Feria de Sociales

So I'm fairly certain that I can safely say I have a favorite day here in Honduras and a best day yet (cause' obvi more are to come...but anyways....). Friday was the feria de sociales at school followed by Honduran Halloween. It's a pretty great combo and each deserve their own spotlight so I'll post about both separately. Also, blog post logistic, check out the link on the side for videos of what I'm about to describe!

So Friday we didn't have regular school, instead we celebrated the school's first feria de ciencias sociales or Social Studies Fair. In the most simple explanation one could liken it to a cultural/heritage day in the US or a country diorama presentation day. I've essentially done the project before--4th grade create a representation of what it was like to live in the prairie during the 1800s or 6th grade celebrate Greece with Greek day or cook a dish from your family's heritage or United Nations Day. Essentially it was your typical day to celebrate your country, learn about its traditions and cultures and share it with the school, family, and community. It's been done before, but as I knew I could expect, there are no representations, models, or short-lived presentations. I've decided that Hondurans don't believe in posters or dioramas, I mean why go through the work of building a model when you could just do the real thing? So that's exactly what they did.

Honduras has 18 departments. So the departments were divided among the grades so that each had roughly 2 departments to portray. The students worked tirelessly to learn abou their department--the environment, culture, people, food, history, culture, lifestyles, clothes, animals, plants, music, you name it--they knew it. Then they worked in class, at home, and with their parents to develop a champita. A champita is I guess what we would call a hut in the US, or a very simple, traditional home. So all this week parents from each grade level showed up at school and legit built champitas. They nailed the wood together, covered it with leaves, bamboo, straw, etc. and essentially built life-size huts. It was insane the amount of time and work that must have gone into building those. From there they spent hours decorating each champita to represent their departments.

champitas

My students did the departments Paraíso and Francisco Morazán. One of the best parts of this day was that it was a huge learning experience for me. I got to learn, live, and experience Honduran culture around the country. I learned a lot! Francisco Morazán is where Tegucigalpa, the capital is. It's the most like business-focused area of Honduras so the students decorated the inside of their champita with mannequins sitting at a desk working and dressed in suits. They also had plants from the departments, spices, herbs, animal representations, and a marimba. In the champita for Olancho the students had a fire going with somebody making tortillas and coffee. In the champitas for the more tropical departments there were live parrots and turtles. They also had people to braid hair.

Turtle action

In addition to the champitas there were presentations. We built a large performance stage, which terrified me. It didn't exactly seem safe or secure, but what do I know. On both sides of the stage there was seating for the kids, families, and judges. Each class was responsible for defending their departments. So about 8 kids per class got up on stage and shared a memorized speech with everybody about the history and culture of their area. I was amazed that even the 4 year old Kinders did this! I felt so bad for them, some of them were so scared and completely forgot what to say, others left the stage sobbing. Poor kiddos. One girl in prepa, cried through her whole speech, but she did it! I was so proud of her that I started crying as well. My students did a really good job. I was super impressed and happy to watch them present.

I was so proud of David speaking here, because he can really struggle in school, but he did it!

Their parents were right there to coach and help them through as needed. One of my girls (always an overachiever) had some sort of graph and beans visual aid to help with her speech. I was incredibly proud of their confidence and speaking skills. The older grades had even more elaborate presentations with styrofoam posters and visual aids. Overall all the kids did a fantastic job sharing information and talking about their research.

In addition the expositions, there was a contest for the India/o Bonita/o del 2011. So one girl from each grade dressed up as an Indian and walked the runway. Three boys did it too.

Then they each gave about a minute long speech to the judges explaining their costumes and how it represented his or her department. Lineth went for 1st grade. She was beautiful! Well, she always is. But she was wonderful, her costume was great, and her speech was so slow, careful, and honest. She was the winner for the Kinder-grade 2 contest.

For the older grades, the winner was a 4th grader and HOLY COW did she ever deserve to be the winner. Even though a grumpy Honduran behind me was complaining that she doesn't have any legit Indian blood in her, she by a landslide had the BEST costume. She was stunning, complete with a Peacock headdress and shoes and just ever tiny little detail.

d

My class also performed a lovely traditional dance. They each wore a traditional white dress or pants outfit and had a partner. They were so cute and did a really great job with it. They did so well that the crowd asked for an encore. Hooray 1st grade!

Andres and Lizzy--dancing partners.

The best part of it all though was the FOOD (obvi a huge part of culture and representing a place). So each champita also had a ton of food for purchase. I can't even begin to recall everything I ate, but I can certainly tried. From my 1st graders I had horchata, tamales, and a corn rice soup with a banana and brisket-esque meat (reallllly good). I also had arroz con leche, tableta de coco, fried fish, ceviche (a cold fish soup), a sweet plantain and meat soup, plantains, yucca, chicharron, pan de coco, squash with honey, salad, and much much more. It was so good.

The only downside of the day was that the speeches, dancing, beauty contest lasted a good 3 hours. It's just very different from home. Here, I'm told, longer is always better. So the length was a positive thing. But it's also okay to talk, play around, get up and buy food, hang out in the champitas, or with your friends during said presentations. Personally I would have preferred shorter performances in which everybody is listening, than longer, more elaborate ones, in which most people are playing around, but chalk that up to cultural differences.

Marimba band!

I think that the best part of the day though for me was that it was just the best school event I'd ever been to. It was the PERFECT mix of fun, learning, hands-on, teamwork. I've never seen such dedication from students, parents, and teachers to make an event come together. We stayed after school late some days to prepare for this day. Parents attended meetings, came after school, spent days building and cooking, making costumes and practicing with their children. The kids learned SO much about the departments and were so proud and willing to share their knowledge with you. When the judges came by to judge our champita, each of my students presenting stood with their parents and showed the judges. I watched Alexa and her mom talk about the traditional foods. It was great to watch them explain them and then offer plates to the judges. There was positive collaboration between the Spanish and English teachers. Somebody mentioned how one of the parents said that they loved this day because they had the opportunity to learn so much. I learned, the kids learned, the parents learned, I worked, the kids worked, the parents worked, I had fun, the kids had fun, the parents had fun. It was a day filled with such positive country pide too. In a country that is so poor and where I often just hear thoughts of, well I just want to go to the US, it was great to see the kids talking about the great things Honduras has to offer. I am just amazed by the positivity, energy, enthusiasm that was present from all the people involved. I felt like a truly united team with my Spanish counterpart, my students, and each of their parents. It was one of those days where I was like, this is what school should be like, this is what learning is, and this is why I teach. (Plus 1st grade won :-) ) hahah.

"Now i realize what we all are, and if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people they are all walking around shining like the sun."

-Thomas Merton

Hogar del niños

Simultaneously one of the most enjoyable and difficult parts of my week is when I visit the orphanage. Usually after mass at St. Gertrudi’s and after pan de banana (claro), Jess, Catie, and I head over to the orphanage to spend some time with the kids there.

This weekend I made the great decision to go on Saturday with Deirdre and Katie. This decision was great for two reasons: 1. It gave me the chance to go somewhere by myself for once and on a bike. BEST BIKE RIDE YET IN HONDURAS. It was such a great ride and it just felt so nice to be on a bike. 2. I had an amazing time being with the kids

Unfortunately Honduras doesn’t really have any programs for adoption or fostering children either domestically or internationally, so for various reasons when kids are born or taken from their families, they go to the orphanage. And they will pretty much stay in the orphanage until their young 20s. Right now the orphanage has about 30 kids from 0-20ish. There’s a handful of Sisters that work tirelessly to take care of the children, but alas, the fact remains that there are 30 kids craving the nurturing love and care of a family.

I know the Sisters do their best to give each child the most love, safety, nurture and protection they can, but it’s just not enough for those kids. The orphanage is usually pretty dirty. They have a large lice problem, which in a place without hot water, showers, and dryers is pretty tricky to get rid of. One of the volunteers ended up catching it. And everyday in school when my student in the orphanage, Yuliza, sits at her seat scratching her head, I just cringe. Yuliza has also come to school twice now with pretty intense injuries (scratches down her face, a huge, deep gash in her hand). So there’s just not a lot of supervision. Even when we were there another girl at the orphanage just toally pushed her off the swing and she fell down really hard and nobody was their to hold her and see if she was okay. Obviously we were, and Deirdre picked her up and held her and she just looked so happy to be held. And this is Yuliza, a first grader, we’ve got younger ones running around in this same situation too, like Walter who’s 1 and Jose David who’s 2 (I think).

Jose David

That said, the Sisters are so grateful for us coming to the orphanage. They need the extra hands and hearts. When we show up, its like a flock of kids all craving and desperately needing our attention. I’m happy to give it to them however I can. So we take pictures, play rayuela (hopscotch), escondidos (hide-and-go-seek), swing on the swings, and chat about life.

My student in the orphanage, Yulissa, is one of the best kids. She is such a ball of sunshine. She can be extremely active and tricky to control in the classroom, but overall, she’s just one enthusiastic learner! One of the highlights of my time at the orphanage this week was swinging with her spider style. We were on that swing together for probably like 10-15 minutes, which is a lot for me since I always get sick on swings. We talked about a lot of things. We talked about how much Yulissa loves school and learning. She even suggested that we make a deal that if she behaves a little better that maybe I could give her some new clothes. Considering the fact that this very tiny 1st Grader was wearing an age-inappropriate, size Small shirt from American Eagle, I can understand why she makes this deal. She loves to paint and my mom is sending her along a paint set, so I think that will make her happy. But, maybe I’ll look into some clothes for her as well, provided she’s good in school ☺ At church, we both get so excited to see each other and exchange the sign of peace. I swear she gives the most powerful and everlasting hugs ever, I too don’t want to stop because I know it’s something that she just doesn’t get very often.

spider swinging with Yulissa

While it’s a very challenging and emotional experience for me to go to the orphanage every week, I am so grateful that it’s something I’m able to do. I’m also just so incredibly grateful to whomever it is that sponsors Yuliza and all the children in the orphanage. When adoption isn’t really an option, it seems like the only hope for the kids in the orphanage is for somebody in the US to decide to sponsor one of them. Knowing that if this child is educated, they can use that education to leave the orphanage and create their own happy ending. Some day when I have a real life job, I hope to be able to sponsor one of these children to give them an opportunity, that to me is something I’ve taken for granted my whole life: the opportunity to have a family, feel love and care, and go to school. It just breaks my heart to see the reality for these kids, but then I’m with them and see their smiles and what joy they have in being able to go to school and learn and that’s what gives me hope.

Rando

Time's been a passing here in Honduras. It's already Halloween????!??!? Can't even believe it. It's actually been feeling a little like fall here recently since it's dropped into the 70s here and I needed to wear a long sleeve shirt and pants to bed. Yes, the unthinkable has happend, I, one of the warmest people ever, was chilly in 75 degree weather. Ooooh, Christmas you are going to be a shock to me!

Life is certainly adventurous here, it's up, down, all around. Sometimes all in one day for me and the rest of the volunteers. Last week Wednesday our community night reflection lead to a lot of sharing of negative thoughts and frustrations that we're having here. So over the 3-day weekend we took a trip to the Río for some fun away from Juti. It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I woke up early and headed to mass at St. Gertrudis. I think I've found my parish community here. St. Gertrudis is cool because it's like a real parish and community. It's in a neat area surrounded by various missions of the Sisters in the area, the orphanage and old people's home. The people that go to the mass are super neat. Also, it's cool because it's the mass that the kids from the orphanage go to so i get to see them there as well. Yippeeee. Also, the priest is easier to understand. Anddddd...after mass we can go to the Sisters' bakery for a treat. They have wonderful baked goods and all proceeds benefit their missions so, I don't feel bad splurging on upside down banana bread or pan dulce :-) Although, everybody in town now knows that we are going to 8am at St. Gertrudi's. On Saturday night we were hanging out with our Peace Corps friend, Eyal and he was saying that he met a random guy in town who was like, "Hey, so did you hear that all the gringas are now going to 8am mass at St. Gertrudis?" We're regular celebrities around here.

After church then we headed to the river. We took a nice hike through Mt. Boqueron that included scaling steep walls next to the river, following ant trails, and fording the river, until we arrived at a small watering hole. It's rainy season so the river was super high and the current was so strong. We seriously couldn't swim against the current for a second. I would swim and not move anywhere except maybe backwards, good workout, right? It was fun to sneak around the current and then grab a rock, let go, and fly down stream. I'll post a link to a video of us swimming against the current.

The river trip was short and simple, but exactly what I needed. quality, carefree timelessness with some great volunteers. We had a lovely picnic together and just chatted, swam, laughed, and enjoyed life. Things I love most :-)

This week we hosted community night at our house. It was our first opportunity to plan a reflection together. I love reflecting and community nights so I was super excited. I made a broccoli and zucchini pasta for dinner, which was quite good. For our reflection, we decided to mix it up a little bit. Everybody, especially at last week's reflection, was feeling a bit down, so my house was thinking, we need to spice things up and get some positivity flowing. Thanks to the lovely Joyce Rupp we found a great poem about awakening and did a flower affirmation activity with it. Good times, I hope, we're had by all. I know I certainly enjoyed the change of pace and opportunity to reflect on the positive things I've done here.

this weekend I was a little bummed because due to bad weather I couldn't travel. Life and school have been great, but weekends sometimes get long for me. I'm used to a very busy, busy life. Teaching, grad school, college, service, community, yadda yadda. I've also discovered that I'm very much a "yes" person. I love being surrounded by people and busy doing, doing, doing. Sarah, want to go get coffee? YES Sarah, want to go get a drink? YES Sara, want to go walk around the pond? YES Sarah, want to go on a grotto walk? YES Sarah, wanna sit around and laugh and do nothing? YES Sarah, want to do this, that, or the other thing? YES YES YES So being here, it's different because there's just not as much to say yes to. I have never been one to cherish much alone time and I don't have many particular activities that I enjoy doing by myself. I'm not a big reader, I don't like to paint or draw, I don't do many crafty things, I don't watch a lot of movies. I like to be on the go, go, go, with people, being active, and doing.

That said I knew coming here that this would be a challenge for me and part of my decision in coming here was to help myself learn how to be content not doing, doing, doing. I've been doing really well at it. I've read almost 6 books since being here so far, that's more than I've read in the last 6 years combined I think. I journal a lot, listen to music, and just think to myself. But, that also gets a little long. And so this weekend, when I found out I couldn't travel, the pain of all this alone time really hit me. I wish I had something else to do, places to go, and people to see.

I'm glad I'm at least aware of what's really challenging me, because i know what I need to work on. I'm super excited to see my kiddos tomorrow and I'm hopeful for a great week of school :-)

Here's the poem we shared by Joyce Rupp, may it inspire and awaken:

Risen One,
come, meet me
in the garden of my life.

Lure me into elation.
Revive my silent hope.
Coax my dormant dreams.
Raise up my neglected dreamsn.
Entice my tired enthusiasm.
Give life to my faltering relationships.
Roll back the stone of my indifference.
Unwrap the deadness in my spiritual life.
Impart heartiness in my work.

Riden One,
send me forth as a disciple of your unwavering love,
a messenger
of your unlimited joy.

Resurrected One,
May I become
ever more convinced
that your presence lives on,
and on, and on,
and on.

Awaken me!
Awaken me!
--Joyce Rupp

Battle of Jericho according to 1st Grade

Que Viva Que Viva Cristo

Here are some videos from the first grade retreat. If they don't work here, you can always click the link on the side to my youtube page to watch them:











Enjoy the silliness of 1st grade :-)

Thank you

One of my fave things to do with my blog, especially if I'm having a: Why am I doing something so difficult moment?!?!!?!?!?, is to check out my blog stats.

I can see how many people are reading my blog and from what countries.

Did you know that my blog has been read by people in: the US (obvi), Honduras (obvi), but also Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, Uganda, Germany, Kenya, and Saudi Arabia? Isn't that crazy.

Overall my blog has had about 1400 hits. THAT'S INSANE.

So basically the point of this post is to say thanks. I love sharing stories and writing, so whether or not people read this, I'd keep doing it. But knowing that people out their care about me, my adventures, and read/comment on it, means the world to me. Especially in those moments of desperation when school is frustrating, I don't feel support, and I question why I'm doing something so hard, I look over my blog and realize if I can't see any other reasons right now, I've got 1,400 right here.

Thank you. Thanks for the support. Thanks for the comments. Thanks for the prayers, the loves, and the reads. Each of you and your constant stream of support is what helps me serve and see the joy in what I'm doing. I am so grateful for each of you!

"In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices."

— Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)

Retreat

Yesterday I had the best day ever since being here. It was one of those days where you go: Woah.....I'm in Honduras right now and this is why.

Sor Maglys planned a retreat for the first grade class this past Friday. So Friday morning, my kids came to school with lunchboxes, dressed in casual clothes and super pumped about the day ahead. We boarded a school bus and headed to the place where we had día del maestro. don't worry we didn't forget the water, toilet paper, or microwave :-)

Our bus ride there was quite an adventure. I sat next to a girl named Lizzy. She's one of the sweetest and most caring kids. I made a decision right then and there that today I wasn't going to worry about what language I spoke. Nobody asked me to help plan this retreat and I knew that there would be no English portion of it, so I said forget it, I'm speaking Spanish if I want to. It was such a relief from the normal struggle of fighting the English battle. I made sure to say everything in both languages but other than that I wasn't going to force English or hold back from getting to know my kids today because of a silly language difference. I knew that today was going to be a good day when I asked Lizzy what she was looking forward to today and her response was: "Que puedemos hablar con Dios hoy. (That we get to talk with God today)."

Our bus driver got a little lost on the bus route and we were on this very, very muddy, swampy country road which had no opportunities for us to turn around to find the correct road. So after driving on it for 15 minutes, we had to reverse our way out. But to help pass the time with the kids Rosita and Fanny entertained us with songs and stories. I'm going to post links to the videos I took of this because it was soooo fun. I love the Honduran Jesus songs, they are so incredibly full of energy and spirit that I can just feel God's presence so loud and clear. I love singing with my kids, I wish I knew more English songs and that my kids enjoyed the English songs as much so that we could have sung them too. But maybe in time, I'll learn some to teach my kiddos with as much gusto as they have for Spanish.

After we got bored with the songs, Fanny and Rosita stood up and starting making up stories on the bus. I also recorded these they were hilarious. I love the way they poke fun at each other and just have such zeal and enthusiasm to share with the kids. The energy and spirit was alive and well on that bus!

The retreat site was so beautiful. We had a beautiful field with trees, a small stage, futbol fields, mountains, and sky, sky, sky. My kids kept walking around saying, "que linda, que linda" How pretty How pretty! I think they were awed by the beauty of their country just as I was :-) When we first got their it was time for breakfast. And when my kids have breakfast, boy do they have breakfast...chicken legs, tortillas, beef, "steak", pancakes, cereal and milk, pizza, sandwiches, chips, cookies. it was ridiculous the amount of food they ate. My kids kept running over to share apples, cookies, candies, rice, etc. with me. Everybody just shares here so my kids kept asking, do you want a bite? hahah.

Retreat site for the day.

After breakfast we had some free time so I rotated between playing soccer and showing off, climbing trees, and playing hand games with my girls. I decided that if the Hondurans weren't freaking out about the behavior and activities my kids chose to do, I shouldn't either. So if my kids were allowed to climb trees, I was gonna climb as well. No reservations, no caution, today is about enjoying time with God and my students. We had so much fun. I was so happy because all of my kids remembered the word for monkey, so we started jumping and screeching around like monkeys in the trees.

Dance party

Climbing trees is one of my fave things to do.

Afterwards we had an opening prayer with sor Maglys. We gathered in a large circle and began by singing songs while Sor played her guitar. Sor has such an incredible, energetic spirit. She runs around our school with such enthusiasm, such a voice, presence, and the kids love her. I love her too! Man I wish I could have such an optimistic and endless supply of joy and love the way she does. She then informed us that we were going to make smaller circles of 5 students. So I went around and grouped kids. They were told they needed to pray in their groups. One of the groups of boys that i put together put their arms around their backs, their heads together, and started swaying as they prayed. It was the most adorable thing I ever saw and I was immediately moved to tears (shocker). So then all of my kids started doing it. We made our own teacher circle in the middle. I was literally surrounded by my kids circled up and praying their own organic prayers. I was so moved and could just feel God's presence all around me. After, one kid from each group shared what their group prayed about. They are such prayers and their only 5,6,7 years old. I was so amazed by their thoughts and joy and love of God. We ended our prayer time by singing and dancing some more songs.

Then we went back to the small stage area and Rosa and Sor put on a play with puppets for the kids I was following it along pretty well until apparently the doctor (Rosita's puppet) fell in love with the most beautiful one in the room and I knew she was talking about me. haahaha. The kids got a good laugh on that one and I burst out in my first real good Shard-laugh for my kiddos which I think they highly enjoyed. After the play Sor solo acted out the story of the Israelites in Jericho for the kids and we talked about victory and fighting for your beliefs. Afterwards we broke into 2 drama and 2 drawing groups to act it out. I worked with a group of artists and I had to draw the city of Jericho, hahaahahah. Funny stuff right there. But my kids thought I was a good artist.

Then we had another chunk of time to play together. I spent a large portion of my time climbing trees again and chatting with some of my girls. I love climbing trees. Then I went over and started a dance party with the other teachers and some other students. I just love to dance and everybody here does too. I wish I could keep up with them though. Felix came over and held my hands and we danced like 4 songs together. I don't think Felix left my side all day. Then I went out to the big field to climb some more trees, take some pictures, and play tag with some other kids. It was so much fun to just see them so free and happy and to be able to relate to them.

Even Rostia joined in the tree climbing festivities.

The following photos are the results of 1st graders with my camera.

Felix and I

Not sure why the angry face but Alejandro is suchhhh a cutie

Amazing tree.

Alejandro and Andres attached themselves to my legs and made me walk the whole length of the field like this, but it was so fun. Afterwards, I fell over and pretended that they "killed" me and then woke up and scared them. hah.

This was followed by lunch time and some more praying. It was just the best day ever with my kiddos. I wish we could have more retreats. It was so much fun to just completely be myself with them, enjoy God's presence, laugh, run, play, chat. ahhhhhh. It was the best. I couldn't believe when it was time to go home. i could've stayed forever. The bus ride home was similar to the first. Some worn out kids fell asleep and other sang their way back to school with as much energy as before.

Primer Grado :-)

I feel so lucky to have had such a special day with my kiddos. They touch my heart in so many ways and really helped me remember why I am here. I am so grateful to work with such an awesome team of first grade teachers and to have Sor Maglys lead us in a day that celebrate's life, love, and God. Not to mention, I am so grateful for the 5,6, and 7 year olds that brought me such joy and happiness and reminded me of God's innocent and pure love today.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow" - Melody Beattie

I need to take one of my journals to school with me because so many funny moment happen during the day that I forget about later and I wish I remembered them for this very blog.

I learned a lot about Honduras this week.

I officially chose the worse week of school to begin my spelling curriculum. I sent home a note to parents that explained in detail the spelling program, highlighting day by day the in class activities as well as the homework. After sending this out, I found out there will be no school on Monday. Great, I think what a perfect week to start spelling, already having to use my "this plan may change for short weeks and depending on the nature of the words" asterisk. Flash

forward to Thursday when we are walking the kids into school, Rosita begins saying to me, "Miss Miss, I sorry. Tomorrow retiro. Retiro. I sorry." I was very confused, I thought I knew what the word retiro meant (retreat), but in my head I was thinking how could I not know that we are going on a retreat tomorrow. "No tenemos clase manana" We don't have class tomorrow, WHAT?!?! Oh yeah wait I'm in Honduras, this isn't shocking at all that I'm just now finding out that I'm going on retreat tomorrow. THIS IS AWESOME! So I frantically hurried to fill out behavior reports that day and write home a parent note explaining the retreat and that because of said retreat, our spelling test will now be on Monday. What a great week to start spelling. hah.

In case you were wondering the current frog in my classroom count is up to 9. Oh and also, my kids, do not like frogs. They kick them and kill them. Not a frog friendly place, poor guys.

Also, this week I learned about electricity. I never use electricity at school, so I rarely know if we actually have it or not. It goes out once in awhile, but usually for a few hours or something and then it'll be back on. But this week on Wednesday, we didn't have electricity all day. Which is a problem because without electricity we can't flush the toilets and that's nasty and the kids can't have hot lunch. All of my kids bring like full out meals for both breakfast and lunch. No like sandwiches or salads or things that don't need to be heated. And sense these things aren't refrigerated and its soooo hot here, they have to be microwaved so that that kids don't get sick. So the foundation apparently has 1 generator for its 3 schools. So 1 school gets the generator and can proceed with the day as normal, but the other 2 schools have to go home because the kids can't have cold lunches. Funny right?

Also, my kids are sloooooooooowwwwwwwly but surely using more English. One of my highlights this week was that at morning prayer, when kids can use any language so naturally they choose Spanish, a kid left his water bottle. So a few of my boys starting chanting, "Jeffrey, Jeffrey, dejó tu water. Tu water, Jeffrey. Tu water." I looked at Peggy and we did a silent cheer. They said water!!!!

Anyways, I'm so pumped for retreat tomorrow. I did learn that our packing list for said retreat will be huge container of water, toilet paper, and yes, a microwave. Like I said, gotta have those warm lunches.

I can't wait to spend the day with God and my students tomorrow. yippeeee.

" Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me :-)"