Always Something There to Remind Me!

This has been quite the eventful week! 7 days filled with 5 stitches, 4 days of school, 3 church activities, 2 nights without power and 1 day without water. Just another week in paradise!

On Tuesday after school, our landlord gave us a ride home. I was telling her how badly I wanted to learn how to make tortillas, so she invited us over that even and she would give us an official lesson. We were pumped! After teaching at the orphanage then doing some tutoring, we headed over to her house. Right about that time…we lost power. It didn’t stop us though! Alejandra gave us tortilla making lessons by candlelight! It was so much fun! She even taught us how to make pupusas (a typical food here…basically, you put a hunk of cheese in the middle of the tortilla dough, then smash it with the tortilla press and cook it on the preheated tortilla pan. The cheese actually cooks into the tortilla…genius! Then you add fresh sautéed veggies and it is quite the treat!) She also gave us a recipe for Honduran enchiladas (very different than Mexican enchiladas) and showed us how to make beans. Honestly, I think she gave me the Honduran 101 cooking lesson because she felt bad for Greg. You see, they go all out here for every meal. I mean, they will make pork chops, fresh tortillas, rice, and vegetables for lunch on a random Tuesday. They cook it up big style for every meal here. There is no heating up leftovers or making a having cereal for lunch. I think I mentioned before that parents actually bring fresh cooked meals to their children at school every day for lunch. Greg and I, we keep it simple…PBJ every day! Yeah, I get a little jealous watching the kids chow on their grilled chicken, barbecued beef, beans, cheese, rice and tortillas, but whatever, peanut butter and jelly is fine! Alejandra, cracked up when she found at that is what we ate everyday for lunch. She was stunned that Greg was okay with that and assured me that her husband would definitely not be! So, in turn, she willingly gave me a cooking lesson and some traditional recipes in hopes that I would change my ways…at least for Greg’s sake! So, I did start to feel bad and I actually cooked lunch for Greg the next day. After all the work it took, we just picked up Wendy’s for the other two days!

When is the last time you had a candlelight dinner?

Wednesday was pretty uneventful. Greg and made dinner by candlelight again. Greg and I whipped up some delicious tuna salad to accompany the Honduran version of saltine crackers. Oh, and we also bought the biggest lemon in Central America from the Pulperia by our house (small little convenience store…there are at least 2 on every block). I asked Greg to pick one up, and he came back with this monstrosity of a fruit! The best part is, Greg has made such good friends with the owners there, that they just gave it to him! Anyway, we made like 2 cups of fresh lemon juice from the one lemon! Amazing! Here is a photo for proof (look at it compared to the size of Greg´s hand!) :

On Thursday, after a rough morning with my feisty fourth graders, I was delighted when the bell rang for recess. As I opened my class room door for 30 whole minutes of sitting down and resting my voice I was greeted by a swarm of kids. “Miss Emily! Miss Emily! Mr. Greg had to go to the hospital - he hit his head!” They shouted. Confused and completely blindsided, I started to cry. I scoured the playground with my eyes and sure enough, there was no sign of Mr. Greg. I began walking to the main building and as I did, I could feel everyone just staring at me as my eyes welled up with tears. Finally I ran into and administrative staff member and questioned Greg’s whereabouts. “Oh, he’s at the hospital” was their reply. Then, I did manage to get a little more information….that he was bleeding out of his head. Of course, I am freaking out by this time! Especially when they told me that everything was taken care of, that he was at the hospital and I should just stay at school. I was not down with that and after a few minutes was able to get one of the school’s head staff members to drive me to the Hospital Colonial (one of the private hospitals in town). When we arrived, I got to go straight to the emergency room where he was being treated. There I found out that during High School recess (the period right before elementary recess) Greg got an elbow to the eye during a game of soccer. The impact split open the skin right on his brow bone above his eye. It literally looked like he had a third eye opening! I don’t know what freaked me out more, the huge gash on his face or that dried blood that was stained on the wall from previous patients…. Anyway, the doctor came in and gave him several shots in the wound and then put in five stitches as four bystanders (including me) all stood around and watched. It was a pretty painful sight, but as to be excepted from him, Greg was a good sport, cracking jokes about it the whole time. He even claimed he would give bonus points to his student that did it for giving him such a good hit! About an hour later, Greg was discharged. He was given pain pills, some topical solution, and 6 vials of fluid that required an injection in his rear ever 12 hours. I perked up when I found out that I would be the one administering the shots! I assured the staff that I had given our dog vaccinations in the past, so giving Greg a shot in the butt twice daily would be a piece of cake! (If fact, something I would take pleasure in….I mean, when would I get this opportunity again!) You better believe that every twelve hours on the dot, Greg got his injection by his cheerful enthusiastic home health care nurse, Emily. J Due to the accident, the doctor told him to take Friday off school and prohibited from playing soccer for at least 7 days (of course, I busted him later that night kicking a soccer ball around with our neighbor!)

In all seriousness though, we are SO thankful that the accident was not more severe. The doctor said that had it been a little deeper he would have done surgery (since it was so close to his eye). PRAISE GOD that wasn’t necessary! In fact, his eye is healing so well and so fast I can‘t believe it has only been 3 days! The swelling went down within 24 hours and he doesn’t have any pain! God is so good! Please pray that it fully heals with no complications! Our biggest fear has been infection, but so far so good! We have faith that God will completely heal him with no problems. So brace yourself, here is a picture of what he looked like about 8 hours after the injury. Now we just joke that he is wearing purple eye shadow (because that it was it looks like!) Greg has such a positive attitude and is just thankful that he is recovering so quickly. I can assure you, we will never forget our time here in Honduras as Greg now has a permanent souvenir!

We hope you are all doing well! We miss you! May God continue to fill your life with blessings as he is with ours! Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

The Brightest Baños in all of Comayagua!

Thursday was quite a treat! Mommy Carmen (the founder of the Hogar de Ninos orphanage) asked Greg and I to select the tile for the bathrooms and kitchens in their ‘under construction’ transitional housing building. They are in the process of building 6 apartments at a new site in Comayagua to serve as home for the grown kids of the orphanage. Somewhat like a halfway house to help them get started in the ‘real world’ outside the walls of the orphanage. Needless to say, Greg and I were very honored to fulfill Mommy Carmen’s request. So after school on Thursday a van with 2 of the ninas and 2 of the workers picked us up to head to the Famaco store to make the selections. We stopped by the construction site first and were very pleased to see the progress that has been made on the 2 story building since we were last there about 5 weeks ago. Next, we headed strait to the hardware store, into the ‘tile’ room. Literally, the room had all different floor tiles and wall tiles in place on the floor and walls so we could see exactly how it would look. It always had a line of toilets and sinks ranging from maroon to green and all the colors in between. Greg was bored after about 15 minutes, so I was basically in control of the making the decisions….that is why it ended up taking about and hour and a half! All of the floor tiles had some sort of colors and patterns, all of the wall tiles had different ones and since they were fixed to the floor and walls already, it was impossible to tell if at colors matched (or at least blended!) So after careful consideration and much deliberation with my fellow girls, we made the final decision. It felt good! Soon after, an employee told us they no longer carried the flooring that we selected. We went with our second favorite and called it a day. Or at least I thought we were going to call it a day, then I learned that each bathroom would different, so we actually had 5 more to go. We started out quite conservative, with calm colors that seemed to match relatively well. By the end, we were selecting blue and pink toilets to match the brightly colored tiles. I tried to get light pastel colors that blended, but the other ladies advised me that bright colors were more important that matching patterns. Plus, our options were limited. It was a really fun experience! I can’t wait to see the tiles in place in the finished bathrooms and kitchens…what an honor!

That same day, the group also invited us to go with them to Puerto Cortes on Saturday. Mommy Carmen was sending a the workers of the Hogar to the beach for the day in honor of El Dia de Maestros (The Day of Teachers). We enthusiastically accepted the invitation. It was a 4 hour drive and we were just going for the day, so the group planned to leave Comayagua at 5am. The staff told us they would pick Greg and I up at our house around 4 or 4:30am and we would return around 7. Saturday morning came quickly and I hopped up 4 to the sound of our alarm. Greg got dressed, threw his stuff in a bag, then returned to bed. I took my time as I packed and got ready (we couldn’t shower though because we had no running water). Once I finished, I figured I would watch a little TV while I waited. Little did I know that I would watch an entire Hallmark channel movie before the van arrived at 6:15am! Greg was smart for staying in bed! I was quite impressed that they were an entire 2 hours late! I mean, at least 30 minutes was to be expected, but over 2 hours---unprecedented! I must admit though, it was well worth the wait (plus I got a watch a whole movie in English). We had an excelled day! The six women that live at the group home (another site operated by the Hogar for women with special needs) accompanied us on the trip. It was so good to get to spend time with them as we don’t often have the opportunity. One of the older girls from the Hogar (that was came along) even got to visit her family while in Puerto Cortes. I am not sure what her story is, or how she ended up in the Hogar, but it was very emotional to see their reunion after quite some time! I don’t know how often she gets to see them, but I thought it was so amazing that the Mommy Carmen helped arrange the visit. I know she was very grateful!

When we arrived at the beach, Greg and I were amazed at how dirty it was. It truly was unbelievable. The coast line was so beautiful, but all the bottles, plastic ware, bags, wrappers, and junk really tainted the view. The group said that it normally wasn’t as bad, it was only this dirty because the rain washed all the junk ashore. Nonetheless it was really cool to see Central America’s largest shipping port. We had heard about it before as it often makes the news due to major drug trafficking problems. Greg and I opted not to get in the water, but relaxed on the beach under the palm trees. I wanted to just put my feet in, but Greg said if I did, there would be a good chance I would come out with a spork stuck in my leg. I took his advice and just felt the water with my hand! Before we left, I gathered some pumice rock that had washed up on the beach. The women told me there were great to use for pedicures and also for cleaning. We had a wonderful day, and after 8 hours round trip in the van, we arrived back home in Comayagua around 7:30pm.…I was in bed soon after!

Holiday Weekend Fun

We woke up on Saturday morning at 6:45am to the sound of airplanes flying overhead. We ran outside to our little patio to see what all the commotion was about. There were about 6 small planes circling in the air above performing stunts an tricks. (The photo to the left is a view from our rooftop.) Next thing we knew, we were hearing music from a band. Then we remember, it was Fiesta de Patria…Honduran Independence Day! We rushed back inside to get dressed then hurried up the street to the main boulevard. People surrounded the street to watch the parade of bands, dancers, performers and floats. Nearly all of the schools in Comayagua had a band in the parade, followed by a group of female dancers (All the girls had baton’s in the hands, but they never twirled them for some reason.) Everyone in the parade was in costume. Some dressed up in traditional native garb, others dressed up like the Lempira tribe, and a group of boys even dressed up like donkeys! (Comayagua is known as the city of donkeys: Ciudad de burros.) It was quite the production. Following the march through the streets, each group in the parade would do a brief performance - for the grand finale - in the Central Park. I have never seen so many people in the square - it was so crowded! The parade lasted for 5 hours! (7am to 1pm) I felt bad for the kids that were dressed up in heavy, long sleeved uniforms because I was wearing a tank top and capri pants and I was sweating….and that was at 8:00am. At first we thought it was crazy that the parade started so early, then realized it was because of the heat! However, if you didn’t want to brave the high temperature outside, you could watch the parade live on TV from the comfort of your own home! It was a neat experience and we were happy to get to see it!

We had another really cool experience on Monday. We went with some people from the orphanage to a nursery here in Comayagua to help them purchase some trees to plant and grow at the farm. We were planning to only buy mango trees, but since they were less expensive than we thought, we ended up with some guava, nance, and noni trees as well. The owner of the nursery was very nice and asked us if we wanted a tour. We gladly accepted. He took us all around and gave us samples of the difference fruits from each tree. We tasted a lot of different fruits, many that we had never heard of. It was really cool! He also told us that this nursery is the only one in all of Honduras that genetically alters plants and trees. So basically, they had many varieties of the same type of tree (avocado, pomegranate, guava, etc.) all just a little different based on how it’s make up was altered. To sum it all up, he sent us home with 2 bags full of fruit (some of which we don‘t even know how to eat!)

Monday was the Day of Teachers. I must admit, I wasn’t expecting anything, however, I was pleasantly surprised! The high school students at our school put together a program for all the teachers complete with dancing, singing, a skit, food, cake, and my personal favorite….a pinata! So for Tuesday afternoon (we didn’t have school on Monday) we got to skip out on classes and celebrate! I think the highlight was when they picked 6 teachers (3 female, 3 male) to come up on stage and dance. The kids sang this song, and when they got to the part “suave, suave, suave” the teachers were supposed to break it down (basically shake your pelvis). Naturally, Greg was one of the participants. He was the first male contestant to go, so he tried to be as conservative as he could be when shaking your hips. I mean, he was in school, performing in front of all the students and administration. He also did a ‘Hulk Hogan’ motion to try to get the crowd pumped up and earn some more applause. Well, little did he know that the head counselor (the school’s disciplinarian) being so “suave” would end up on the ground thrusting and swaying like we had never seen before! Needless to say, Greg did not win. However, he did get a consolation prize (a lamp….I know it is super random, but we needed one for our house, so it was actually perfect!) Clearly, we don’t have the natural hip shaking, pelvic thrusting ability that the Hondurans are born with. After that performance though, I am not sure that’s a bad thing…:) It was quite the sight to see and not one I could ever imagine seeing in a school back home!

America, Honduras

Our friends invited us to go with them to a Christian fellowship gathering, called Crossroads, at the military base on Friday night. So after a productive morning of running errands and eating lunch at our favorite restaurant, we accepted the invitation. About 3 miles outside of Comayagua there is a ½ American ½ Honduras military base. Approximately 500 American soldiers are stationed here along with another 500 civilian contractors (American and Honduran). Our friend, Kyle, is one of the civilian contractors and his wife is a teacher at bilingual school in Comayagua. We met them several weeks ago, and they kindly helped us secure passes to get on the base to attend church there (since it is in English!) Our passes were just cleared for use, so we went with them last night to attend Crossroads. We took a cab out to the base (went through several cabs trying to agree on a reasonable price…like we said before, they always try to rip off Americans)! Anyway, once we arrived the cabby dropped us off at the front gave and sped off. We were greeted by Honduran military personnel to check out identification. Kyle and Crystal got through the gate immediately simply by flashing their base ID cards. We had to show our passports, then the guard looked through the binder of issued passes to find our names and clearance level. He found our names alright, however, we only had permission to be on base on Sundays from 9am to 5pm. It was Friday; therefore the Honduran soldier would not allow us to enter. We tried to plead with him, explaining that the Chaplain must have made an error, that we should be able come to the church functions on Friday nights also. We even had a US soldier helping us, trying to convince the Honduran to let us pass. However, he wouldn’t budge. Although Americans and Hondurans share the base, ultimately, the Honduran military has the upper hand (since we are in their country and all). Greg and I were prepared to turn back and hale another cab home, when we remembered….the husband of our landlord works security for the Honduran military! His wife told us earlier in the week that Jony would be residing on the base all weekend as part of his supervisory duties. Greg whipped out his cell and gave Jony a call. Fortunately he answered and within minutes, he met us at the front gate. Using his Capitan status, he walked up to the gate and told the other Honduran soldiers (that wouldn’t let us in) that we were with him. The soldier gave a salute to Jony, and we were in. In disbelief, the four of us followed him in, hopped in Jony’s car and headed to the chapel. Again, God has connected us with some truly amazing people here! J

It was so amazing to be on base! We actually felt very safe and stared out the window in amazement as we drove through streets. There were all kinds of American luxuries! Restaurants, coffee shops, laundry mats, restrooms with toilet paper (at school you have to bring your own), a gym, swimming pool, tennis courts, etc. all with signs written in English! Once we arrived, Crystal asked me to walk to the PX with her. It was awesome! Nearly all the products (food, clothing, appliances, electronics) were American name brands! They had a multitude of things impossible to find anywhere else in Honduras! I didn’t buy anything (I only had 30 Lempira – about $1.50), however, window shopping was still quite fulfilling. We plan to stop there and pick up a few things after church on Sunday.

Crossroads was great! There were about 12 people that attended (8 American soldiers and then the 4 of us). They cooked a great dinner (sloppy jo’s, potatoes, and corn) and for dessert we had root beer floats! I don’t remember the last time I had one of those!? It definitely hit the spot though! The Crossroads building was filled with activities. At one end of the room was the kitchen and pantry, then tables and cabinets filled with board games. The other side of the room had several couches, a HUGE TV (with American Cable) and a Christian Library. There were also a ping pong and foosball tables. After we enjoyed the scrumptious meal and thought that there was no possible way this night could get any better, they unveiled they Nintendo Wii. We all put on our game faces and boxed, bowed, and played tennis for hours. How fabulous!

I really felt like I was back in the US when I was actually able to flush toilet paper down the toilet! You see, everywhere else you go in Honduras, you have to throw your used toilet paper in the trashcan next to the toilet. (Trashcan to the left in the photo.) I guess you get used to it after a while, but it is still sorta gross. Anyway, it felt so good to be on base. For a little while, we actually felt like we were in the United States. It was such a comforting feeling! We are definitely grateful and proud to be American citizens!


Greg and I both agreed that last night was truly a gift from God. He fills everyday with blessings small and large, and it is up to us to recognize each gift and give thanks. “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:6
May God bless you richly today!

Dia del Nino

What the heck is Dia del Nino (Spanish for The Nino, for all you Chris Farley fans)? It is a national holiday here in Honduras where you celebrate being a kid. Brilliant! Another opportunity for fried food and sugary treats! I had to do nothing since I teach the older kids (7th- 11th grade) but, Emily had to take off the afternoon and throw a party for her class…cakes, sodas, chips…so it was pretty much like every other day. (Apparently you once you pass the 6th grade you are officially cut off from kids day). These kids eat and drink nothing but junk food! I think it would be better for these kids to just get an IV filled with sugar because it would be more efficient….no time for digestion, the sugar goes directly to the blood. So anyway, Emily learned from our landlord (whose son is in her class) that she would be required to organize the party, delegate which student would bring what, and host the two hour party. Oh, and Emily found this out 2 days in advance. Fortunately, she pulled it off…well sort of! She managed to have another teacher help write a letter in Spanish to send home with the children indicating what each student was responsible for bringing. I would say about 75% of the children managed to bring their assigned goods - piñatas, sandwiches, churros, ice cream, catrachitas (fried corn tortillas with a smear of beans and a sprinkle of cheese), cups, plates, spoons, etc. Once the party began, complete chaos broke out (What´s new?) It worked out for Emily because the kids ended up entertaining themselves. Really, she was just responsible for distributing the food and beverages, and working the piñata (Poor Sponge Bob didn´t even see it coming! See photo.) Two hours later, the final bell sounded and Emily would no longer be responsible for the kids and their sugar highs (or crashes)! Apparently redemption is near, as we learned that National Teacher´s Day is Monday, September 17!

We also found out that late notices to parents or students (telling them the day before or the day of that they have a meeting, or their kids have to bring something to school etc.) is a typical and planned course of action here. One example (although I have man) - The teachers found out on Monday that we would be having school on Thursday (originally we were supposed to have it off for their independence day, but since we missed two days for Felix, they made us go). The teachers knew all week, but it wasn´t until Wednesday afternoon that a note was sent home to parents informing them there would in fact be school the following day. Sorry if you had vacation planned for the long weekend, your kids have to come to school. Apparently this practice is effective though, as all of Emily´s 4th grade students (32 total) were present on Thursday!

Have a great weekend! We know we will as we are off from school Friday and Monday! =)
Again, thank you all for your support and prayers. The Lord is definitely present in this place! God Bless You!

Oh...and GO BUCKEYES!

It Pays to be Honduran!

We have a Honduran friend named Kevin who went to high school in the states and speaks better English than we do. He hailed a cab from our apartment to go home and the following conversation took place…in Spanish -

Kevin: “How much to Tres Caminos?” (The neighborhood where he lives.)
Cabby: “40 limps” (about 2 bucks)
Kevin: “40 limps, to Tres Caminos!?!?”
Cabby: “Yeah, you are American, right?”
Kevin: “No, I am Honduran!”
Cabby: “Oh, so sorry, only 20 limps!”

I know what you are thinking, we are only talking about a buck difference…remember we are in Honduras where the average salary is 3,000 U.S. dollars a year! It is funny though, because you can get so caught up trying to get a bargain, that you realize later that you spent 15 minutes arguing over 10 cents. But in actuality, that´s two bags of water, 9 tortillas, or 5 minutes at the internet cafe...time well spent trying to save a dime!

A Taste of America

God sure was looking upon on with favor on Friday! He blessed us with some good ‘ol American Chili Cheese Dogs! I mean, honestly, when is the last time that you praised the Lord for giving you a hotdog? It was Friday afternoon (our crazy first week of school had finally come to an end) and we decided to hit the internet café for a little R & R. Not long after we began surfing the net, we got a call from our good buddy, Bill. They had just gotten a shipment of hot dogs and chili in at the base and he invited us over to indulge with him. We enthusiastically obliged! And a treat it was…. 8 dogs later, we were doubled over in pain! (Greg – 4, Bill – 2½, Emily – 1½) Oh, and we also had some Cool Ranch Doritos and baked beans. We felt like it was the fourth of July! The neighbor kids even helped us celebrate by setting off firecrackers! (Seriously! Hondurans have a habit of doing that…all hours of the day and night, for no apparent reason you will hear the sound of fireworks!) After several hours of rehashing our week, talking on the phone (Bill always insists that we call our parents from his internet phone when we are at his house) and relaxing, Bill had an idea. Every time we are together he raves about yucca (an indigenous root vegetable that is similar to a potato). He has threatened to take us to his favorite place and get some several times, and this was the night his dreams would come to fruition. Next thing we knew were out, eating more food! He ordered two kinds….yucca chimichurra (boiled yucca with a garlic pesto sauce) and good ‘ol fried yucca (Honduran style). It was delicious! I have no idea how we had the room, but we slammed the entire thing! It was a great night….well….until about 3am when I woke up to the sound of Greg’s 4 hotdogs being resurrecting into the toilet! Poor guy! He said it will be years until he can eat another one. He had a similar experience with apple juice when he was 5 and hasn’t touched the stuff since!

Saturday was a great day! It was our first day to teach at the orphanage! We were pumped! Right on time, a truck from the farm picked us up at our apartment. We picked up about 8 girls from town, then headed out to meet the rest of the group at the boy’s orphanage. Fortunately, one of our bilingual Honduran friends volunteered to translate. It was a blessing because I don’t know how we would have been able to communicate as effectively without him. We had about 20 alumnos (boys and girls) and learned that 17 more would be there next week (they had a school activity that morning). We were thrilled! On Saturdays, we will teach high school and college students. The kids were given the option to come to class IF they wanted to learn English. So think about it, approximately 40 students ages 14-22 are voluntarily coming to our class for 2 ½ hours on Saturday mornings! Even one of the staff members is attending. We are so excited! We did a brief assessment to determine their skill level, then hit the ground running. It was a great class and we could see the enthusiasm on their faces! I am sure they could see it on ours too! I am confident that God has wonderful things in store for the future!
That evening we attended church at La Vina (The Vineyard) – a wonderful experience as always!

Sunday was filled with LOTS of work. We made lesson plans for hours and ran errands to prepare for the week ahead. Later in the day Greg was reminiscing about his days in Raleigh when he would get a Bojangles Tailgate Special complete with a gallon of sweet tea and go to town in front of the TV watching Sunday afternoon football….and then he somehow convinced me to go. Yes, for all you North Carolinians out there, you read correctly…there is a Bojangles here in Comayagua. Trying to recreate Greg’s familiar atmosphere, we decided to get Bojangles takeout. He excitedly ordered one of the fried chicken combos and ordered his favorite dirty rice and fries for sides. Needless to say, he also ordered a large sweat tea. Several minutes later, we were home preparing for the feast. Disappointment #1: No Texas Pete. Fried Chicken without Texas Pete? Un-American! Greg shakes it off and uses a Honduran brand. Disappointment #2: Greg carefully places the straw in his coveted cup of sweet tea and to his surprise discovers it is Sprite. He pouts, but is determined that it will not get him down. Disappointment #3: Greg opens the container of dirty rice to find a mound of coleslaw. This was it. He was disgusted. However, it did not stop him from eating ever last morsel in the bag. Coby saved the day when he was able to produce 3 NFL games on Sunday afternoon (with Spanish commentating of course). Oh, and Greg dominated his fantasy football league this week. (p.s. Greg is playing in a league with a bunch of random dudes since none of his friends would let him in theirs….he made me type that). All in all, it was a wonderful weekend filled with lots of good food and new cultural experiences.

One and Done, Baby!

I don’t know if words can even describe the first week of school. Although it was only 3 days, thanks to Felix, it felt like 3 years. I will try to muster up the last few fibers of energy that I have to give a brief summary.

The first day, Monday, was complete chaos. No one knew what they were supposed to be doing or where they were supposed to be. Lucky for us, it was only a ½ day. We were all fried by 11:30am. Fast forward to Thursday and Friday…two full days of havoc! Actually, things got a little better toward the end of the week, but nonetheless it was a lot crazier that we were prepared for. I think we can all agree, regardless of the location or culture, that teachers are overworked and underpaid!

The school day here consists of nine 40 minute educational periods, a 30 minute recess and a 40 minute lunch. It begins at 7:10am and ends at 2:10pm. In realty though, I would say at least 10-15 minutes of each period is spent doing one of the following: disciplining the students (they are constantly talking, making noises, bothering each other, not paying attention , etc.), answering questions like How old are you? Do you like cats? Can I go to the bathroom? Can we play now? Can I pass Mary a note? Can I tell John a secret?, or telling kids to put their churros (chips) and sodas away until lunch or recess. Chalk up another 5 minutes to interruptions from other students, teachers or administration (uniform check, announcements, meeting notices, snacks or messages for siblings) and basically, you are down to about 20 minutes of pure teaching time. Really puts a cramp in your lesson plans, let me tell ya! Greg and I have already determined that we will have to restructure our class and develop a new approach if we want to cover

We have been packing our lunch (peanut butter and jelly and a piece of fruit) but have been getting a snack during recess from the cafeteria. The selection consists of 4 or 5 varieties of fried food items either filled with meat, cheese, beans or a combination of the 3. In addition, their menu includes a plethora of individually packaged churros (at least 15 different kinds, seriously) and cookies. They also sell soda, juice, and water. Yesterday, I bought 2 big tortillas (plain) and a bag of water for 5 Lempira (about 25 cents. (They sell ½ liter bags of water here. You bit off the corner and add a straw – genius! Greg refuses to drink them though because the same company that makes them also makes fertilizer. It doesn’t stop me though…When in Rome!) Today, we got a little crazy and went for a fried thing filled with chicken and topped with red sauce and cabbage. I let Greg eat most of it though because one of my sweet students brought me a piece of cake from her mother’s birthday party the night before. In fact, for some reason I must give off this “I love sugar vibe” because in the past two days, 5 different students have given me cookies, cake, candy, dried fruit, and pastries. I can’t quite say that makes up for the mayhem that has occurred in school over the first week, but it definitely softens the blow!

Greg and I have already planned to go for dinner tonight. Neither one of us is willing to cook and we have had enough peanut butter and jellies for one week. Tomorrow we will go to the orphanage and begin teaching! We are very excited! We sat down with some of the administrators there on Wednesday to finalize our plans and our schedule. We are interested to see what our teaching experience at the orphanage will be like….

May God bless all teachers everywhere! Also, we life up prayers and thanksgiving to the Lord above for keeping us safe from Hurricane Felix. We didn’t get more than a light rain here in Comayagua! God is definitely looking out for us here! Everyday is an adventure and a blessing as we do our best to follow the Lord’s plan for our life. We are so thankful for the opportunity and ability to freely and openly serve the God of all creation!

WE ARE SAFE!

Thank you all for your concern! We have received many emails questioning our safety regarding Hurricane Felix. Please know that here in Comayagua (central Honduras) we have only received a light drizzle of rain for the past few days. No strong winds or heavy downpours. In fact, the drop in temperature and slight breeze has been nice for a change! Fortunately, we have not been affected at all by the Hurricane. However, we have gotten a dose of ´hurricane fever´ being confined to our apartment for the past 2 days, but that is about it! So for all of you that have been wondering, WE HAVE NOT BEEN FELIXED! Our prayers are being answered, God is protecting us and keeping us safe. Thank you for your prayers and support! God Bless You!

Hurricane Felix Update

Apparently people are being airlifted out of Honduras...no, not us. We are sitting in the computer lab at school checking email. Outside, some of the other teachers are setting up a net to play volleyball (It is currently 7:30am). When we arrived at the school this am, we were greeted by an administrator that told us school would be cancelled today and tomorrow due to Hurricane Felix. It is supposed to hit Honduras today around 10:00am. Since we are pretty centrally located, we don´t anticipate actually getting hit by the hurricane (but who knows!) However, we are prepared for major storms and prolonged flooding, loss of power and loss of water. (By prepared I mean that we bought some candles and matches, charged our cell phones, stocked up on ice and water and purchased some canned goods). Of course, we just went to the grocery store a couple days ago and filled our fridge with lots of perishable items too! Oh well! The temperature has definitely dropped and the sky is gray and overcast. At least we have Coby to help keep us semi updated on the weather situation. (I say semi because the news is in Spanish...we can only figure out so much from the pictures!) It seems a little surreal that a Category 5 hurricane is heading straight toward us, but I know that God will protect us. Fortunately, we have a second floor apartment, but I am very worried about people that live in make shift, poorly constructed homes built with less than quality materials. Please pray for safety and protection of those that will be affected by the hurricane. We will post an update as soon as possible! Take care and may God Bless You!

Weekend Wrap Up

T-minus 24 hours until our first day of school! We have been very busy preparing! From writing lesson plans to decorating our classrooms, the past few weeks have flown by! We have to report to school at 6:50am where we will have a short worship session including songs and devotions with all the school’s employees. Then, school officially starts at 7:10am and ends at 2:10pm. Unfortunately, Greg and I are on totally difference schedules as he is teaching secondary (junior high and high school) and I am teaching primary (elementary). My schedule is very full, only a little down time each day. Greg’s original schedule had a lot of free periods, until the school asked him to also be a counselor. Basically, a counselor at our school is a disciplinarian. Instead of going to the principal when a student misbehaves, they go to the counselor. I am sure Greg will be really intimidating since physically the biggest guy most of the kids have ever seen.

Even though school doesn’t start until tomorrow, we have to make a pit stop there today. You see, as a homeroom teacher, you are responsible for decorating your classroom. I am homeroom for both 4th grade classes and Greg is homeroom for one of the 7th grade classes. I completed the decorations for my rooms on Friday, and sadly, Greg has not even started his. However, it isn’t has fault – his classroom is still under construction! School was supposed to start last Monday (August 27) however, since the new building addition wasn’t going to be finished in time, they had to push the first day back a week. Supposedly the crew finished his room on Friday evening. We will go later today to find out for sure and put up some decorations.

We also have to pick up our uniforms today. About two weeks ago, they gave each teacher some khaki fabric and some black fabric (I am pretty sure it is wool…it is so thick and heavy!) Then they asked that we take the material to a tailor and have them make us 4 pair of pants. It cost us both 600 (about $30) Lempira to get 4 pair of pants made. Pretty good deal right? We will soon find out! In addition to the pants, we will wear a polo shirt (a difference color for each day) with our name and the school’s logo on the front.

Greg and I had a new experience yesterday; we went to the Comayagua Mercado for the first time. It was extremely packed, and people from every direction were trying to selling us things. We ended up leaving with some potatoes, tomatoes, a cucumber and a pineapple all for about a $1.50. Then last night we went to church with another one of our missionary friends. Her church (The Vineyard) in Phoenix started 2 new church branches here in Honduras (one in Tegucigalpa and one in Comayagua). She moved here a little over a year ago to help get them off the ground and be the liaison between the home church and the branch churches here. We both really enjoyed to both the service and the fellowship at La Vina.

I will have to admit though, that the highlight of our weekend is our new friend Coby. Who is Coby you ask? Our brand new 13 inch television. Let me explain…. We met with our friend, Bill, on Thursday night. In our conversation, Greg brought up his itch to watch some college football this weekend since the new season was kicking off. Next thing we knew we were at Bill’s house disassembling the TV that he ‘never uses because it is so small that he can’t see the screen.’ We rushed back to ours, screwed in the cable, and plugged it in, and VWLAH! Direct TV before our very eyes! Even a few of the channels were in English! We also discovered that we get Wyoming’s regional programming. Yeah, that is weird, but we aren’t going to complain…Greg was actually getting to watch some college football! I don’t think I will ever get used to Barney speaking in Spanish, but it is a little price to pay for the gift of cable television in Honduras!








Oh, and by the way, I finally redeemed myself from the horrible Honduran cooking attempt with some good ´ol fashion No Bake cookies! I could only contain my sweet tooth for so long! I had to get creative though since we don´t have an oven! They were a hit among the locals! :) (See photo right)