Dance, Dance, Dance

My assistant does a wonderful job at decorating my class.

So, its been another eventful week and weekend in Gracias. The only thing on our minds is dance, dance, dance. We dance everyday and Like Jena always says....we bounce, bounce,bounce. (Thank goodness I did not have to teach them your dance moves.) The Christmas program will be here on Tuesday night and my kids will have to be ready to preform. I cannot believe the importance they put on the dance. I have been teaching an average of 3 classes a day for the past two weeks. As much fun as it has been to learn the dance I am ready for the grand finale and Christmas vacation. Anyways, here is a recap of my week:

My classroom door.

My desk, living up to the Christmas spirit.

Every now and then we celebrate a birthday. Last week it was Raquel’s (one of the teachers) birthdays. One night we went to our neighbor’s for pizza and karaoke and dancing, which was a lot of fun. Friday after school the 11^th graders (her class) planned a surprise party at one of their houses. There was lots of pizza, snacks, a cake all the way from Guatemala, a piñata and even fireworks! It was quite the celebration!

And this past weekend the Circus came to town! So a few of us went to it Saturday night, and it was quite the experience! It was the Blue Smurf Circus and you better believe they had people dressed up in Smurf costumes. The circus had dancers, tight rope walkers, rope dancers, and even lions and jaguars! It had been awhile since I had been to a circus, so I was like a little kid, a full bundle of excitement! We also went to a house church for church and gave out Christmas presents to the kids. It was exciting to see the happiness on their face. For sunday dinner our bus driver took us up the mountain to a piece of his land and cooked carne asada for us (meat, refried beans, salsa, cheese). It was delicious and the view was breath taking.

Nevertheless, the Christmas program WAS WONDERFUL! The power stayed on for the whole program, and all the parents seemed to really enjoy the program. All of the students looked beautiful and all of the dances were great! There was a lot of work put into the program, and all the glory was for God.

My students: Antuane and Edy

Ashley, Diana, Rene, Erick, Marcelo, Keydi

Continue to pray for safe travels as all the teachers are traveling home for Christmas. I cannot wait to see you all!!!




MERRY CHRIST-more!

Wow, time flies.

I cannot believe that it is December already. It seems like yesterday that I arrived in Honduras. However, I am still enjoying my time here greatly.

I'll be home for Christmas...(Dec 17 here I come!)

This week has been fairly uneventful. My kids have been busy working on their new spelling list this week and they always love it when they get to spell with playdough. So, I took a few pictures to show off their nice work they did. In addition, the 1st graders are getting better and better everday. I was so excited to have one of the girls read to me and to see her smile on her face was a wonderful feeling. Yes, reading is a slow process, but they are coming right along. I am still trying to figure out how to help the good readers excell and the struggling readers learn how to read. It is a process when all your kids are at totally different levels.

This weekend was a nice low-key weekend. I got to stay in Gracias all weekend and get some school things out of the way. It was so nice to relax and get back on my feet again. On Friday night Kendall and I went over to Kristi and Shannon's to babysit there kids so they can go on a nice date. It was nice to hang out in a home and spend time with Tyler and Emma. On Saturday I brought my laundry to the laundry mat and got alot of school work done. In the evening, us roommates, went out to eat at a nearby pulperia. One of our students (9th grader) were there and she wanted to paint our nails. I would have to say I have never had my nails looking this good ever in my life! she really has an act for painting nails.

Today we went to a house church with Kristi and Shannon. I helped with sunday school with the younger kids. It was fun to get to work with them. There are about 10 kids that show up every week so it is great to see the excitement on their faces. After the house church we headed to a small town called La Campa. La Campa is knonw for its pottery. We got to learn a little bit about the pottery and the people who make it. I could not believe that process that these people go through to make the pottery. THey have the clay sit for 15 days and then it takes them at least 2 days to form the pot, and then they ahve to put it in the fire. It is a lot of work for  hardly any pay. They have such a talent and gift for making pots.