Not A Forever Farewell...

Well, I'm back home in the States now.... This will be my last Honduras blog update. A bittersweet feeling comes along with that thought. It is amazing to think that I just spent a little less than a year of my life in a completely different, but all-around amazing country.

Leaving was terribly difficult. I did not expect it to be as difficult as it was. The Friday before I left (I went home on a Monday), all the kiddos had a "surprise" farewell party for me. The surprise part was ruined when I walked in the previous evening and saw "THANK YOU BOBBI! WE WILL MISS YOU!" That was when I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I think something might be going on tomorrow." In addition to the farewell party, I received a picture frame with a photo of all my kiddos. That was particularly emotional for me because around the picture, they all signed their names in their goofy, crazy, messy, 5-year-old handwriting styles. I realized right then that I was in for a difficult good-bye weekend. No one ever realizes how attached they are to something until they have to let it go.... I definitely learned that!

On that next Saturday morning, I was able to purchase the copier for the school! This was my big surprise/gift for the school because they have done so much for me. It was truly a blessing to be able to do that for them.

Saturday afternoon, my roomies told me that they wanted to take me to lunch. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me that little detail until AFTER I already put my leftovers from Friday in the microwave. Justin came out to the kitchen and yelled at me to make me take my food from the microwave just because he and Ashley wanted to take me to lunch. I did not know I was doing anything wrong, but Justin was just like, "Take it out of the microwave! NOW!" Haha. Then when I asked what time we would be going to lunch (at Pizza Hut), he said that he had to shower first and it would probably be an hour or so. What kind of GUY takes an hour to shower!??! Well, the reason he took an "hour long" shower was because once we got to Pizza Hut, all the staff from the school and some of Pastor Dennis and Tammy's family showed up for a surprise lunch. It was a wonderful time of fellowship where everyone went around the table and said wonderfully nice things about me as they all made me cry. I didn't realize that I really had much of an effect on everyone. I am blessed that I was able to hear even a small part of what I have done for everyone else.

Sunday was another emotional day, yet again. Pastor Dennis had asked me to share in church, so I got up there and spoke in all Spanish (surprising more people than I could count!) to tell them about my experience in Honduras. Pastor Dennis then shared some wonderful words and took up an offering for me! That was such a wonderful surprise. Everyone down there has been so amazing to me, and I greatly look forward to the day that I can visit them all again.

My "Good-bye" in Honduras is not a forever Farewell..... It is a "See you again soon!" All of my Honduran family is excited for me to move on to the next step of my life: Marriage. I greatly look forward to taking my future husband back down there with me, so that he can experience the love and support of my family there.

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Now that I am back home, I have done a little bit of my remaining wedding plans, but I don't have much left there. It is more of a waiting game at this point. I have also gotten a puppy. Her name is Piper and she is a feisty little lab puppy. Matt and I love her to death though! We also moved forward with the house hunt. In fact, we made an offer, it was accepted, and we are now in the closing process. Closing will take place on or before July 19! Matt and I will have a house! We can't wait to get it all ready to live in for October! Needless to say, each and everyday I count my blessings. My experience in Honduras has been a wonderful opportunity to prepare me for what is yet to come in my life. Although I have yet to find a job, I am at peace that the Lord will provide an opportunity for me to use my Spanish.

I thank each and every one of you, my readers. I love you all, and I am blessed to have your unending support. May you all be greatly blessed this day and throughout the rest of your lives! ;-)

Home Stretch

Okay, so I realize that it has been WAY TOO LONG since I have written. That means I should have LOTS to say, right? Well, I guess we will see where this goes...

I recently returned to Honduras from an extra long spring break. I was able to visit home for a little bit longer because school was suspended due to a breakout of the H1N1 flu virus in the universities here in San Pedro Sula. There had been 40 known cases, so they suspended school a week early, which means I got a longer vacation. I never thought I would enjoy a breakout of a major sickness..... I guess I just never saw it in the right light before.

Just a week before I went home was my 23rd birthday, and it was a great time. I got a "surprise" birthday party from all the kiddos at the school. Miss Erin made cupcakes in the shape of a big butterfly and the kiddos were happy and excited to give me hugs all day long. I also got a free dessert at lunch (Tiramisu), and it was phenomenal! I then enjoyed a wonderful nap in the afternoon. Later in the week, right before I left to visit home, Pastor Dennis invited me over for lunch and he ordered a cake for me. He told the woman my name, but when we got the cake it said, "Feliz Cumpleaños, Baby." Hahahaha. We got a BIG kick out of that one... Yeah, BABY! ;-)

I continue to be surprised by my kiddos on a daily basis at school, so that makes things interesting. For instance, when I told my kids to open their books to page 75, one boy opened his to 28. There are NO similar digits in those two numbers. I was somewhat floored when he seriously told me that he found the page and it was so completely wrong. It was difficult not to laugh. Another surprise occured when one of my little boys dropped the f-bomb. Hmmm.... I'm sure that my face was priceless at this point. How do you explain to a group of Spanish-speaking 5-year-olds that this word (that none of them knew the meaning of) was something that should never be repeated? Or how do you explain the difference between the "ck" sound and the "g" sound for a boy who always mispronounces the word "dig"? Let me just say, everyday is a new experience down here.

Another kiddo of mine enjoys smacking himself in the face with his book every time I hand it to him or right before he puts it back on the shelf. I don't understand.... That one is still a mystery to me. I turn around to a "WHOP!" only to see that Samuel has smacked himself in the face and he has a shocked look on his face as if to ask, "Where in the world did that come from?!" Then, he proceeds to do it again after he giggles.

One day, we were having a science lesson about fish. I drew a fish on the board and put all of the parts of the body on it. I asked the class what its name was, and they said, "Miss Bobbi!" So, I labeled it. Then, I drew another fish and put hearts around the two. I asked what this one should be called, and I tried to tell them that it should be "Matt," but they would not be persuaded. Instead, I am in love with a fish named "Otis." Who wants to break this harsh news to Matt?

So that has been my life down here. My visit home was wonderful, but it FLEW by! We got a lot of stuff done for the wedding, and we also got pre-approved to begin the search for a house. The last week I was home was the most interesting, however. My dad's aunt passed away, so I attended the viewing on Friday and the funeral Saturday morning (I was scheduled to fly back here on Sunday). Later on Saturday afternoon, Matt and I decided to take a trip into Goshen, and as we were quickly approaching an intersection, and car halted at a stop sign but continued through. Matt and I t-boned the SUV with Matt's little car, and both airbags deployed leaving the car smokey and both of us slightly disoriented for a minute. The first thought that went through our heads was, "Thank you Lord. That could have ended badly." The SUV only had a small dent in the passenger door, but Matt's car is completely totaled. We were INCREDIBLY blessed to step out of the car with little more than a couple scratches and bruises. When my parents arrived on the scene, I could tell that they were amazed that neither Matt nor I were injured. Everyone that passed by thought the same thing. We definitely had angels with us that day.

Sunday came along, and I knew my break was over. I was pretty stiff from the accident, and the drive to Chicago O'Hare was a bit uncomfortable. I was not looking forward to the flight back down here as uncomfortable as I was. Well, I got to the ticket counter after 3 hours of driving, only to find out that I was going to miss my connecting flight in Fort Lauderdale, and the next flight does not leave until Tuesday. Hmmm.... I tried to take this in stride. This was a blessing, right? I was stiff and sore and uncomfortable. I would be better by Tuesday. So, Tuesday comes along, and guess what? It happens AGAIN! I am going to miss my connection. At this point, my nerves about saying good-bye to my family yet again are completely shot, and it's just getting ridiculous. My advice to y'all: Don't fly on Spirit Airlines. This time, probably due to my telling them that this happened to me again, they put me up in a hotel right next to the airport. I got a couple vouchers for meals, and they bought me a ticket for another airline (Continental.... I knew I was safe there). Finally, after missing 3 extra days of work, I arrived in Honduras after taking an early morning flight. My emotions were worn out, and I was completely exhausted. God had tested me, for the millionth time about my trip down here. Here I am, still at work in His name. I am doing what I came to do, and these kiddos are teaching me way more than I ever imagined about myself.

It has really hit me hereoflate that my trip is rapidly coming to a close. 8 weeks from today, I will be on a plane back to the States, completely unsure as to when I will get my next opportunity to visit. It will be a bittersweet farewell, heading home to one family while leaving another. My heart, my home, will always be in two places. I look forward to my many future adventures as I begin yet another new phase in my life: Marriage. It is amazing to me how much my life can be blessed this year, 2010. See y'all in 8 weeks!

BLACKOUT!

So, many of you may not have heard about my wonderful experience last week. Wednesday was an adventure. It had started getting really warm outside, but Wednesday evening, it started cooling off... A LOT. Not only did it cool off, but there was wind.... a TON of wind. I was around the house by myself, and the wind was so bad that I was wondering if maybe there was a hurricane on the coast.

At about 6:30 pm, I was sitting on the couch in my living room, and I was chatting with a friend on the computer. We were discussing very important stuff... You know, things like: What's on T.V. tonight? Extremely important topics. So, the lights flickered briefly, and I was in the middle of typing "I think our power might go out," when it happened. In complete darkness I found myself sitting alone, surrounded by strange sounds as things crashed into our steel roof from all the wind.

Feeling like the power would come back on shortly, I began listening to music on my laptop, and soon I got a phone call from my friend Erin. I explained that the power went off, so that was the reason for my abruptly leaving Facebook chat. In all her time of living here, she said she had never known wind like that here in Honduras. Crazy.... Well, before we knew it, her power was out too. I proceeded to call my roomies and let them know to take it easy on the drive home, but they were pretty much home already.

After being home for a few minutes, we all walked down the street to find a sight I've never seen before. A telephone pole had been knocked over by the wind. Not only that, but it was completely snapped in half and suspended over the road by the electrical wires. We proceeded to walk past this sight to find a big tree completely fallen across some more electrical wires. As we continued our journey, right next to our school, a huge tree had fallen over and completely wiped out the roof of the bar that was once visible. At this same intersection, there was at least one very large tree that had fallen across another part of the road. All of this chaos was within 1 1/2 blocks from my house.

The firemen were working on getting the trees chopped up and out of the roads, but they had to do it by shining their headlights on the scene. The entire next day, we were without power, and our road was closed. Therefore, because the school is right down the road from where I live, we did not have classes the next day. In fact, we didn't get power at all during the day. We watched the progress of the new electrical pole throughout the day, and that was interesting in itself.

When we went to watch, there were 4 men with chains walking in a circle to manually screw the pole into the ground. We thought for sure that we wouldn't have power for a very very long time. We did decide to go to a coffee shop that had internet so that we could check our email and send messages to some people. Well, throughout the city, there were TONS of uprooted trees, and I even saw this HUGE billboard that had fallen over on top of the roof of a business. Needless to say, the business' roof had completely caved. As I was sitting in the coffee shop, the power proceeded to go out there as well. Just my luck, eh?

Well, we proceeded to go around town to various places last Thursday to make use of the electricity. We needed to charge our cell phones and computers so that we had SOME form of entertainment if we were going to be without power. Finally, at about 9 pm, we went home. We made it to the living room, lit a match, and it's as if this one little match held the answer. Right as it was lit, the power came on in the house! Praise the Lord!

That is the brief version of my latest experience down here in the wonderful country of Honduras. Throughout the next day, the power went off and on a couple of times, but otherwise Friday was spent at a children's museum here in San Pedro Sula. The kiddos had a great time, and we were not able to finish the tour, so I think we are going back this week to see the astronomy tower.

This weekend, because Justin is off in Haiti to help with a medical clinic, Ashley and I were flying solo here at the house. One night we decided to do a little bit of shopping, and Ashley said that it was time for a makeover! Haha. She wanted to see me with straight hair, so I proceeded to do my best without having my normal hair products and doing my best to manage with the humidity. Because she worked for Estee Lauder, she wanted to do my makeup, so we just had fun with it. Don't worry! I will provide a picture for y'all! Overall, it's been some week down here.

Whole New Definition to "Crappy" Day...

Hmmm. Reflecting on my morning is kind of humerous. Don't worry, this is a short story. So, as it's a typical Saturday, I did my laundry. Well, it is cool and overcast today, so I did not do all my laundry for fear that it is going to rain.

Anyway, I hung up my jeans and few shirts and towel that I washed. I am currently preparing to leave, so I decided to hang my things inside in case it rains. I went outside to get my clothes, and a darn bird crapped on my jeans.......... I thought it was ironic that I can still have a "crappy" day without having a bad day. Hmm... Who knew?

Who Holds the Key?

For those of you who don't know, since I've come down here, I haven't had a doorknob on the outside of my bedroom door. It has always just been a little stump thing that you twist to get into the room. It has never really given me trouble, and hey, it makes me different, so we have always been on good terms. Well, I think we had our first fight the other day, which has caused a major rift in our relationship. In fact, it's more than a "major rift." I think we have broken up forever.

So, Wednesdays are always terrible days at school, but for some reason, I only had 4 kiddos show up, and it was a GREAT day. We had a lot of fun, actually. I was shocked at how smoothly a Wednesday could go; or so I thought. The afternoon came and went, and I found myself alone in the casa. A friend came by to see if he could borrow my keys to the school for an hour, so I knew he would be back shortly to drop them back off to me. Well, I was in my room working at my computer when the doorbell rang, so I had to finish typing rather quickly. Well, this guy is really persistent with ringing the doorbell, so I threw open my door and ran out to the gate to get the keys from him.

As I'm coming back in the house, I don't think anything of the fact that my door naturally closes on its own. Well, I go to turn the stump of a knob only to find that the door is locked. When I opened the door, it hit my wall and the lock got punched in, leaving me OUTSIDE my room when I wanted to be INSIDE. Hmmm... Bit of a dilemma, no? So, here I stand, alone, staring at my door in complete shock, completely confused about what I should do, and slowly realizing that my screwdrivers and/or hammer are locked in my room..... Along with everything else.

At first, I don't get too panicky because I think, "It's just a pop lock, so I need to find something small enough to stick in there and pop it open." No big deal, right? WRONG! NOTHING will fit. I pace back and forth through the house, alone because my roommates are out, not knowing what to do. I try sticking the end of a spoon in there, but it's too big. I stick a toothpick in there, but it breaks on me. I try shoving a pen in there, but it splits open and spills ink everywhere. So, here I am, ink all over my hands, staring at my door in shock. I try to clean myself up from the pen, and I go back to my door to do the only logical thing at this point. I threw myself at the door, shoulder first. Let me just tell you, these are good, SOLID, wooden doors. After about the fourth or fifth time of throwing myeslf into the "solid-as-concrete-and-unmoving-no-matter-how-much-weight-I-throw-into-it" door, I decide to use my foot. Again, the door is unmoving.

Now, if I wasn't in such a bad mood about my door and lack of doorknob (which means, lack of key also), I would have been able to think, "Wow, this is a great door... No one will be getting through it to take my stuff..." Unfortunately, that thought didn't cross my mind. Instead, a lot of other things crossed my mind, but I won't share those details with you. I tried to take a different approach by going outside to my windows. Unfortunately, there are metal coverings over the windows so that nothing can get through them. At this point, I am completely beside myself. I had already missed my evening phone call from Matt, and I just dumped myself over the end of my couch in fervent prayer.

I finally decided (after a good hour and a half of trying to unlock the door) that I was just going to have to wait for my roomies to get home. I turned on the television, and I decided to find something to watch for a little bit. During this time it started raining, and about 10 minutes later, the power went out. I'm so glad I had my flashlight..... LOCKED SAFELY IN MY ROOM. The hits just kept on coming. Luckily, the power came back on, and a few minutes later, my roomies made it home. I met them outside the door and almost burst into tears. They asked me what was up and all I could say, with unfallen tears glistening in my eyes, was, "I'm locked out of my room."

For Justin, that was like a challenge. Over the course of the next half hour, we tried sawing off the little stump, using a screwdriver (but we didn't have a flathead), shouldering the door in, credit cards, and finally the hammer. Oh the hammer...... First, we knocked off the stump on the outside. Next, we pounded the doorknob through the door so that I had a hole where it used to be. Unfortunately, the lock was still stuck. Finally, with the help of a small wire cutter, Justin managed to pull it out and open the door. I had been locked out of my room for 2 1/2 hours.

Needless to say, my relationship with my stump of a doorknob has been shattered along with the door handle itself. There was only one that held the key to opening it.... And it was none other than a hammer.

Taking the Old with the New

Well, I'm back to it... Yup, you guessed it! Laundry! Who knew that three weeks without washing my laundry by hand would turn my arms back to jello? I was feeling really ambitious on Saturday... I thought I would start off with the toughest stuff so that I could get it over with more quickly. Yeah.... Towels and jeans. Oy..... To make a long story short, I got everything done, there was a nice breeze to help my stuff to dry, it didn't rain (the sky must not have gotten the memo that I'm back yet), and my arms are still somehow attached to my body.

It has been abnormally cold here for the past couple weeks (a shocking 60-65 degrees), which is as close to home as I'm going to get, but the past few days have started warming back up. You know what that means? It means that the most evil of all insects emerges from hiding.... The mosquito. I don't understand... You kill one, you find five more bites. Just the other day, I had a killer mosquito attacking me from the North! I had two or three bites on my elbow... Another on my knuckle, and recently I've found some on my feet and my other elbow. What is with the elbows?!?!?!?!?! Do you even KNOW how hard it is to not scratch your elbow when there is a mosquito bite? You are constantly bumping it and making it even more itchy. Every time I saw the darn mosquito, it disappeared again. I never could swat it. Instead, a little later, it started dive bombing my face. What kind of place IS this?!?!?! Kamikaze mosquitos dive bombing my face and my elbows being turned into a soup kitchen for the little pests. I might as well hang a sign inviting them to a free dinner. Oy.

I am currently watching Jeopardy! by myself here at the house. Yeah... I said it, WATCHING TELEVISION! Can you believe it?! I'm moving up in this country. I now have a television and a microwave... Unfortunately, still no washer and dryer. I wouldn't want to get spoiled or anything...... *sigh*

Back to My Second Life...

Hey y'all!

I'm BACK!!!! Yup, it's true. I am back to my life as a Honduran after being home for just shy of 3 weeks. I was loving every minute of being home and having time with Matt and my family. Now, I am back to my second life down here, and it's the beginning of the end. This is my last 5 month stretch down here before I move back home.

For those of you who do not know, the three girls I lived with before Christmas are no longer down here, so I live at the house with a new couple. They are missionaries also, and they plan to be here a little over a year. They have been wonderful, and I look forward to getting to know them better.

So... Here's my latest adventure for those of you still interested in reading these updates:

It was a bright and snowy Indiana/Illinois day in the Midwest. Thursday, January 7, 2010... Flights are getting cancelled left and right, but my flight appeared to still be on time. Matt helped me drag all my luggage to the Continental counter where this lovely and super happy woman said, "Where are you going to?" I kindly replied, "Do you mean my next leg, or my final destination?" Without the smallest smile or hint of kindness, she repeated, "Where are you GOING to?" I am so glad that she clarified because I was really afraid I did not understand the question.....

Needless to say, I told her BOTH of my "destinations" so that she could do whatever she needed to do to give me my boarding passes. Well, without actually asking me, she told me that all the flights were delayed so she was changing me to the earliest flight that was supposed to leave at 1:50pm (but it was delayed until 3:30pm at this point). I asked how this would affect my connection in Houston, but she just told me that my flight from there was also delayed due to weather in Atlanta. Okay..... Good to know, I guess. Then, when she was finished, I almost didn't want to leave because of her overwhelming amount of cheeriness. *cough* Sarcasm! *cough*

Well, it was my parents, Matt, and me.... And we waited..... And waited..... And just for the heck of it, we decided to wait some more. We had left for the airport extra early so that we didn't have to worry about the weather. It was kind of strange because the screens with all the departures said that my original flight was still running on time, but the ever-so-kind woman at the counter told me that all the flights had been delayed. *shrugs* I didn't think much of it.

It finally came to the point where I had to say my final good-byes to my parents and Matt. It was EXTREMELY difficult because I was in tears, and my parents were also. I got up to security and went through everything okay. I got a pat down, and they rubbed these little towel thingies over my hands 2 different times on each hand. Apparently they didn't find my underwear bomb.... ;-) Just making sure you are paying attention.... Haha.

So, I went past the gate for my original flight (which STILL said it was running on time for the 3:05pm flight), and people were loading....... Now let me just say that the flight that I was now supposed to be on was delayed AGAIN until 4:05pm. I was starting to become a little nervous... I went up to the counter to ask about my Houston flight, and the woman told me that it was still scheduled as running "On Time" at 7pm (which the other woman had told me was DELAYED!!!), so I was only going to have a very short time to catch my connection. This woman also reprinted a boarding pass so that I could have the closest possible seat to the front of the plane. That was nice of her.

Unfortunately, my new flight didn't end up leaving until 4:30pm. It was an interesting flight (at least for the second half) because I was sitting next to this woman who just went through a breakup. For all those out there who need the solution, she would tell you it is a cocktail...... or 3. Phew. She was chatty for the rest of the flight. On the other hand, she asked about my mission and all that I was doing so it was a brief ministry opportunity, I guess you could say. She did compliment me (despite the excessive amount of alcohol and the numerous "F-bombs" that came out of her mouth) and say that she's never met anyone like me, and she thinks I am a wonderful person. Wow, I met all SORTS of people during this return trip.

Okay, so back to the time..... My flight is about to land in Houston at 6:55pm.... My flight OUT of Houston is supposed to leave at 7pm, and I have to run across 3/4 of the airport to catch it. Needless to say, I shoved my way through the First Class cabin (apologizing, but leaving numerous angry people in my wake) and down the little corridor to double check my gate for the San Pedro Sula flight. I could not afford any mistakes at this point. Sure enough, my gate had changed. This is when I met the most helpful woman of the night. She told me my new gate number and gave me the most ingenius advice I have ever heard. She said, and I quote, "Run."

Here I am, SPRINTING through the airport with a bag on each shoulder, panting like a dog in the summertime. Legs burning, heart pumping, breath wheezing..... I couldn't take anymore. I came to a complete halt in the middle of this hallway. At this point, a man drove up on one of those carts and I asked him if he could get me to my gate. It felt like he took a decade to answer, but he finally said, "Okay." So, I get to the gate, and the guy next to the closed door just shook his head and said, "It's already gone."

Wow.... I had so much emotion bottled up that I just burst into tears right in the middle of this airport where I was completely surrounded by people. The man just told me I had to go to Customer Service. I slowly made my way over, and found myself being told by this hard woman, who I could tell didn't want to be there, that I was going to have to wait for the 8:55am flight the next morning. 14 hours to wait for a flight..... What was I supposed to do? I was praying that I would make my flight so that I wouldn't have to spend the night in an airport, but for some reason, my prayers were left unanswered..... Or so I thought.

Suddenly, the phone rang, and the man at the gate for my flight said that they were holding the plane. I sprinted over, and they had to re-extend the little corridor out to reach the plane. The steward that met us at the plane door didn't sound too happy because he said that they now had to show the safety video all over again. Guess you can never be too safe, right?

All-in-all, I made it to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, CA by 10:30pm, only 35 minutes later than originally anticipated. I am grateful that I made it in one day, and I praise the Lord that He even went so far as to get my luggage here despite the fact that I almost missed my plane.

That is my miracle story and big adventure for the week.

Oh, and just so you all know...... I was kidding about the underwear bomb. ;-)

Cinderella Moments...

So, have you ever had those days where you just feel like Cinderella? Yeah, me too.... And, no, I'm not talking about the fancy dress, handsome prince, glass slippers, princess-y stuff. I'm talking about the good ol' "Cinderell-y, Cinderell-y... do the moppin'," stuff. Unfortunately, I don't get little magical talking mice to help me out.

Today, my one day of the week where I got to sleep in, I woke up pretty early (of course). Since today is my last full day here (YAY!) for this "year" I had to make sure the house was clean for my new roomies to arrive while I'm back in the States.... I found myself bleaching the random spots on our white tile floor, sweeping the ENTIRE house, and following it up with a good mopping. Whoever thought to put white tile floors in the WHOLE house................ Well, let's just say, I have some words for that person. I don't think it's POSSIBLE to get white floors clean. You know those magazines and pictures that have houses with all white EVERYTHING? Well, those are completely redone.... There is NO possible way to keep everything white. I think it would be great if I never see white tile ever again in my entire life.

So that's my morning so far.....

As for the rest of my week, nothing too terribly interesting has happened, except for our Christmas program at school yesterday morning...

Hmm... Now, THAT was something to see. Twenty-four little kids + 1 "organized" show + A large group of parents and extended families with cameras = Laughter and fun for everyone. Seriously, you should SEE some of these parents with their cameras. I'm sure there were a couple elbows being thrown, whether you would believe it or not. I wouldn't have been surprised to see a WWF smackdown in the front of the church between two parents who were attempting to take pictures of their darling child dressed up as a Christmas tree or present or whatever.... My advice to all those out there who are reading: Don't ever stand in the way of a parent and their child when the kid is dressed up like a reindeer.

Short, Sweet, to the Point...

Four months away from home..... I GET TO COME HOME FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SOOOO excited to see everyone! ;-)

Who Knew Life Could be SOOOO Interesting?!

Here I am again! Still alive and well, although you would never know it since I have been slacking on my blog updates.... Again. Wow, where to start? It certainly has been a while, so I know a lot has happened.

I had a visitor a couple weeks ago!!! My boyfriend Matt came down to see me, and after 3 months of not seeing him, it was like a dream come true! So, there I was in the airport, and I was walking toward what I like to call the "receiving line". The "receiving line" is this HUGE crowd of people that stand on either side of the area where people come out of customs. I don't know if you feel like you are on the red carpet as you emerge from behind the glass doors or if you feel like you are in a football stadium about to get smacked on the rear end by your fellow players... But there are a bunch of people out there! Yeah... Anyway, I was walking toward the huge crowd and talking to my friend Erin because I was so excited, and this guy starts walking past me. I totally didn't see him until he whistled, and I flew around to see Matt! Hahaha, I totally didn't even see him. Well, he got into Honduras on a Tuesday (none other than 1/2 price movie night!), and we had to get going if we were going to catch 2012. It was an incredibly speedy round of "Hi, this is Erin, we have to go catch the movie!" So, that was the start of Matt's 5 1/2 day Honduras adventure.

Not much else really happened the whole week because we all just sort of hung out all the time. Sunday afternoon was the first time we had any "alone" time together. We were sitting in William and Erin's apartment on the couch, and I was trying to take a nap. Unfortunately, Matt just kept talking, so every time I closed my eyes and came close to falling asleep, his voice started me back awake; he was being overly chatty. Then, I noticed his heart start to beat really fast, and I asked him about it. He said it was the caffeine from the coffee we had been drinking. *Shrugs* Whatever. I didn't think much of it. I just continued to try and sleep. Suddenly, Matt was actually quiet for a little bit, and he just said, "I love you." So, I looked back up at him and told him that I loved him too. Then he kissed me, and when I opened my eyes, there was a ring next to my face, and Matt silently asked, "Will you marry me?" I think I probably had a look of shock on my face at this moment, but I smiled HUGELY and said, "Yes!!!" Then, I kissed him again, and pulled away to ask, "Wait, are you serious?!" It was a priceless moment.

After that, Matt put the ring on my finger, and I could not stop staring at it. It is beautiful, and it is mine! I sat there and just looked and looked at it. Matt kept trying to kiss me, but I kept pushing him away and saying, "No, no, no, I just want to look at it!" We sat there looking at it for like an hour and a half, until Erin woke up from her nap. I showed her my hand, but since she was sleepy, I got a delayed reaction, "....... *pause*........ Congratulations!" Then, I started talking to William (who was sitting in the other room) on Facebook. I was like, "Guess what?", and he asked, "What?" I responded, "I'm engaged!".... His only response was, "Is there a ring on your finger?" When I said yes, he burst from his room and said, "That wasn't there before I took a nap." Another priceless moment...... I think I could be on one of those Mastercard commercials right now.

So, that was my BIG DAY!!!! Unfortunately, Matt had to leave the next morning, so I didn't even get to spend 24 hours with my fiance before he was gone. Oh well. Now I am just closer to Christmas break (less than 3 weeks!)

This week was Thanksgiving, which is not a huge holiday down here. On Thursday, we still had school, but we took the kiddos to KFC. They got to play in the big play area that is shaped like a chicken bucket, and we all ate chicken and fries. Mmmmmmm... Gourmet Thanksgiving meal. I even got to eat one of those little apple pies, so it felt like home..... *wink, wink*. Nah, we are actually going to have a Thanksgiving meal tomorrow because we don't have school. We also didn't have school on Friday, so it has been a great long weekend!

Friday, I actually got to go to Telamar with a mission team that was down here. We stayed at this BEAUTIFUL resort that is right on the beach. It was going to be a nice day of relaxing and chillin' on the beach. Unfortunately, it was raining nonstop the whole day. We didn't let that stop us from having fun though! We TRIED to swim in the ocean, but that was a little difficult with the thrashing waved and trash that was floating all over, so we went to the pool instead. We all took turns going down the water slide, and then we played several games of volleyball. All the while it was still raining. Once we were finally done swimming, we all went back to our rooms to get a shower. Wow..... it was the first time in over 3 months that I had a hot shower. AMAZING!!!! I stood there for a few extra minutes just to let the hot water run. It felt wonderful. I was all nice and pink afterward. Hmmm... Heavenly.

In short, that has been my life the past couple of weeks! Now, I only have a couple more weeks before I am home for Christmas break! WOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 weeks of being at home and loving every minute! I cannot WAIT!

Another Ode.... To My Long, Lost Buddy...

Oh how I long for thee..... my long, lost buddy that makes me feel so warm and fuzzy on the inside. Just the touch of a button, and everything is all better. It makes life so much simpler.... and less work..... and less dishes. Oh to have a microwave again!

They have made a BAZILLION different types of tupperware or plasticware that can go through the microwave, but for me, down here, that is all useless. Everything gets reheated by the stovetop or the oven. I do have to say, however, that I have a brand new appreciation for the oven. I never realized just how many things you could really do with just an oven to make food. I also never realized how dependent I was on the good ol' microwave.... Do you know how much easier it is to THAW things with a microwave? All I have down here is cold, or lukewarm depending on what day it is, water that does not thaw anything that has been truly frozen.

I have to say, I've never had that truly intimate time with my chicken before as I sit there and watch it thaw when I take it out of the freezer. I now have time to name the chicken, give it a whole life story, bond with it, teach it a few tricks, and give it a funeral before I finally have the chance to cook it and eat it. It might be quicker just to raise my own chicken from an egg. Or I could just buy a live chicken and do the whole butchering thing myself... Although, that seems a little cruel and a lot messy. No, no... I prefer this way. Me and my pieces of chicken get along wonderfully. And it is surprising how lippy a frozen chicken isn't. You can pretty much discuss anything, and your chicken has to listen to you without talking back. Seriously, what is it going to do? Thaw itself, come back to life, and tell you to shut up? No. Actually, if it thawed itself, that would be pretty cool....

Anyway, I miss my microwave at home. I never realized how much I miss popcorn until I didn't have it anymore. So, just for all of you who never thought about living without a microwave for an extended period of time.... Just remember the chicken! And popcorn... You gotta have your popcorn.

Exhaustion...

So, for over a week now, my brain has been checked out. I am always tired by the end of the week, but last weekend I did not get my rest like usual, so it's been EXHAUSTING this week. Last weekend there was a mission team down here from Florida, so I helped out at two crusades. By the end of Friday night, a group of little kids discovered that I could speak Spanish, so they stuck to me like glue. Needless to say, they found me again on Saturday night.

This actually turned out to be such a blessing for me because I helped someone from the team translate with the kids because they were unsuccessfully trying to communicate. You can imagine my completely shocked face when he asked if I would translate for him while he witnessed to this very large group of kids. I suddenly couldn't swallow, my stomach dropped, my mouth was hanging open in an almost successful attempt to catch some bugs, and my eyes were the size of grapefruits as I proceeded to find myself nodding that I would help. I could not believe that I found myself agreeing... Anyway, he then asked me to translate while he prayed and wanted the kids to repeat what he said. I was completely sure that he was asking the wrong person, but I did it anyway. I somehow had the words, and even when I said things incorrectly, the kids managed to understand and repeat it. I was amazed at God's work in that particular situation. Did I just translate? For real? Wowee...... Who knew!?

Well, for the whole rest of the evening, the kids kept finding me, hugging me, asking to take pictures with me, asking me questions, and all together just wearing me out. My friend Dennis kept saying, "You are famous," in his best attempt at English. He probably regrets telling me that.... All week I have been using that to my advantage around him. My roommate Sara asked him if he could take out the trash, and he looked at me and said that I should do it. I looked at him and put on my best "shocked" face as I proceeded to say, "...But I'm famous!" He then laughed and went to take out the garbage. I tell you, there may be something to this being famous thing.

Monday, of course, was a holiday so NO SCHOOL! Unfortunately, that's our last holiday for a few weeks until the Friday after Thanksgiving. Then, we had school Tuesday and Wednesday... I am also in a new classroom now since I had the most students and the smallest room. I don't think most teachers get their second classroom in their first year of teaching, but I do! Moving all the kids' things and reorganizing was kind of a bear though...

Thursday was another day off because I had to attend a conference with other bilingual teachers. It was one of the better teaching conferences I attended. Mr. John Glasgow was the speaker, and he was really interesting. I even got a diploma from that conference! I GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!! Yay! I never knew you could graduate just by attending a free 3-hour conference about how to teach beyond the textbook. I wonder if I can put that on my resume.....

Friday was another 5am prayer meeting day. There is nothing quite like waking up at 4:40 in the morning on a Friday when I am already exhausted from the work week. Sara had a friend come down to visit from Texas, so she came with us also. We got to the church, and I suddenly realized how awake I was. Probably because my eyes were completely glued to the sight before me. There was a good-sized tarantula sitting by the wall. The first words out of Sara's friend were, "Aw... I wish I had my camera." Let me just say, those weren't the words my mind was screaming... No, mine were probably a little more like, "Oh my GOSH!!!! KILL IT, KILL IT!!!!!" There is something about a tarantula that makes you not want to close your eyes for an hour to pray... Needless to say, my eyes were wide open and staring at my shoes the whole time.

Today was another laundry day, which means there is a chance of rain. The weather may not know it yet, but there is. Every day that I do laundry means it will rain. I did sheets today, too. Although, I am lucky because 2 of my 3 sheets are already dry and back on my bed. Maybe I will beat the rain afterall!... And then the downpour begins...

What A Week!

Wednesday, October 14:

Last game.... Last chance. Honduras versus El Salvador and USA versus Costa Rica. Honduras AND the US must win in order for Honduras to take the 3rd spot in the World Cup in South Africa 2010. There were over 25,000 Hondurans at the game in El Salvador. Honduras wins by one goal... Down to the last 20 minutes of the USA game and they are down by 2. They score 1!!! They must now score at least 1 more point to tie the game in order for Honduras to be qualified for the first time in since 1982. The US is still down with less than a minute to go..... THEY SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Honduras is in the World Cup, baby!

Picture this... Last goal, a room full of Hondurans and 1 American jumping up and down screaming, high-fiving, and hugging... Only to repeat the process for a total of about 10 minutes before it finally quiets down. The Honduran soccer team was in tears, and I was almost in tears because I am here to be a part of all the excitement.

The REAL excitement, however, ocurred AFTER the game. I went to the caravana (caravan) with everyone afterward, where TONS of cars and people were out in the streets screaming, honking, celebrating, waving flags, wearing the Honduran colors, and wearing costumes. I have NEVER seen so many people unite to celebrate a sport in my life, and this occurs throughout the entire country, not just here in San Pedro Sula. I saw so many people chanting "U.S.A!" and waving the American flag as a way of thanking the US for helping Honduras make it to the World Cup. In fact, imagine my surprise the first time some random guy leaned over to me and started shouting, "U.S.A! U.S.A!" right in my ear! I also had many people say, "Thank you, gringa." I was famous, and these people didn't even know me.... All the while I was still wearing the Honduran jersey.

The Honduran pride and excitement was something else to see... And you know their love for holidays? Well, the President declared Thursday a holiday due to the triumph of the team. NO SCHOOL!!!!

Friday, October 16:

As you can well imagine, my kids were more-than-excited about the Honduran win. I could not get them to stop chanting, "Hon-du-ras! Hon-du-ras!" and "Viva Honduras!" the entire day. There were also 2 kiddos that wore honduran jerseys, shorts, and blue and white "100% Catracho" (Catracho=Honduran) hats. It was both hilarious and adorable to witness since they are only 4 and 5-year-olds. On a side note, instead of coloring as he was supposed to, I had a boy try and stick his gallon-sized plastic bag for his crayons over his head. When I saw him, he had it down to the point where he was about ready to pull it over his eyes. I'm not sure what to think of this...... I hate to find out what he tries to do the next time we decide to use scissors... I have already had another boy that almost cut off a big hunk of hair as he stared right at me, smiled, and held a big wad of his hair hostage with a pair of kid-sized scissors. You wouldn't think a pair of dull scissors that are like 2 inches long could do any damage, but these kids are creative.

Saturday, October 17 (I have officially been here 2 months):

You know what "Saturday" means.... Laundry day!!! Yup, that's what I did. Jeans, T-shirts, tank tops.... 2 hours of laundry. It was a great day because it was nice and breezy and sunny. Within 4 hours, my clothes were almost completely dry (including my jeans!). Imagine my excitement!!! Unfortunately....... As is the case EVERY laundry day in the life of Bobbi, it started pouring down rain... And I was at a movie. I got home to have my laundry all damp as if I had just washed it............ AGAIN! Well, the rain had stopped, so I left my clothes out.... So, what happens next? I wake up the next morning to pouring rain. Seriously, it's like the sky is flipping me off or something. I don't think I can do my laundry outside anymore because it hates me. It is almost 6pm on Monday evening (2 1/2 days later), and I STILL have a pair of jeans drying. It rained from 7:30am-11pm or later... ALL day.... WITHOUT stopping. Sheesh. Can't catch a break.

Sunday, October 18:

Except for raining all day (from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed... nonstop), not much of anything happened. I took a full-sized hammer to a bunch of frozen chicken to try and get the pieces apart for dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't have my protective eye goggles on, otherwise that would have made a great candid photo moment.

In retrospect, the week was sure something...

The Snowball Effect

Ever wake up in the morning having one of those days, right from the get-go? That was me today... I shot out of bed at the sound of my alarm, but it's like I wasn't even moving. It seemed to take me an extra long time to get ready, so I felt rushed. I even had to eat my cereal with warm milk... Ick. So anyway, I got to the school to print off some things and get some work ready for my classes today, but then I decided to open the bathroom door of my classroom.

I always check my bathroom to make sure it hasn't gotten destroyed or that it isn't smelly and whatnot, but today.... Oy, today.... Today, I had a flood on my bathroom floor. No joke, this puddle was covering the ENTIRE floor, and it was not just a damp floor... It was like an ocean! The principal actually helped me clean it up, so I thought the worst was over, with the exception that I was now super sweaty. I was still feeling rushed though.

Next, I went to help herd the kids into the dining area for their devotional time. As I was doing so, one of my kiddos stopped running, stood in place, bent over, and vomited in the middle of the play area floor. The principal just looked at me and shook her head as if it was just "one of those days," and said, "Oy, Miss Bobbi..." Yeah, yeah.... I then looked back at the little boy, only to see him bend over again..... Double dose. Yay.... Needless to say, I went straight to my room, grabbed my weapon of choice (Lysol), and went back to spray a nice haze of fumes from an aerosol can to cover the scent. During that time, however, I got back in time to see the boy ride a bike through the mess. Of course he would do that... He's one of my kids. Anyway, I finally got that mess mopped up, and Lysoled some more.

By this time, I re-checked my bathroom, only to see a NEW large puddle in the middle of the floor that had already taken over half the bathroom. Unfortunately, it was my turn to take over my class, and the kids were LOUD! I could NOT get their attention... One of my kids has a new record. I had to move his worm to yellow after 5 minutes of class.... Not a great start to the day! I thought that having new seats would solve the problem, but I guess not. Finally, I plugged my ears and let out a super-loud, bellowing, "AHHHHHHH!!!!!" That seemed to resound throughout my room. My kiddos just got super quiet and sat their with eyes the size of tennis balls as I told them that they needed to start listening. It was actually quite an effective method.

Recess was a new ball game in itself... I had to tango with a little girl that is not in my class. I have always had problems with her not listening to me. In fact, I tell her not to throw the blocks at other kids, and she looks at me, smiles, and does it anyway. Oh boy. Today she hit a nerve with me. She took a really hard plastic hammer and hit one of my students on the back of the head as he was riding a little tricycle around the play area. His poor face was a mixture of shock, pain, and a look that said, "Hmm... I think I might be about to cry because that hurt." I shouted the little girl's name as she wound up for another swing, but she ignored me, so I snatched her up so fast, put her in a chair, and took away the hammer. She immediately erupted in sobs (I was happy that I finally got a reaction from her for a change), and as I proceeded to scold her in Spanish, she attempted to kick me. *shrugs* I didn't care, and I just continued to tell her that she was never to do that again.

All the while, my puddle on the bathroom floor kept expanding. By the end of the day, I was scared to let kids go to the bathroom for fear that they might fall in the puddle and drown. It was like the size of the Pacific Ocean. Finally, the kids were dismissed and within a few minutes, the boy that had vomited earlier was bleeding. Then, it started to storm, and another one of my boys came up to me completely freaked out. So here I am, trying to carry a 5-year-old boy who is clinging onto me for dear life and pass out homework to the parents as they come to pick up their kids. It was a long day in the life of Miss Bobbi.

I thought it was all better this afternoon, until I looked at a new schedule that I was given at the end of school... My schedule was completely switched around, I don't have all my books at home to prepare, and the changes are to take effect tomorrow. Yippee.... Nothing like a day of winging-it! Luckily, Miss Bobbi always has more stuff that she can pull out of her sleeve (at least, I hope)! I also get to wake up bright and early..... Well, more than likely it will be dark.... Prayer meeting 5am. God and I will probably just be waking up at the same time...

Got Game?

Who knew I would turn into a sports fan when I moved to Honduras? Well, let me tell you... You can't come here and not love soccer. It is a beloved sport in this country. Yesterday, I sat through an entire soccer game, and I actually watched the entire thing... I know what you must be thinking... "Oh no she didn't!" Well... I have a response for you. Oh yes I did!

The big game was Honduras vs. USA, here in San Pedro Sula, for a position in the World Cup to take place in South Africa in 2010. Let's just get something straight. Soccer is not just a "game" here.... No, no, no. It is a passion. If you want to better understand, then you need to see the amount of Honduran paraphernalia that is sold on the streets the week before a game. You need to see how many people wear the prideful blue and white of their Honduras jerseys the day before and the day of a game.... It is probably 85% of the people around here. One thing I can guarantee is this: when there is a Honduran game on, you can bet that a television is on in every household. Soccer is the beloved sport of Honduras, and it's the only one they really have. These people get more excited about this one sport than the entire US about all of their sports COMBINED! Maybe this brief explanation will help you to understand why I was wearing the Honduran colors yesterday for the game.


Yep! You've got it! I was totally decked out in my Honduras jersey. As we began watching the game, it was like a whole lot of excitement for no action..... How many times can the ball get close to a goal without going in it? Let me just answer that question for you... A LOT! The whole first half (45 minutes), neither team scored a single goal. Kind of disappointing, eh? I thought so. However, within the first 2 minutes of the second half, Honduras scored!!!!!! Now, picture this: 13 Hondurans and a little white girl all jumping around a living room screaming "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!" at the top of their lungs and high fiving. For the announcers, everytime someone gets a goal, it is natural for them to shout "Gol!" and hold it out for as long as they can without turning blue and fainting. They probably have training camps for all the announcers so that they can practice screaming and holding out random words for much longer than 99% of all humans. Anyway, all this happened in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half.... Unfortunately, less than a minute later, the US had also scored. Then a few minutes later, they scored again. Finally, with about 10 minutes left in the game, the US scored again. Honduras made one more goal, but they still ended up losing 2-3. The last chance that Honduras has to make the World Cup is Wednesday. They must beat El Salvador, and the US must also beat Costa Rica in order for Honduras to make it.

If Honduras makes it to the World Cup, this would be the first time in 27 years that they have gone. Needless to say, I think it's their time! When Honduras lost, Javier told me that I had to walk home..... Then everyone congratulated me. The whole night I tried to convince them that I was Honduran now, so I didn't want the US to win. There is something totally not believeable about a little pasty red-headed girl trying to convince a group of native Hondurans that she is also Honduran. For some reason, they kept laughing at me.... *shrugs* I have no idea why.

Other than soccer, it has been a pretty uneventful week. There were 2 days in which my worst troublemakers were not at school, so I didn't have too much of a problem with them. Unfortunately, getting 5-year-olds to turn in their homework everyday is a whole new problem. I had one parent ask if the kids were supposed to bring back their homework or if it was just to keep at home........ Hmmm...... I don't even know how to respond to that question. When I heard that, my jaw probably fell to the floor as I almost burst out laughing. "No, ma'am, I just felt like your child needed some extra school stuff to look at for sheer enjoyment in the event that he/she may have a sudden revelation that leaps off the page at them.... Plus, it might be good punishment if he/she gets out of hand... 'Here kid! Have a worksheet' *cackle, cackle*"

On the bright side, NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!! National holiday. I like all these national holidays that they get off down here..... Maybe we could add a few more holidays into the curriculum in the States.... Pick a day! No school! Wouldn't life be lovely?

Victory.... AT LAST!

Victory! Sweet Victory! My clothes are all washed! Either I must be getting stronger (since last week) or I just had an immense amount of determination this morning because I managed to spend over 2 hours washing my clothes. Unfortunately, the clothes I am wearing are in need of a good washing now... But there is a huge sense of accomplishment in washing your own clothes by hand.... The feel of the soap through my fingers as I scrub them over the washboard... The constant back and forth motion to which I can hum various Michael Jackson tunes to as I work (okay, I don't really do that... but it's something to consider)... Who am I kidding?! Washing clothes here is one of the worst jobs! Oy.

Anywho... Last week was long. It was the first full week of school that I have had in over 2 weeks. We started teaching out of the actual textbooks on Thursday, and that was nice to have new activities for the kids. Unfortunately, my kids have been little angels one minute and little terrors the next. Don't let their cute little faces fool you.... In fact, BEWARE of the cute little faces! The cutest ones are the ones to look out for! They are the most dangerous because they suck you in to believe that they are wonderful little angels who would do no wrong... Only to turn on you. I have learned to not let my guard down around my 10 kiddos because you never know what they will do next.

I almost got to my breaking point at the beginning of the week. That was interesting. So, I have 3 little boys that are constantly refusing to listen, and I ended up sending them to the principal's office (in fact, I sent 2 of the 3 of them back later as well). The 1 boy that I did not send back to the office made me so frustrated that after I verbally reprimanded him to the best of my ability in Spanish, I ran out of Spanish vocabulary, and I started going off in English. I started saying, "Do you know how INFURIORATING you are being right now?!" Needless to say, his eyes were the size of grapefruits as he stood directly in front of me staring up at my angry face.... Needless to say, for that last part of class he behaved a lot better. Mission accomplished.

I finally have my discipline system in action. I made 3 big apples and 10 little worms. Each of my kids has a worm, and they have 3 chances to behave before I send them to the principal or talk to their parents. I just hung up the apples yesterday after school, and earlier this week I had been using the same system just by putting their names up on the board if they misbehave. That did actually help because they could tell when they were getting in trouble, and no one wanted their name up on the board. I guess we will see how the apples fare as this next week unravels.

Wednesday was probably the longest day of this past week. I went to a prayer meeting before school..... WAY TOO EARLY. Did you know that God is awake at 5am to hear your prayers? I wasn't sure that He was..... But I guess so. I woke up at a little before 5am to go to the church with 5 others to have a prayer meeting. It is something that I am glad that I did, but my brain was a little fuzzy, and I was tired for the rest of the week. If I'm going to continue to do that, I need to have some sort of conditioning or training or something... Ay.

I always feel good after going to the prayer meetings that we have though. There is something about having that intimate time with God for a full 45 minutes to an hour that really just makes a person feel lighter and uplifted. We always have a Friday evening meeting, and I do recommend the idea to anyone who feels led.

In addition to all of the other happenings, I have recently become addicted to taking Facebook quizzes. Did you know that I am 15% mean, 0% blonde, 84% attractive, 40% hated, 40% nerdy, and 45% retarded? Yeah, neither did I! It's amazing how many things you can learn about yourself in the 2 minutes or less that it takes to take these quizzes. I also found out that I am "Lame-o" and not even a little awesome. It is so comforting to know all of these facts about myself... I don't know how I ever made it through life without knowing what color of M&M I am and what my old lady name is. By the way, when I am old, you may refer to me as Eleanor, and I will be a cat lady...

What kind of day IS this?

I sit here on the very small part of my bed that has not been invaded by damp, drying clothing as I write to you... You guessed it. Laundry day! I was feeling so ambitious this morning that I thought I would do ALL my laundry... Ha! Little did I know, my arms and hands would slowly deteriorate before my very eyes because they were so tired after an hour and a half of trying to wash my clothes. I didn't get it all done. Luckily, I DID get MOST of it done (and I also managed to splatter red raspberry water ALL over the shirt I am currently wearing; nothing like a nice stain for me to work with the NEXT time I get to do laundry). I thought maybe I could finish it this afternoon after I got groceries.

William and Erin took me to Antorcha, which is very similar to Wal-Mart, to get groceries today! I haven't had much to eat for the past 2 weeks, and with the curfew in effect, I had slim pickin's. I was down to a partial loaf of bread with just a little bit of peanut butter and jelly and one helping of spaghetti. Now, I definitely have a little bit more to work with! Yeah, it cost some money, but at least I can provide some kind of nourishment for my body now.

We had an interesting encounter on our way home from the grocery store today. There was a man taking up part of the street as he was on the ground convulsing on his back. He was having a seizure. There was a whole line of traffic that just kept going around him, and nobody stopped to help. Erin and I convinced William to call an emergency number for help, and they said they were sending someone. I was silently praying for him a majority of the way back to my house... Then the rain started. Yep, you guessed it, pouring rain!

...Which leads me to the next point of why there are a ton of damp clothes lined up on my bed... My "dryer" is a clothes line. Bless Sara for taking down most of my clothes since she was home. Unfortunately, she did not realize that I also had more clothes hanging on the line at the side of our house (which is conveniently located underneath where all the water drains off of our roof). These clothes are wetter now than they were when I hung them up in the first place. Needless to say, now all of my clothes are attempting to dry in the humidity of my small bedroom. This leaves me nowhere to sit since I only have a bed and a coffee table in my room. Hmm... Kind of a predicament.

I am happy to say that William helped me carry in all of my groceries, but unfortunately, my key decided to get stuck in the lock and I was really struggling to get it pushed all the way in or even pulled out. William was able to get it open though, so I am now able to be indoors in the dryness as opposed to being stuck outside!

So, in a nutshell, that's been my day. So much for washing the rest of my clothes! Guess that will have to wait for another day... Maybe a more exciting one, since this one isn't exciting enough.

Arrested!

Okay, so I am not sure what you have been hearing or reading about the political situation in Honduras, but I thought I would shed some light on it for you.

On June 28 of this year, Manuel Zelaya (president of Honduras) was forced out of the country by the Honduran military. As BBC News puts it, "The political crisis erupted after Mr. Zelaya tried to hold a non-binding public consultation to ask people whether they supported moves to change the constitution...the move was unconstitutional and was aimed at removing the current one-term limit on serving as president, so paving the way for Mr. Zelaya's possible re-election."

Well, since then, Zelaya has crossed the border back into Honduras only briefly only to be told that he should never return. On Monday, however, Zelaya made another surprise visit, and he is currently being barricaded at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa (the capital), where it is said that many of his supporters have gathered. Therefore, because of the situation, the airports have been shut down and Honduran authorities have issued a curfew that has extended for just over 2 days now. We are asked to stay in our houses because they are arresting people who are out on the streets. Many of the people in the streets are rioters and protesters in favor of Zelaya, so the "house arrest" is only a precaution to keep the rest of us safe.

Let me just say, being forced to stay inside for a couple days in a row is an interesting experience... They gave us like a half hour notice to let us know there was going to be a curfew starting Monday afternoon at 4pm, and it has kept getting extended until 6pm today (Wednesday). Unfortunately, within the first 3 weeks of being here, I had read all of the books I brought, so I've mostly been on the internet and watching movies the past couple days. Now, the interesting part about this is that there are 4 girls stuck in this house... and we need groceries. Hmm... unfortunate, no?

On the bright side, who knew I would ever get a "snow day" off of school in Honduras?! And here, I have 2 days! Haha. It has been nice to not have school, but I'm just coming off of a week long vacation due to Honduras celebrating its independence last week. My kids were OFF THE WALL on Monday. It was so difficult to get them to listen, so who knows what it will be like whenever this curfew lifts... May the Lord help me!

Breaking news! So, I was just informed by one of my roomies that they are lifting the curfew from 10am until 4pm for people to get out and get food. That is good, but the curfew was only supposed to last until 6pm in the first place... This means that they are probably planning to extend it again... and no one knows how long this could last.

Anyway, I just wanted to keep you all updated to let you know that I am safe, and I love you all for supporting me. So... Not much has been up with me, obviously, how about you guys?

Ode to a Washing Machine...

I will never again take for granted a washing machine. In fact, when I have a house one day, I'm going to splurge.... A nice front-loading Whirlpool! In RED! Ha! Take that! Seriously... I just spent an hour washing all my whites by hand, and now I am drenched from head to toe in sweat. It is really an unpleasant feeling. I don't think that my clothes get NEARLY as clean when I wash them by hand on a washboard.

Now we sit. We wait for my clothes to dry. Since I just finished, I should only have to wait another 24 or 36 hours for my clothes to be dry.... Speedy. You have got to love how quickly clothes dry in 95% humidity on a day when it is 94 degrees (but it says that it feels like 109).

Let's just say, I'm super thankful for washers... And I hope that everyone who reads this goes and gives their washer a big hug and thanks it for doing such a lovely job. Dryers aren't bad either, so you might consider thanking it as well. *wink, wink*

A Flexible Vacation..... And a Flexible Life

Look here...... My first week on the blog, and I'm already slacking. Not much has been happening this week because I have been on vacation. School was out due to a national holiday (Honduras' independence was September 15). No fireworks or anything that I saw... Shame... I missed the 4th of July in the States (since I was in Thailand), so it would have been nice to see something.

I have quickly discovered that my life is much less eventful when I am not teaching at the school. I would not go so far as to say that it's boring, but there is far less excitement. I should be getting one or two more students in my kindergarten class this next week, and I will also get my first student for first grade. I am sharing a first grade class with one of my fellow teachers, so it should be interesting since we both do not know what we will be teaching or what the schedule is. Such is life in Honduras... I am never 100% sure what is going on around here, and most of the time, I'm fine with that.

When I was in Thailand in July, I learned that there really should be an addition to the Beatitudes: Blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be bent out of shape. I am quickly learning the meaning of that one. Each day I think that I will get the hang of the schedule down here, and each day something happens to make me think, "I will NEVER get the hang of the schedule down here." I think that may be the key to happiness: embracing all of the little misshaps that occur and smiling at Satan's constant attempts to distract me from my mission and purpose for being here. If he didn't get the memo, there is victory in the LORD, and Satan will not prevail. I guess he can stick that in his juicebox and suck it.