Back in the United States of America!!

My mom walked in the house the other day and said, "Leslie, your city is still flooding...."

I didn't know what she was talking about at first, then it hit me: "Oh yeah, the blog!"

Sorry for those of you who may have been checking the blog periodically, sitting in suspense wondering whatever happened after I posted last time. Let me clear up some fears: no I did not drowned in the flooding, no my house did not wash away, and yes I am still alive and well! Now to catch you up to speed on what has happened since then....

With 2 weeks left to go before leaving Honduras to visit the states for the summer, my computer crashed for the second time in one year, cutting off my communication with everyone in the states. I took it to our computer guys at school, but between my lack of Spanish and their English, which is good but not superb, the only thing they could get across was "It's the motherboard!"......wasn't quite sure what that meant but didn't sound good.

The school year finished up pretty smoothly besides that and I am now back in the U.S. having a great time visiting friends and family around Washington and will be headed up to Alaska to see more friends and relatives in 2 weeks. I luckily was able to get all of my school documents off of the old computer, which was a relief because I will be teaching a lot more hours next year and did not have time to redo everything I had done for this year.

I will be headed back to Honduras on August 12, which is coming up quicker than I would like, but in the meantime, I have loved being around to welcome my new nephew (Landon Leroy White) into the world, spend time with all of my brothers and sisters, and do some of the things I would never be able to do in Honduras (like flush toilet paper and take a shower every day!).

Thanks to all who were praying for me as I was down in Honduras - I would say my first year there was a success and now I can't wait to see what the next year has in store!

There Will Be No School: Your City is Flooding

All of us teachers are feeling the crunch - we are now in the last week of school meaning that pile of research papers and projects the students just turned in needs to be graded as quickly as possible. Stress is high and the amount of coffee being consumed in phenomenal as we are all casting sleep aside in an attempt to earn ourselves a few more hours to work.

Yesterday, my group of church friends and I were all invited to go hang out with a family from our church who lives up in the nicer area of town. We were promised a home-cooked, American meal and couldn't refuse, so we went despite the feeling of drowning in school work. We had a fantastic time playing games and eating cornbread and homemade stew. As we were in the middle of playing a game, one of the teachers received a text message saying, "Teachers, there will be no school tomorrow." We were ecstatic! High-fives were flying around the table as we were all cheering and giving a sigh of relief!

The reason for the sudden unexpected day off is that Hurricane Agatha just hit Guatemala, sending torrential rain down into Honduras. The streets are filling with water making it hard for students to get to school. Some of the teachers who live right next to the river had to be taken to a hotel on higher ground just as a precautionary measure.

With that being said, I think it is kind of funny because today the skies are blue, the sun is shining, and it couldn't be a more beautiful day!

........we couldn't be more grateful for the extra work time we just earned ourselves though and I have a feeling, this week might just turn out all right after all.

Volcano Explosion

My new hobby is climbing volcanoes in every country I visit in Central America. Better yet, I like climbing active volcanoes with lava pouring out of them. Maybe I should rethink this after waking up this morning and seeing this on the news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10189054.stm

According to BBC, the volcano I just climbed last month in Guatemala erupted, killing 2 people and injuring 50 more. This is the same volcano on which we climbed and roasted marshmallows over a river of lava. If you go to the above link, you can watch a video of the eruption (now granted, some of these eruptions were going on while we were on the volcano, spewing some lava out the top and shooting some rock and lava up in the air, but it wasn't quite on this level).

Does this mean I am going to stop climbing volcanoes? Probably not. Will I be more careful in the future - hopefully. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think it was kind of cool that it erupted right after I was there!

Green Day

Today was "Green Day" at school. For those of you who do not know, this is a day dedicated to saving the planet and going green. I had no idea what to expect when I was told we would be celebrating Green Day in Honduras, but as I have learned, it is always best to come into these things with no expectations.

When we woke up this morning, it was once again pouring rain (a hard, steady rain that lasted over an hour). The first activity on the program for today was to go on a hike up to the top peak of the hill our school is located on. I wasn't entirely thrilled at the prospect of hiking up the muddy trails with kids from 4th-10th grade early in the morning. However, once we began our climb, I ended up having quite a bit of fun! Kids were slipping and sliding everywhere, getting covered in mud. I convinced all of the kids hiking up with me to wipe mud on their faces as war paint as proof they dominated the hill (the students at our school HATE getting dirty, so the fact that they were willing to do any of this was shocking!). Every student I passed as I marched up the hill with my mud-streaked face thought I was so silly, but soon they were reaching down to get some mud for their own face!

Upon returning to school, the next activity was the dog show and plant show. This is when students got the chance to compete in 3 different dog competitions and/or put their plant on display for judging. I was asked to be a judge for the dog show and had a great time seeing all of the little puppies and big, massive dogs trying to fetch newspapers, jump hurdles, or beat another dog in a 1v1 race - it was so much fun! (Especially watching the basset hound try to clear the hurdles......it didn't make it and completely demolished one of the jumps!).

I never knew that signing up to be a teacher would include being a mountain climber or dog judge, but it keeps my life interesting and provides plenty of good stories!

Birthday Weekend

I'm not one to make a big deal about my birthday - in fact, I usually try to get by without anyone noticing at all, but this year was definitely different. My friends down here in Honduras (fellow teachers) decided I was going to celebrate whether I wanted to or not! It ended up being a fantastic weekend! Saturday included dinner at a very nice pizza place called Albahaca followed by everyone driving back to my friends' house for a night full of card games such as Nertz and Mafia. On Sunday (my real birthday) I celebrated with lunch at a local Chinese restaurant and had a great time hanging out with my church group of friends and laughing a good majority of the afternoon with them. On Monday I showed up at school and found a sign taped over my classroom door that said "Happy Birthday Ms. Jones!" I spent the rest of the day interrogating my students to try to figure out who made the sign, but no one would confess.....then I found out the reason was because it was my friend Matt, the 7th grade English teacher who made the sign for me. I was given MANY birthday hugs from my students and they all even behaved pretty well, so all around it was a fantastic day! I didn't expect much from my first "out-of-country" birthday, but I couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

Baptism and Bonding

I usually go to church with a group of 4 other teachers to a church called Impacto (I like it because not only do many North American missionaries/teachers attend the church, but they also provide a translation service through personal earpieces). Today I was the only one out of our usual group able to go because the others are in the states or at math team competition in La Ceiba. I did not want to miss this Sunday for anything in the world though because I knew that today one of my students was going to be baptized. I don't know that I have ever been more proud of any of my students than I was in that moment, watching her tell her testimony in front of our rather large church congregation and then, alongside her older sister, be baptized. The best part about the whole thing was that their mother swore that she would never step foot inside of a church no matter what; however, today she was there. It meant so much to the girls to see their mom inside of that building! As I was giving my student a hug after she came out of the baptismal room, she whispered in my ear, "She's here. My mom is here." Tears streamed down her face and a smile lit her eyes as she stood watching her mom. It was truly a beautiful thing to watch.

The rest of the day was spent with my family (a family within the church that "adopted" me at the beginning of the year) and included lunch at La Fontana, playing Wii with the kids while laughing and sharing secrets over a cup of coffee, a birthday party (during which I got whacked in the face by a pinata, had a light bulb smashed over me by a pinata stick, and got a welt from flying candy from the same pinata aforementioned = moral of the story: I need to stay away from pinatas!), and overall a great time spent with friends!

Nose Bugs and Wingless Termites

Let me explain......

Nose bugs: no this is not technically the real name for the bug, but it is a name that I have given these bugs because their favorite thing to do is fly up people's noses. It is weird. But wait, it gets better. Their favorite time to perform this devious little act is when you are in the middle of a conversation with someone. It never fails that when I am kneeling by a student's desk, talking to them face to face, one of these bugs will shoot up my nose or up the student's nose - it is somewhat comical when it happens to the other person, but quite unfortunate when I am doling out a punishment and suddenly --schwoop-- up the nose it goes and then we are both laughing so much I don't even remember why I was punishing them in the first place!

Wingless Termites: in case you didn't know, it is currently termite season in Honduras, meaning these little creatures are everywhere! They are flying around our lights, stuck to the static on our tv, eating their way through the kitchen cupboards.......but wait: if regular termites are not enough entertainment, it gets even better! During termite season they shed their wings and as a result, end up crawling around on your skin like little worms. The worst is waking up to them in the middle of the night squirming in my bed! Fortunately, we do not have wood ceilings like the other houses in the neighborhoods, so our infestation is not as bad as the other houses (Hang in there Julie, it will get better soon!!) - probably the first time I have been truly grateful that our ceilings are made out of styrofoam panels! (yes, you read that right, the ceiling of my house is styrofoam - that is a fun one when either wind or rain hits the house!)

Utila: Caribbean Island

(Above: crab.....one of many)

(Above: our ride we took around the island)

(Above: we were told these are only slightly poisonous......that did not make me any more comfortable being around these massive spiders!!)

I promise I really do teach.

I know it doesn't seem like that statement is true because I am always updating my blog with my latest travels, but amidst all of the traveling, there is plenty of work, work, and more work that goes along with being a first year teacher.

That is why I cherish the moments I can spend on the road, away from school and the 90 students who need me all the time.

This past weekend we had a 4 day weekend and due to the fact that I had just returned from the states 3 days previous to this, I decided I probably would not be going anywhere and just use this extra time to get caught up on sleep and housework.

At least that was the plan until I got a better offer.

My friends Kristi, Nichole, and I ended up traveling to Utila, an island located off the north coast of Honduras in the Caribbean. It was beautiful and so great to spend a few days in the sun and the sand! Utila is a very relaxed island, filled with visitors from around the world coming to go diving with the whale sharks and backpackers looking for a place to get away.

The first day we were there we rented a golf cart and drove around the island just taking in the sights and visiting all of the different spots other teachers told us we had to see. The next day we hit the water for some snorkeling, swimming, and taking in the sun. We had a great time eating amazing food and spending lots of time swimming in the pool at our hotel at night.

I decided that once I do move back to the states in a year or so, I am going to miss this lifestyle terribly where I can just quickly throw some stuff in a backpack and be in the Caribbean (or some other country) by nightfall just because we were given a few extra days off of school. This is the life!

Traveling Once Again

This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to the U.S. to visit my friends at Grace College in Winona Lake, IN. It was so strange to be back in the U.S. again! I flushed toilet paper, drank out of the sink faucet, took a real shower, washed AND dried my clothes, and overall had a fantastic time. I was able to play in the Grace College alumni soccer game while I was there and saw lots of friends that I didn't think I would see again.

When I was packing for my trip, I realized I did not have very many warm clothes to take with me, but figured it would be fine because how cold could it really be, right? I am pretty sure I did not stop shivering the entire trip!! It was only about 50-60 degrees there, but it has not gotten that cold in Honduras even once since I moved here so I was not prepared for it. Thankfully my friends kept me well clothed, however I did get a rather bad cold from the weather. Don't feel too bad though - as soon as I got back to Honduras I was informed we were going to have the hottest day of the year today and everyone was warned to dress accordingly for school.......talk about a shock to the system after being cold all weekend!!

Surviving the airports was an adventure in itself! I have been to many jungles down here and survived them all fine, but place me in a U.S. airport and then things really start to get interesting! I was held up at customs for a while when a man a few people in front of me attempted to sneak into the U.S. with fake documents. After this everyone was stopped and finger printed, had their picture taken, and interrogated......I however somehow made it through without any of the above steps being taken.

I then proceeded to walk through the airport taking everything in. I stopped in one store to see if they had any headphones to replace my broken ones. I walked up to the counter and asked {in Spanish} "How much?" The lady looked at me weird so I quickly recovered {in English} with, "Sorry. How much do these cost?" She told me they would be $10. "Ten dollars!?!?!," I said, "No, no, no. I will give you $7." She looked at me weird again and pointed at the sticker that said $10 on it. This is when I realized I was trying to haggle in a country that does not believe in that and shamefully said, "I am so sorry. I'm just gonna go now." Great way to welcome yourself back into the country!

The rest of the trip included Taco Bell, Starbucks, real chocolate, watching Rocketman with my soccer team, driving my old car I owned in college, a road trip with my girls AK, Sam, Holly, and Natalie, lots of soccer, and many other things I love.

I am now back in Honduras and preparing to finish the school year out strong. Only 8 more weeks until I get to see my family!!! {And only 44 days until the World Cup begins!!}

A great way to end a fantastic week

Friday was one of the most entertaining/interesting days of my week! I had been looking forward to Friday mainly because I could not wait to head downtown to see the guys from the street again, but never imagined how many events would lead up to it!

To begin with, the sky had been somewhat overcast when we headed to school giving a little bit of relief (albeit not much) from the blazing sun. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to sit outside during my plan periods to enjoy the fresh air, seeing as I am not outside a whole lot in this country - mainly for safety reasons. That morning I had gone and gotten a HUGE cup of coffee from my friend Matt and had just began drinking it out on a bench when I heard a "plop." I turn and look, only to find a big floating ball of bird poop bobbing in my hardly touched coffee! A bird flying over had aimed it just right to try to dampen my day a little - joke is on the bird though because I laughed so hard over this (and so did the rest of the teachers when they heard) that I guess it was worth the sacrifice in coffee for the story.

We then had Dia de las Americas (Day of the Americas) where the 10th and 11th graders set up booths for each of the countries in North, Central, and South America. Teachers were allowed to go around and sample food from each of the countries......amazing!!! We also got little souvenirs from each country including Jamaican coffee, Belizian key chain, Dominican Republic cigar, etc.

Soccer that afternoon was fantastic as always, although now that I have shown the boys I come to play, they have decided they are no longer treating me like a lady: after an hour of soccer I had been smashed into the cement walls several times, thrown to the ground by my shirt tail, took an elbow to the jaw, and almost cracked my shin bone. It took them long enough, but they finally treat me as an equal and I love it!!

{Afterwards when we were feeding the guys, 3 little Honduran boys were talking to my friend Megan, asking her all kinds of questions. One of their questions: "Is it true that gringas cannot have babies and so they have to adopt?" hahahaha! So cute!}

Finally, as I was getting ready for bed last night a terrible storm began! If you know me, you will know that I am TERRIFIED of thunder. This thunder was worse than anything I had ever experienced and was shaking the loose window panes quite harshly as deafening rain poured down on the metal roof of our house. I went to bed earlier than usual to try to sleep through the worst of it, but it continued long into the night. I turned my music on as loud as possible to drown it out, but little seemed to be working. After hours of this, it finally began to subside and I drifted off to sleep. I woke up an hour later completely soaked! I had left my windows open, but had no idea how the rain was reaching my bed that is placed clear across the room. After waking up a little more, I realized the rain was not coming from the window, but from the ceiling directly over my bed!! It was literally raining in my room. I guess patchwork metal roofs mixed with styrofoam ceiling tiles do not do a whole lot to keep rain out!

I have come to expect unusual events to dominate my daily life now and they hardly seem to phase me most the time, but always seem to brighten my day! Honduras is quite the adventure and one I wouldn't trade for anything!

Students Brighten My Day!!

Dealing with teenagers every day makes for one very interesting job. They are always saying hilarious things! One of the best quotes from today (yes, there are multiple per day), came from one of my boys who is usually extremely astute and on top of things.

Context: As the students walked into class I had an announcement up on the board saying, "I know the journal on your desk is not yours!!! I also know that no one will read this before saying, 'Miss, this is not mine!' Sit patiently and I will explain the activity to you."

Quote:
- Student: "Miss, you must be psychic!!! How did you know that I was not going to read the board?!?!"

Hahahaha!! I know them so well :)

Guatemala

I have returned! Guatemala was amazing and impossible to capture in writing, so I will give a brief rundown of the events of the trip and allow you all to ask for stories later!

Highlights of the trip:

• Traveling throughout Guatemala (Guatemala City, Panajachel on Lake Atitlan, Antigua, Omoa on the North coast of Honduras).
• Seeing the Guatemalan people in their traditional clothing and hearing Mayan people speak in their native language
• Sailing around Lake Atitlan visiting all of the villages around the island
• Seeing the giant processions and street carpets made out of colored sawdust in Antigua
• Climbing a giant, active volcano that had a river of lava running down it that we roasted marshmallows over (everyone else on the climb thought we were so cool for bringing marshmallows to the top of the volcano); we all got slight burns from the heat of the lava, but it was still definitely worth it!!
• Being mistaken for an expert climber by a guy from Germany
• Staying in a hostel where Che Guevara once stayed and getting to lay in the bed in the room he was in.
• Getting to pet the bunnies that lived at our hostel in Omoa (a small beach town on the Caribbean)
• Getting to do lots of relaxing and card playing with a great group of friends/travel buddies!

School is now back in full swing and as we are finishing up 4th Partial, I can't help but look back and realize how fast my first year of teaching has flown by. I have grown a lot through my experiences in the classroom and love seeing how far my students have come :) I'm sure there are still plenty of adventures in store for me this year though and cannot wait to see what they will be!!

Semana Santa!

I am headed to Guatemala right now!! It is 4:00 a.m. and I am extremely tired and not excited to be on a bus all day, but cannot wait to enjoy the celebration and festivities that will be taking place in Guatemala to celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week). I will be back April 5th and can't wait to fill you all in on the adventure!! (Lakes, volcanoes, food, parades.....going to be awesome!) Talk to you all soon!

and......HAPPY EASTER!!

Stop. Breathe. Go.

I just realized that I have not updated my blog in almost a month - for that I am sorry. Again, that in no way applies that life in Honduras has been less than exciting because that is far from the truth. This week our high school students are taking their final exams for the partial and I have finally gotten all caught up on grading, so I decided to take a night off and fill you all in on life (especially since this is the calm before the storm and tomorrow I will once again find myself sinking under the weight of grading as I will be tackling 83 exams that are 16 pages each......that is a LOT of pages!)

Some of the highlights of the past few weeks would definitely be:

1.) Finishing reading Romeo and Juliet with my students and then watching them perform their version of the classic love story (Honduran students + Shakespeare's language = the most entertaining week of my teaching career!)

2.) Attending the Moscow Circus in Honduras with about 20 of the boys and leaders from the Micah Project. Giraffe, tightropes, tigers, human-like bear, and amazing motorcyclists....what more could you ask for?? 5 minutes into it, my little buddy Nelson fell asleep on my lap and missed the majority of the show - so good to spend time with all the boys though!

3.) Micah Project Street Soccer - continuing to build relationships with the guys from the street has been such a blessing! It is still extremely hard and each week I walk away questioning how God could allow little boys to live like that (or any human for that matter), but He is teaching me a lot through it and I constantly find myself counting the days until Friday when I get to go see them all again!

4.) Watching our girls soccer team win the local Tegucigalpa tournament and bring the 1st place trophy to our school. It is my dream to see girls earn their place as true athletes in the eyes of Hondurans.

5.) MARCH MADNESS!!!! I love competition and I love sports. Put them together and you get basketball in all of it's glory :)

6.) My local church's 9 year anniversary (which at first I thought was extremely lame because who celebrates 9 years? Why not hold out for 10?), but it was amazing to be a part of it because during the service they placed a giant cake up front in the church and had every person who came to Christ through the church over the last 9 years walk up and put a candle in the cake......the fire coming off of that cake at the end was outstanding and such a great encouragement to see visual proof of the work God is doing in this country.


Now I am just trying to survive exam week and then a week of classes before we get a break for Semana Santa (Holy Week), which I will be spending in Guatemala, traveling around with a great group of friends! I can't wait!

I want to again thank you for your continued prayers and support - it is definitely needed and very much appreciated!

February Break

The past few days have been pure bliss = we have been on February break (officially called "Spring Break," but in my opinion that is just a cruel joke by the administration at school because we only get an extra 2 days off, giving us a 4 day weekend). Most people decided to travel over the long weekend to different countries, but a few of us ended up staying behind to have some adventures of our own. Here's how the weekend played out:

Friday: Slept in, watched Lord of the Rings 3 with a group of friends, and then headed downtown for a little street soccer action with my boys from under the bridge.

Saturday: Jumped in a busito and headed downtown once again for lunch and to hit up the open market for fresh fruits, vegetables, and flowers (the market is only open on Friday/Saturday but it is such and amazing atmosphere). The busito we took on the way there was interesting to say the least, but we made it and that is all that matters! Lunch was delicious and even made up for the bird pooping on my head as we walked through Parque Central, which left me dying of laughter as we continued to stroll through the city. To wrap up the day, I was able to catch up with a good friend on the phone right before the power went out and left us in the pitch dark. The roommate and I scurried around looking for our emergency candles to give us some light, struggling to use the matches (in my defense, I couldn't see a thing so I had no idea I was trying to strike the wrong end of the match!) and as soon as we got them lit, the power came back on, leaving us giggling on the floor.

Sunday: By this point, the weather here is HOT (by hot, I mean at least 90 degrees everyday and without air conditioning - or even fans for that matter - it can be somewhat unbearable). To remedy this problem, a group of us decided to head to the Clarion Hotel in Tegucigalpa for a day of swimming and relaxing by the pool. It was so refreshing and enjoyable! The hotel was beautiful and for a second, made us forget that we were in the city as we laid out under the palm trees and soaked up the sun.

(Below: The Clarion Hotel swimming pool)

(Below: A few friends and me hanging out by the pool)

(Below: My friends Nichole and Kaitlyn)

(Below: My friend Kaitlyn and I enjoying the hot weather......who knew I would find myself sunbathing in February!?)

(Below: These couches were fantastic! I thought this picture turned out kind of cool so I decided to share it. I love that we have palm trees everywhere around Tegus!)

Monday: We only had one more thing left on our list of things to do this weekend = visit the Basilica de Suyapa (a massive church located in Tegucigalpa that is very ornate and can be seen from very far away). We journeyed to the church and began to look around, taking in the amazing architecture, stained-glass windows, and atmosphere of the whole place. After checking out the main part of the building, we noticed that there was a balcony above the main level and began searching for a way to get up there. We found a set of stairs in what appeared to be an ordinary closet and decided to make our way up. What we didn't realize is that the stairs just kept going! We came to the door leading to the balcony, but found it was locked, so we decided the only thing left to do was continue our way up the stairs. After a while, we came across a hole in the wall that was about the size of a door (but slightly smaller). We did not see any signs or gates telling us not to go out the "door" so of course we did, finding ourselves many stories off of the ground on part of the roof of the Basilica. Curious, I wandered our a bit further and walked out on a ledge that wrapped around the building. The view was extraordinary!! {We later found out going out on the roof of the Basilica is frowned upon, but luckily the man who worked there kindly asked us to stay off the roof and let us go on our way up the rest of the winding stairs}. At the very top we found ourselves in the bell tower, with another breathtaking view of our {lovely} city. Overall, it was a fantastic weekend!!

(Below: My roommate and I in front of the Basilica de Suyapa)

(Below: Inside of the cathedral-like building. Pictures did not do it justice!)

(Below: One of the many stained-glass window scenes)

(Below: My roommate and I on this hot February day, enjoying the sun outside of the Basilica)

Science Fair

Today I was given the opportunity to judge the science fair.

This is one of those experiences that should be written down on every one's "list of things I need to do before I die." When I signed up to judge the science fair, I was mainly doing it to avoid being stuck on crowd control and being forced to supervise students running around school - little did I know how awesome it was going to be. Right before heading out to set up projects, my friend Ben Manting (who I also share my classroom with at school) just had to bring up Brian Regan "Stupid in School".......needless to say, the rest of the afternoon I spent laughing to myself as Brian's voice ran through my head saying, "The big yellow one's the SUN!" and "It's a cup of dirt. Just put an 'F' on it and let me go home!" (I'm not sure if anyone outside of my family will get this, but that's ok).

As part of being a science fair judge I was given the chance to see some pretty cool projects. Unfortunately, none will stand out as clearly in my mind as the ice cream project. The ice cream project rocked my world. I have to be honest, I don't even really remember what the whole point of the project was, all I can remember is 2 girls standing before my co-judge/friend Matt and I saying, "We are going to make ice cream out of liquid nitrogen and you are going to eat it." .........um, what did they just say?!


To get the gist of it, in a metal bowl the girls put milk, 2 eggs, whipped cream, sugar, chocolate syrup, and then mixed it all together. They then pulled out a thermos emitting white plumes of smoke, telling us they were about to add the liquid nitrogen. As they poured the nitrogen into the mixture, the clouds of fog grew larger and the concoction began to bubble and fizzle. Bits of nitrogen flew out of the bowl amidst the wisking and created a burning/freezing sensation on our feet. After it was all mixed together, the ice cream was frozen.

We were then handed cups of ice cream and told to try it. At first I couldn't get over the fact that it was FULL of this extremely intense liquid and I was about to put it in my stomach, but curiousity won the battle and between Matt and I, we just about finished the entire bowl of ice cream - it tasted so good!


Apparently in Honduras, anyone at any time can walk in and buy liquid nitrogen. Crazy! And yet, this is part of the reason I love Honduras so much! I'm pretty sure they had a very good reason for taking it off public shelves in the States, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it while I am here.......just didn't know enjoying it included eating it!

Something in the Air

Yesterday was crazy. It was the last day of school before Valentine's Day, so naturally all of the fun Valentine's action, by default, fell back onto Friday. This included noisy carnivals complete with Hannah Montana karaoke right outside my classroom, seniors coming into my room selling cotton candy, students walking into class to pass out roses purchased from the rose sale fundraiser, and shockingly, very little teaching/learning going on in such an environment. Being one step removed from the holiday celebration was interesting and made me realize that Valentine's Day in school is nothing more than a dignified popularity contest disguised in holiday form. Students carried around an armful of roses sent to them by friends, constantly comparing who had the most, showing off candy and gifts received, and constantly judging each other. Others hung their head when they realized no one thought to send them a single rose. Quite frankly, it was disgusting.


By the end of the day, I was extremely frustrated and a day behind on lessons.


Yet, I was so excited for the day to come, but for different reasons - it had been 2 weeks since seeing my street boys and I missed them SO much! I could not wait for the day to end so I could go play some soccer with them and get my weekly hugs. It was a relief when the school day ended and I packed up to head downtown....but then things got interesting. A couple of us decided to ride with our friend Kristi to the field, but after a miscommunication, we were left without car keys and got delayed quite a bit, meaning we were not able to follow our friend Eduardo to the field. Consequently, we had a little trouble finding the field through the confusing downtown, one-way streets. We missed our turn, which took us clear past Parque Central, through the busy streets and eventually found us in the middle of a fight breaking out in the street. Our car came to a stop in traffic and a man ran out in front of us wrapping his belt around his hand ready to fight while a mob of angry people on the other side of the car picked up rocks and bricks. Fortunately, the line of cars started moving again right as the first rocks were thrown and the police came sprinting down the street.


We gained our bearings and made our way to the field......only to be stopped again. This time, there was a large truck and tow truck blocking off the street right in front of the field. They told us they were destroying a car (not sure what that means) and we couldn't pass. It took some convincing to get through, but we made it.


We were relieved to be there by this point, but didn't realize the fun was just beginning. The field was engulfed in smoke coming off of piles of burning garbage right next to the field. Every one's lungs and eyes were burning as we played, constantly inhaling the putrid fumes. Two of the boys there had been in knife fights earlier this week and Jose Daniel (one of my favorite boys) had cuts on top of his head while the other guy got his hand sliced open. After we were done playing, fights began breaking out everywhere. One guy reached to shake Kristi's hand, accidentally bumped another guy, and a full out fight began with Kristi in the middle. They broke them up, but another fight broke out soon after. Next, Rosa, the only girl, started a fight and had to be held back by 2 men as she frantically groped for jagged pieces of brick to throw. She was not allowed to eat because of this and cried and cried - it was heartbreaking. As we were wrapping up the night, everyone began hurriedly running over to the wall surrounding the field and peering over. Curious, we ran over as well. We discovered people were watching the aftermath of a fender-bender as 2 men jumped out of their car, ready to fight the people who hit them.


Like I said, something was in the air last night -- and it definitely wasn't love!!

To make up for all of the chaos and frustration of the day, we headed over to The Micah House to see the boys and celebrated 3 birthdays with them. Nelson (11 years old) would not sit down for dinner because he didn't want to leave me, so he told me he would eat if I ate with him. We took turns taking bites off of his plate, laughing the whole time.

Next, after many goodbye hugs and fake tears from Moises, the girls who went to The Micah street project headed to Chili's for dinner. We then headed over to the Marriott Hotel (very fancy) where our friends Al and Edwin joined us to sing a little karaoke of our own (don't worry, Hannah Montana was not included in the play list!) and then afterwards to McDonald's for ice cream cones. We got home at 1:00 a.m. and happily ended this oddly eventful Friday evening.

Not a very traditional Valentine's weekend, but definitely not boring!



Happy Valentine's Day to all of my family and friends back home --- especially you, Mom and Dad!! Miss you and hope you have a great day!

Hot Weather

It is absolutely blowing my mind that it can possibly be this hot in February, finding us teaching in 88-90 degree weather each afternoon in classrooms without air conditioning. What's worse is that this isn't even considered "hot season" yet. Unfortunately, the wet season did not yield a lot of rain, leaving the country of Honduras lacking water - an already precious commodity in this part of the world. The city now supplies us with water twice a week, which is stored in water tanks attached to the houses, but once that small supply runs out, people are left without water (meaning stinky, sweaty, short-tempered teachers standing up in front of hot and grouchy students - not a good combination). I cannot even imagine what March will bring when the temperatures rise and the water is cut back to only being supplied once a week.

But then I stop and realize........

I am so blessed. As soon as it gets hot, I lose my patience and begin to grumble. Suddenly it becomes very easy to complain; yet, even though I may have to go 2 or 3 days without water at times, there are people who don't have running water ever. It is times like these that I find myself sounding a little bit too much like the Israelites who grumbled against God even though He was constantly looking out for them. Funny how it is so easy to read the Bible stories and judge them for their words and actions, writing them off as ungrateful people when I have no room to talk.

Now, I'll admit, life would be easier and more enjoyable with the comforts of air conditioning (or even fans in our house) and reliable running water, but I guess it's okay to be uncomfortable at times.

I ask that whenever you think of me, you could just pray for patience as I continue to deal with my 9th graders in the ever rising heat and for trust as I realize that God is providing and caring for us, even in the most uncomfortable of situations.

.........besides, I guess I could be in Indiana getting frostbite instead of in Honduras getting a very nice tan :)

Retreats and Superbowl Fun

The past few days have been great, but extremely busy. Friday we had a half day of school and left right away after school to go to our teachers retreat at Palabra de Vida Campamento up in the hills. It was so refreshing being out in fresh air and away from the city for a night and to fellowship with other teachers while we praised God and were of course our normal crazy selves. We slept in rooms that bunked 12 people and ate lots of plato tipico, had great sessions to think about and bon fires full of prayer for our school (and burning our skin off trying to roast marshmallows over the most gigantic fire I have ever sat around), and also enjoyed staying up playing cards until one in the morning and drinking lots of coffee the next day to make up for waking up for 7 a.m. devotions. The best part of the trip was probably the soccer game that was organized for the women because here women never get the opportunity to play, only the guys. We played North Americans vs. Hondurans and laughed as all of us North Americans walked out onto the field sporting our Honduran jerseys and a teacher from the Honduran team wore her Landon Donovan U.S. jersey :) It was great and afterwards all of the women were saying how we need to play more often!

Sunday was of course Superbowl Sunday! We all got together once again to watch the Superbowl and hang out (plus there was tons of good food to share!) It was strange being probably one of the only houses watching the Superbowl because I am so used to everyone throwing a party and getting together in the states......North American football just isn't something the Hondurans are into I guess.

Now today is Monday....usually the worst work day of the week because students hate coming back to school after the weekend. However, today was different because the 9th grade class had a spiritual retreat today up at the same camp we were at for our teacher's retreat. We spent all day up there hanging out and having fun instead of stuck in the classroom all day; it was so amazing to be able to sit down and talk with my students on a spiritual level that wasn't related to classwork, novels, or grades. Today made me realize how blessed I am to have such a phenomenal group of students because they are extremely well behaved and just all around fun to be with. We decided that since our students don't really ever get the "camp" experience, we were going to give it to them today - which included the messiest games we could come up with (hot potato using dead fish, melon pass using melons covered in grease, chocolaty-marshmallow on a line eating contest, and ice cream eating contest). The kids were a MESS when we were done, but had so much fun! The best part was watching our principal walk around with 2 dead fish in the back pockets of her jeans throughout the whole game time!

After cleaning up we headed to the session with the kids and at first I was sure they weren't getting anything out of the message because they all seemed checked out. However, at the end we broke up into small groups and I was amazed at how well my girls had comprehended the message. It was great to sit down with them and talk about how we can change our school to be walking more in the light and to encourage them to be the small change needed (whether through prayer or encouraging words). We finished out the day with free time, which of course found me out on the soccer field with my boys, while others were playing paintball, basketball, or riding go-karts.

I am now completely exhausted from the long series of events strung together these past few days, but wouldn't trade it for anything!

I love weekends!!

It's not that I don't like being with my students or going to work 5 days a week because most of the time I really do, but no matter how great the week is, I am always looking forward to the weekend. I love having the free time to be with people and build relationships.

This weekend has been exceptionally great and it is only half over at this point. Right after school on Friday, we went to play soccer with the street boys. After a great time of play, feeding the boys, and washing their feet, we packed up and headed to Agafam (the Honduran version of a county fair). It was great! We ate great food, played some carnival games, threw a frisbee around, and rode the farris wheel. It was fantastic!

We got back kind of late so I was excited to sleep in today.....I guess I should learn that sleeping in here is just not ever going to happen. I woke up to a super loud pounding sound coming from our kitchen. I eerily crept out of my bed and into the living room, then peeked around the corner into the kitchen to see a man's hand reaching up under our door into our house. Needless to say I panicked a little bit and ran back into my room. I had no idea who this was but assumed they must be trying to break into our house. I ran into the bathroom and looked out our tiny little window to see the man hired by our landlord to make repairs to our house, standing on the platform attached to the back of our house with a sledgehammer and chisel, breaking away the cement underneath our kitchen door leading into the ally. I still have no idea what exactly his purpose was for breaking our wall, but now we have a nice hole under the door and more cement chunks keep falling off, so hopefully they have a brilliant plan to fix this little problem or the bugs are soon going to become even worse.

However, I didn't have long to worry about this issue because today is birthday-day and full of lots of birthday fun! :) This morning we went to celebrate our friend Jenna Miller's birthday (she works with Micah Project). She loves baseball so we went to a baseball field and had a kickball tournament with about 60 people. She even made team shirts for everyone to wear (my team was the Dodgers). It was so much fun seeing all of the Honduran boys trying to figure out this "baseball" form of soccer and hardly ever did I see them throw the ball when out in the field, they just kicked it all the time. I guess I just never came to the realization that not everyone knows how to play by baseball rules because we in North America just grow up knowing the game so I found it kind of funny that they even had to explain to these teenage boys how to run bases. (Sorry Travis, I know you will be a little disappointed by this).

Now it is time to go to the next birthday party for our friends Julie, Merideth, and Kaytie. We are going to go bowling and I have never been bowling in Honduras so it should be fun! Tomorrow will include church, frisbee with other teachers and some Micah boys at IST, and hopefully even a little afternoon nap if I'm lucky.

.....and this is why I love weekends :)