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.