Day 4

Today was a busy day. This morning Millie, one of the missionaries, Karen, and I all got up and had to be at the hotel at 8am. We met up with the rest of the missionaries (there is only a total of 9 of them), loaded up the trucks and made our way to school. We went to two schools today and both of them were way far up in the mountains. The first school is one that the missionaries pretty much built (that they paid the locals to build). When they first came to the school several years ago there was only one tiny room for all of the kids, grades K-6th, and so since then they have built on and added more classrooms. The missionaries return to the school three times a year and bring clothes and supplies for the school to continue to help out. I sat in the back of one of the trucks on the way up with Barbara (one of the missionaries) and let me tell you it was one bumpy ride!! The roads were not paved and had lots of rocks and pot holes in certain areas and there was a lot of dust! I had put sunscreen on my face before we left and when we finally reached the first school I felt like all the dust was stuck on my face! (As well as my hair which I had suffered so much to get clean with my cold bucket shower the night before)! Anyways, as soon as we got to the school all the kids started getting antsy. They waited quietly however, until we got set up, and then once they were lined up, one by one they each received clothes, shoes and a stuffed animal. We also gave all of the girls dresses (which women from the missionaries’ church made) and gave out toothbrushes and toothpaste to all of the boys as well as balloons and then candy to everyone as we left. It was so cute to see all of the kids light up as they came through and left with their new gifts. I was helping with the stuffed animals and it was so cute because most of the kids were so shy!! They would stand at a distance looking at me wondering if those toys were for them and then I’d say, “vena qui! Quiere uno? Cual quieres?” (Come here! Do you want one? Which one do you want?) They would give a little timid smile and some would play with their hands and swing back and forth until they slowly pointed to one or picked one up still looking at me with precious eyes wondering if I would let them have the one they wanted. I would have to reassure them one by one, “Que bueno. Ok. Es suyo.” (How nice. Ok. It’s yours.) They would go to leave still with their timid smile…maybe a little bigger this time and would quietly say, “gracias.” They were so adorable.
I was able to talk to one of the teachers there and one of our Honduran helpers that we had picked up along the way. They were both really nice to me and encouraged me greatly. Mildred had introduced me and told them that I am staying here in Honduras for five months and that I am trying to learn Spanish, she tells everyone that! Anyways we started talking, in Spanish of course, and they were telling me how English is very hard for them. I was telling them, that for me, Spanish is very hard but they said I spoke very good Spanish and were telling me that even when they know a word in English, they cannot speak it because they have so much trouble with the pronunciation. It was just really encouraging for me because we talked for awhile and they kept telling me that I was very good in Spanish already, and that it will be easy for me to learn here with not many English speakers around. I also talked a lot with Brewer, he is the man who spent 23 years in Panama and now he even thinks in Spanish and will know words in Spanish and not know them in English!! Hahaha I do not even know how that happens! He was trying to explain something to me today and forgot what scholarship was in English so he just kept saying it in Spanish. And he is white!! He is quite the riot and tells me that I look exactly like his granddaughter and it’s funny because he kind of reminds me of uncle Bill! (Bill Hanley) Anyways it was a great day being able to really get out and see some more of Honduras and meet more people. I am still in awe of this place because it is so beautiful and GREEN. I just cannot say it enough. It is SO green and SO beautiful. Besides the bumpiness and dust, which I can handle, I really enjoyed the ride sitting in the back of the truck and being able to really see the beauty here and say hello to everyone we passed by. It is so funny because you will just see men carrying these huge machetes around like it is no big deal. It is just funny to me when I think about what would happen if we saw one of these men walking around with one of those in LG. Ha! Either way I love seeing people just riding their horses and herding cattle. It’s so peaceful up in the mountains and a lot more poverty up there too. It is hard to even imagine living up there where there is never any electricity or running water. They have a completely different lifestyle and it is just crazy to me when comparing their way of life to our dependence on technology at home.
After our trip, we finally returned home, Millie, Karen and I, to discover we still did not have running water so we decided to go back to the hotel and take showers there. Millie and I are excited to take advantage of nice showers while we have the chance! After we were all cleaned up we had dinner. There was a stray dog by our table that was so cute. He had the biggest ears, kind of like tucker when he was a puppy, and was so timid but really hungry so of course we were all giving him portions of our food. One of the guys, the man who actually leads everything (Para Los Ninos is his foundation) reminded me so much of dad and he was giving the dog the most food. He kept throwing pieces of bread to him and was arguing with one of the women who kept saying the dog was going to get sick. Hahaha and he would say, “well the dog might not eat for three days!” And then give him more queso! After dinner we looked at the Luciernagas (fireflies) that were all over the grass. It was so cool to see because I do not think I had ever seen a firefly in real life before and they are so pretty!! There was also thunder and lighting tonight and it gets really dark around here at about 6pm so the lightning would really light up the sky.
Tomorrow we will go to two more schools except this time it will be about an hour drive and then a 25 minute walk up to one of the schools. Hopefully it is not too hot tomorrow!! I am hoping it will rain! Oh and I found out today that Millie’s sister makes and sells pastel de tres leche (tres leche cake) in the store and I told her that I wanted to learn how to make it. So hopefully sometime in the next few months I will be able to do that and then when I come home I can make it for you all! Oh and I also have to give the kids a demonstration tomorrow on how to brush their teeth. I was volunteered to give the demonstration but I guess since dad just reminded me how exactly I am supposed to be brushing my teeth just before I left home, I will be able to show and explain to the kids how to brush their teeth correctly. ;)