My Struggle with Translation

    This morning I swept the bathroom (again).  With white ceramic tile floors throughout the house, they floors tend to show absolutely everything that is on them (dirt, grass, bugs, hair, etc) very easily.  When I had lived in Mexico, it was the same.  Most Mexicans would sweep multiple times during the day and mop daily.  Many of us in the United States are not used to this kind of "culture", so we either live in filth (yuck) or we find "work-arounds".  My work-around that I used in Mexico and also continued to use ever since coming here in 2008 was to put a towel at each entrance.  When we entered, we would immediately take off our shoes and put them on the towel so as not to track mud/dirt/grass throughout the house.  If food spilled on the floor, it was picked up immediately and wiped down with a damp cloth so as not to attract bugs.  As the girls brushed their hair, they were supposed to collect it in their brush/comb and empty it directly into the garbage.  All of these little things added up to not having to mop on the daily.  When we were in the hotel, because it was such a small space, I still pretty much swept daily, but we could mop just about weekly.  Because I am not living with my kids this summer, I have to be a little more flexible with a little more grace to those that are not used to this kind of culture/environment.  It's okay. They leave the house each morning at 5am because of their house responsibilities.  I am mostly in the house that early in the morning due to prepping for the math classes, and I do need breaks from time to time, to process what I have just planned, and what still needs to be planned.  So sweeping is a nice break.

   The 10th grade math class began at 7am this morning.  We did review of trigonometry today, reviewing SOH CAH TOA (which I had taught them back in April and they have been using), the other 3 trigonometric functions (cosecant, secant, cotangent), angles in the cartesian plane as well as their reference angles, and converting angles to radians and vice versa.  Profe Jorge told me that their exam will be Friday and today was the last day of math until Friday.  Before leaving the 10th grade classroom, I left all of my notes from Monday and today with Profe Jorge, since a part of the overall course grade is their note-taking in class.

   After the 10th grade math class, I had a little bit of a break, so I headed back to the house, debating whether to tackle upcoming lessons or translate a note from Josecito that he had given me on Monday.  I believe he wrote it for a person who is on the team, so it would need to be translated fairly soon, before that person heads back to the United States.  I settled on translating the note.  What I didn't realize (because I hadn't read it back when he gave it to me) was that it was a song.  And since I am not a musician, this was going to be difficult for me.  The song was very beautifully written in Spanish.  Unfortunately, without the gift of being a true musician or poet...it didn't sound nearly as well translated through me to English.  When I walked back to the school and found Josecito, I gave him both his version and the translation and told him...never again would I translate a song or any poetry from Spanish to English for him.  Never again.

   After recess was the 8th grade class that I had prepared for.  Just like on Monday, I prepared lessons on multiplying polynomials, however when I got there, the teacher told me that the 8th graders would also have their test on Friday and she needed me to do a review of some of the concepts that would be on the test.  Multiplying polynomials was on the test, so that was okay...but then she needed a review of statistics, specifically histograms, mean, median and mode.  I knew I could do all of that, but the problem with teaching geometry and statistics in Spanish is NOT the fact that it can tend to be more difficult mathematical material, but that I need time to go over some of the key content words in Spanish in order to be more effective in Spanish.  Also, anyone who knows me knows that I do not do well being put on the spot with surprises.  So coming into a classroom with everything planned for the class period, and then to be asked to add in to the lesson something all together different?  It is a total shock to my system.  We got through it though, by the grace of God.

Our histogram with mean, median and mode example

   When the 8th grade class was done, it was the boys turn to clean the classroom (the classroom gets swept and mopped at the end of each day) and then we headed to the Comedor for lunch.  Oscar and the women in the kitchen had prepared spaghetti with vegetables and tortillas.  After eating, I headed to the Baby House to work with Danielle's two 10th grade girls that had requested an extra review for the math test coming up on Friday.  We went into the small chosa that is usually reserved for early childhood education for the 2 and 3 year olds.  Karen used to do this, but her and Mike have since moved back to the United States.  I believe when I left last summer, April took it over...but she too, went back to the U.S. after Christmas and has not been back down since.  We sat at a table on little preschool chairs and worked through different questions the girls had on the 3 topics that would be covered on Friday's test: Trigonometry, Vectors, and Matrices.  When we were done working together, I headed back to the Girls Volunteer House to get ready for supper...we were served rice, beans and tortillas.

   Wednesday nights are church nights.  Patrick (the husband I sat next to when the Team invited Staff and Volunteers to supper earlier this week) gave the sermon and his testimony.  Raleigh translated from the English to Spanish.  After church ended, I chatted with some kids, staff and volunteers outside the church before heading back up to the house, chatting with my friend Cheryl through Facebook Messenger about her mom's surgery that day and the upcoming one tomorrow, and then turning in for the night.

Fitbit Issues and a Call for Volunteers

    My insurance has "incentives" for both Bob and I to wear our Fitbits, so each year I tend to wear my Fitbit down here to both be able to tell the time as well as for it to count the number of steps I have each day (to report back to the insurance company for the "incentives").  In 2022, my Fitbit wristband broke from being in the house with the toddlers and them playing with it all day long...pulling on it, constantly turning it on and grabbing at it.  This year, I came prepared.  I ordered extra wristbands to pack just in case this were to happen again.  My wristband has not broken yet.  However, I did notice last night that my end-of-the-day sync from my Fitbit watch to the Fitbit app on my phone was not working.  I didn't think much of it, just went to bed and figured I would sync in the morning.  Well, this morning the watch didn't want to sync with the app either.  So I googled what to do if my model of watch wouldn't sync with the app.  The first suggestion in my Google search didn't work.  Neither did the second, third or fourth suggestion.  The fifth suggestion has a sequence of instructions that looked like it was going to take a long time, as well as 2 links embedded within the instructions of processes that I would need to do.  After over an hour of working through each Google suggestion on how to sync my Fitbit watch to my Fitbit app on my phone, it was this 5th suggestion and it's extremely long process that finally worked.  So my Fitbit is now back in business.  Thank God!

   I used the rest of the morning to wrap up the 9th grade lesson on geometry polygons (types, interior angles and their sums, exterior angle measurements, central angle measurements) before heading to the school to teach that class that began at 8:20am.  I was surprised to see there were only 6 students in this class!  What a small class, but definitely more one-on-one attention for them.  They said that although there were a lot of notes to take, they thought I made the lesson really easy for them!  YAY!

   After the 9th grade geometry class, the students were released for recess.  I went over to ask Profe Jorge when the tests were and he said that all high school students would be taking their test this Thursday and Friday.  So then I asked him whether the 10th graders needed more review with trigonometry or with vectors because with only one class left before the test, I would only be able to review one of those concepts as BOTH got quite in depth.  Trigonometry covered all 6 trig functions from in introduction to trigonometry through degrees and radians.  Vectors covered an introduction to vectors through working with vectors using polar coordinates (something I haven't done in over 20 years).  Profe Jorge said to review the trigonometry since that was the oldest.  

   While chatting with Profe Jorge, one of the 10th graders came up to me to ask if I could bring him a calculator.  I had brought 5 scientific calculators down here that I had picked up at either garage sales or thrift stores over the past years for nickels on the dollar, for students in the upper grades that did not have their own.  So I told him I would run (not literally) up to the house and grab one for him in order for him to be able to more efficiently do his homework.  I brought the others down as well for the 2 other students who said they didn't have their own and let them choose which they preferred, as there were 4 different makes/models of calculators that I had.

   When I got back to the Girls Volunteer House, I used the rest of the morning to prep for the Trigonometry that I would be reviewing tomorrow.  After about an hour of prep time, my mind needed a break to sort out a logical route to review from where I had left off, so I used that time to sweep the kitchen, dining room, and living room areas here in the Girls Volunteer House.  The areas are all open concept and it is a LARGE room.  Back when I first started coming, there would be over 20 girls sharing this 4 bedroom house, and often they would have to turn the front room (which was used sort of as just an extra room) into a 5th bedroom just to house all of the volunteers that would come.  Now, it is just Anna, Olivia, me and Nora.  Anna and Olivia leave on Monday, and Nora was told by Danielle that she will be the last volunteer of the summer.  I pray that Emmanuel can get back to those huge numbers of volunteers that came years ago, to help alleviate some of the staff members from the burden of responsibilities they must now have due to an extremely low number of volunteers in these most recent years.  If you feel led to come down here and volunteer, if even just for a week, please do get in contact with me and I will get you all of the information you need!

   As I walked to the Comedor for lunch, a boy came up to me to tell me that Brithany had misbehaved in school and that she wouldn't be able to go to the store today.  I let the boy know that I wasn't planning on taking her to the store today anyway, but thanked him for letting me know.  As I entered the Comedor, another girl came up to me to let me know that Brithany was "naughty" in school today.  It is amazing how fast word travels here at the orphanage...definitely as fast as gossip passes in middle schools in the United States, if not moreso!  I decided not to head over to the toddler section to chat with Brithany or to offer her my flavored water today (like I have done every day since I've been here) because of her behavior in school.  Perhaps my absence from that area would set something off in her to remember to behave a little better for the teacher in school tomorrow.

   By the afternoon, I had finished the trigonometry review and began working on the 8th grade lessons, wrapping up with multiplying binomials.  The book teaches special rules, however I am just going to stick with the FOIL method so that the students can become as proficient in that as possible.  

   We were served beans, rice, cheese and tortillas for supper and in the Comedor Noah let me know that Danielle was trying to get a hold of me because some of the older girls in the Baby House that she is in charge of needed help reviewing for their math tests.  So after supper, I headed to the Baby House to check in with them and set up a day/time that would work for me to go there to work with them.  By the time I got to the Team House, Danielle was driving past and stopped to let me know that she had girls that needed help...so I told her I was just headed that way to check in on a good day/time to help them.  She offered a ride and since it had been raining most of the day, I took it (although that meant I would have to make up the steps for my Fitbit some other way).  The girls and I settled on meeting tomorrow after lunch when the babies would be napping.

   After arranging the tutoring session, I walked over to the Toddler House which is just across the "street" from the Baby House and I spent a little time with Brithany before heading back to the Girls Volunteer House.  When she saw me, she came running to tell me she had behaved badly in school, and I let her know I had already heard and that it was important that she listened to the teacher and did what the teacher wanted her to do in class each day.  She was one of the only children who had not yet finished supper, so I took her back over by Dunia who was feeding her.  Some team members came over to the Toddler House to do activities with the children, so when Brithany's name was called, then I decided it would be time to head back to the Girls Volunteer House for the night.

   I had a great chat with Nora before heading to bed, while Olivia and Anna headed to the church to practice the music that would be played in church tomorrow after supper.

Teaching Begins - Summer 2024

   I headed down to the school at 6:40am today (since classes start at 7:00), and met the new director of the school, Rony, who was very welcoming and kind.  Profe Jorge had not yet come in however there were quite a few other teachers who had recently arrived and greeted me.  When Profe Jorge came, he knew immediately what I was there for (to see if they could use help in math at the high school level), so he let me know that he would make out a schedule for me and get me the books to teach those classes.  For the next 3 weeks, I will have 8th grade through 11th grade.  The 10th and 11th grades had finished their units, so I just need to create and work through reviews with the students prior to them taking their big test.  The topics for 11th grade consist of Limits and Statistics (Probability, Factorials, Permutations, Combinations, Standard Deviation), and the topics for 10th grade consist of Matrices, Trigonometry (all 6 trig functions, degrees/radians, etc), and Vectors. I will definitely have my work cut out for me since Limits and Vectors are definitely outside of my comfort zone, and I will need to brush up on Spanish vocabulary in order to review anything regarding Statistics and Trigonometry.  Profe Jorge did have me teach 2 classes right away this morning, so I began with a review of matrices in the 10th grade and then introduced the lesson on multiplying binomials with the 8th grade. 

My teaching schedule while I am here

   Part way through teaching matrices with the 10th graders, we were told that there would be an "event" out in the main area of the high school.  So all students headed to this area where they had a presentation on Francisco Morazan and what he did for Honduras.  Then they sang the national hymn as well as a song special for their department of Honduras (think of these as counties in our U.S. States).  Then the Director Rony talked about the teachers' time in the capital on Friday and winning awards for the school, and shortly after 2 teachers presented special awards to the students.

Presentation on Fidelity

Presentation on Francisco Morazan

Student awards given out

   After teaching the 2 classes, I headed back to the house to write up the lessons I just taught.  Profe Jorge had asked me 2 years ago if I could fill out official lesson plans to submit, however I thought it best to just turn over all the pages of lessons I had taught to him and Profe Dayana so that they can more formally and correctly fill out these lesson plans to be submitted as I have never filled out the proper paperwork for Honduran lesson plans.  Nora helped me to find 4 folders (one for each level and each in a different color) in order to keep the lessons organized better.  The right side of the folder is labeled "Para hacer" (To Do), which is where I will keep the lessons until they are taught, and then I will move them over to the left side of the folder, which is labeled "Ya hecho" (Already Done).  The lessons themselves are labeled with the topic at the top of the page as well as the date taught, and containing many notes and examples as well as homework for the students.

   I had to head back to the school prior to lunch to pick up the 9th grade and 11th grade textbooks so that I could start prepping for 9th grade tomorrow...they will be beginning geometry, one of my favorites.  But there will be a lot of vocabulary, so it will take me some time to prep.  I worked all afternoon on finishing up the lessons from today as well as beginning prep for tomorrow's geometry lesson, which took me up to the supper hour.  When I got to the Comedor, Noah let me know that the Team from Georgia that is here was planning a dinner for staff and volunteers, so I gave my food to Noe to give to the special needs boys, because I knew I wouldn't be able to eat 2 suppers.  I chatted for a bit with Invisible and then walked Clara to the Toddler House after supper.

   The team dinner was at 6pm...there was socialization beforehand and then David (Papi) said the prayer prior to everyone lining up to get their plate.  The team served pork, beans, rice, pico de gallo, cantaloupe, pineapple, watermelon and cake.  Oscar motioned for me to go over and sit by him once I had my plate of food, and I got to meet 2 team members, Susan and her husband Pat(?).  We chatted for a bit, mostly Oscar as he likes to practice his English.  When supper was over, I found Noah chatting out in the gazebo with Anna, Olivia and John as well as some of the girls who help Mirna in the Team House kitchen.  So I stayed and chatted for a bit before heading home for the night.

Happy Father's Day

   After my typical morning routine (waking, showering, drinking my proffee and writing yesterday's blog), I messaged Kaylyn letting her know that I wanted to do a videochat with the family back home and while Bob opened his Father's Day gift(s) from me.  Kaylyn was scheduled to work both jobs today (Tom's and Melting Pot) and it sounded like Jaden was starting a job at Tom's today too and Kaylyn was training him.  

   Olivia and Ana sang during the offering while Juan Carlos kept a beat on a drum that looks like a simple box (not sure what that is called as I am not a musician).  Morgan did the sermon while Raleigh translated what she said to Spanish for the children.  Morgan mentioned that she spent 9 years at Emmanuel which definitely helped her grow as a person of God.

From left to right: Ana, Juan Carlos, Olivia 

Morgan and Raleigh

   I headed to the Comedor to eat lunch and then after lunch went back to the Girls Volunteer House to wait for Kaylyn to tell me that she was back at home from work and we could do the videochat.  When I got her text, I messaged her that I'd be headed to the store and would let Noah know that I was going there, and she should let Bob know to get his WhatsApp ready to do the videochat.  When we were all online, I saw Alina was at home as well and she had given Bob a pair of crocs for Father's Day.  Jaden had made Bob a clock that made reference to the movie Deadpool (which I know nothing about).  I didn't hear if Kaylyn had given Bob the gift she had planned for him, but Noah let Bob know that his gift was in the mail.  I had gotten Bob 2 shirts, the first was a Hawaiian shirt with the 2 dogs on it and the 2nd was a t-shirt with Bella and Mindy.  We chatted for a bit and Invisible (Pamela) and Oscar also said hello to Bob and wished him a Happy Father's Day...and they got to see Alina as well.

   After our conversation, I headed to the yard where the small girls were and sat with Noah there for a little over an hour.  One of the small girls decided to run around really fast and trip and fall, hitting her head on a rock or something hard and it swelled up to the size of a baseball.  They had to have a bag of ice on it for over 2 hours and the swelling mostly came down, but I am sure it will be black and blue for a while.  We showed her Noah's scar from when he was about the same age and did the same thing.  The calcification of the bone underneath the skin in that spot is still there, so there is still a bump on his forehead where it happened.

   I ended the day with heading to the Comedor for supper, where we ate spaghetti, beans, and tortillas.  I always take my water bottle down with me, but since plain water without ice is so difficult for me to drink down here and I do need to drink as much water as possible, I always buy flavor packets back in the States to add to the water so that I can drink quite a bit.  I do share what I have in the Comedor as the kids really like it.  So while there, I hype myself up to drink my glass of plain water (that I was served) in order to share most of my bottle of flavored water with the kids.  When I am out and about and not in the Comedor, then I drink the flavored water as I don't care for plain room temperature water.

Seeing Morgan

    After waking, showering, and drinking my proffee, I updated the blog from yesterday's events.  Hoping this "routIine" will become the norm each morning for me, but we will see once I am assigned the math classes I will be teaching.  Because many times, I am using my morning to prep for the classes later in the morning...just to keep everything fresh in my head.  This morning I chose to stay back at the house and wait on Nora to see if she needed anything or had any questions, etc.

   When all was taken care of in the house, I headed to the Toddler House, on the way passing by Dayana who asked me to stop by her.  She told me that she wasn't at all understanding her math assignment and showed me what she was learning.  The 10th grade is currently learning matrices, which isn't really too bad.  I told her that I would help her this weekend, when she was ready to buckle down and work on it.  I continued my walk over to the Toddler House, but they were neither in the house nor in the Chosa, so I asked a girl outside the Baby House where they were and she said they were in the Clinic.  I needed the steps today on my Fitbit, so I decided to walk all the way back past the Girls Volunteer House and over to the Clinic, however they had just finished their appointments and had already headed back to the Toddler House!  So this almost became a game of hide and seek!  As I walked back to the Toddler House, I found the toddlers in the yard/playground just in front of the Baby House.  So that's where I was for the rest of the morning.  Nora accompanied me as well and we sat and chatted with the teens that were responsible for taking care of the toddlers.

   While we were there, Morgan (long term volunteer turned staff here, but then headed back to the States a couple of years ago) came to the yard with 3 women and a box of toys.  We chatted for quite a bit and she let me know she is now a Spanish teacher back in the States, so we had discussions about teaching in general.  It was very nice to be able to see her again!  She said her parents were also along on the trip as well as Sarah (another long term volunteer turned staff that eventually returned to the States), so I am very much looking forward to seeing them all.  The kiddos really enjoyed the new toys, many of which were electronics and made noises and sounds!  Brithany grabbed the toy tool set, and Morgan told her that she could use that to help Papi (David, the founder) when he went out to fix things around Emmanuel.  Before lunch, we had the children grab all the toys and take them back to the Toddler House for safe keeping, then we walked to the Comedor and had noodles and tortillas for lunch.

   After lunch, the toddlers nap, so I headed back to the Girls Volunteer House to wash clothes.  During the morning, Brithany was sitting on my lap and spilled juice all over my pants.  We can't have that just sitting around or the pants would be covered in ants within just a few hours (Alina experienced that in her early years here)...so I needed to wash them.  There is a new dryer in the house that wasn't here in the spring when I visited Noah, so I used that for all the clothes except the jeans, which I just hung to dry.  While I was washing clothes, it began to rain.  The rain here comes in spurts, but since it is the rainy season, it's not unusual to have rain every day and multiple times throughout the day.  

   About quarter to three, I headed back to the Toddler House so that I could walk them to the Comedor.  But due to the rains today, they decided to eat supper at the Toddler House and sent some of the "grandes" to go get the supper.  While we waited for the supper to come and be served, Nora and I played with the toddlers and their new toys.  When it was time for food to be served in the Comedor, Nora and I walked there and the plates consisted of rice, beans and a hard boiled egg.  Because I got a little bit sunburned today in the morning out on the playground, I decided to turn in early for the night.  I think I may have been in bed about 5:30pm or 6pm and then fast asleep.

A Fourth Volunteer Arrives

    This morning I woke at 4:30, showered and made my proffee to start the day.  When I got to the Comedor for breakfast (although breakfast is the only meal I do not eat with the children), many of the team members were already there saying their goodbyes.  I went over to the Toddlers section since I do not eat breakfast, and noticed that Brithany was at the table with her head down, not eating...when all the other toddlers were at least half done with breakfast.  When I sat down next to her, she perked up quickly and I told her that she needed to eat, and she did!  Sara also came over by me as well, to sit with me while the Bible study was going on and the small boys recited their Bible verses.

Dilver with the small boys reciting their Bible verses

   After breakfast, I headed to the school to look for Profe Jorge and find out what I would be teaching and my schedule for the upcoming week.  Although the high school students didn't have class today, Danielle thought that the teachers would still be there, meeting and planning for the upcoming week.  Nobody, including teachers, were in the school.  So I wasn't able to get books and plans to work on over the weekend.  This very well might be another instance of trying to "wing it" on Monday, just as I did over spring break...but hoping not.

   So I used the rest of the morning to do a "photo dump" to the blog of our travels back home in the summer of 2023, as well as finish up the day(s) I had missed posting over spring break when I was here visiting Noah.  

   We were told that we would be getting another female volunteer in this house later today, so right before lunch I swept and mopped the fourth bedroom for her since I was sure the floor was just as dusty as mine.  If you've read blogs in the past, you know that I am sweeping on just about a daily basis.  I like to keep the windows open throughout the day so that fresh air can circulate, which means that dust more easily enters the room, not to mention what gets tracked in and out as we enter and leave multiple times throughout the day.

   After lunch, I decided to lay down for about 2 hours.  The massive change in diet just started affecting my intestines and I knew that I just needed to straighten them out and stay still for a bit in order for all to get sorted out instead of feeling knotted up and cramped.  It was a HOT day today, for sure.  I feel like all afternoon, my entire body was covered in a layer of sweat.  I am making sure I drink enough water, so that is a good thing.  I love ice water, but not so much a fan of room temperature water, so each year I bring down flavor packets for my water to encourage me to drink as much as possible.

   When I woke from my nap, I mixed a mango punch flavor packet into my bottle of water and then headed to the Toddler House, because the toddlers should have also been waking from their naps at the same time.  I spent a little time in their sala watching Coco before we walked together towards the Comedor.  At supper, I let Brithany know that if she finished her water, I would give her some of my "juice" (which is what I call my flavored water).  She was eager to finish her water to get to try the "juice".  Then I headed to my spot to sit down and eat with the medium boys and John.  This evening's meal was rice, beans and shredded cheese.  When I finished eating, I headed over to Dilver to give him a half a cup of the mango flavored "juice".  He got really excited to have it as well.

   When we got back to the Girls Volunteer House, Ana and Olivia let me know that they would be spending the night with the small girls.  They have done this twice before with 2 different houses of girls, and I am so excited for them to try things like this.  Quite a few years ago, Alina spent the night with some of her friends here in their dorm, and she had the time of her life.  The girls were just as excited about Alina staying with them as well.  The volunteer still hadn't arrived, so it was a good thing I napped today in order to be able to wait up for her.  The team bus (with the volunteer on it) arrived around 9:30pm, which is way later than any of us would stay up.  I am typically in bed by about 7pm as it is already getting dark here at 6pm and we need our sleep in order to wake so early.  The volunteer's name is Nora and Cristian brought her to the house with her suitcases.  I gave her a set of keys and a quick run down of the house and then showed her to her room so that she could make up her bed and get to sleep as quickly as possible.  She looked so tired!  And with that, I went to sleep as well.

Christian Artist JJ Weeks is Here

    With all the travel and being away for almost 24 hours, I slept really well through the night.  Ana and Olivia were super quiet, which allowed for even longer sleep time.  I thought perhaps their movement in the house would wake me up, but it didn't.  I woke around 7:30am here when my norm is typically anywhere from 4-5am WI time in the summers (3-4am Honduras time).  I showered, dressed, made my bed, made my "proffee" (coffee with a smooth vanilla protein powder added in), and then began the process of unpacking.  Most of the items I brought down in the 2 suitcases, the carry-on and my backpack will be staying down here, so I needed to sort through all of that.  Then I decided to sweep and mop my room after the bottom of my feet getting so black last night due to how dusty the floor was.

   I am going to show pictures of the room in the girls volunteer house that I will be staying in over the next almost 4 weeks, however note that for the first time ever I decided to purchase a net for my bed to keep the mosquitos away from me at night.  This was definitely on the orphanage's recommended list over the years, however I wasn't willing to spring the money to get one.  Instead, I would just grab a fitted sheet and tuck myself inside of it over night.  I would also face a fan to blow right on my face, hoping that the moving air would keep mosquitos out of that area, which for the most part worked.  But since Kaylyn and Jaden didn't come down with me this year, I had a little extra money to spend and decided to splurg.  I set this up last night and...GAME CHANGER!!!  What a peaceful night's sleep, even through the heat of Honduras.

View from the doorway, net and all

View from the window towards the door

Artwork on one of the walls

   I had heard music and announcing coming from the gym the entire morning that I was working on unpacking and cleaning, so when I was caught up, I decided to go down and see what all the commotion was about.  I got there roughly the same time Noah did.  This event was for the high school kids and they were just wrapping up playing soccer and were setting up to play volleyball.  Noah told me that he would be on Profe Jorge's team (of all the high school teachers).  For the most part, Noah allowed others to hit the ball, but when the team got down 2-9, he decided to take a few hits for himself and show the kids what he could all do!

   After watching Noah play, I headed to the Tienda to begin an account so that I could just drop in and buy things without actually having to have money on me.  I said "hi" to Brenda and bought a water for myself, 2 bottles of Pepsi (one each for Julissa and Oscar because I was headed to the Comedor), and then I told Brenda she could purchase a beverage for herself as well.  I got to the Comedor just a little bit before lunch which gave me time to chat with Julissa and Oscar.  Lunch consisted of noodles and "pastellitos de papa" (potato pastries).  I was seated next to John, who is Noah's roommate.  He decided to chat with me about accents, because he comes from the south so we sound a bit different to him, and then he chatted with me about genetics and height...well, because us Midwesterners tend to have it, haha.  John is pretty tall himself, only a couple of inches shorter than Noah (6'5").  He really likes biology, so any chance to discuss topics related to biology, sounds like he's gonna take it.

   After lunch, Noah stopped by to pick up the computer that he had purchased and had me bring down for Hector.  There were also a few other things that he asked me to bring down (sunglasses, bilingual Bible, DS game) that he picked up as well.  I headed down to the office to check in with Danielle about my responsibilities while here, but she had went to Tegucigalpa with Eva for the afternoon and wasn't due back until much later, so I will have to check in on another day.

   I was invited to the gym at 6pm by the team to play Dodgeball (Graciela and I decided not to participate in that) and then enjoy some pizza that was catered in as well as some brownies, which were delicious.  Noah pointed out JJ Weeks, who is a Christian artist and came down here with the team.  I knew he was down here, because Noah had mentioned that he was here to me on Sunday when I was back in the States.  So many children throughout the day told me that there was a team member who sang on Sunday and on Wednesday who can sing SO WELL.  I had to chuckle just a little bit because they didn't know who he was.  For those of you who don't know who he is...I will include a video of his song "Let Them See You" here below:

   Graciela asked about Alina, and Chino told me to let Jaden know he misses Jaden and his help.  After Dodgeball, pizza and brownies, Noah and Hector spent time playing a game of 1-on-1 basketball, while Milton and Chino hung around.  At some point, Danielle showed up and let me know to go to the high school tomorrow to check in with Profe Jorge about which classes I should start teaching next week.  She said there were not classes for the high school, but that the teachers should be there in the morning planning for the next week.  As it got later and later, I decided to head back to the Girls Volunteer House for the night.  Noah and John walked with me.  I settled in and went to bed.