Little Things are the Big Things

I think it's hard for me to post on a regular basis because life just becomes so normal here, so I have less and less "interesting" things to talk about. However, there have been some things that are worth mentioning, I just kept forgetting!

First, last Tuesday was TOMS One Day Without Shoes! Sadly, I couldn't talk my students into going totally barefoot, but they did succeed in only wearing socks. :) It was a really good day.

First, last week our school had a talent show for the high school students. The whole week leading up to the talent show, kids were practicing the skits and songs they were going to perform, and then the big day got here. It was supposed to be outside, and that got rained out in about 10 minutes, so they moved it inside because we (miraculously) still had power. I was so proud of my students! I love seeing them in settings other than the classroom because it brings out their true personalities. All of them had super impressive performances and it just made me love my kids more than I already do.

Grade 7 kids so proud of themselves after the talent show.

Last week was also exciting because our grade 8 class had a surprise visitor! None other than Si Robertson himself! Yep, I thought it'd be fun to dress up and share about "my" life to demonstrate what it is I am expecting THEM to do for their final project for this parcial. All the kids know how obsessed I am with the Duck Dynasty family that it was not a surprise when they saw him come to class. :) I will tell you, though, it's HARD finding the right clothes to pull this off! I did it, though, and it didn't look too bad, either!

We had cinco de mayo on Monday, which was really just an "excuse" for us to have a bunch of Mexican food, and man was it delicious!!!! Our house should really celebrate cinco de mayo every day...or at least once every week!

Tonight there was a performance of Romeo and Juliet at one of the other bilingual schools. We were all really excited about it, but unfortunately because of the rain, it was really hard to hear the people and what they were saying. The play itself may not have been everything we had hoped it would be, but you could tell there was a LOT of preparation that went into it and they did the very best they could. We went in true Honduran style, packing 13 people into a car that should probably only ever hold 7, at the MOST. If nothing else, it was pretty entertaining to watch all the grade 9 students cram into the car. Some things you just can't see anywhere but in Honduras.

To top it all off, last Saturday, I went to the airport to greet my dear friends from Springfield church of God as they arrived here to do their mission trip with Heart to Honduras! What a great time it was seeing them and also seeing all the Honduran translators I made friends with 4 years ago! It was great being back in the same place where I first fell in love with Honduras. I was thrilled to meet a new, younger member added to their group, and I suppose I was excited to see Rita, the crazy lady I now call my sweet friend.

Rita and me, finally reunited so we can just continue bickering with each other like we ALWAYS do. Love her!

Speaking of rain, it is rainy season here now, and it rains ALL THE TIME. I happen to love the rain, except when I have to walk in it. :) What a comforting sound from home. Home, the place in Springfield I get to go back to in just under 2 months now. I want the time to go quickly and slowly all at the same time. Until then, I am going to keep enjoying these little things and remember that they are what will be the big things later on.

After the trek up Ambassador Mountain. Life really is beautiful.

Best Friends Take Honduras (Part 2)

This is coming way later than I would have liked it to, but here it is, the rest of my fabulous week with mis amigas!

We had a nice, peaceful morning on Tuesday, went into town and had a fantastic lunch of iced chai and ice cream (lunch of champions, obviously). Then, we got a bus to a hiking spot called Panacam, where I had tons of interesting talks with the men sitting next to me. Talk about broken Spanish. Eesh! We got a ride up the mountain (or glorified hill, really) in a tuk tuk (moto taxi, all the rage here). We eventually found our way to our room for the night and had plenty of time to get some delicious dinner and then read for a looong time. That was one of my favorite parts about my break, I never get to read quite enough.

We woke up early Wednesday morning and began our hike. I was pretty thrilled to find out that my second time doing this hike was a lot better, and I barely felt like I was dying at all. So, that's exciting! We stopped and took pictures of the two beautiful waterfalls along the way and then came back to our room to clean up. On our way back to Sigua, we stopped along the highway at the lake to get the best fish you will ever eat in your life. Ahhhhh, I love the fish here, seriously. And my friends love it just as much as me. :)

Getting a bus back to Sigua from the fish restaurant was pretty interesting. We stood in front of the place for a while, and then were told the buses never stop here, so we kept moving further down the road. We ended up witnessing an arrest take place while waiting! Don't worry, our lives were never in danger, but it was pretty loud with lots of people yelling and some people bleeding, too. Then, finally, we got a bus back. It was one of those smaller buses and it was already packed full BEFORE we got on. Morgan ended up being able to sit down, not in a seat, but on the floor, while Debra and I held on for dear life with no room to plant our feet and barely anything to hang onto. We crossed a lot of personal space boundaries that don't actually exist here. The man standing up right behind me was actually able to go into full sleep mode...I was so impressed!

Finally, we got off the bus and made it back to the house, and later went to dinner at another favorite baleada place around here. Yum! Then we were super lazy and laid around reading books until we fell asleep. In the morning, Debra woke up feeling like death, so we laid low that day. Morgan and I went to the Children's Home to hang out with the kids there who didn't go anywhere for their spring break. Then, Thursday night we didn't do much except watch a bunch of movies, which is always fun, especially with my best friends!

Friday morning, we headed out with some friends to see the sawdust carpets, literally carpets made out of sand that are only on display for a day to celebrate Good Friday. They. Are. Beautiful. You almost just have to see them in person for yourself to know what I mean. We finished the day eating Pizza Hut and just enjoyed a day with friends.

Sadly, our time had to come to a close and we got on a bus (a NICE bus that we didn't have to wait for on the side of the road and they even played a movie for us while we rode!) and went to San Pedro. Then, we said our goodbyes. Luckily, they made their flight just in time, since the line to pay their exit fee out of the country was ridiculously long that morning!

It's funny, Debra had tears when they first got here, and I had tears when they left. It's been a hard adjustment back to life without them here at my house and in my life everyday. Even though it was only a week, it did my soul so much good. Love these girls and am forever grateful they were able to make the trip down.

God is good, that I know for sure. Can't wait for our next Honduran adventure we have together!