August 15th - Saying Goodbye

Max led the circle this morning. The 3 photographers from the California team were taking individual children's pictures. But due to the rain, the big circle needed to end early. I made wheat pancakes when I got back to the volunteer house, but made a few too many...since I haven't cooked "for one" in a while.

When I got to school this morning, I chatted with Doris a little before classes began. I opened the door to the storage room and WOW! I was so amazed by what the team had done yesterday afternoon. It will for sure be finished today! :-) Merethe only gave me one girl today to help out, but there's not much more to do. Since I am not an "artsy" person, I asked her to organize the 2 shelving units of arts and crafts while I went to one of the 7th grade math classes.

The students were reviewing their multiplication tables, and subtracting/multiplying/dividing mixed numbers. In all three math classes I've been to, I've noticed that these students are not given NEARLY as much homework as our students in the States.

I went back to the storage room and Melissa (one of the California volunteers) & I had finished organizing it by noon. We ended by scrubbing the termite nests off the walls, and sweeping & washing the walls and floors. Of course I took pictures of how the storage room finally looked. :-)

I came back to the school as lunch time was finishing to get pictures of the kids waiting on the steps to go to class. There I met Amparo. She asked me about my family...and since my sister Mari had left a few pictures of my children on the camera she lent me, I showed them to her. Of course, she was particularly interested in Andrés! :-) Most of the girls I work with are very young (Alina's age), so they usually ask about Alina: what her favorite color is, what chores she does around the house, etc. I haven't met many teenage girls (although there are MANY), so I haven't had to "field" questions about Andrés. I guess this is more confirmation that when he comes down with me next year, he'll be out working with Todd...FAR away from the girls!

I went to talk with Katja at 1:30 about leaving tomorrow morning. Kim will take me to the Chicken Bus (as a lot of Americans call it) at 5:30am. It's a yellow school bus that runs back and forth between Guaimaca and Teguc, a 2 hour trip that costs $38 Lempiras (about $2USD). In Teguc, I'll have to take a taxi to the Hedman Alas bus station, which should cost $50 Lempiras. My bus at Hedman Alas, which will take me on a 4-hour ride to San Pedro Sula will cost $17.50USD, but again...it IS a coach bus. Katja reminded me that I will need $35USD in cash to leave the country, and she gave me her cell phone number in case there were any problems.

I went down to the restaurant for my last "taco de pollo" from Elvia & Verónica. I was sure to take their pictures too! I got something special for Kaylyn, but it is really meant to be shared and appreciated by all of our family.

Towards the end of supper-time, I went to the young girls eating area for the last time. I got them all bathed quickly because Anita was coming over to play with them. After getting them dressed, a girl took a pictures of Doris, me, Carlita and all of the young girls in their room: Paola, Michel, Nani, Blanca, Yenci, Evelyn, Karol, Cindy & Reina. Afterwards, I spent an hour outside with Doris & Pamela, just chatting...before I had to leave to do laundry for the night.