Olimpiadas

After school on Friday was a busy day of dancing. I was so busy I actually missed lunch and ended up eating tortillas and a Pepsi. (I am already planning my first American meal in the Houston airport to make up for it.) I ended up having to borrow a red dress from one of the volunteers and shorts to go under it from a visitor. Two of the boys who were in our routine didn't show up until around 3:30, and we were supposed to be down at the school by 4:30. We had a major cram session, and then got all dolled up. I can't even describe to you the scene at the school. Each team had a huge flag, matching costumes they'd made, and props. My team (Cuba) had Che shirts they'd spray-painted and were dressed up as guerrillas. The tios and Armin had made two military trucks out of wood. Other teams had Mayan ruins and a volcano that shot out fire. I was really happy with how our dance went (I have video that I'll put on Facebook when I get back!) and got lots of compliments. I am thrilled to tell you that we won SECOND PLACE!!! Feels like first! (Name that movie!)

Saturday was a big day starting with a celebration of the word in the iglesia at 7:30. I also got to be a part of the NPH Honduras family photo for the year. We then headed down to the school with our teams. My team spent the morning competing in relay races on the basketball courts. I was really glad to have Anna (one of the new volunteers) on my team so that we could commiserate in English about this bizarre experience that is Olimpiadas. My favorite race was the one where you had to run with a balloon across the court, sit on it and pop it, and run back. I was actually one of the faster girls - I do well in sprints; I just can't expend too much energy over a long period of time. We had spaghetti for lunch and then did the circuit of activities around the school. The obstacle course was pretty hard. I guess I wasn't crawling through the tires fast enough because the big boys ended up just pulling me through! The two activities I had decided not to do I ended up doing. The first was a tug-of-war in a mud pit. I figured I'd probably never have the opportunity again, so I jumped in. I reached a new level of dirty!! I also played Quien es el Rey? They put a bunch of mats on top of a stage and tied them down, and you had to wrestle a person off. I'm not a big girl, but I was the last woman standing on my team. I was then promptly booted off by two Honduran girls. I didn't stand a chance, but I put up a good fight. My brother would be proud! The funniest part was the trivia section. My team had the good luck to draw the question, "How many states are in the United States?" I answered "50" and was told I was wrong!!! I threw an absolute fit and had everybody behind me; they ended up giving us the points, but I'm pretty sure they still think there's only 48 states!

There was thunder, lightning, and a torrential downpour last night. There was supposed to be a dance at the school where they would announce the winners. I made it all the way to the volunteer house, but got completely soaked and decided to head home. I was really tired anyway, but I'm bummed I missed it. Today, I just have packing, handwashing my disgusting clothes from yesterday, and mass. I leave for the airport around 8:30 a.m. My flight leaves at 12:00, and I get into SeaTac around 8:00 p.m. Hoping to see my friends and family soon after...give me a call.

Disgusting

You know you're ready to come home when you pull a tick off your body. I am so done with this quasi-camping nonsense! It's funny - I was really homesick during the day yesteray, but I've been so busy and happy today that I'm not sure I want to go. Funny, that.

Yesterday was Father Wasson Day, so we had a special mass and then an assembly and lunch at the school (no classes). I ended up going into Tegus with a friend last night. Erin, I thought you'd like to know that we ate Totino's pizza for dinner. It was like a little slice of home. ;) There was a big soccer game versus Costa Rica last night. We didn't even have to watch it because you could hear the entire city erupt with each goal. Today, we went running around all day shopping for Olimpiadas stuff. The kids on the U.S. team wanted to release balloons like during Obama's election, so we searched high and low for helium. We actually ended up renting a canister to fill something like 300 balloons. It is so bizarre to be in the city and see all the graffitti regarding the coup and the huge military presence. Yesterday, the protestors rioted and set fire to a fast food restaurant. We saw the burned out building today. So it was a crazy day, but we did have a nice lunch of crepes and fresh strawberry juice.

Remember how I wasn't going to join an Olimpiadas team? Well, when we got back to the Ranch today, I got suckered into joining one. Team 12 didn't have any extranjeros, so I am now part of Team Cuba. I volunteered to dance since that's sort of my comfort zone, so I'll be performing tomorrow night!! I just spent the last three hours practicing and choreographing as well. We're not even done and the performance is at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow. I'm at the school until 12:00, so it will be interesting. Apparently, that is sort of par for the course. And then Saturday is an exhausting day of playing games. I'm actually really glad I joined - I feel more connected to the Ranch that way. I'll probably post for the last time Sunday, after I have slept in and packed. Back Monday! :)

What happened alli?

That's my new favorite phrase! Everything is just fine here. Alina and I moved from the visitor house into a casita because a big surgical team was going to come in. They got in yesterday, and there's about 30 new visitors. The little house is really nice except for the lack of hot water. Not as refreshing as it was in El Salvador. Things are going really well in the school; the first grade teacher seems really happy to have me there. Alina leaves tomorrow, which I'm bummed about, but I'm sure this week will go by quickly. Wednesday is Father Wasson (the NPH founder) Day, so there's not school, but there's mass, a program, and a special lunch. Next weekend is Olimpiadas. All the kids and adults are on one of 18 teams. They have to do a dance on Friday and then compete in games on Saturday. I'm just planning on taking pictures. ;) Should be fun! I'm coming home next Monday...looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

Life on the Ranch

Everything is good here in Honduras. I have been working in the Montessori school every day, mostly with first grade. It is almost like a special education classroom because so many of the kids have been held back or have never been to school before. That means there are kids anywhere from 6 to 11 years old. Mauricio, Jessica, and Cesar really like having me there to help them with their little independent activities. The teacher, Kenia, is really good. I talked to Momo (wife of Reinhart, former national director) who runs the Montessori school and she said it would be great if I could come every year and even better if I could take a sabbatical and stay for a year! :)

The kids are wonderful, with the exception of a few girls who have been a bit nasty to me. They don't like being disciplined in school. I got the best greeting hug from Axel when I saw him for the first time this trip. Now all the San Pablo boys (the same ones from San Francisco last year) are cool with my again. I've also had nice conversations with Bryan and Maynor who christened me "Geisha" last year. One sad thing is that Carlos Santos, one of my favorite kids, has left the Ranch. He's in Tegucigalpa doing Lord knows what. The director is in contact with him, so we're going to try to arrange a meeting with him so I can talk to him.

The food here isn't too bad. I didn't think I would be able to do it after the first day, but now that I have Cornflakes for breakfast it's not so bad. My favorite dinner is panqueques. I was so upset when they put mantequilla on it!! Mantequilla means butter in Spanish, but here it's this weird sour cream, mayonnaise stuff they put on everything. So gross! I've also discovered that I don't like this fruit called a nanse (sp?). The texture is just disgusting. I would rather eat the leaves the girls in El Salvador fed me when we went on our hike. They were actually pretty rico. I have to admit that I have a serious hankering for Thai food!

It had to happen sometime...

Yep, the first vomiting of my trip. That's what I get from eating street food. More on that later.

So, teaching English on Friday went REALLY well. My friend Alina (she works for Friends of the Orphans in DC and was on the trip last year) serendipitously arrived on Thursday, so she decided to come with me to the school. Between the two of us, we were right on top of those kids and managed to have a good time. There were two kids in fourth grade who were pretty awful, but the rest of them tried really hard. I now have a list of about 4 girls who hate my guts because I don't let them get away with anything. They are so mouthy!

Yesterday, Alina and I went to the posa (swimming hole) and hung out with the kids. It was really warm, so they were all swimming (in all their clothes, which is so weird to me). The tios made tamales for snack, so we had this absolutely delicious hot corn mush! Several of the volunteers were leaving this weekend since their 13 months are off, so we all headed to Tegucigalpa (the capital city) around 4:00 for their despedida. It was sort of Intro to Honduran Transportation experience for me; Mom, you do not want to know about it. We ended up going out to dinner for comida tipica (hence the puking), then bowling (of all things!!), and finally out dancing. We came back after breakfast this morning. Between my hotel, transportation, food, and entertainment, I probably spent $30. So bizarre to me to feel so rich here!

Travel plans have changed yet again. I've been e-mailing with Donna, and she wants to stay in Mexico rather than go on to Guatemala. It didn't sound like such a good idea to go by myself to this particular NPH home, so I am staying here on the Ranch for another two weeks. I'll be here for the Olympic Games and then will head home on the 17th. Stay tuned in case things change, as they are so wont to do here!

Worst class ever

So yesterday, I observed second grade Montessori. I have never seen a more disobedient, disrespectful, out of control class. They didn't start off so bad, but by the afternoon the situation had completely deteriorated. I felt so bad for the teacher; she was really embarrassed that they were acting that way when I was there. The class was supposed to be going exploring for animals at the end of the day, but she made about 7 of them stay in the room and clean. I didn't think they should be left alone, so I stayed with them and tried to calm them down. They did clean, and we made an apology card for the teacher, but one of the boys (Arturo) managed to rile them all up again. When she got back and gave them the consequence of picking up trash, Arturo ripped up the card. He later turned on the water outside and sprayed his teacher with it. He and another girl, Scolin, were suspended. And, of course, they blame me. Not really excited that I'm already making enemies, but I'm not going to tolerate bad behavior just so they'll like me. I'm nervous because I'm going to sub tomorrow for the 4th, 5th, 6th English teacher. I observed them today, and they were so malcriado. I'm going to try a behavior system and bribe them with candy and hope I don't get eaten alive.

Good-bye El Salvador, Hello Honduras

El Salvador gave me a wonderful send-off. I forgot to mention that they got me a gift which I was presented with at mass: an NPH t-shirt and towel. Very fun! Loly, one of the girls' house director, made me a special dinner of pupusas Sunday night. I also got a delightful send-off from my little girls. They each wrote me a precious letter and drew me a picture. I received some of the nicest letters of my life from Susy, Roxy, and Gloria (older girls). If you think the art of letter writing is dead, visit NPH!! At night, each girl took turns thanking me in their own way. When it was time to say goodnight, little Deysi gave me a good long hug and told me to remember that the door to the NPH home is always open to me.

I was a little nervous about the whole bus situation, but it was fine. I left around 9:30 a.m. and arrived in San Salvador around 11:30 a.m. At noon, the bus left for Tegucigalpa. I was a little concerned about the border, but there was no problem. The police did board to check some bags, but I just had to show my passport. Apparently, I'm too cute to be a smuggler. ;) It turns out it was the Nicaragua/Honduras border that was the problem. The bus was a nice charter bus, and we watched several movies in English, which helped pass the time. We actually watched Speed...great idea to watch a movie about a bomb on a bus!! The bus arrived in Tegus an hour earlier than scheduled. I figured I would just hang out at the bus station until the NPH driver and visitor coordinator (Uli) arrived, but I was informed that the station was closing. Can I tell you how much I didn't want to wait on the streets of Tegucigalpa...with all my baggage...at night?!?! I called Uli, who told me to take a taxi to Cero Grande (the bus station lady kindly helped me with this) where I met up with them. I was safely within the confines of the Ranch by 8:00 p.m.

I had a meeting this morning with the school principal who remembered me from last year (she's new to the position but not the school). I went down to the primary school with her and met with Kenia, who is in charge right now. A lot of people are gone to Mexico for a big NPH International meeting, including the national director. I observed the pre-school, kindergarten, and first grade Montessori classrooms. I'll go to second and third tomorrow. Yet again, they're telling me I can do whatever I want. If I have my way, I'll be doing a lot of one-on-one work with the kiddos. But we'll see! I'm heading down to the boys' house this evening for dinner and to see my Axel!