Sunday, July 12, 2009

Santa Rita..... I can´t believe it´s been one month

Selling fruits and veggies outside the house...




The last picture is how we lock our doors at night....the Honduran alarm system...
Of course the boys at school playing futbol

The Little Ones
Gerson, Caeb and Andis



Saturday, July 11, 2009

Tuesday

There is this one little boy, Caeb, who is going into the first grade but he is really behind. He came into kindergarten when the school year was almost over so he should not be going into the first grade but his mom does not want him to stay back. I feel really bad for him because he needs to be able to have a full year in kindergarten and get a foundation before heading off to first grade. I can already see that he is intimidated being the slowest one in class and it can be hard for kids to want to learn or be motivated when they just want to shut out everything and not be embarrassed in front of everyone else in the class. Ultimately he is going to be the one suffering and all because his mother “wants” him to be in first grade. I spent a lot of one on one time with him today just practicing going over the alphabet in English and then trying to spell his name, and then say it out loud in English as well. He is smart and I know he will get it, I just wish he did not have to feel so pressured and could take time just really learning the basics. He is so cute though and I kept trying to encourage him because it makes it so hard when you don’t understand something and have to try to catch up to the rest of the class when you don´t know how. He needs to feel like he can do it and I know he will. I told him to keep practicing at home and I will be spending more one on one time with him to try and get him up to speed.

On a different note, it has been raining a lot tonight, and it was the first time that I was actually really startled and little scared by the thunder. At first I did not even realize it was thunder and I thought there was a plane like two feet above the house making it’s way to crash land in my bedroom!! I know I say it all the time but the thunder here is so powerful it is unbelievable. Last week the rain would start around 4pm but the last few nights it has started around 8 or 9pm. It hasn’t really rained during the day yet, it seems to be around the perfect time, you can get your stuff done during the day and stay dry, well that is if you do not get wet from your own sweat, and then the rain comes when you are already in your house for the night and can fall asleep to it’s soothing sound (that is, however, when the thunder does not sound like a crashing plane…).

Monday

Today was the first day of tutoring!! We had 15 kids from 8-11 this morning. I helped Yessenia with her kids, they are so cute and they are all going into the first grade. It is this first time I think anyone has ever called me “miss” before, although it is so funny because when the kids say it, it sounds more like “meeez” hahaha. I had to help them with pronunciations so I would write certain words on the board and we would practice saying them and then I would put sentences up on the board and we would practice saying those as well. I wanted them to actually understand the sentences though so I would ask them what it was in Spanish and if they didn’t know, which they normally didn’t, I would have to say the sentence again in Spanish and then repeat it in English. They were so good and did really well today. They are so precious because they were really shy at first and then when I started asking them questions like how many brothers and sister they have they would all want to talk at once and tell me how they have cousins and uncles and aunts living with them too! Haha too cute. Anyway, we spent the first half of the morning with the younger kids and then after their recess (which consisted of the boys playing soccer  and eating empenadas which I really wanted to eat for them!) I had to move into the other classroom with the older kids. In this class they really wanted me to speak only in English but it was hard because I felt bad for them when they didn’t get something…I mean I know exactly how it feels!!! We ended up, in the end, saying some things in Spanish if they were not understanding and then saying it again in English. I really think that is the best way to learn. I mean I know for me I just wish people could repeat what they say in Spanish in English so then I would know next time what it meant!!! So I would try to, when I could, say something in English, then in Spanish, then say it in English again one more time. It felt weird speaking in English today but I must admit it felt pretty good too, I was thinking, finally I understand what is going on!!!
Anyhow, once 11am rolled around the boys were back out playing soccer waiting for their parents to come and then before they left they would come up and give me a hug and say, “good bye miss” [gooud bye meeez]. I think that was the best part of the day. They are so polite and they always gives hugs. I just love it. These kids are so smart and they do not have much, however, they are learning and they want to learn and they are all younger than fifth grade and already speaking some English. They are going to be able to help their country someday. They are the future and thank God for that!!

Spanish

Wow Henri Nouwen seems to know exactly how I feel. It´s kind of scary.

“This is my second day of language training…it is frustrating, since I make the same mistakes I made nine years ago and continue to have the feeling that I should be much more advanced after the many weeks and months I have worked on Spanish in the past. There are frequent moments during which I say to myself: ‘I will never master this language’...As I reflect on this fragmented approach to mastering Spanish, I can only say that I never gave up the deep conviction that I must learn it somehow, sometime. I never have been able fully to explain this conviction to myself or to anyone else. But the urge always was there and still is there; my desire to know Spanish and to know it well is as strong as ever. Why? I don’t know. I hope that I will know before I die. There must be a meaning to such a strong passion!” (13-14).

Tuesday, July 7, 2009





Sorry I don´t know how to flip this but this is my spanish tutor Juliana and her cousin


For some reason they like to "paint" their chicks here....



hahaha nice juliana right in front of her face!

Saturday

This morning Juliana came to pick me up at the house and then we took the bus back to Cabanas. Cabanas is a little town about ten minutes from Santa Rita and surprisingly it is even smaller!! First we went to Juliana’s house where her cousin and another one of the teachers met us for lunch. Juliana’s mom made this amazing chicken, it was so good and I told Juliana I am going to come back every Saturday for lunch!! Anyway after spending some time with the family and looking at pictures we headed up to Marina’s house. It is about a twenty five minute walk up the mountain but so beautiful and definitely worth the trip. Families are always together here; everyone just sits and enjoys each other’s company throughout the day. Even with friends, no one ever asks “what are we going to do today?” everyone just hangs out and talks. It is so peaceful.
Hahaha which reminds me…. On our walk up to Marina’s house, there was this little girl, probably two or three years old, who came outside of her house with her pants down, squatted in the dirt and then started going to the bathroom right in front of us!! She was just farting away and going poo!! It was hilarious but smelly!!! We definitely passed by her house quickly!!
Later on when we got back to Juliana’s house I went to the bus stop around 4pm. I was the only one there and Juliana was telling me how normally the bus won’t go back into town unless it is full!!! Thankfully the bus driver, after about 20 minutes of waiting, took me back even though I was still the only one there but he didn’t make me pay for it either so that was good. I got back to the house and helped out for awhile in the pulperia. I am still trying to learn what everything is in the store and how much it costs so I can help out some more. I guess pointing always works too but I am learning…I think!!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Thursday

Well it was Matt’s birthday today, he is officially 23… and I'm still the baby, still 20 but don’t worry I’ll be 21 by the time I get back!! (and then mom will be saying Donna how old are you? 22. Jenna how old are you? 21….mom’s favorite thing to do.)
Anyway, (without the s!) after Spanish class and talking to tia this afternoon Juliana took me to this little restaurant down the street and we ate baleadas. It is so interesting because there are hardly any restaurants here, about four or five in this town and none of them are named and none of them look like places to eat from the outside, or the inside really, but they all have great food, well the two that I have been to at least. At this place, you walk in, and there is just one small room with four or five plastic tables with little plastic chairs around. All of the tables are close together, so basically you are eating with whoever else is in the restaurant at that time. But either way you walk in, sit down, call out what you want and are served in 5 minutes. It is great food and they have the “good” coke, you know the kind in the bottle? But when you leave you have to leave your coke bottle so they can reuse them. I of course didn’t finish my coke so when I asked to take it to go the girl poured it in a plastic bag, stuck a straw in it and handed it back! It was really funny because I just walked home with a plastic bag full of coke and a blue straw jetting out. I guess no one else thought it was weird tho because that is how a lot of their liquids are stored here. People come into the pulperia all the time and buy little bags of water. They just tear one of the corners and drink it from the bag. The milk is in little plastic bags too. It’s very interesting. Different. And quite the sight!
I was also telling Tona and Elvira today about how the cheese at home taste different from the cheese here. Elvira always wants to know what kinds of foods I like and what I eat at home and she is very surprised that my dad actually cooks!.... The men here don’t!! Well some of them can but they never do. Anyway, now Elvira wants Matteo to bring Cheese from the U.S. when he comes!! Hahaha I don’t know how that will taste after a long day of traveling but I told her we will see what he can do! :)
The thunderstorms here are great. I love them. It usually rains every other night, or more if we are lucky. But the thunder starts as the clouds roll in about 4pm and the lightening flashes and the rain starts to pour. It really is so beautiful and there is nothing like it. The thunder is so incredibly loud it sounds as if the sky is breaking open right above your head. The only part I am not too fond of is the wind because then all of the doors are pushed open and smacked against the walls and then slammed back shut as all the black soot in the air is brought into your room and onto your bed. My bathroom also got pretty wet tonight. I have a window that is higher up that just has a screen on it so when it is raining and windy it can get a little slippery in there! But nothing I can’t handle and if it means more rain then I’ll take it. I wish you all could experience it. It is just so amazing to see and nothing I can explain or put into words. And then I love when mama Hilda puts her classical music on; it is so soothing. That and the combination of thunder, lighting and heavy rain I feel at peace.