Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Oct 21-23

Wednesday was chapel and it went pretty well. Sarah taught today about learning and knowledge and used a balloon as an example of how our brains will get bigger the more we learn. We went into town later that night for internet and groceries. I’m always amazed at how small of a world it is. We were at Guancascos and this other group of gringos comes in to eat and have a meeting and one of the men had a Grand Rapids 25K shirt on and I was like huh, I wonder if they’re from Michigan. Well we got to talking and it turns out this group was from GR and Kalamazoo; they do 2 week medical trips here. I’m not sure if its like a medical missions trip or if it’s more humanitarian, but they have a clinic in Gracias that they work out of. One of the men who comes down most often is a foot doctor who (get this) graduated from Unity Christian. I told my dad his name later and he was like ‘Oh yeah that guy, does he do this and look like this?’ It’s crazy that even in Honduras you can meet people from your state, your area, and someone from the same town.
Thursdays are my easiest days because my kids have PE and I have a few other free periods. During one of the classes my kids were not paying attention so I kept stopping and waiting for them to be quiet. One of the girls could tell I wasn’t happy and was like, ‘Miss Sneden, are you angry?’ I almost laughed, but I was like, ‘No I’m not angry, I’m just frustrated because I’m trying to teach and you are being disrespectful of me while I’m doing it.’ It was just amusing to know that the kids can tell when I’m not happy…it must be my face or body language or something. They really are a good class, but we both have our days :-)
Fridays are my busiest days, but this one went pretty well; I was glad to get another full week of work under my belt, especially since we have Monday off for a holiday! We’re going to the Copan Ruins this weekend; Jacki’s already been there and told us it’s amazing so I’m excited to see the town and the ruins.

Monday and Tuesday, Oct 19 and 20

This Monday was a Monday, especially after only working 3 days last week! But the day went well overall. We had a staff meeting after school where we talked about how our doors should look, some other general reminders and mainly about the Fiesta Tipica that is coming up at the end of October. I’ll tell more about it later, but the Fiesta Tipicia helps to raise money for the school by putting on a program with typical dances and there are booths that sell food. We’re doing it in Gracias in the central park so it will public, helping us to make more money hopefully. After the meeting we had cake for my birthday and I got to take home the leftovers! J Today was the coldest day we’ve had in Gracias. It was cloudy, drizzly all day, and chilly, probably somewhere between mid 50s-low 60s. All the kids came with layers of clothes on, gloves, hats, etc. I was even chilly and wore a long sleeve shirt with a cardigan over it and was still a little chilly. I can’t wait (not) until I get home for 2 weeks in December and freeze in 30 degree or colder weather. After we got back from school, Jacki and I decided to go running up the mountain. It was a great hill workout for sure and I went up farther than I had gone up the last time. I was tired after so I didn’t do much tonight.

Tuesday
It was chilly again today, but not as much as yesterday. School went pretty good today; before lunch my kids were being kinda talkative so I had to stop multiple times. I knew they were planning something for my birthday, but didn’t know what day and found out it was for today. They had been asking me things like my favorite color and how old I was and what kind of cake I liked and such, it was so cute. After lunch I had to wait outside the cafeteria while they decorated the classroom and everything. They kept running back and forth, checking to make sure I wasn’t looking. The kids told Mr. Bran to talk to me so I wouldn’t come to class and then he could bring me and close my eyes until I went in the door. So I had hands over my eyes til I was in the door and then they all yelled “Surprise!” And confetti went everywhere! All over me and my hair and face and clothes and balloons popping…it was crazy! But I loved it and they were all so cute the way they had decorated stuff and were all giving me hugs and wanting to help with everything and give me the biggest piece of cake. All the girls were helping me serve and the boys were running around being crazy and wanting food…not to different from adults sometimes I think haha. All the girls were yelling “Sientense!(to sit down) or they wouldn’t get a piece of cake and some kids were trying to beat the system and come up themselves. We had cake, dessert, juice, popcorn, chips, and cookies. Quite a bit of sugar, but it was great and so sweet of them to make my birthday special. My actual birthday day may not have been amazing, but it’s like I got to keep celebrating it for a few days afterwards.

Sunday, Oct 18-My Birthday

Well today is my 23rd birthday! I woke up this morning and had to kinda convince myself it was my birthday because it seemed like any other morning haha. I’m glad to be in Honduras, but on days like these I miss my family and friends from home the most because they can’t be here to celebrate with me. I laid there in bed thinking back on my 22nd year of life and all I had done and gone through in the past year: last semester at SAU, going to Chicago for a semester, all the experiences, including finding this job, in Chicago, graduating from SAU, moving back home, working and preparing for Honduras, and then finally arriving here and starting my job. It’s a lot! Crazy how much can happen and change in a year, especially in this time of my life I think. I wonder sometimes if life will change as much when I get older in a year or not...

Anyways we had full bodied pancakes for breakfast; they had banana, granola and coconut in them; I don’t know if I’ll be able to have plain pancakes anymore haha. After breakfast we watched a few hours of the Office since we just received Season 5 because Jacki’s friends brought it when they came. It’s our new favorite thing to do. I forgot how funny that show is with all its awkwardness. I’ve also noticed that sarcasm is not as common in the Latin American culture. We joke with Mr. Bran and other people sometimes or use dry humor and they just don’t get it most times. I think it’s more of a North American/European thing. Unfortunately I had to do some work on my birthday; I had to plan for next week and fill out progress reports, but I hadn’t done any yesterday so it was my fault. Later that afternoon, Laura Beth, Mr. Bran and I went to the hot springs to relax there and as a fun thing to do to celebrate my birthday. It was pretty busy and since it was a cooler day it felt nice to be in hot water. Afterwards we picked up some food for dinner and headed back home. We got home too late to go to church, so we waited for the others to get back and then had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner.

Saturday, Oct 17

Kirsty and I decided we needed to leave early this morning to make sure we got to the post office to check if our packages were there. We’ve been trying for a week or more, so we were determined to try one more time. We left our house at like 9 am and walked to town, arriving a little after 10. The post office was open! We were so excited! I got my package from my family, but Kirsty’s hadn’t arrived yet, which was frustrating because her mom had sent it about 3 weeks ago. Afterwards we went to the bank and then to Guancascos. We spent some time on the internet, got licuados to cool down and then decided to go somewhere for lunch and some shopping. Kirsty and I went to Don Juan’s Restaurant, which is the restaurant for the Hotel Don Juan. It’s really nice inside and there are some nicer meals there. I treated myself to grilled chicken, rice, and veggies as a pre-birthday present. Kirsty and I talked about a lot of great stuff too like our travels, how we’ll never be able to go back to college life again like before, how fast college went, and how awesome God is.
We had some shopping to do afterwards; Kirsty needed some things for her house and kitchen and I needed to get some food and say hi to one of my students, Nohemi, who lives by the supermarket we go to. Julia met us after and we all got some ice cream, again a pre-birthday treat since I don’t know how much we’ll be doing for my birthday since it’s on a Sunday and we usually don’t go to town on Sundays. It was really a great day in town, not hurried, good conversations, seeing more of Gracias, enjoying ice cream in the park…I was satisfied. We headed back up the mountain and I was so excited to finally open my package; it was like my birthday present. I did it right away and received some school supplies and then snacks like chocolate, Goldfish, and other thoughtful things from my family. After that excitement of that, we relaxed the rest of the evening at home, watching the Office and making dinner.

Friday, Oct 16

Well the weekend came quickly since I only taught for 3 days this week. Five day work weeks are gonna be tough to get used to after all of these long weekends are done and there’s no more unplanned vacation days! Today went well though, my kids listened better than they had earlier in the week and I feel like we accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish today. I’m still behind in general for the year in most of my subjects, but I still think I’ll be able to finish most of the curriculum by the end of the year. All of my kids came up to me today before school asking if I had seen the game versus El Salvador and saying they loved the USA because they helped Honduras to go to the Mundial because they tied with Costa Rica. It’s ironic that the USA beat Honduras on Saturday, but then they also inadvertently helped Honduras to make it to the World Cup on Wednesday. The US is also going, but it’s just funny to me. Anyways, it was cute how excited they were about it; it is a big deal for the country.
I shortened devotions today because my kids wanted to help me decorate my door for the Thanksgiving theme. I decided they could help me by making handprint turkeys, so that’s what they did during some of our devotion and math time today haha. They loved it though and I’m so glad they are willing and wanting to help me. I was a little more lax today in my disciplining and yelling above my kids today and they were listening better, so I think that’s why the rest of the day went well.
After school we hiked home, watched episodes of The Office to unwind and then we went to eat at the comedor for a tipica cena. Jacki really wanted to have her friends have an authentic Honduran meal. The funny thing is that the power went out right before we were about to eat, so we ate by candlelight at the comedor; what a great welcoming experience for Alex and Alyssa to get the full affect of a Honduran evening: food and no power lol. The power came back on a few hours later though and we spent the rest of the night hanging out at the comedor playing with the kids and talking to the neighbors as well as coffee and chatting at our house.

Thursday, Oct 15

I spent my day off in Gracias for most of the day. I was truly happy for Honduras that they were going to the World Cup and watching the news and reactions to it on TV gave me a sense of pride that I’m able to be in this country right now. Kirsty, Jacki and I walked to town again, but we didn’t go as fast as we did last time. We still got to town in a decent amount of time. We checked the post office again, just in case it was open (it wasn’t), then went to Guancascos for a while. After that we decided to find another new place to eat so we ate at Garaje de Sabor (Flavor Garage). It was this cute place that was in what used to be a garage I think. We were craving burgers and fries so that’s what we got! The burgers we’ve had in Gracias aren’t like American burgers at all, but it was close enough to satisfy us. After lunch, we did some market and supermarket shopping and then headed back up the mountain. Kirsty and I stayed at the school for a while to decorate our classrooms for the Thanksgiving theme and walked home before it got dark. Jacki’s friends Alex and Alyssa from the States were coming later today, so she went back to Gracias to wait for them to arrive. Meanwhile, the rest of us stayed up at the house, grading, talking, and making dinner. She and her friends came later that night and it was nice to meet some of the people Jacki has talked so much about. They’ll actually be staying for about a month and living in the other room of the house Kirsty is in. Tomorrow’s Friday again already!

Wednesday, Oct 14

I was kinda frustrated again with my kids today because I felt like no matter how many times I told them to be quiet, they would just keep talking and I was sick of talking over them and waiting for them to be quiet so I could start. I kept one of my students, Marquito, in with me for lunch because no matter how many times I told him, he kept getting out of his seat to talk to one of his friends and then when he was sitting down he was turned towards his friends so he wasn’t paying attention. So we ate lunch together as his punishment. I had known he didn’t have the best family life so I tried asking him so more about it. All I know is his dad is dead, his mom is in Tegucigalpa (I don’t know how long she has been there or for how long) and I think it’s just him and his 20something year old sister at home. Either way, my heart went out to him; he’s one of those kids who can be so annoying and frustrating, but so cute and energetic, and then tired, crabby, and sad sometimes too. I love him, just don’t always like him J My kids had been complaining about our Wednesday chapel schedule so I changed it this week so they had recess with the younger kids and so they wouldn’t have to miss any of their normal recess if we had been on the other schedule. They seemed to like that better. The only problem with this schedule is that whenever chapel gets done, there’s about 10-20 minutes until their next class so I’ll have to be on top of it as far as what I can use to fill that time.
We headed to town after school today for the usual. Jacki and Sarah went to go buy some paint because we’re repainting the white in our house; there’s just too many stains on it from bug guts and other stuff. We went to Guancascos, then decided we wanted pizza. We had a general idea of where it was, walked that way, asked someone, and found it! We were so excited to have pizza and when it finally came out, we chowed it down so fast.
Today was also a huge game for Honduras; since they lost against the US this past Saturday, they had to win against El Salvador today to be able to have a chance to go the World Cup playoffs in South Africa. We watched the first half of the game at the restaurant we ate at, but then had to head up the mountain. On the way up we heard that Honduras had scored a goal, but that was all; we had work to do so we couldn’t watch the rest of the game. Well about 10pm, our Mr. Bran called and was like “Hey Honduras won! So we don’t have school tomorrow.” And I totally thought he was joking…not about Honduras winning because that was great, but about not having school tomorrow. But no, because Honduras won against El Salvador and the US tied with Costa Rica instead of winning, Honduras is going to the World Cup finals in South Africa!!! And since this hasn’t happened since 1982 I believe, it’s a big deal. Supposedly the president (Micheletti I think) came on the TV and said this is time for celebration so nobody has to go to work tomorrow. So we don’t have school and people don’t have to go to work if they don’t want to. It would be like if UofM went to the National Championship and they canceled classes on a smaller scale of course. So needless to say, I love this country haha.