Scarab

I am freakishly afraid of bugs (almost all kinds), some rodents, some reptiles, and some amphibians...but almost ALL bugs!!

Today as I was sitting in my classroom during my break, talking to Rosita, Jackie walks in and asks how I feel about giant bugs. As soon as the question escapes her mouth, and before I can even respond, I see Kenya walking behind her with a yellow box containing a GIANT bug!! I didn't even have to see it closely to know how big it was. I could just see the things outline and that was enough to make me start shaking and freaking out! So of course Kenya picks it up so we can have a better look. I gave my camera to Jackie and said "Here, you go and take pictures of it, because I can't even bare to look at it"...

OMG!

BIGGEST BUG I HAVE EVER SEEN!

Seriously?!?! I didn't even know bugs got this big!

After I finally got the nerve to look at it up close I decided I had to hold it. I'm crazy, I know! I have this weird thing were I like to challenge myself and see if I can overcome my fears. That's why I went skydiving a few years ago and that's why I decided to hold the biggest bug I have ever seen today!

It took a few minutes for me to even get near it. I was literally shaking and trying to catch my breath. Rosita found the whole thing very amusing...

Alright I'm going for it...

OMG! I can't believe I picked it up. This is my "I'm going to try and smile as I'm freaking out" face...

Bridget: 1 Big Bug: 0

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear” –Ambrose Redmoon

My First Fútbol Game

Yesterday I went with Mario, Dan, Anne, and Carrie to the regional soccer game in San Francisco de la Paz (where Mario is from). Mario's younger brother Carlos was playing on one of the teams and he invited us to come along and root for their team. It was my first time going to San Francisco and it's a quant little town. I loved the vibe I got immediately!

Before heading to the stadium to watch the game we went to mass in this beautiful church...

There are a lot of cowboys in Olancho! Carrie, Anne, and I thought it was hysterical that the men put their hats on the side ledges in church before mass starts....

Then they just swing back by to pick them up on their way out.

After mass Mario introduced us to more of his family members and then we were on our way to the stadium. As soon as we got out of the truck I spotted these little beauties...

And this big ol' hog ::oink oink::...

I love the random animals cruising around Olancho. I never get sick of seeing cows, chickens, and pigs!

When they said we were going to a stadium I pictured seats circling an arena. But this is what we walked into..

So classic Honduras! I was cracking up!

Here's the crew for the day (minus me)...

Mario, Carrie, Dan, Mario's youngest brother, and Anne

It was a beautiful day but very hot, so I was really glad we got some seats in the bleachers and didn't have to stand out in the sun. My gringa skin wouldn't have been able to handle it for long.

Here's half of the field...

There was a large turnout to watch the game...

It got pretty intense and ended up going into overtime, and then finally to penalty kicks...

Some of the spectators...

Sadly Carlos's team lost, but there was a large group of crazy men cheering for the opposite team and whenever something good happened they would scream, bang the tin roof, and then dump water and soda all over everyone...

Who knew a Honduran soccer game could get so crazy!

Looking forward to the next one...

"What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course"
 -Unknown

March Madness

I titled this blog at the beginning of March when I was thinking "Wow, it can't already be March...that's madness" -- Oh yeah, and I guess it had a little bit to do with basketball ;)

Now as I'm sitting down to actually write in it, it's already March 25th! Where does the time go?

The third parcial at school just ended and I can't believe we're already in the fourth and final parcial of this year.

My life in weeks looks like this:

3 weeks until Semana Santa
5 weeks until Heather comes to visit
11 weeks until the last day of school
12 weeks until I go to Guatemala with Carrie
14 weeks until I'm home!! (I'm already under 100 days)

I just finished giving my recuperation exams, and I've gotta say I'm really glad I only have one more set to go. At Santa Clara any kids who are below failing (60%) take a recuperation exam. If a child gets above an 80% on the exam, that score is then averaged with their original grade. If a student gets less than an 80% that's their final grade. Recuperation exams is hands down my least favorite thing about the Honduran culture at school. I think they're absolutely ridiculous and really unfair to students who paid attention all parical and actually studied for their tests. The thing that frustrates me most is that these students who had 40 and 50 percents in spelling come in to take their recuperation test and get 70, 80, 85, and 90 percents. So obviously it's not an issue of them not being able to do it or understanding. It's just that they don't care or their parents don't care enough. I just can't believe they have the opportunity to do better than kids who do care. So for example... I have a little boy who has a 45% in spelling and then after the recuperation he has a 69%. But I have another boy in my class who tries so hard and only got a 66% in spelling and doesn't have the opportunity to take a recuperation exam. Then I have two other girls who got 75% on their spelling recuperation and now both of them have an even better grade than the boy who got an 85% on his recuperation. Ughh!! It's so confusing and I'm sure all of your heads are spinning by now. What it boils down to is that I just flat out don't agree with the way recuperations are done. I think the new rule should be the students can take the recuperations, but the highest grade they can get is a 60% (which is passing). That would make it fair to all of those kids who have grades lower than 70%. Just my take on the matter.

In other news...

I'm participating in a March Madness bracket and I'm currently tied for second place...

Dan:  45
Anne: 43
Bridget: 43 
Jeff: 33
Lacey: 27
Andrew: 23


I lost one of my final four teams, but my two top picks are still going strong -- I'm hoping for the best! Carne Asada is on the line so I really want the win!

Ok, now I just have to take a minute to gush about my students...

My little guys are super cute and I love them so much! I was telling Anne today that teaching little kids a second language is like raising a baby. Babies are so cute when they're born but then they start to become little people and they're so much more fun. They start talking and walking. They start laughing, laugh at your jokes, and even make some of their own. That's how my class is. My kids have been adorable since day one, but now they laugh and joke with me. They understand so much more English and tell me as much as they can before using Spanish. I've been laughing so much more with them and it makes my days much brighter!

I wish I could capture funny moments like these on video...

On Tuesday Valeria blew me away with how well she could read. Our story this week is called "Get Up, Rick". I split my kids up into reading groups on Tuesday's and Thursday's. This Tuesday as we were starting to go around the circle to read, Valeria asked if she could read the whole story to me. They had only read the story once with their fourth grade reading, so I thought she would need a lot of help with some of the words. But oh my gosh -- the girl just knocked it out of the park. She read fluently and with enthusiasm. When she got to the page that said "Cock-a-doodle-doo" (the story's about a rooster) she said "Cockaly-doodaly-doooo". I just burst into laughter. It was too cute! I was so proud of her that I sent her to Peggy's office to read to her too. She was really excited to read to Miss Peggy. She had a huge smile on her face when she came back into the classroom. It would be beautiful if I could have all of them reading like that by the end of the year :)!

Today Katherine comes up to me and says "Miss King...Jose Francisco, Carlos, and Lidia are talking, talking, talking, talking ::as she makes a talking gesture with her hands:: and I'm ughhh ::as she shakes her head back and forth and makes crazy circle motions with her hand::" It was classic! I was laughing so hard and then all of the other kids started laughing too. I love those moments in my day.

It's been a long road but I can finally visibly see the progress my students have made -- can I get a woot woot!?!?

I LOVE my life, I LOVE the people in it, and I LOVE my job!!!

Happy Friday to all of you!

"There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart … pursue those." -A C Benson

Fiesta de Suprisa para Peggy

Saturday night we threw a surprise birthday party for Peggy!

After a lot of location changes the party was held at la casa de Anne y Carrie's. Most of the volunteers came over early to decorate signs and blow up balloons to put around the house.

I was a little nervous, well actually a lot nervous about how the party would go. The day started off with no electricity and when it still wasn't on by 6p.m. I freaked out a little bit. But then I remembered to take a breath and just go with it. Peggy loves Honduras so I figured a black out birthday party would be pretty memorable. So I stocked up on some candles and made a few phone calls to let everyone know the show would go on -- lights or not!

But...

thank goodness the electricity came back on at 7p.m. and we had a solid hour to finish decorating before Peg arrived...

To get Peggy to the house Carlos told her that they had to go to dinner with the new volunteer group in town, but they needed to make a stop at Anne and Carrie's first. He explained that they hadn't had electricity all day and he needed to check their washing machine (which has not been working for a few weeks).We had all of the lights out and just a few candles lit when they got there, so everything seemed legit to Peg. When Anne let her in she seemed very confused at first...

Then quickly realized we were all there and throwing a birthday party for her. She was shocked...

As soon as we came in we sung a round of Happy Birthday, accompanied by Dan on guitar...

Here's Carlos (one of my partners in crime) and Peggy...

The party planners...

Me and Maks

After everyone ate the dancing started...

Andrew decided we should dance polka instead of whatever Honduran dance everyone else was doing. I had a blast...

Then the boys started dancing like Russians...

After a few hours most of the volunteers were sitting on the couches (including myself) so I decided we needed to spice things up with a few American songs. We started with the "YMCA" in honor of Carlos's shirt and then moved on to "Shout" -- always a crowd pleaser...

"Get a little bit softer now"....

Group shot...

And the night ended with all of us dancing to Elvis Presley music. Here is Tony...

who would be the BEST guest at an American wedding!

Feliz Cumpleaños Peg! 

"Don't postpone joy until you have learned all of your lessons. Joy is your lesson" - Alan Cohen

Monday highlight...

A sweet letter from Ildellynne...

My kids are starting to write me letters in English! I can't tell you how happy that makes me -- they're actually learning :)!!!

For those of you who can't translate six year old -- this letter says "You are beautiful, you are happy, you are a flower"

"You're beautiful, like a May fly"

Ernest Hemingway

Feliz Día del Padre-Juti Style

Friday we celebrated Father's Day in Honduras. All of the teachers pitched in to make decorations, build a stage, and prepare the food for the day. We had the dads come in two separate groups to make things more efficient. So at eight o'clock all of the dads from kinder-second grade came. Then at ten o'clock all the dads from third-sixth came.

Here are some of my favorite performances from the day...

Kinder B saying the prayer they say each morning with Miss Anne and Miss Claudia:



"Thank you for moms. Thank you for dads. Thank you for Jesus, who makes me glad. Thank you for rain and for sunshine above. But I thank you most for your wonderful love"

Kinder B singing "Sapo, Sapo, Sapo":




Kinder, Prepa, and Primero grados all sing this song. It's so cute!

Here are my little tots singing part of "The Butterfly Song":



I was so nervous for my kids to go up and perform the song. They didn't sing as loudly as I would have liked, but other than that they did a great job!

Here is the one and only Sor Maglys with my counterpart Rosita:




Sor Maglys is the best nun I've ever met. She has this inner joy that's contagious! She seriously reminds me so much of Fraulein Maria in "The Sound of Music". She's always walking down the dirt road to school with her guitar in hand so it couldn't be more perfect. I asked her on Friday if she'd ever seen the "Sound of Music" and she said she hadn't, so I have to find a Spanish copy for her ASAP!

Not only did Sor play the guitar and sing for all the dads, but she busted out her recorder later in the day and performed the Titanic theme song. The woman's a character!

This is a video of some of my first grade girls doing an interpretive dance to "Sólo Tú" by Jaci Velasquez. Solangel (red) in the front was so good. She's one of my scholarship students and she puts 110% into EVERYTHING she does! It brings tears to my eyes to watch her dance because you can see how much she means it:

I'm going to be a wreck in June! I'm already sad thinking about how much I'm going to miss these kids!

On a lighter note...here are some of my boys dancing to a reggaeton song. Little Guillermo (front left) rocked it:



I somehow don't think first grade boys dancing like this in the States would fly.

These third graders knocked their merengue song out of the park. Samantha (front) is a phenominal dancer:



All of the Honduran teachers had their students make Father's Day gifts out of recycled materials. Like this picture frame Kevin is holding up:

Kevin's dad lives in the states as do many of our other students parents. So it was bittersweet for a lot of them, but some of them brought grandfathers, uncles, or even cousins to share the day with them.

Here we all are in our Father's Day bests:

It was a wonderful day!

“Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into” –Wayne Dyer

Fiesta de Cumpleaños de María

This past Saturday night we celebrated Mary's birthday at la casa de Kandice y Bridget. I was really excited for everyone to come over -- I love to play hostess!

I blew up some balloons for the event and Anne had the great of hanging them from our close pins outside. They looked very festive and gave the front area a more welcoming feeling. I also had people decorate "Happy Birthday" signs to hang up inside and outside the house.

This is the sign Jeff made for Mary. He was very proud of it!

Here's the birthday girl with Sylvia...

Some of us before the night of dancing ensued...

Check out those cute balloons!

Roomies...

I love this picture of us.

Jeff and I being weirdos as usual...

Anne's been practicing her dance moves and she's getting so good...

 I would love to be able to say I could dance salsa, merengue, punta, and bachata by the time I leave Honduras but that would be nothing short of a miracle...

Disclaimer: wait at least one hour after eating before dancing bachata...

or you may get a stomach cramp!

Feliz Cumpleaños Mary!!!!!

Cake time is always the best time :)

I love Andrew's random face in the background of this picture...

Sebastian, Maki, Me, and Andrew

Shiny Happy People...

Oscar, Me, and Jeff

Mary's party was hands down the best fiesta we've had yet! Everyone was dancing and seemed to be having a great time. Dance parties tops my list of things I will miss most about Honduras.

Looking forward to the next one...

"A good character is the best tombstone.  Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered.  Carve your name on hearts, not on marble" ~Charles H. Spurgeon

Good Ole Boy's Party

Two weeks ago we celebrated Mardi Gras and Jeff's birthday. I didn't have any pictures of the event for awhile, which is why I didn't blog about it right away. Now that I have the pictures I'm in business.

The night started off with some of Andrew's fabulous food...

He made some rico papas with a bunch of different seasonings, fried chicken, and etufe...

Before the dancing got started Dan, Angela, Lacey, Anne, and Carrie played an intense game of liar's dice. By the looks of this picture I'm going to guess Dan is explaining the rules...

Shortly after the dice game I grabbed Jeff's speaker and galloped around the house to "Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy" -- haha. That song never gets old!

Me, Anne, and Jeff

Then Jeff decided he wanted to burn things. So we grabbed some dried tree branches and burned them in the backyard...

Finally, after hours of waiting, the Hondurans arrived and got the party started. We danced, danced, and then danced some more. After everyone worked up an appetite from dancing we gave Jeff his double layer chocolate and carmel cake, with whipped cream on top and ice cream on the side. YUM!

Tony, Lacey, and Me

Once most of the Hondurans left we decided to go outside and climb things. Jeff, Carrie, Anne, and Tony successfully made it up the tree, but sadly I did not. I tried to jump up to it and before I knew it I was already on my way to the ground. The fall wasn't bad but I scrapped up the back of my leg on the way down. War wound!!

Whoo hoo

Anne climbing to the top

After the tree climbing Carrie and I found ways to wedge ourselves in the door...

My trick isn't as good as Carrie's, but I tried!

Then Jeff and I climbed these poles in the front of their house...

It was a great party!

Anne, Andrew, Jeff, Me, Carrie, Tony, and Lacey

Here are some of my favorite terms from the Redneck Dictonary:

BARD: - verb. Past tense of the infinitive "to borrow."
Usage: "My brother bard my pickup truck."


EVERWHICHWAYS: To be scattered in all directions.
Usage:"You should have been there when the train hit attair chicken truck. Them chickens flew everwhichaways.


GUBMINT - (noun) - A bureaucratic institution.
Usage: "Them gubmint boys shore is ignert."


IDINIT: Term employed by genteel Southerners to avoid saying "Ain't".
Usage:"Mighty hot today, idinit?"


PHRAISIN: Very cold.
Usage:"Shut that door. It's phraisin in here."


SAAR: The opposite of sweet.
Usage:"These pickles Sure are saar."


URINE: Opposite of you're out


WHUP: To beat or to strike.
Usage:"OOOEEE!!! Yer mama's gonna whup you fer sayin' a cuss word."

“And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen” –Terri Guillemets