Sunday
Today we got to sleep in and then Ana had invited us to have a barbecue at her house for the day. Today was also Election Day in Honduras, so everyone was going to vote so Vida Abundante didn’t really want us out and about on Election Day. We spent most of the day at Ana’s and had really good food, all normal barbecue stuff and dessert. They made so much food for us; it was so sweet and kind of them to open their house up for us. We relaxed, watched TV, watched some of the election, met some of her family and saw her house, played the couch game and got manicures and pedicures. It was a relaxing way to end the weekend. All of us girls reviewed our pictures before bed and had a fun time laughing at all the fun things we did.
Monday
Headed back to Gracias this morning early again on buses to La Esperanza and then to Gracias; Laura Beth and I said bye to Vicente and the girls and Jake before we left. It was a great time hanging out with them all weekend and getting to do all the fun things we did. I was so thankful nothing really happened after the elections as far as violence, which is what we had been concerned about. It turned out great though and was a great break to get me through until Christmas when I get to see my family and be home. LB and I were really excited to see girls and tell them about our weekend. When we got back to Gracias, we headed up with Mauricio in the mototaxi and met the girls walking down to town. We all gave and received huge hugs. Later that night we shared our stories about how Teguz was and how the weekend was in Gracias. The girls’ weekend was good, too. It was more relaxing/slower paced than ours, but they made lots of great food, spent time with the neighbors, went into Gracias and relaxed. I liked being in Teguz for the weekend, but it was nice to back in calm, quiet Gracias, too.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Saturday, November 28
Saturday
We were really tired again from our late night last night; it seems like this weekend hasn’t been very restful, which is fine because we’re doing tons of things, but sleep is good, too! Haha. Everyone went back to the mall to do some more shopping, mainly because Renske and Laura needed some more clothes, but I was just so pooped I decided to stay back and try to sleep. I was so frustrated because every time I tried to take a nap this weekend, my body wouldn’t let me sleep. It was one of those things that you’re trying so hard to not think about falling asleep so you’ll fall asleep, but it just didn’t come. Ugh. They returned and we left for lunch: pizza! It was so good and rich and huge pieces. Then we were trying to decide if we wanted to do a movie or paintball, but everyone was indifferent and tired so we decided to have nap/rest time at the hotel until later. For our evening activity we went bowling; we all gave each other new names; the boys were girls names and the girls were boys names….it was funny what we came up with. We also had this thing of nicknames for everyone over the weekend; mine was Ratch, haha, given to me by Laura. After bowling we headed to the mall for crepes for dinner, which again were delicious. We’ve been eating so well this weekend. We still had some time left in the evening so we went to play games at Vicente’s for a while before turning into bed.
We were really tired again from our late night last night; it seems like this weekend hasn’t been very restful, which is fine because we’re doing tons of things, but sleep is good, too! Haha. Everyone went back to the mall to do some more shopping, mainly because Renske and Laura needed some more clothes, but I was just so pooped I decided to stay back and try to sleep. I was so frustrated because every time I tried to take a nap this weekend, my body wouldn’t let me sleep. It was one of those things that you’re trying so hard to not think about falling asleep so you’ll fall asleep, but it just didn’t come. Ugh. They returned and we left for lunch: pizza! It was so good and rich and huge pieces. Then we were trying to decide if we wanted to do a movie or paintball, but everyone was indifferent and tired so we decided to have nap/rest time at the hotel until later. For our evening activity we went bowling; we all gave each other new names; the boys were girls names and the girls were boys names….it was funny what we came up with. We also had this thing of nicknames for everyone over the weekend; mine was Ratch, haha, given to me by Laura. After bowling we headed to the mall for crepes for dinner, which again were delicious. We’ve been eating so well this weekend. We still had some time left in the evening so we went to play games at Vicente’s for a while before turning into bed.
Friday November 27
Friday
We woke up tired from the night before this morning, but we got ready, had a really good breakfast at the hotel and then we went to the see the clinic that Vida Abudante runs in Teguz. The clinic offers services in eye care, including new lenses and checkups all the way to surgery for cataracts. It also offers ears, nose and throat specialists as well. It’s a great facility, non-profit and they try not to turn away anyone if they can’t afford to pay for their services. They have them pay some so people don’t take advantage of it, but they really do all they can to serve the people of Teguz and Honduras. There are also traveling medical teams who go around Honduras to other cities to do eye checkups and other checkups, too and then refer them to Teguz if they need surgery for very low cost or free. After our visit to the clinic we went to the mall! It was kinda weird actually to be there with so many people and all these Christmas decorations up. It was fun to look around in the stores at the clothes and shoes, and I would have bought some, but realistically how much would I use most of those clothes and shoes in the next year in Gracias? I could buy it for later after I got home or for Christmas break, but most of those things I could find similar in the US. So I can only shop for so long, when I’m just looking and got bored pretty quickly. I just felt odd being at the mall, too, which isn’t abnormal for me in the States either, but even more so here because I haven’t been at one for an extended period of time like that. Vicente had planned for us to go to a town just outside Teguz called Ojojona after lunch. We bought subs and ate them on the way there and arrived in the cute little town of Ojojona. This town sells a lot of homemade pottery things, where you walk into the shops and they’re painting the pieces right in front of you. We wandered all over town, looking at all the little things, buying some of them and jewelry, too. LB even bought some slingshots for her brothers! There was a cute little center square by a church so we took some pics there and then headed back to Teguz and the hotel to chill before dinner. For dinner, we ate at this fun place that had a restaurant and karaoke and mini-golf. I had some good ol’ American chicken fingers for dinner; it was great. We played mini-golf and the course was really fun, but kinda hard so it took a while to finish. To end the night we all hung out together at Vicente’s and stayed up late again.
We woke up tired from the night before this morning, but we got ready, had a really good breakfast at the hotel and then we went to the see the clinic that Vida Abudante runs in Teguz. The clinic offers services in eye care, including new lenses and checkups all the way to surgery for cataracts. It also offers ears, nose and throat specialists as well. It’s a great facility, non-profit and they try not to turn away anyone if they can’t afford to pay for their services. They have them pay some so people don’t take advantage of it, but they really do all they can to serve the people of Teguz and Honduras. There are also traveling medical teams who go around Honduras to other cities to do eye checkups and other checkups, too and then refer them to Teguz if they need surgery for very low cost or free. After our visit to the clinic we went to the mall! It was kinda weird actually to be there with so many people and all these Christmas decorations up. It was fun to look around in the stores at the clothes and shoes, and I would have bought some, but realistically how much would I use most of those clothes and shoes in the next year in Gracias? I could buy it for later after I got home or for Christmas break, but most of those things I could find similar in the US. So I can only shop for so long, when I’m just looking and got bored pretty quickly. I just felt odd being at the mall, too, which isn’t abnormal for me in the States either, but even more so here because I haven’t been at one for an extended period of time like that. Vicente had planned for us to go to a town just outside Teguz called Ojojona after lunch. We bought subs and ate them on the way there and arrived in the cute little town of Ojojona. This town sells a lot of homemade pottery things, where you walk into the shops and they’re painting the pieces right in front of you. We wandered all over town, looking at all the little things, buying some of them and jewelry, too. LB even bought some slingshots for her brothers! There was a cute little center square by a church so we took some pics there and then headed back to Teguz and the hotel to chill before dinner. For dinner, we ate at this fun place that had a restaurant and karaoke and mini-golf. I had some good ol’ American chicken fingers for dinner; it was great. We played mini-golf and the course was really fun, but kinda hard so it took a while to finish. To end the night we all hung out together at Vicente’s and stayed up late again.
Wednesday and Thursday, November 25 and 26
Wednesday
Last day of this short week! Pretty normal day; I think everyone was ready for the long weekend to come. I stayed for a bit after school to help with dancing for 7th grade dance. And let me tell you, I got a workout with that dance for an hour and a half of dancing. After dancing I went to town for a bit, then headed back up to pack to get up early tomorrow morning. We were supposed to have a private van/bus originally the school had arranged, but it didn’t work because not everyone came so we had ot take public buses instead. The school still paid for it though, which was nice. We also had to figure out mototaxi rides for the morning because it was going to be really early and I chose to go with Juan Carlos at 4 am. Off to Teguz bright and early tomorrow morning!
Thursday
I got up at like 3 am to get ready to head down the mountain because our bus left at 5 from Gracias. Laura Beth, Mr. Bran, Ana and I all headed to Teguz together. We took a small sort of van/bus to La Esperanza at 5 and then took another nicer coach bus to Teguz from La Esperanza. It took a while to get to Teguz, overall like 6 hours, but we finally arrived, met Ana’s dad who picked us up and brought us to the mall to meet up with Vicente and the people from La Union. We met up at the mall and then the van we had bringing us around the whole weekend brought us to the hotel. We relaxed for a while, used the fast wireless internet, and got ready for the Thanksgiving dinner that evening. We drove a little outside Teguz to one of the administrators’ country houses, which was gorgeous! It was kinda in a woodsy area and we ate on the outdoor porch. The dinner was fancy, very nicely decorated and everyone was dressed nicely. It was all of the administrators from the Teguz school (principals, the Gonzalez’ and Lagos, etc) and Pastor Avelio was there, too. The American teachers, the European girls from La Union (Laura and Renske) and Vicente were the others who were there. It was a such a nice meal with appetizers and great Thanksgiving food! We had turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and green beans. It was comforting to be celebrating Thanksgiving in some way in Honduras since I didn’t get to celebrate it with my family. We had pumpkinish flan for dessert so I got my pumpkin pie! We chatted with the people at our table and really enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards, Vicente invited us to come hang out with him and his friends and play Guitar Hero, so we had fun with that for a while, but we were so tired from getting up so early; so we headed bad to the hotel and to bed.
Last day of this short week! Pretty normal day; I think everyone was ready for the long weekend to come. I stayed for a bit after school to help with dancing for 7th grade dance. And let me tell you, I got a workout with that dance for an hour and a half of dancing. After dancing I went to town for a bit, then headed back up to pack to get up early tomorrow morning. We were supposed to have a private van/bus originally the school had arranged, but it didn’t work because not everyone came so we had ot take public buses instead. The school still paid for it though, which was nice. We also had to figure out mototaxi rides for the morning because it was going to be really early and I chose to go with Juan Carlos at 4 am. Off to Teguz bright and early tomorrow morning!
Thursday
I got up at like 3 am to get ready to head down the mountain because our bus left at 5 from Gracias. Laura Beth, Mr. Bran, Ana and I all headed to Teguz together. We took a small sort of van/bus to La Esperanza at 5 and then took another nicer coach bus to Teguz from La Esperanza. It took a while to get to Teguz, overall like 6 hours, but we finally arrived, met Ana’s dad who picked us up and brought us to the mall to meet up with Vicente and the people from La Union. We met up at the mall and then the van we had bringing us around the whole weekend brought us to the hotel. We relaxed for a while, used the fast wireless internet, and got ready for the Thanksgiving dinner that evening. We drove a little outside Teguz to one of the administrators’ country houses, which was gorgeous! It was kinda in a woodsy area and we ate on the outdoor porch. The dinner was fancy, very nicely decorated and everyone was dressed nicely. It was all of the administrators from the Teguz school (principals, the Gonzalez’ and Lagos, etc) and Pastor Avelio was there, too. The American teachers, the European girls from La Union (Laura and Renske) and Vicente were the others who were there. It was a such a nice meal with appetizers and great Thanksgiving food! We had turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and green beans. It was comforting to be celebrating Thanksgiving in some way in Honduras since I didn’t get to celebrate it with my family. We had pumpkinish flan for dessert so I got my pumpkin pie! We chatted with the people at our table and really enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards, Vicente invited us to come hang out with him and his friends and play Guitar Hero, so we had fun with that for a while, but we were so tired from getting up so early; so we headed bad to the hotel and to bed.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24
Frustrating afternoon again for me and my kids; I just feel like no matter how many times I ask for attention and respect, it seems to in one ear and out the other, for some kids more than others. Mr. Lara is teaching my math class now and I explained to them I should be given as much respect as he is given in math class. The afternoon wasn’t so bad because I helped with 7th grade dancing, then Bible, and then dancing with 5th grade for the last hour. Jacki had told me some more things during the day about being cautious about going to Teguc since this weekend is the elections and things have been going on there. So after school we had a meeting with Mr. Lara about whether or not we were still going to go to Teguc for the weekend. Our embassy advised us not to go and other people weren’t too sure because of other things they’ve heard, but we could each come to a personal decision whether we wanted to go or not. So we had a powwow about the pros and cons of going and not and in the end, LB and I are still going and the other girls (Kirsty, Jacki, Sarah and Julia) decided they felt better staying here.
I just didn’t want to because I had been planning on this weekend for so long, I didn’t want to change my mindset on it; I feel like it’s going to be the thing to carry me through til Christmas. I mean if it had been a group decision and we couldn’t go, I just wouldn’t go and deal with it, but I have a choice. I think the benefits for me outweigh the risks: free lodging and food, a nice thanksgiving dinner, hanging out with friends, being in the city, etc. I understand there are some risks and I will be more cautious about where I go and when I go and who I go with, but either I’m stubborn and I’ve made up my mind I’m going and don’t want to change that or I just trust that Vida Abundante is taking every precaution as they can and we can take every precaution we can and then we just have to trust in God’s protection…maybe that’s naïve or stupid, I don’t know. I wish everyone was going because even though it’s not true, it feels like there’s division in the house and group because the other girls are talking about things they’re going to do instead since they’re staying here. I wish we could all do it together: either all Teguc or all in Gracias, but it’s not working out like that. I hate missing out on stuff, so even though I’m really excited for Teguc and it’ll be great, I’m sad I can’t be here at the same time as well to hang out with the other girls and do what they’ll be doing, too.
I just didn’t want to because I had been planning on this weekend for so long, I didn’t want to change my mindset on it; I feel like it’s going to be the thing to carry me through til Christmas. I mean if it had been a group decision and we couldn’t go, I just wouldn’t go and deal with it, but I have a choice. I think the benefits for me outweigh the risks: free lodging and food, a nice thanksgiving dinner, hanging out with friends, being in the city, etc. I understand there are some risks and I will be more cautious about where I go and when I go and who I go with, but either I’m stubborn and I’ve made up my mind I’m going and don’t want to change that or I just trust that Vida Abundante is taking every precaution as they can and we can take every precaution we can and then we just have to trust in God’s protection…maybe that’s naïve or stupid, I don’t know. I wish everyone was going because even though it’s not true, it feels like there’s division in the house and group because the other girls are talking about things they’re going to do instead since they’re staying here. I wish we could all do it together: either all Teguc or all in Gracias, but it’s not working out like that. I hate missing out on stuff, so even though I’m really excited for Teguc and it’ll be great, I’m sad I can’t be here at the same time as well to hang out with the other girls and do what they’ll be doing, too.
Monday, November 23
Frustrating morning…it was just a Monday for me and my kids; the afternoon was better because I had some free time and we got to practice for our Christmas program, which went pretty well. The girls are catching on really quickly, so I think we’ll be able to learn it in time. They seem really excited and they’ll be so cute when it’s done! It’s been hard to help Ana with the 7th grade because their practice time isn’t the same as my time with the 5th grade, so I hope I can still help her a little bit somehow. One of my kids, Byron, came up to me today and was like, ‘’Miss you know what I like most about Christmas?’ I was like “What?” He answered, “The presents (and I was thinking, ‘Kid you better not say snow, because I know you were in the States for a few years, but you won’t get snow here’)…and the food!” And then he turned and walked back to his desk. Those comments like that just lighten my day a little bit and make me laugh because it’s so random, but he felt like it was important to tell me or just wanted to tell someone I guess. Another random thing from today, one of my girls, Nohemi, came up to me in class and just gave me a big hug. It was during a time in class where I was frustrated because I felt like no one was listening, and it just made my heart soften. That she either noticed I was frustrated and gave me a hug for that or just wanted to…either way it was really sweet.
Science was just crazy today; I had one page left of a lesson to get through and I didn’t finish it. Two reasons: the kids were asking questions (good because it means they’re curious) and making comments (sometimes good and related, other times not); and I had get their attention every time I turned back from writing something on the board or their classmate started with their question/comment. It was ridiculous how much time that took away from class. Then there’s the ‘pencil sharpening, can I go to the bathroom, playing with things they shouldn’t be playing with during class, getting out of their seat to say something to someone when they shouldn’t and borrowing pencils, erasers and markers’ normal stuff that happens during every class. I don’t know how to have the class run smoother or to keep their attention better…these are times I wonder if being an Ed. Major would have helped! It was Mr. Bran’s birthday today so all the staff had birthday cake afterwards and then we had a pretty normal evening at home afterwards.
Science was just crazy today; I had one page left of a lesson to get through and I didn’t finish it. Two reasons: the kids were asking questions (good because it means they’re curious) and making comments (sometimes good and related, other times not); and I had get their attention every time I turned back from writing something on the board or their classmate started with their question/comment. It was ridiculous how much time that took away from class. Then there’s the ‘pencil sharpening, can I go to the bathroom, playing with things they shouldn’t be playing with during class, getting out of their seat to say something to someone when they shouldn’t and borrowing pencils, erasers and markers’ normal stuff that happens during every class. I don’t know how to have the class run smoother or to keep their attention better…these are times I wonder if being an Ed. Major would have helped! It was Mr. Bran’s birthday today so all the staff had birthday cake afterwards and then we had a pretty normal evening at home afterwards.
Sunday, November 22
I slept in, cleaned the bathrooms, made pancakes with everyone, graded,and learned my 5th grade girls dance. Mrs. Laurelais brought some homemade mocha cake over and said she was going to make us dinner because she had promised to make Alex and Alyssa a Philippino dish and they leave tomorrow! So we don’t even have to make dinner! We enjoyed our lazy afternoon, watched a movie, and then Mrs. Laurelais brought over dinner just as our neighbor Paola came to tell us that church was at the moment. Well it was 5:30, not normal church time, so we weren’t ready to go and we had just gotten our dinner. So no church for us today I guess. After dinner we chatted, finished our movie, said to bye to Alyssa and Alex because they were leaving really early tomorrow morning and went to bed.
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