día del niño

In general, Hondurans like to celebrate, hey like to celebrate everyone and everything, and they like to do it in an over the top fashion. As such they have holidays for everyone so there are lots of "día del _____" Yesterday was día del niño.

The day began with one last parade rehearsal for the Independence Day parades on Wednesday. None of my kids are participating, so I had to entertain them for an hour. We played some danceish version of duck, duck, goose, however the field we were assigned was full of nasty bugs. So luckily, my easily amused first graders, were completely content sitting and watching the parade practices.

Afterwards, we had game time. It's essentially like a field day in the US minus all the structure, organization, and safety precautions teachers and parents take into account in the US. We sat the kids down, went over the rules, and told them all the different activities. The kids could dance, limbo, play musical chairs, get their faces painted, make macaroni necklaces, play BINGO, soccer, or bombas. I was in charge of bombas with Fanny. Bombas is the name for a game my mom used to often do in our sweet room mom parties back at Mill Street. You tie a balloon around a kid's ankle and then you try to pop the balloons. The winner is the last person to have a balloon left and attached to their ankle. So after explaining the games, Peggy literally just yelled, okay go! The kids stood and stampeded to the activity of their choice. They had free reign of all school property, which is pretty extensive. There were no groups or rotations, no buddy system, just a free for all with nobody in charge or responsible for particular groups. Shocking, I know.

What was also surprising was the popularity of my game. Having played this before, it was never that popular, so I was figuring my station might be a little boring, but the kids loved it and it was so much fun. I played a few rounds too and got quite the work out in jumping around and stomping on balloons. Unfortunately, I did not win. But it was still a lot of fun to play and the kids loved it!

Catie making necklaces with some of my first graders.

Bombos!

These are Easter eggs in Honduras.

Andree and David after face painting.

After games, the kids all headed into their classrooms for a giant party. We combined all the first graders into Profe Rosita's room. The chairs were pushed aside and we got alllll the food out. Let me tell you, I've never seen so much food in my life. There was pizza, tacos, churritos filled with cheese and meat, enchiladas, empanadas, sandwiches, these little bean tostada things, tortillas, tuna, chicken, cookies, cake, chips, candy and soda. Each kid got a plate with a slice of pizza, a taco, an empanada, a churrito, sandwich, and tostada. It was insane the amount of food. We just kept finding more and more and more food to give the kids. It was ridiculous. We had so many leftovers, so hooray food for the rest of the week for me! I love trying new things so it was exciting to try all the food. But man am I full. And of course, that wasn't even dessert yet. There was soda, cookies, chips, candy, and 4 cakes for our classrooms. We didn't even cut one of the cakes, so now I have a fourth of a cake to enjoy at home!

eating time!

sample plate of what the kids ate. so much food.

Then it was time for the piñata. Now the interesting thing about all of this is that again there is no structure, no rules, no organization--it's a free for all. The kids could leave the classroom at will to do whatever they wanted. So when we said time for the piñata (which was of Sponge Bob) maybe 3/4 of the class came back. The rest of the kids, God knows where they were, but nobody cared. The piñata was so fun, but again my motherly/teacher instincts were kicking in. The kids just take the stick and whack it again and again. When candy falls out the kid keeps whacking while everybody else dives below to grab candy. I enjoyed the piñata, don't get me wrong, but I think I spent 2/3 of the time closing my eyes not wanting to watch a child get whacked by the stick as i was so sure it would happen. Alas, nobody got hurt and Sponge Bob was successfully ripped open, torn to shreds, and the candies inside were devoured and enjoyed by all.

The rest of the day was just spent hanging out with the teachers, dancing with my kiddos, watching kids dance/play, and just laughing. It was so fun to be with the kiddos in a relaxed setting and playing. Then at 11:00, Peggy rang the bell and the kids just trickled at their own speed to their buses to go home.

It's funny how different and chaotic things are here, and yet there were no problems or major injuries. I had no idea where my kids were or even how many kids I had today. There were guns in my classroom, pinatas, and just hyper students. And yet, fun was had by all. My kids were so adorable all day. They were such good helpers too. Felix (such a sweetie) went and got a broom on his own to help Miss Peggy sweep up the disaster that was caused by destroying Sponge Bob. It was so nice to see the kids, being kids. I have to admit I'm still shocked that nobody died, got injured, lost, etc. due to the chaotic nature of the day, however, somehow it works in Honduras.

So, my friends, that is how you do Día del Niño.