I am thankful...are you?

Wow, so today is the first day I can officially say... I AM COLD! I have a desire to sit  by a fire place and roast marshmellows with my slippers on. But, I am thankful it is blizzarding with snow smacking me in the face.

Well, I had a wonderful weekend in Tegus with all the other American teachers in Honduras. It was good to forget about school for a while and to have fun with people my own age. So, early wednesday morning we up and left for Tegus with a van stuffed with about 30 people, 10 teachers and 20, 10th and 11th graders. Boy, it was quite the ride with so many students. They are a lot of fun, but it brought me back to my life as a highschooler...crazy!

When we arived to Tegus it felt like a city in the states... the roads were paved with more than one lane and many buildings. It was refreshing to be in a whole new city. After we arrived, we checked into our hotel and rushed to get ready for the jazz concert. After a long day of traveling for 6 hours many of us wanted to take a shower to get dressed up and ready. So, the hotel gave us 4 different showers to shower in for about 30 girls. But, we found ourself lost using only one shower because the other showers either didnt have water, the water was ice, or the shower didnt work.... well if you know me very well.. and know that if I dont get to shower when I was planning on it... I get a little crabby... so I was rushed and crabby... not a good combo. I guess I need to learn better patience!

Mom, this apple crisp was ALMOST as good
as your crisp....

The jazz concert was at the Abundent Life school in the church and it  was a hit and we had fun listening to the music. The concert had dancers to the music as well. It was fun to see a different variety of music.

Our wonderful hike.

We then went to bed to wake up early for breakfast at the school. We ate the tipica...which is beans, eggs, plantanes, and tortiallas. Then I got to play volleyball and basketball at the school, which I miss so dearly! Then we headed to the mall and did a little shopping. At night the rest of the teachers came into Tegus and we got ready to go to our nice Thanksgiving supper at Pastor Evelio home (he is one of the most well known people in hondurs...very wealthy and started all the Abundent Life schools). It was so nice to have a delicious meal with many friends...and my new family.

On friday morning we went out for breakfast at Mc Donalds and then went to Valle de Angeles were we got to do a lot of suvinior shopping. It was fun to walk around the city and look at many things that the people of honduras made. When we came back from shopping we got ready to go to the Twilight movie. It was nice to see a movie again, but I wasnt the BIGGEST fan of the Twilight movie, but I was thankful that I go to go.

OLIMPIA!!!

Saturday we went out for breakfast and then hit up the national park, La Tigra. It was a beautiful park with many gorgeous trees. We enjoyed our beautiful 2 hour hike an got to look at the cloud forest. When arriving back to the hotel we got ready to go to a Futbol game. Olimpia, Honduras' team was playing. It was an awesome experience to see the excitement of the fans and a great soccer team playing. Some of the players on the team played in the World Cup last year.

Then, on Sunday morning we headed back to Gracias. I am thankful to be back, but also am thankful for the fun experiance I had in Tegus.

I hope all is well in the states and that you had a thankful, thanksgiving! Continue to keep me in your prayers and I continue to learn more and more on how to teach my class in the most effective way.

*Be thankful for EVERYTHING!

Parent/Teacher...And I"M the TEACHER?!

Well....at least I'm not the parent.... :)
Well, this past week has been pretty uneventful, hence why I havent written on my blog yet. Sorry to you faithful followers (cough cough Jena!). Anyways, everyday is  a surprise with my 1st graders. They have their good days and their bad days, I have my good days and my bad days. Its amazing how much sleep I have makes a different on how my day goes with my students. My lesson is learned... Get LOTS of sleep and then I am happier and my students are happier as well...Cant believe it took me 23 years to figure that one out!

Me, looking professional at my parent/teacher meeting!

Anyways, this past Friday we had a half of day of classes and started parent/teacher conferences at 2:30-6:00. It was definintally a very long day! But, the parents were mostly understanding and I didnt have too many complaints. Most of the parents just wanted their students grades and that was about it. I had one mother (the Espanol teacher at our school)...of my student Luis (one bright kid!) come up to me and said...my son absolutly loves you. He prays for you every single night and he prays for his classmates to...so that they will learn to obey you.... OH the beauty of a young man's prayer. My heart was touched... and to be honest the kids have become ALOT better. School is not so much of a headache but a joy. It is so fun to see these kids grow so much in the English. I also love it how these kids are beginning to learn to write. I have been trying to do more writing with them so they can learn how to read fluently and write fluently. I believe that reading and writing are one of the most important thing for these young kids. We are definitally working on it and I hope that it helps the grow to be fluent English speakers (they have already come SOO far!)

This past Saturday we decided we would go to Santa Rosa to stay in a Hotel and just get out of Gracias for a while. Nothing too exciting happend, but it was fun to get away with some of the teachers.

Some of our new Minerva Friends

Yesterday, we had a delicous thanksgiving meal. We went to Melissa and Kevin's home to eat. Our house was in charge of bring the potatoes so we had two Huge pans of mashed potatoes. They were expecting 40 people to be at this fiesta! The food was absolutly wonderful and we had a great time socializing with our new friends (Minerva School Teachers). We hope to hang out with them a bit more just to expand our horizens of friends here! We are well taken care of here. We also will be heading to the capital this weekends...we dont have school on Wednesday so we will be heading there...with the 11th graders to go to some concert. The school provides us with everything...food, hotel, transportation...EVERYTHING! I am excited for this experience. Anyways, thats all I have to share with you now... I will let you know how my trip goes over Thanksgiving break. Just remember I am thankful for all of you!!

YeeHaw!

There is never a dull moment in Gracias. Us teachers, always find something fun and exciting to do. But, before I get to the events on Friday night I have the cutest story to tell you about my first graders.

Everyday, about twice a day, I take my whole first grade class to the bathroom. We always line up in girl and boys lines that way my line isnt halfway around the world. So, We get into our lines and one of my little boys (the one that gave me earings for my birthday) had a pretty little purple flower (why would a kid have a flower on the way to the bathroom?). I asked him, Erick, who is that flower for? Is it for me? The other boys replied, "No" its for Melene Valaria." Erick gets a little red on his cheeks. Then, Marcelo was like "Erick would you like me to give it to her?" Erick grins and nodds yes. Marcelo goes over to Melene as the rest of the boys are giggling. Marcelo says " Here Melene this is for you from Erick." She gives the most disgusted look and gives the flower to me. I felt bad for little Erick. Later, I talked to his mom at school about it because she is also a teacher at the school. She said that she was wondering why he had a flower because he took it from home. She definitally enjoyed the story though.

This past Monday was a rough day at school, but as the school week went on it got better and better. For some reason my students had a 180 degree turn in behavior. I believe it was from alot of prayer and faith and maybe my attitude on teaching. I am so thankful for the turn around and I hope that their behavior will continue through the rest of the year. My biggest issue now is the little first graders tattling on eachother and not speaking the most kind words to eachother. If there is any advice how to handle this that would be great!

Last night, the local youth group had a bonfire with cowboys and indians. So, my roommates and I took the opportunity to dress up as fitting. We enjoy going to these youth group things because we can socialize in spanish and hopfully learn a little more. It was a lot of fun to dress up and walk the streets of honduras. I felt like I was ready to go ride a horse!

Today we headed to Santa Rosa to visit the orphanage again. This time around one of the girls was talking to me so nicely and I was singing jesus loves me and if your are happy and you know it. Then another girl started crying so I set the girl down and she refused. I said no I need to go make sure she is okay. Then she started saying estas fea (you are ugly) to me... over and over again... than she started to hit me. Oh boy, what do you do with a little girl that doesnt understand english... how do you scold her! But then all the other kids started saying estas bonita (you are pretty). I think this girl that was calling me ugly gets herself into alot of trouble. I guess she reminds me of myself when I was younger...stubborn! :D It was another great experience at the orphanages to feed and play with the children. The people there take great care of the kids!

This little boy is both deaf and blind. But if he every had anyone
touch him he would get the BIGGEST smile on his face

This little boy would rock himself in his car seat as hard as
he could. He has the CUTEST smile!

This lttle girl was brought to the orphanage last night
She was taken out of her home by social workers because
she is not getting fed. This little girl is almost 2 years old.
The orphanage is hoping to bring her back to the correct size.
Her bones, ears, are the size of a 2 year old but she is very skinny!
I am excited to see how she is a few months from now.

Well, I think that is all for now! I hope you all are doing well!!

Una Fiesta Tipica

Sarah and Kendall (my roommates)

Arnold and Edy

Saturday was our schools Fiesta Tipica. It was a big party in the park to raise funds for our school, and our school in La Union. All of our staff dressed up in typical Honduran clothing, and sold food and drinks in different huts that were made just for this event. The day was filled with lots of beautiful and colorful clothing, music and dancing, and delicious food and drinks. My group sold papusas, ticocus, and talmates in our hut. We were a busy hut, but because I dont know a lot of Spanish I just did a lot of saying "papusas, ticocus...etc" to get people to come to our hut and buy our food.   But all in all, it was a LOT of fun serving everybody. Some of the grades at our school even performed cultural dances, which were fun to watch too. It was a beautiful day overall, and fun to play dress up for the day! The La Union school has their Fiesta Tipica in February that we will go there for too. 

With my assistant Mrs Delmy

Daniel, Antuane, and Oscar

In addition, school has been going well...well I lied on Monday it was bad...Tuesday it was better... and Today was GREAT! It seems like every week it takes a while for my students to get use to the routine again after the weeked. We are working on a lot of discipline things because last year they had none. It is hard to train students who are in such a habit to get into a good habit again. We are working on it a day at a time. I am very impressed with how well my students are picking up English. They are able to hold a decent conversation and answer questions. This week we are focusing on the word family -ack. The kids seem to enjoy the activities we do...like singing and doing the hand claps of Miss Mary Mack.  I also had them take a sack home and fill it with -ack things like the color black or a snack. I think they are finally getting it (maybe its only cuz today was a good day at school for the kids... but yes I have faith that tbey will get better and better).

The weather here has been great. Its been pleasent enought be be in our lovely uniforms and not swet too much. I enjoy going for runs home from school, walking to the store, or sitting in the local coffee shop (outdoors) and doing papers and homework.

Well, I think that is all that is going on right now. I hope all is going well. I miss you all and will see you over Christmas!

Jennifer, Tabitah, Jaime, Kendall, Stacey, Kristi

First Graders...

I've don't have a lot to say, but I just wanted to update on some videos of my students. They are so cute!

They sang happy birthday to me first thing in the morning....

Enjoy the videos...we made pin wheels in science class... they loved them!!

Boy are they FULL of energy.... I was trying to video tape the kids... while having a little girl give me a gift. That is who I am talking to in the video...

My Whole Class...including my assistant Mrs Delmy

Can you find that boy saying I Love You? I taught them the sign language... and they LOVe it!