Fiesta Patria 2008

We celebrated Honduran Independence Day on Monday, September 15. Every year they have a parade through the streets of Comayagau. It begins at 7am (or should I say it is supposed to anyhow) and lasts for about 5-6 hours. There are numerous participants, including schools, social organizations, the military, businesses, etc., and Maranatha was lucky enough to be assigned number 3 in the parade order!

Many of the local schools participated in the festivities by including various student groups. For example, this year Maranatha included a percussion band, cheerleaders, color guard, the top 3 students from each class, and the 6th (last grade before high school), 10th (juniors) and 11th (seniors) graders in the march. Oh and of course we had a special section for the gringo teachers 

at our school! What a prime time to showcase all of Maranatha´s American teachers to the city of Comayagua. (Having native English speakers is a status symbol and definitely a plus for parents when selecting a biligual school for their children.) This is the first year since we have been here that Maranatha has participated in the festivities. Although we had to meet at the school at 6am on Monday morning it was great to be a part of the celebration. Greg and I were so proud of the kids! The band looked so sharp in their uniforms and did an excellent job playing and marching. Their beats helped keep us energized as we danced along behind them. Greg, Jenny, and I ended up being the official water distributors for the band and a couple other student groups. There was a wagon full of bags of water that we pulled along with us as we all walked around squirting it in the kids mouths - in attempt to keep them from getting dehydrated. It was so hot that day and the poor band kids were wearing heavy uniforms! We had a lot of fun helping them out! Several of my 5th graders were in the band, but the youngest member was an adorable 3rd grader, Jesus. I think he was the fan favorite! He was definitely a trooper - marching through the entire thing!

  

Participating in the parade this year really brought the student body together and helped build pride among them. They worked hard for weeks preparing for the big day and their dedication really paid off. All of the students regardless of the section they marched in, made a very good showing for our school and did an excellent job! Here is a brief video clip from the start of the march:

The entire time we marched Greg and I (and a couple other fellow Americans) felt a little uncomfortable. We heard a comment like ´why are theses Americans marching in our parade?´ and it confirmed our suspicious that there might be a few people against our participation. For the most part, the people here accept us and treat us great, but unfortunately, not everyone welcomes Americans here. Especially right now with the economy growing a little more hostile and relations with the Honduran president and Hugo Chavez strengthening, we are starting to feel a little uneasy. We know God wants us here though, and are assured that he will protect us.

So a few days after the parade, we found out that there actually was some violence during the parade. It was later in the parade (after our group passed by) one school that apparently has multiple members from one gang, was attacked by a group from a rival gang. Fortunately, no one was killed, but it caused quite a stir among the crowd. People apparently were trying to get away, trampling others and yelling for help. Luckily the police and military forces were close by and were able to break it up pretty quickly (as we heard). Pretty crazy stuff!  Overall, it was a great day for us....and we are glad we didn't find out about the fight until after the celebration!

Something Strange Going On...

Since we have been back in Honduras (going on 4 weeks now) Greg and I have noticed some significant differences, and by differences, I mean POSITIVE changes!

First, the streets seem to be cleaner.  We pretty much walk everywhere we go; to school, to the grocery, to our friend's houses, and during our treks, we always see so much litter!  Empty bottles, wrappers, cups, broken glass (to name a few) are scattered around the streets and sidewalks. This sight is always a little

 disheartening to Greg and I, as we always discuss ways to improve the waste system here.  Some of it is not the locals' fault, trash cans are few and far between here - but come on, have some pride in your beautiful country and put your waste where it belongs!  When in doubt, find a bathroom, there is sure to be a garbage receipticle next to the toilet!  Anyway, each morning on our way to school, we pass city workers sweeping up trash with a broom and dustpan.  Apparently it is helping because Greg and I sure have noticed a decrease in litter.  (We recently learned that this is part of Comayagua's new mayor's charge - to clean up all the trash!)  We nearly passed out when we passed a public trash can (bolted down of course so it isn't stolen) overflowing with garbage.  We were so impressed that it was full!  What a positive change - we hope it continues!

Another great thing - no taxi drivers have tried to rip us off yet!  Maybe it is just because we now have the taxi hailing process down: 1. Hail the cab (often this step is omitted because we are actually stalked by cabbies that want to pick us up). 2. When it pulls up, don't get in.  First ask the price per person to your destination.  It should be 20 Lempira each for anywhere in town.  3.  If the price is right, enter the cab and make nice with the driver.  So, we aren't sure why we keep getting fair quotes, but we are very pleased about it!  It used to be only 15 Lempira per person, but the price increased by 5 Lemps (about 25 cents) last spring because of the elevated gas prices.  At least that is what we heard!  Wait, maybe we are getting ripped off afterall...  Just kidding!

We are also happy to report that the school seems to be fun

ctioning better this year.  Although we still haven't received our official class rosters or our grade books, the administration is more organized.  They assigned each teacher a locker in the teacher's room (last year it was first come first served and there weren't enough), we now have 4 new functioning computers with internet also in the teacher's room (and no students are allowed to use them), and we can get our paychecks direct deposited (into our Honduran bank account of course).  In addition, Maranatha now has an official student body band, which marched in the Indepence Day parade (we didn't participate l

ast year), and we now have a detention hall!  Overall, things are just running smoother and the kids (well most of them) seem to be more calm.  We are really enjoying our experiences at the school this year!  

And finally, we have been amazed with the power company's ability to restore electricity in record time!  Since it is the rainy season now, we have pretty frequent storms.  In fact on Friday night we had a pretty violent one, and just as our friends were walking out to their car (they had come over for dinner) the transformer outside of our house started shooting out sparks, then the lights all went out!  Well, this left our friends in predicament because our electronic gate (pictured above) will not open without power!  They decided to hail a cab and pick up the car the next day, as we figured it would be hours - even days - before power was restored.  You can imagine our complete shock when only an hour later the electricity came back on!  The next day we lost power again, only for about 20 minutes though.  Kudos to the power company for a job well done! 

We are super impressed and way excited about all of the great changes happening.  It thrills us to write about positive happenings here - and hope to include more soon!  Have a wonderful weekend!  

Feistas and Futbol

Well, we survived another ¨Children´s Day¨ here in Honduras. The National Holiday is celebrated every September 10 in Honduras and it involves sugar, sugar, and more sugar. Needless to say, the kids were quite rambuncous! We had classes until noon yesterday, then spent the last two hours of the day partying. Since I am the homeroom teacher or ¨guide teacher¨ as they call it here for both of the 5th grade classes, I was responsible for helping them plan their parties. I let them vote for their restaraunt of choice for lunch, with several American fast food chains around, I was sure they would chose one of them. 5th B went for Pizza Hut - a popular choice among the kids here - but I was quite surprised when 5th A wanted to order Chinese food! Althought it was a strange one, I honored their request - it is their day after all. The portions at Mang Ying (the best Chinese place in Comayagua - whatever that means!) are insanely huge so when I placed the order for the 18 students I got 2 orders of sweet and sour chicken, 3 orders of fried rice, and 2 boxes of friend wontons. Well it turns out that half of that order fed my entire class - and several teachers! (The lady working at the restaraunt told me one order of friend rice would serve 5 - 6 people! Ha!) Needless to say, the kids got their fill....and then some with cake and brownies for dessert. One of the boys in 5A also brought a piñata for the class to celebrate. Well, he didn´t bring the palo, (stick) so we had to get creative to break it. So, between Greg and I, we came up with the bright idea to ¨beat it up!¨ Oh I wish you could have seen it! Each student got the chance the give poor Spiderman an uppercut, roundhouse kick, or jab right in the grill. We were all cracking up, it was quite a sight!  The kids mutliated poor Spidey until every last morsel of candy was literally knocked out of him!  Now to 5B....I placed my order with the manager at Pizza Hut the previous Saturday.  He gave me the total and assured met he food would be delivered promptly at 12 o'clock noon.  Well, on Wednesday we waited and waited, but got nothing!  Greg was on it pretty quick though and called the store to inquire.  Eventually the food made it to the school, however, they forgot the breadsticks!  Again, my wonderfully helpful husband took care of it and a half hour later they returned with the rest of the meal.  You would think they would have offered some sort of discount since they messed up...but no, they charged us full price!  (We didn't have the time or patience to argue!  Plus, we were just happy it worked out!)  Both classes really enjoyed themselves and I would say the parties were successful!  

Later that evening Greg, Jenny, and I (along with 3 other missionaries) went to another teacher's house to watch the futbol game.  The Honduran National Team was playing Jamaica in San Pedro Sula, HN, and everyone was fired up!  It was great watching the game at Julio's house (with his mom, 3 siblings, nephews, and cousins) because we got a true Honduran soccer viewing experience!  Everyone was so into it!  Honduras ended up scoring 2 goals in the second half (Suazo and Nunez) sweeping the Jamaicans.  The town went NUTS after that!  I swear they are still setting off fireworks in celebration (2 days later!)  As we walked back from Julio's, people were parading through the streets waving Honduran Flags, blasting music, and driving like maniacs as they honked their horns nonstop.  Of course we hooted and hollered along with them as we ventured back to our apartment.  My throat is still a little hoarse from the cheering!  We really enjoyed it though and look forward to the next game!  

Today was the last day of school until next Thursday.  We have Monday and Tuesday off for Fiesta Patria (Honduran Indepence Day) and Wednesday off for Dia del Maestro (Teacher's Day).  We don't really have any plans, but we have talked about taking a trip to Teguc or going hiking somewhere.  We would have traveled somewhere outside of Honduras, except we have to march in the parade on Monday at 6am with our school.  Bummer!  Oh well, we are thrilled for a long weekend of rest and relaxation. 

The Sunbeam...and Other New Goods!

We love BREAD!  We pretty much eat some kind of sandwich every day for lunch, be it veggie, BLT, ham, grilled cheese or the classic PB&J.  As you can tell, the Bice's enjoy a good sandwich. However, we decided while we were here last year that we had had enough of the mediocore, nutrient-free bread, and pledged to buy a breadmachine so we could make our own.  We made this happen while we were living in the states over the summer and are happy we did!  So far we have made 3 different loaves, and each one has turned out better than the last!  After we hounded - and befriended - the owners of one of the local supermarkets here, they began selling whole wheat flour at our request.  They also carry flax seed, oatmeal, and wheat germ (I was quite impressed) so we are able to bake up a pretty healthy and hearty loaf of bread.  And thanks to our handy, dandy new Subeam ($42.99 at Walmart - priceless to us) all we have to do is dump in the ingredients and she does the rest - including the baking!  Pictured above is our very first masterpiece.  I felt extremely accomplished today when my meat-loving husband commented that today's ham sandwich was amazing..........because of the phenomenal bread!

The Sunbeam isn't the only thing that is new around here!  Last Thursday, Greg and I went shopping with one of our school administrators in hunt of some appliances and furniture for our apartme

nt.  After

 hitting 6 different stores throughout town, we concluded that the best prices were at M & M (no clue what it stands for).  We finally selected an oven/stove, refridgerator, dining room table and chairs, and a bed after our 3 hour excursion.  They were delivered after school on Friday, so our place is finally starting to feel like home!  (You can see the items in our kitchen in the  photos, the stove and fridge are about 3/4 of the size of 'American applainces.'  Everthing here is just made a little smaller!)  We had friends over on Saturday night (I cooked using our new appliances) to celebrate!  

Greg and I are really enjoying our comfy new bed (we spent our first week and a half here on an airmattress - although it was a really nice one, nothing compares to a mattress)!  Greg and I determined that this is the first new bed that we have had!  For our first 2 years of marraige we slept on a hand me down from my sister, then had an old one in our apartment here last year.  We are really enjoying it, in fact, Greg is passed out on it now as I write this (it is 8:05 pm).

It is raining a ton right now in Honduras, at least once every day.  The rainy season will last until about December, when it will really heat up and things will dry out.  Although we are getting a lot of showers, all the lively green foilage makes for some beautiful scenery.  Needless to say, we are really enjoying ourselves and know that we are extremely blessed!  Gracias a Dios!