The Love All Around Me: Still Alive And Kickin'

I promise, I promise, I promise. I am still alive and well. Things have been wild down here in Honduras since coming back from Christmas vacation. We've finished up Parcial 2 and moved into Parcial 3, I played tour guide to my father while he was here visiting, Grade 1 and 2 took their 'viaje educativo' to San Pedro, and we've been cramming the weekends full of adventures.

Fancy Dinner:
Sarah and I got the bright idea to be super domestic one Friday night and cooked dinner for Daniel, Hector, and Cristian. The catch was that they had to dress in their finest formal wear. Lasanga? On the higher end of above average. Garlic bread? A little crispy. Salad? The high point of the meal. Apple pie? Should have made sure I wasn't using corn flour first. Have you ever eaten a piece of cornbread and an apple at the same time? That is exactly what this pie tasted like. Not exactly a high point.

Looking so fly.

Joya Grande:

Sign me up for this zoo adventure. We spent more time taking pictures with random flags and dinosaur statues than doing anything else. Best part of the afternoon was when Sarah and I launched into a perfect rendition of "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" at the lion cage.

So diverse.

Daddio's Visit:
Pilgrim makes a trip down to Sigua every January/ February which is how I ended up falling in love with this town in the first place. Due to hearing me sing it's praises and the fact that I was now living there, Dad came down on the trip this year. We spent the week eating baleadas, ice cream, and Los Rancheros as well as shooting off fireworks and taking him to the scary playground. Dad really jumped into Honduras with both feet. And fell in love. It was a little weird at first having my two (very different) worlds collide, but I kind of loved it.

Oh, did I mention that he spent two days with Grade 1 and 2? What a trooper.

Hanging out with Pops in Comayagua.

Viaje Educativo to San Pedro:
Every child loves a field trip and I think that every teacher dreads them. Nonetheless, I boarded the bus at 5:30am (!!!) to endure a 2.5 hour busride up to San Pedro with my little angels. They were surprisingly well behaved and had an absolute blast. Not to mention the fact that we sang "Who Stole The Cookies From The Cookie Jar" Spanish verison for at least 3 of our 5 hours travel time.

Any and Lorena on our field trip to the Children's Museum.

J Biebs and Usher in the House:
For the Grade 9 final projects, the students have to create a music video. Therefor the teachers have to make an example video. We busted a move "First Dance" by Justin Bieber which no one of us had ever heard before, but quickly learned all the lyrics to. Don't worry, the big movie release is coming soon.

100th Day Of School:
Thursday marked the 100th day of school and due to an ill-prepared teacher, we celebrated on Friday. The students made glasses featuring the number 100, a worksheet where they had to color 100 items, a picture of themselves when they are 100 years old, and we had a discussion about what they would want to have 100 of and what they wouldn't want to have 100 of. Highlight of Grade Two's 100th Day of School? One student telling me she would want to have 100 people praising Jesus. Highlight of Grade One's 100th Day of School? Mr. Cristian made a guest appearance to help them with their art projects.

Any and Isai celebrating the 100th Day of School

El Nacimiento:
Another weekend adventure. Lauren and I made some sandwiches, brownies, and fantastic pasta salad and loaded up Cristian's car to go to El Nacimiento. Which is apparently the mouth of some river. Apparently. The water was crystal clear, the weather was perfect, the company was great. I spent most of the day thinking "Oh my gosh, this is actually my life. I actually live here." Hector tried to get us to go fishing. Which was successful. For him. He caught four fish throughout the course of the day, Cristian caught one, Lauren and I-- zero, and Daniel didn't even try. Our bait for fishing included leftover pieces of turkey and ham from our sandwiches. At one point in time, Cristian combined a little piece of bread, a little piece of cheese, and a little piece of ham to the hook creating a little sandwich for the fish. Sadly, the fish ate the food without getting stuck on the hook, but we were killing ourselves laughing over "fish sandwiches". There was also a rope swing that we had to try out. I chickened out and couldn't do it from the highest point and didn't have enough time to work through my fears. Guess that just means that we'll have to go back sometime.