This morning began once again with devotions and my 'cafecito', but instead of updating by blog next, I had to pour time into the 3 questions that the Profesor Ramon gave me so that I could bring them back to school when it started around 8am. Two of the three questions were pretty easy to solve (the one on ellipse equations and then giving the domain of a rational function), the 3rd problem on step functions gave me a bit of a problem, and I wanted to discuss it further with the teacher since I wasn't quite clear on what the question was asking.
We are supposed to be at the Toddler House by 6am, so we headed over there and as I hung up my bag, I noticed a moth on the wall. These moths are super huge, probably at least a 6" wingspan. Very pretty.
We headed into the kitchen to begin our routine of cutting vegetables, and then heading to the sala to spend time with the kids while the older girls did their circle devotions. The other children of Emmanuel had big circle today, since it was Friday, so we were a little "short-staffed" since the 2 volunteers from Ireland (Caroline and Claire) decided to see what a big circle was like. So it was just Alina, me and Rosa in watching the kids. When it was time to line the kids up for breakfast, they were so disobedient that Rosa had to call others for help so she could leave & collect herself. I can't even imagine living with 25+ toddlers! These girls have a lot of work to do.
After serving breakfast and doing the dishes, I headed to school to collaborate with Profeesor Ramon. He liked the 2 answers that I had (they matched answers that were on the multiple choice government test), and for the question on which I was confused, when I looked at the test, I noticed that he had written the question down incorrectly...which is why I was so confused. Upon looking at the test, it was a simple step function for me to solve. We chatted a bit about this upcoming test, and he asked me if I would be willing to come in to their class on Monday and help him teach about circle equations and then review for the test. Each year I tend to go into his classroom at least once, so I agreed that I'd help him out.
When I got back to the Toddler House, Zelenes and Deisy were waiting to begin their math lessons. We spent the entire morning going over solving, graphing, and listing the domain and rage of: absolute value functions, step functions, and rational functions. I'm sure some of you reading this may be confused with all of the math lingo, but this is some upper-level stuff and it was SO fun to be using my degrees in math, Spanish, and bilingual education to work with these girls. I'm just so nerdy that way!
Karla and I served up the plates for lunch before the children came back from the playground. We had a good chat about how to raise toddlers...I'm not so sure I contributed very much since this age is definitely not my area of expertise, but I encouraged her and let her know that I was very supportive of what she was doing. After lunch, the toddlers were sent into the 'sala' to nap while we did the dishes. When dishes were done, Alina asked if she could stay and help sweep and mop the dining area while I went home to take a nap. I was extremely tired from the sun and from the math/Spanish combo of tutoring. It was after Alina came back to the room that I realized that my body was lacking sugar (natural sugar) because I was so weak. So I headed to the 'tienda' to buy one of the California mango/peach juices to replenish lost sugars. I was feeling much better soon after.
We chatted with the big girls a little bit before heading back to the Toddler House to serve supper. Karla wanted all kids to have eaten by 4pm and then dishes done, showers done, and the dining area cleaned. After the boys showered, I helped them into their pajamas and then read some Dr. Seuss books. Then I went over to chat with Karla some more before heading back to our room.
Alina mopped the hall area in front of the hotel (she's really into mopping the Honduran way!), and then washed up some string beans and opened our last little container of ranch dressing and invited me to sit outside on the steps with her and snack as we watched the sun go down. We wrapped up the night by calling home and talking to everyone except for Noah, who was sent to bed before getting the chance to talk. I'm hoping that the next time I call that I can talk to him because I've missed him twice now when calling. Sounds like they had a fun family night last night with pizza and movies!