Poco a Poco

I believe I have another entry entitled poco a poco, but it seems only fitting that my return to blogging share the same title since this continues to be my mantra for 3rd world, Honduran life. There are many reasons I haven't updated recently. I wanted to catch up and write about the joys of Christmas, but that seemed challenging to do since the post-Christmas return to Honduras has been anything but joyous. Then I didn't want to post about the return because I didn't want to write out all the crazy stuff that has been happening, but I guess it's reality. And real life deserves to be shared, maybe in sharing more prayers can be said and more lessons can be learned.

December was a fantastic month in Juti. I promise to give it the time and attention it deserves when life settles down a bit. But December included Deirdre's birthday celebrations, a weekend volunteer trip, Bridget's visit, la Feria de Juticalpa, and of course Christmas celebrations. I think it was the first month in which the general volunteer consensus was, "Wow! This is a great life! We love Honduras! We can totally do this!" That changed for me, however, a week before heading home from Christmas. One of my roommates Catie made the very challenging choice that she would not be able to return to Honduras after Christmas. Life lesson number 1 that you cannot get comfortable with life in Honduras. Suddenly, sorry mom and dad, I was dreading going home for Christmas because it would mean saying goodbye to Catie.

But then life lesson number 2 from Honduras, you always find away to adapt, be flexible, persevere, and be resilient. I found out from Peggy that I would be able to move downtown and that my other roommate Jess and I would have to split up and move in with the other girls. If there was one thing that I wanted to change about my Honduran experience it was the location of my house. I never liked nor felt comfortable building community so far away from everyone else. So, I went into the return from Christmas, ready for a challenge, expecting to have to deal with the loss of Catie, but excited at the prospect that this event could transpire into my desire to move and build stronger community here.

So my return to Juticalpa was an interesting one. I was sad to leave home, as I always am to leave behind a wonderful home life. But, upon my return to my home here in Honduras, I felt a rush of peace upon resettling into Honduran life. That sense of peace continued until Wednesday. Normally I hate cleaning, but I joyfully got to work Monday and Tuesday night sweeping, mopping, cleaning out the refrig, bleaching the pila, etc. On Wednesday, Jess and I walked downtown to stock up on food and I remembered how much I love walking around and going to the market and eating baleadas and enjoying a slow life. My kids were absolutely FANTASTIC. They were more full of love and life and joy than ever before. We fell right back into a rhythm and they just could not stop giving me hugs!

Wednesday night, however, saw a repeat of Life lesson #1 and my Honduran life got flipped upside down. Unfortunately, 2 of my fellow volunteers were robbed in their home. That incident combined with the fact that the Peace Corps is going on administrative leave from Honduras, forced our program to enact our emergency plan. That evening my house was determined to be the safest location and all the volunteers and 2 security guards were moved into my house.

This terrible event has lead to complete chaos and complete restructuring of our program. After living together crammed, legit crammed, mattress to mattress in our humble La Colonia abode for 3 nights with stress and anxiety levels at an all-time high, the board of the foundation I'm volunteering for met to discuss our future in Honduras. The temporary decision made was to move us into a 5-Star Hotel for the week to help calm stresses and nerves and ease anxiety. Never thought I'd see the day that I would live in a 5-star hotel in Honduras...pool, jacuzzi, hot shower, running water, flat screen TV, pool bar, and free breakfasts.

Try as they might to reduce stress levels, while the luxuries of home were nice, hotel living is not all its cracked up to be. Plus, luxuries do not make problems go away nor do they provide us with lunch and dinner. And so my week at school was a very distracted, disorganized, unprepared, full moon, crazy kids, low patience sort of week. As I could not escape the preoccupations of my parents, family, and friends and my own worries about where I would be living and not only living but most importantly living safely.

If that wasn't enough, Brita decided to go home. She was one of the girls that was robbed and she made the very difficult choice to say goodbye to school and Honduras to return home to her family. I'm proud of Brita for being able to make that choice and I know it's the best one for her, but that doesn't make the additional loss any easier for me. Brita, like Catie and Lucia, will hopefully always remain very close friends of mine as I have come to trust them, open up to them, rely on them, and learn from them so much in this experience.

Yesterday we all had to move back into my house in La Colonia because we couldn't find another house suitable for living in. So now we're all crammed back in. It was less stressful than anticipated as Carlos and some workers came over to the house and moved actual beds in for us, cleaned up, moved in a washing machine, got us a TV, etc. So now each of our bedrooms has 2 people in it and Lacey comes back on Sunday, not real sure where her bed will be going yet......but we'll try to find the best solution. We're hoping to secure another house in our neighborhood so that we can have a little breathing room, but that won't be for 2-3 weeks. So until, then it will be tight living.

We're also still on a lockdown sort of living situation. We are supposed to limit trips out of our little La Colonia for extra safety precaution. So it's pretty much school-home-school-home-school. We are going to get a car and Peggy is learning how to drive in Honduras and a manual car. Otherwise we aren't technically supposed to walk around town ever and we have to be home by 6 or in a car. So, crammed living is made more crammed by the inability to leave.

So Honduran life as usual is at its absolute craziest. I'm missing Brita and Catie like no other. I have no aide in 1st grade again as she is covering other classes. 7 people live in one tiny house. I would love to just get outside and go for a bike ride, but I can't. I had so many plans and hopes and dreams for this 2nd half of my Honduran adventure that I feel are just slipping through my fingers. Lots of traveling, friends visiting, places to go, nights of dancing, moving downtown, school productivity, etc. But, as I've learned, I can't get comfortable with this life and I must be able to continuously persevere, change things up, and keep on keeping on. These are realities of 3rd world life and at least I can say when this is finished that I've truly lived in solidarity with many of my students who also lament about losing people in their lives, living in worry, and feel stuck to a school-home-school-home life as they don't have a car or feel unsafe leaving those areas.

Sometimes I sit down and just laugh at all the craziness that has happened to me here. Because, when I look at it all and see the challenges, I shouldn't want to be here. But yet I still do. I mean I'm not yet okay with this new lifestyle and I wish I could blink my eyes and go back to the way things were, I really, really do. I wonder a lot if I'll be able to make it until June in these new conditions and with the continued amount of challenge and stress and my inability to complement teaching with fun adventures. But I'm working at achieving peace with that. I knew coming here that it was going to be a VERY challenging year, but I never expected it to be THIS challenging. I never expected it to be so full of loss either. I wish I could write a post full of joy and love for my vida hondurena, but right now I can't and thats the reality of living in a 3rd world county. I'm safe, I'm loved, I'm very supported, and I know that I want to keep on doing this. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I'm sure whatever it is, it will be another challenge. I'm not ready to face it and I feel as if each challenge will be the last. But what I do know is that the support and faith I have will always see me through and in the end this adventure may be different than the one I anticipated and it may be full of challenge in loss, but it will also be full of growth, learning, and faith.

poco. a. poco.

you know you're in Honduras when

This week was a week of milestones! I reached my 100th day mark and I surpassed my length of stay in Spain, so this is officially the longest I've lived in another country. With these milestones, I decided to reflect on what I've learned and noticed about this amazing country.

So, you know you're in Honduras when:

- you show up early at a party at 3:00 that was supposed to begin at 1:00

- everywhere you go people are riding in the back of pick-up trucks

- you can't go anywhere without calls of "Goodbye" "I love you" "Hey Baby" "Gringa" and of course the loudest lip smacking kissy noise

- you can't sleep because of the random animals making noises all night (dogs, cows, horses, chickens)

- you realize that roosters crow round the clock, not just when dawn breaks

- "se fue la luz" doesn't even phase you

- you feel clean after dumping buckets of water that have sat in your pila for days over your head and then proceed to use the same water to wash dishes and wash your clothes

- you no longer bother to swat the tiny ants that crawl on your arms off because you know they are everywhere, even after religiously cloroxing everything

- you also know any piece of food will attract 50,000 ants within seconds

- you no longer use your finger to point at things, instead you make a kissy face and do a lip point

- you nod your head and blink your eyes at a student and they will run right over to you

- you rejoice that it rained on your drying clothes because that means an extra rinse cycle and it'll be your only chance at getting all the soap out

- you don't trust any dog and you are on edge every time you see one

- you often have wireless internet and no running water

- you can't travel anywhere without a microwave and jug of water, haven forbid the food isn't hot

- you ride to school on the same school bus as your children, throughout town for an hour, driving through dirt roads, paved roads, fields, and impossible pin point turns

- the first thoughts in your head in the morning are: Is there power? Will I have water?

- when you get home the first you check is to see if there is power, internet, and water

- you know your in Honduras when no school activity can be done with out lots of styrofoam and glitter

I love Honduras. What a life! :-)

Happy Honduran Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving all! While it is always very difficult not to be at home for Thanksgiving, with the best family ever, Honduran Thanksgiving proved to be top notch as well.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in school too. Made turkey hands, talked about what we were thankful for, and they wanted to wish y'all a Happy Thanksgiving too!

We began our Thanksgiving celebration with a Wed. evening house dinner of pumpkin pesto pasta sent to us in a care package by Jess' wonderful mother.

On Thursday, a group of us went to a high-quality establishment by the name of AutoPollo. Have no fear, this does not mean automatic chicken. It simply gets its name because a. its on the highway and b. it's a restaurant and car wash. We chose to spend T-giving here because they have rotisserie style chicken. You basically have three order options: 1/4, 1/2, or whole chicken. Then they go get your chicken and roast it over a fire for you and serve it with some slaw and sauce and tortillas. It made for a good Thanksgiving adventure and it was nice to be in the company of community.

The real Thanksgiving was on Saturday. Padre Ricardo went to Teguc to import 2 turkeys for us. I got the pleasure of making one of the turkeys, ahhhhh....I love cooking and especially cooking turkey. I spent all day Saturday rocking out in the kitchen. I made dinner rolls, stuffing, and of course the turkey. It was great!

Then we all went over to the university where Padre had appetizers and drinks and we feasted. We feasted like no other. Especially after eating simply for so long, it was a whole lot of food, but it was nothing short of amazing. I am so impressed with all of our hard work and effort because we truly made Thanksgiving happen in Juti. We had: 2 turkeys, gravy, cranberries, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, roasted veggies, roasted broccoli, creamed corn, cooked carrots, green beans, dinner rolls, roasted squash, pumpkin pie, apple pie, apple tart, and chocolate pumpkin bread. HOLY COW! So delicious. Apart for the food, it was wonderful quality time at the kids table with friends.

Reflecting on the true meaning of Thanksgiving (beyond the food) I truly have so much to be thankful for and grateful for here in Honduras:

- 48 beautiful, energetic, and loving students

- a fantastic team of first grade teachers that supports me unconditonally

- a community of volunteers to grow, laugh, and love with

- the BEST family that is always there for me, loving me, and skyping me in the middle of Wii dance

- the BEST friends that remember to check-in with me, catch up with me, pray for me, guide me, learn with me, make me laugh, and so much more

- the opportunity to wake up to a brilliantly shining sun and the puffiest clouds (Honduras truly has the best sky)

- learning to live in flexibility

- living simply

- God and His constant presence in my life

- my safety

- my home

- my health

- carefree timelessness

- spontaneity

- the opportunity to learn and grow

- discovering God's presence around me

- the chance to just be and listen

- learning more and more each day about my vocation as a teacher

- being able to teach

- Sarah time

- baleadas, tajadas, cooking

- love, support, prayers, and kindness from the Hondurans, community, and back home.

So much to be thankful for, I am truly blessed!

Living on the Edge

I love a lot of things but 3 things that I really love about living in Honduras are: living on the edge, carefree timelessness, and flexibility/spontaneity. This past Sunday I got the perfect mix of all three.

My Sunday began as a pretty ordinary one. Catie and I walked down to the Cathedral for mass and picked up some groceries on the way home. As we were walking along the highway, we saw our neighbor's car. They proceeded to pull over and Mari got out of the car, crossed the street and came to talk to us. she informed us that she had been searching for us all day. She wanted to see if we would like to join them on a family outing. See, her 2 children, Harrison and Bradley, go to another bilingual school in town and sometimes they come over for tutoring help. On one such occasion, Marilinda, their mother, asked us what we do on Sundays. After explaining to her that we're often free and willing to explore/adventure on Sundays, she said that she would invite us to go soon. Well I guess this was the weekend. So she asks us if we still want to go this Sunday or if we should go a next. After a brief pow-wow with Catie, we agreed to go. Why not? Who wants to go home and lesson plan when you could join in on a mysterious, spontaneous outing. Vamanos!

So we hopped in the back of the pickup truck, it's the only way to travel in Honduras after all, and set out on our adventure. The ride out was fun. We sat with Rosa and Ana, who were both about our age. The ride was my longest yet in the back of a pickup truck, but so worth it, because we soon arrived at a National Forest.

It was so pretty. We started with a light hike with the whole fam bam. The grandmother did the whole hike in heels might I add. But, anyways, our very pretty, but rainy hike followed a river through some mountains. At certain points we crossed over bridges or stopped to peer in caves to see bats. I just love bats!

Then we reached the Cave de Talgua. We got a guide and entered the cave. I love hikes and I love caves. It was great because we had a lot of experienced company and a guide to point things out to us. The cave was so cool. Rock is so fascinating. It just moves, forms based on water after years and years. We saw some good ole' stalactites and stalagmites. The cave also had neat-o phosphorescent lights in random areas that gave off sweet patterns on other rocks. For example, we found the Virgen Mary and Jesus' face hidden in some rock areas. My favorite parts though were the calcium deposits. The way rock changes and forms is so cool. The calcium deposits are a pretty white and glittery color. There was one section of the cave called the grave yard because the calcium deposits formed what looked like a series of bones. It was so fun to be in a cave and hike around. I love bats, caves, and adventure.

After the caves, we hiked back. We stopped to jump rocks in the river and take a few pictures too. It was kind of chilly and rainy though, so we headed back to the truck for our next adventure.

Our next stop was a swimming pool. Unfortunately the day turned slightly overcast, so it wasn't the normal sweltering heat, but it was still fun. The boys really wanted us to go swimming so we obliged. They only wanted to swim in the kiddie pool and play shark attack. This meant that we stood out even more because no we were not only the only gringas at the pool but we were the only adults chilling in the kiddie pool. Oh well, it's more fun to be with the kids. After swimming for a bit we had dinner. They ordered the most amazing food! we got 2 huge platters of like every food you could imagine eating in Honduras. We had tajadas, rice, refried beans, cheese, tomato salsa, fish, carne asada, fried chicken, beef, chorizo, and more. It was so yummy.

After eating, the boys wanted to go back swimming. I was done though, it was chilly and I didn't want to get wet all over again. So Catie and I just hung out at the table talking with our neighbor Marilinda and her husband's mom. The conversation was great! We talked for at least an hour in Spanish. The best part was she kept praising our Spanish, yay for improving! But, it was all such wonderful conversation too. We discussed school and educational styles. We talked about life in the US. We discussed living in Honduras and Juticalpa. We talked food and cooking, boys, marriage, and life. It was some pretty great conversation. It was so nice to talk with a Honduran and really get to know the strength, beauty, joy, and beliefs of one such person's life.

After our chit chat we had this delicious honey bread for dessert and headed back into the truck to go home. The ride home was the coldest I've been in Honduras since it was pitch black out, we were travelling like 60, and I was wet, but it was also awesome because it was so quiet, peaceful, and the sky was full of stars. It provided a great atmosphere for reflection on the day, because honestly it was the perfect Sunday: a little spontaneity, living on the edge, and quality time.

Challenges and Trusting

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. ~Mother Teresa

I feel like this quote accurately sums up my adventures in Honduras so far. Well, looking at the number of challenges I've been faced with, it most certainly has to be. I have to believe that God continues to find ways to challenge me, because He knows that I can handle it, that there are new lessons I am ready to learn, and new things for me to discover about myself and life. I have to keep on believing just as Mother Teresa said.

This past week we had conferences with out students' families to deliver the grades and discuss student progress. I enjoy parent teacher conferences as I learn so much about my students and how I am doing as their teacher. As such, I've given a lot of time to reflecting on this past parcial.

A couple of weeks ago I got the chance to sit down with our principal and volunteer coordinator, to discuss an observation she did and to just check in on my adjustment to life here in Honduras. When we got to the part of the conversation about daily life, I shocked myself by saying, "But I mean I'm really loving it here." In my head, I was like, "Did I seriously just say that? Do I really love my work here? I mean it's so difficult and the challenges never cease."

But, the reality of the situation is that I am or I at least want to. At the same time, however, it just seems like I can never catch a break. Can't I just have one week without a major hindrance, obstacle or challenge to surmount? Can't things just be calm, simple, and laid back for a little while? With each new challenge, I think this must be it, my last test of strength and courage for a while and then something new happens.

After this conversation I had one of the best weekends I've had here in Honduras. We had a bridal shower for my roommate Catie who is getting married in like 6 weeks when we go home for Christmas. It was such a celebration. I made homemade bread that I turned into cucumber sandwiches and I made raisin scones. All of the volunteers came over and we had a tea party. It was such quality time to just hang out and chat about life and everything but school.

That night we got back together to welcome a new volunteer, Andy to our community with a delicious meal of tajadas. Tajadas are like nachos. They are chips made from plantains and then topped with repollo and salsa and meat. So yummy. We got them at a place called the pink garage or Donde Vivia Erasmus. My students’ family also owns it. Afterwards we had more quality time as we got together to watch a movie. And then Sunday was filled with church and a baleada outing.

But then the end of Sunday came and I hit probably my lowest point since being here when one of my closest friends here decided to leave Honduras and go back home. She had been having a very difficult time adjusting to the Honduran lifestyle and unfortunately she had an insane class at school. She is such a beautiful person and I learned so much about life, God, and serving through her. She brought such a joyful spirit and light to our community here in Honduras that saying goodbye to her was extremely difficult on all of us volunteers. I still miss her presence everyday, but I also know that she needed to leave. Things were going so great and then Lucia left and sadness overcame everybody.

As I said things at school were going so well too. I felt like I finally got into a good rhythm with my all-stars. I finally had a plan and routine for my teaching style. We're starting centers and my kids are beginning to read (!!!!!). But, then I lost my aide. After Lucia decided to leave, my principal sat me down with the rest of my first grade team to inform us that she was going to have to pull my aide from first grade to cover 5th grade until a replacement was found. Peggy apologized for doing this, but felt that we were a strong team and could handle it. Which is true, we totally can. Rosa's (gosh I just love her) response to this was that we are and always will be a team and nothing will ever change that, just because Fanny is gone doesn't mean we won't continue to support Sarah and do what we need to do to be a strong team. Thank you Rosa!

So now school has been more stressful than usual. I was so used to our rhythm and pace of working with Fanny that I find myself losing patience with my kiddos when they don't understand me or when I don't have that extra set of hands to accomplish tasks at the same rate. Fanny's been teaching 5th grade now for 2 weeks and still no replacement teacher has been found. Rosa and Flor have helped me out so much and I am so grateful for all they do, but I can't wait to have Fanny back.

Then to top it all off I got sick this past week. Colds, congestion, and terrible stomach pains...gross. Feeling sick certainly doesn't help when you're teaching first grade solo either. I went to the doctor (a whole other story) and got some meds, so I hope to be feeling better prontisimo!

Not everything has been upsetting either. I feel like I am getting closer and closer to the Honduran teachers everyday too. This past weekend we got to go to a baby shower for our consejera, Sylvia who is having a baby girl soon. It was so much fun. When we walked in there was a big sign that said "Bienvenidos a Mi Baby Shower." They played lots of hilarious games. Catie and Laura entered a game in which there was a race to see who could chug the baby bottle fastest. I tied in the quarter game in which you had to dance with a quarter between your knees and drop it in a cup; unfortunately I lost the tiebreaker. But I mean I lost to Yoehly who is an incredible dancer. And during conferences this week I got to have a lot of quality time with Rosa and I feel like we are getting closer and closer.

But, it's just so frustrating because I just want to love it! I want to be my normal happy, go-lucky, joyful self, but it just seems like each week there is a new challenge that seems even more difficult to overcome than before. One week it's community issues, then Lucia leaves, next week I lose my aide, and then I get sick . . . I can't help but ask, "So, what's next? What awful thing is going to happen next to try and get me down?"

I definitely don't want to do this, which is why I've taken to repeating Mother Teresa's words daily.

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. I know I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

If I know one thing it's that this year in Honduras is teaching me a lot about my faith and trust and I know that if (or should I say, when) another challenge does come my way, I will be able to face it firmly believing that God will give me the necessary tools and strength to meet the challenge and learn something new about myself/life/faith along the way. But as I do face these challenges, the prayers and support from home are much needed as well :-) So, please, keep the prayers coming. And, hey in 4 weeks I'll be home with the fam bam in Chicago.

As I also discovered at the conferences this week and during my reflecting, I love what I'm doing in the classroom here. It may be difficult, I may be sick, I may face issues with living, but I LOVE my students and I love watching them learn. One of the best part of the conferences that I noticed was that, with 95% of our students, the parents had positive things to say about the English and Spanish classroom. Also with the majority of students, we see the same issues in both classrooms, which really tells me that I am doing at least something right in my teaching. This past week too my kids were actually reading a story in their StoryTown books, how awesome is that!

A new parcial is here and with that new chance and new opportunities. Challenges, yes, but nothing that a little prayer, trust and faith can't help me get through.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." James 1:2-3

25

So as my wonderful Aunt Judy reminded me on November 8th, I was a very lucky person--I got to turn 25 in Honduras, fulfilling a lifetime goal of mine to teach and serve abroad. And thankfully, my birthday was a wonderful celebration of just that.

I started my birthday off with a small roommate celebration on Tuesday night at our house in La Colonia. It's a tradition that every year I have my mom's chicken and/or eggplant parmesan for my birthday dinner. I cannot even remember a year in which I didn't have that for my bday meal. So I set out on my mission to make that happen here in Honduras. Unfortunately I think eggplant has gone out of season as our usual store stopped selling it, so I had 2 verrrrrry tiny eggplants to work with. Then I couldn't find any bread crumbs in Juticalpa. But I did find pasta, tomato sauce, and zucchini. I also amazingly found the right cheeses and had quite the experience explaining to the lady behind the deli counter that I would need 10 slices as thin as possible in Spanish. So the resulting meal was a "fake" parmesan that was very delicious but was more like a cheesy eggplant/zucchini bake. Nevertheless, a fantastic kick-off meal.

fake eggplant parm

The morning of my birthday I woke up to an "S" shaped scone and birthday signs courtesy of the roomies. Irish Breakfast Tea and raisin scones, heavenly way to begin the celebration. At school the celebration only grew in size and joy. I was greeted with hugs and well wishes from the other volunteers and teachers at school.

bday breakfast

The best part though was my kids...they were obsessed with it being my birthday. Apparently birthdays are a huge deal here in Honduras. When I walked next door to the Spanish section of 1st grade to give some papers, I was greeted with a huge "Feliz Cumpleaños" Later when I returned to my classroom after religion, they serenaded me with some sort of Spanish birthday song that I really couldn't understand until they got to a part where they started chanting "Ya queremos pastel, ya queremos pastel" (now we want cake!) and then changed that to "y ya queremos casarse" (and now we want you to marry) and I screamed in shock. Then the religion teacher was like y un fuerte aplauso y un gran abrazo. And suddenly I was bombarded with my 25 kiddos going in for a hug. I almost fell over. After recess, Mr. Fellows (a new volunteer) was teaching a quick lesson for me while I was working on a test with a student and when I returned he had them sing "Happy Birthday" for me followed by another everybody-tackle-Miss Nardozzi-hug.

When it came time to switch classes and I went back over to Profe Rosa's room she had the kids sing to me in English and then they gave me cards which all pretty much said "Happy Birthday, I love Miss Sara, You excellent teacher" Mad props to Rosa for the English on those :-) They were so cute. And then one of my students Andree, gave me a card from home and 2 dry erase markers, which is best present ever when everyday you face off in the epic dry erase marker vs. Honduran humidity battle (and usually lose). Carlos, Andree's dad, said that they had gone to the grocery store the night before and he was trying to convince Andree to get me like an apple or pistachios or something but Andree insisted on getting me the markers. What a smart kid!

Then at lunchtime, Fanny came and got me and said we had to have a lunch meeting about grades. When I walked in they had music playing and Rosa and Flor were dancing around. They proceeded to encircle me while singing and dancing. We then sat down where they had lunch prepared for us. Rosa cooked a salad, saffron rice, and fried chicken. Flor brought a cake which was like a white, ice creamish sort of deal and Fanny got somebody to cover her 5th graders to come be with us. It was awesome. Then during the meal, they went around the table and affirmed me in Spanish, which promptly began a series of tears for me. It was so special. I am just so lucky to have an amazing first grade team.

The downfall of my school day was that I did ZERO teaching. All my kids wanted to do was sing. Literally anytime I would say a word beginning with the h or f song they would break out in a chorus of Happy Birthdays or Feliz Cumpleaños. I've never been sung to, hugged, or loved by a group of kids so much on my birthday before. It was truly an incredibly joyful day and reminded me of why I want to be here.

Wednesday is our normal community night here, so in honor of that I decided to cook for everybody with my roommates. I love cooking so it was a great birthday treat. We made pizza dough and pizzas, which were awesome! And we had a salad alongside.

For dessert my roommates got the most delicious cake. It was a chocolate cake, but it was so moist it was almost like gooey with strawberries inside. It was heavenly! The whole meal and dinner was wonderful to be exact.

apparently you have to smear your name and put it on your nose?

It truly was a great birthday. I am so thankful for all the wishes and love sent my way from here in Honduras and back home. I love birthdays, simply for the occasion to celebrate and connect with my dear friends and family. Here's to a great 25th year :-)

Happy Halloween

Boo! haha. Happy Halloween from Honduras! I wouldn't say I'm the biggest Halloween fan by any means, but I always enjoy a good holiday/occasion together for some quality time, laughs, and funny business. Being in Honduras, though, I've been craving Halloween. Probably with the lack of fall-ness in my life (fave season, tear) and the lack of anything Halloween, I was super pumped to celebrate Halloween in Juti.

Okay, well, maybe not so much Halloween, as the opportunity to have our first party here--like I said I love celebrating, people, laughs, good time, and funny business.

Friday night we all get ready and dressed up for Halloween. Lacey and Eileen decided to host us with a lovely Halloween party. We had a costume contest where everybody paid 5 lmps. We weren't supposed to buy anything for our costumes, rather just get creative with what we could find in our houses. I'd say we all did a pretty good job, considering the lack of resources and costume-y things we all brought with us. We had a Pippi Longstocking, Jackie O, hippie/Diana Ross-esque, a French maid, Mother Earth, a pink lady, nerd, and last but not least, I was an owl! I've loved owls ever since my grandma gave me an owl and a poem as a child and more recently as I discovered all the amazing teaching-owl related connections. Then over February, I met the best owl ever at Emily's lake house and I've been obsessed ever since. As I was pondering what to be, I found a random piece of sheer brown fabric and was trying to figure out a costume that would incorporate it. When chatting with my friend Moe from home she told me she was going to be an owl. She also told me I could be one too, I still feel a little bad about copying, but....... I do really love owls and it just worked out perfect with my piece of fabric. For Honduras, I think my costume turned out pretty decent :-)

Anyways, we had a great Halloween party! Our hosts made some arroz con leche and boo cake. They had decorations and such. But the best part was that Fran came over with some friends and had a legit like dj-ing setup. The music was playing allllll night long. My kind of party. I didn't want to leave the dance floor all night. I think I pretty much stayed there from like 8-12. It was the perfect mix of music too, Reggaeton, Bachata, Pop/hip hop/rap, classic dance songs, etc.

The party was great because it was one of the first occasions in which all of us volunteers let loose and did something other than talk about teaching. I laughed so much and just had a blast dancing all night. Another highlight was that the Honduran teachers from our schools came. Magnolia and Milsa even came in costume! It was so great to see them there and to have fun with them outside school. I feel like we are bonding and getting to know each other better.

Here's a picture of all of us volunteers in costume. Happy Halloween everybody!