was definitely a cultural experience not to be missed by someone whose only glimpse into La Ceiba is the occasional grocery store runs and, even less common, overnight stays (in other words, me). The modern La Ceiba shows its true cultural colors in the roadside stands, live music, proud Hondurans, dancers, and wealth of gringos.

Louis is leaving today and will be missed by his Staff Housing family. We had a BIG staff housing (and co.) dinner last night. I made enough potatoes for about 23 people, enough green beans for about 10, and enough Jamaica for… well NOT enough for 14 apparently! (You would think 3 pitchers would be sufficient…) Daron made delicious steaks, Estelle & Julia contributed yummy pizza bread and a beautiful salad, Joelle brought broccoli cooked to perfection, Kristel made homemade bread better than Panera, and Christine made delicious homemade brownies! (Man, I hope I didn't forget anyone.) Anyhow, it was a feast. And tonight we have plans to maybe go into Ceiba together to drop him off and perhaps stay the night. The circus is in La Ceiba right now and I'd really like to go check it out. However, I've heard rumors of people wanting to go white water rafting tomorrow… we shall see! I'm also planning on going to Rio Coco this afternoon after school with the Children's Center, I hope that happens. Sam (has been working at the Children's Center for about 2 months now… from England) is leaving on Monday so it would be an exciting last hurrah!

Last thing- I have to give props to Sammey for her improvement in spelling this year. She took a spelling test 2 days ago and got a 95% on her first try! When I first got here Sammey had to take her spelling test about 4 times and still ended up with some wrong... I'm proud of her hard work and vast improvement. Good job, Sam!

And, Until next time…

Tegucigalpa

On Thursday I left with Gabe, Nate, Dr. Daron, Julia, and Stelle to visit Tegucigalpa. For the last two years I've been a part of the team that The Potter's School takes to San Antonio de Capapan. Having quite a few friends on the trip, and being in Honduras, it just made sense to get to Tegucigalpa on their way out and visit with them.

It was really cool to hear some of their stories and impressions. And, a little crazy to think that two years ago I was sharing the same stories and impressions. Crazy to think how long ago it feels, and how it feels, at the same time, just like yesterday. Crazy to think how much has changed, but how much the same we are.

And, yet again, going to Tegucigalpa to see everyone has just DEEPENED my love for Honduras. A good friend of mind told me after I asked him what he thinks of "Rachel and Honduras" that he likes it because I seem happy and.. in my place (something to that effect). Man, the next 4 years of college will surely be the longest of my life!

Well, I have to head to the bilingual school soon for ESL. After which, I'm headed to the cabildo to practice a drama we're doing for Honduran fellowship and, after which, I'm practicing to sing for worship at Honduran fellowship. Yay yay! Fun stuff. I started going to a church in Lucinda as well. Love it. Love worshiping with the Hondurans. Love it.

viaje

Costa Rica & Guatemala were BEAUTIFUL! Oh, it was an amazing trip. If you haven't already, go check out the pictures on Facebook.

We went to the Poas volcano, Arenal, and Manuel Antonio while we were in Costa Rica. It was nice to see so many cool touristy things. We saw Arenal at night with little spurts of lava coming out... amazing!!! Being a tourist was cool for a change, it's been a while since I've gone to a country strictly to explore. We went hiking, ate out a lot, stayed in cute hotels (one of which is called "Gringo Pete's"... a hostel... not so high-end, but an adventure, nonetheless), relaxed on the beach, ate the best ceviche in the world, the list goes on. It was a great time.

Guatemala was even better, in my opinion. Costa Rica was definitely beautiful in terms of the natural sites it had to offer. But, oh man, I have never been part of such a RICH cultural experience like Antigua during La Semana Santa (Holy Week). I found this paragraph on a different website but it explains a little bit of what we saw:

"On Good Friday the streets of Antigua are covered with natural, aromatic carpets (alfombras) of flowers, pines, clover and fruits, which the residents put together and place in front of their homes. There are all kinds and shapes. Some are very long, even up to a kilometer, with colonial, Mayan, Roman or other original designs. At 3:00 A.M., preparations begin for the mock trial and sentencing of Christ. Participants dress as Roman soldiers, Pontius Pilate and other participants in the drama. At 7:00 A.M., the sculpture of Christ carrying his crucifix is moved through the carpeted main streets of Antigua on the shoulders of his worshipers until early afternoon, when the image is replaced by another of Christ being laid to rest." http://www.questconnect.org/guat_semana_santa.htm

Funny story: We rushed home Friday night from Antigua, around 5pm or something, so that we could wake up at midnight, go BACK to Antigua and see the Romans capture Jesus. We get to Antigua, have some time, and decide to get coffee at a cute little restaurant (ALL the restaurants were SO quaint!) where we proceed to chat and laugh and hang out for a while. Well, we go BACK to the town square where HUNDREDS of people are standing around and about 20 "Roman guards" are standing with their horses. We wait. We wait. We wait. Finally, I ask one of the Roman guards when it's going to start and he's like, "Ummm, we already did it, you missed it." We're bummed. So bummed. We're bummed. THEN I realize that there are Guatemaltecos with Roman outfits and HORSES!!! So, someone tells them it's my birthday and I march around on a "Roman" horse in the middle of the town park, in front of a huge Cathedral, and 100s of people with a "Roman" guard. What fun!

Anyways, we spent the rest of our trip shopping, enjoying the processions, looking at the carpets, and having a great time!

And, in the end, after all of these GREAT experiences, and after seeing so many beautiful places, I have decided that... Honduras is STILL my favorite! I was so happy to get back home. And I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place with such beautiful people! Yay.

Lately I've just been doing school and going to the Children's Center, etc. I have a black eye right now from a very entertaining and exciting game of soccer yesterday. Tomorrow I'll be travelling to Tegucigalpa to visit with the TPS team there. Thankfully, I've found several friends to accompany me. It'll be a fun little mini-trip. Until later...

fuero de si.

There are SO many fireflies out tonight [side note: every time I try to type the word fireflies, it comes out as "flierflies" first...] it's beautiful!

Today was a little bit of a crazy day but is nothing compared to tomorrow! I had the usual classes, with just Michaila right now because Sammey is in the States, from 8-12pm. Lunch, laundry, & cleaning consumed me until EFL (English as a Foreign Language) at the bilingual school at 2pm. I'm SO proud of the students that are coming from the Children's Center. EVERY time I'm over there, without fail, at LEAST 3 of them want to practice their memory verse with me. And their studiousness paid off today in class.

[Fun Fact: After ESL... EFL... whatever, Gabe and Hannah tried to dump Zuko on Oscar and I. They um... succeeded, but not without consequence! So, I came home and had to take a Zuko shower in the middle of the day today. Haha, it was kind of hilarious. And, sticky. For those gringos that don't know what Zuko is it's... like, Tang or Kool-Aid or whatever other sticky drink mix exists out there.]

After EFL, I did some more studying of English with my friend Deibyn. Then we went to the Children's Center where I played with the yitty bitty ones for about an hour. THEN I came home and Joelle, Louis, Stelle, Julia, and I ate dinner. After which, Julia, Stelle, and I proceeded to dance to Abba. Soon after, we were welcoming videographers with open arms... NOT! One of the guys from the ENT team came up with his camera thinking we would just exploit ourselves like that, never! What happens in a girls' dance party STAYS there.

And, I won a game of Nerts. So there you go!

Tomorrow I'll be teaching in Lucinda, classes with Michaila, classes with Ben, birthday party, packing, cleaning, more laundry. I'd rather not think about it right now. I'm going to go switch my laundry. You probably won't hear from me until I get back from Guatemala. So, until then, que tengan una buena Semana Santa!

Photo-Op!

I've decided that today and tomorrow I'm going to FORCE myself to carry my camera around and take pictures! I've been such a weeny about it and NOW IS THE TIME FOR CHANGE!!!

So, expect to see some pictures of my "daily life" soon. And, if you don't, give me a virtual slap in the face for being a slacker!

Well, the month of travel has arrived! There are SO many people going in & out right now because of Visa trips. And, soon, it will be my turn. Costa Rica, here I come!

I did take my attempted trip to Roatan to visit Monica's parents, Rob & Mandy. And, to no avail! Their cruise ship didn't dock because of the wind so I just went, had lunch, looked around at some shops, and then made my way back. It was a definite disappointment but, what can ya do?

On Friday I went to Rio Esteban to have dinner. There's a guy here, Lorenzo, who works in the bodega next to the Cabildo (where we have our classes). Anyway, his aunt has a beautiful little restaurant in Rio Esteban RIGHT on the beach. So, I went there on Friday with the Fields, the Kesslers, and a couple who's visiting the Kesslers right now, Joe & Eileen. We had a great time! It's probably my favorite Honduran restaurant. The food was excellent, the view amazing, and Rosa treated us like family, it was a very special time.

I will be VERY sad when Carrie Kessler leaves. Carrie is one of the nurses working here and she'll be returning to the States soon to study for some... nursing thing. So, on Thursday I'm having a little 'Going-Away Get-Together' for her. Her and I are very much kindred spirits. Carrie has the most carefree outlook on life and I can't think of a more loving, and refreshing person to be around than her. I'd consider myself very blessed if I grew up to be even a little bit like her.

Other than that-this weekend has consisted of multiple attempts to go to the waterfall, and finally, success last night. Saturday we were hoping to go after we got home from Ceiba. We went to the dump in the morning, and came back at around noontime. Unfortunately we couldn't make the waterfall happen on Saturday so, I went to the Children's Center, played with the kids and played a little soccer (I can't believe I actually enjoy it now.). Then, we had dinner at Renee's house... DELICIOUS!

Sunday-after church, I spent some time in the hospital with Luis (8yrs old). I feel so bad for the poor guy. He's been bloated with really bad stomach pains for a while now and they can't seem to figure out what's wrong with him. So, I took my blender to the hospital and made him some licuados. Then, we went for a teensy weensy walk outside. I think he really enjoyed getting out. Today I'm going to try to get together a group from the Children's Center to come and visit him. He could use the company. He seems bored. If I was stuck in a hospital room with two infants, I probably would be too. But, he has a great attitude and the little things put a VERY big smile on his face so seeing some of his friends is probably going to be very exciting. I hope it works out.

Today, we have classes until 12pm, preschool 2-4, Children's Center and attempted trip to visit Luis 4-6, Acts bible study 7:30pm. It'll be a full day. But, a good one!

(Pictures are a. me on the ferry to Roatan, b. Carrie at the restaurant in Rio Esteban on her birthday [not the time that we went Friday])