Noah Took a Shower with a Cockroach

This morning I woke up at 3:30am in order to take a shower an spend time doing my devotions (my daily routine while the house is still quiet).  I woke everyone else up at 5:30am.  Alina was already mostly packed, Bob had a pack a bit.  I sent some souvenoirs home with them that we had purchased earlier so as to lighten our load when Noah and I come home in another week and a half.  Alina and Noah went down to the comedor and were instructed to have breakfast (which I found out later that Alina never ate), while Bob and I walked the suitcases up to the Team House.  The team from Georgia was leaving today along with 3 volunteers, so luckily Bob and Alina were able to ride along on the bus rather than have the orphanage's chauffeur take them (which costs considerably more).  I had given Alina some fruit from the refrigerator that I knew Noah and I would not eat to take along to breakfast to give away.  Bob and I met up with Alina and Noah at the comedor so that Bob could say his 'good-byes'.  I found out that Noah hadn't even begun to eat because he had been goofing around with the boys who were eating, so I had to have him get his bowl and sit down to eat.  He was absolutely and by far the last person to finish eating. While I stayed with him, Bob went up to the Team House to wait and Alina took some of her clothes that she was leaving behind to Sofia at the baby house.  She said her 'good-byes' there too.

We waited with Bob and Alina for the bus and then said our 'good-byes' before the bus took off around 7:30am.  Noah and I headed back to our room to strip all of the bedding and wash it, and turn the room into a room for two.  I swept the room, the kitchen, and the porch while he cleaned the bathroom and the room ended up looking really nice.  I wrote my blog and posted it from yesterday while Noah read some more in his book.  He seemed a bit down and I'm guessing it was because his sister was gone, so he had no one to 'pester', or as he would call it, 'joke around with'.  I decided to take him to the tienda (store) to get him some ice cream...partly for him, but probably mostly for me for having to deal with his being 'down in the dumps'.

When we were finished we went to lunch with the medium boys and then headed to their house to watch movies for the afternoon.  We watched LEGO Batman, Independence Day and then finished up the Zootopia movie that they began watching about a week ago but never got to finish.  After supper with the medium boys, we headed back to our place and Michell was waiting for me.  I sat with her out on the porch until about 6pm when she had to head back, then we went into the room for the night.  I told Noah to shower up and he took the SHORTEST SHOWER EVER!!!  He came out and told me that he was showering with a cockroach.  He said it was hidden in the folds of the shower curtain.  I hit the shower curtain, and it fell onto the floor of the shower...it was pretty big.  No wonder he took such a short shower!  He went to get Nathaniel (the 11 year old next to us) to take it out of the room.  I am hoping that by next week, after the Miller family leaves, Noah will have the courage to take care of these by himself.

Suly stopped by to ask me if I could boil some water to throw into 2 ramen noodle instant bowls for 2 big girls next door.  I did that and we chatted for a bit.  She told me that she has plans to get married and said that she had just talked to David about it yesterday.  I'm so excited for her!  I have known her for the 10 years that I've been coming here, and she has been teaching classes and also involved in the kitchen.  She truly is a remarkable young woman and I'm praying that all goes well with her upcoming wedding!

What a nice way to end the evening...

Last Day for Alina and Bob

Fridays are big circle and Alina and Bob were both sick, both with stomach problems.  Bob decided not to go work on the technology education building with Chris and Mike today.  Noah reminded me (once again) that today was Big Circle (which doesn't start until 6:30am as opposed to the 6am that we are normally out the door).  Alina stayed for Big Circle today since she's been at the baby house and has missed it each week so far.  Bob walked around and got children to sign his hat.  This is a tradition for him and then he hangs the hats next to his bed as a reminder to pray for the children here at Emmanuel.

Big Circle at Emmanuel

Alina and Michell

Alina with Alejandra (pink) and Nikoll

We headed to breakfast with the kids and Bob got more signatures in the comedor.  I spent some of the morning in the special needs yard and some in the school (during recess).  I finally got the scientific calculator that I had purchased in town Wednesday to Luis David and showed him how to use it and a few of the features on it, more or less.

Bob used the entire day to work on supper for Moncho and Ana Yansi, with extras for us to eat with Michell.  I got special permission to be able to bring Michell over for supper and for her to stay out until 7pm, rather than the children's 6pm curfew.  It is extremely dark by 7pm here, so I think that safety is one of the reasons why they turn in early.  Bob made breaded chicken, a vegetable mix and mashed potatoes with chopped avocadoes.  It was super delicious!

After the medium boys had supper, Moncho had another basketball tournament with the boys in the gym.  Once again, I forgot to bring my camera (sorry).  Alina wanted to come down to the gymnasium, and I told her I prefer she didn't because once she'd see the basketball games going on, she'd want to play - and she's been sick most of the week.  She ended up coming anyway, and of course she played the 2nd half of one game (which we cut to 7 minute halves).  I am hoping that she stays well over the weekend.

While the kids were playing, Bob made his way down to the gymnasium to ask me if Noah told me about the gas/propane...I said 'no' and he let me know that we were out, and he was still cooking.  I asked Moncho if he had his radio and he did not, but said to check in the comedor because someone in there SHOULD have a radio.  I told Bob to either radio Wade or Mike about the gas.  I didn't see Bob after that.

At 5pm, Alina, Noah and I left the gymnasium to walk back to our room.  I picked up Michell on the way, and the gas/propane was being delivered!  When I got to our room, Bob told me that it cost L$320 (320 Lempiras or Honduran dollars).  He said that the Miller family paid for it and that he wanted to pay for 1/2, but they claimed they were using it so much more than we were and they insisted that we don't chip in.  I will be sure to repay them somehow!  :-)

We sat down for a good meal with Michell, and although Bob served the food 'family-style' (where we could all just dig in), Michell preferred that he make her plate for her.  At the orphanage, their plates are served for them, so she doesn't know anything else and I think that the thought of her serving herself made her feel a little uneasy.  We gave Michell a bunch of clothes that we had bought for her back in the States, and a pair of shoes, and then walked with her to the souvenoir store to get a gift for Kaylyn and Jaden.  The sourvenoir store is set up right next to the team house and is for team members who come down who would like to get gifts, some made by the children right here at Emmanuel.  They have jewelry, post cards, wood-crafted items, t-shirts, musical instruments, coffee, vanilla, machetes and knives, and just about anything that you can think of!  I bought Michell a bracelet so that she wouldn't feel left out as we were shopping.

When we came back, Moncho still hadn't stopped by for the supper, so Noah and I decided to run it to them.  It was about 6:45pm, so Bob and Alina hung back to play a few rounds of Uno with Michell.  They were still playing when we got back.  I walked Michell back to her house for the night and then came back to our place, where Alina had already started to pack up for tomorrow.  As usual, everyone was in bed and just about sleeping by 8pm.

A Cockroach Ran Up My Leg!

As I was doing devotions this morning, I felt something on my leg, underneath my pants leg right on the shins.  I figured it was either one of my long pieces of hair that got caught in my clothing after a shower or perhaps a daddy long-legs, so I shook my pants a little bit.  All of a sudden a small cockroach (about an inch and a half) was on the floor.  I didn't see it actually run out of my pants leg, but I'm pretty sure that's what the motion had been.  YUCK!  Bob, Alina and Noah were still sleeping - I didn't scream.  Just startled.

We headed through our normal routine.  Bob's been working with Mike on this technology education building and Alina headed back to the baby house.  They will head home on Saturday for Alina to try out for volleyball at Oshkosh North on Monday.  Noah and I were with the medium boys as usual, and after heading with them to breakfast and dropping the ones in school off at school, Moncha (who's in charge of the special needs yard during the day) decided to take the children into the gymnasium for the day.  The gymnasium got a new set of doors put on it.  The old wooden double-doors with the padlock were replaced by black iron-bar double doors.  They look really good!

I was supposed to head to the high school area for recess to give Luis David his calculator and show him how to use it, but I ended up getting recruited to play soccer in the gymnasium with the children there.  I have never played soccer before, and having been a 3-sport athlete where I am REQUIRED to physically touch the ball with my hands, this made for a very difficult time for me!

After lunch, I headed back to the room to rest for a bit because I would be tutoring 2 students this evening in 2 different houses in 2 different math classes, which would make for a lot of running around.  I headed to the small boys house first at 4:30pm to work with Miguel.  He is in our equivalent of 10th grade and did not pass the math test the first time around.  They are allowed 1 retake to make up their points.  I worked with him for just a bit over an hour on finding intercepts, vertices of parabolas, and also locating the focus and directrix of a parabola.  I showed him an example of each, then we worked through an example, and then I gave him an example to do alone.  He seemed to be catching on.

About quarter to 6pm, I headed to the toddler house (it was a hike) to work with Brenda on her math for her retake tomorrow.  Brenda is the only student in the 11th grade who did not pass the course, so she will be doing a retake tomorrow as well.  The 11th grade is the last grade before graduation here in Honduras (unlike our 12th grade).  I worked with her on derivatives, integrals, and summation notation and calculation.  She had all of the notes that I have given in class, and hopefully with what we went through, she'll be okay.

When I got back to our room, I found Alina writing her 'goodbye' letters to the children she had made connections with.  The children tend to write tons of letters down here, and color quite a few drawings as well and give them to the volunteers and teams as they spend time with them.  So Alina was reciprocating.  She asked if I could hand out 2 letters to 2 boys that she would probably not see tomorrow since she spends her entire days at the baby house.

I began reading Bringing Up Boys by Dr. Dobson a few days ago.  Each night I read a chapter before heading to bed.  I got this book back when Andres was about 9 or 10 and read it back then, but figured with Noah and Jaden - I just may need a refresher!  Bob, Alina and Noah all fell asleep before I finished my chapter, but then it was lights out (just as the hard rains came down) and I fell asleep with the pitter patter of the rain on the roof.

A Scientific Calculator

Our morning began with the normal routine, heading to the medium boys house and then with them to breakfast, then back to their house before walking them to school.  After walking them to school, I checked on Alina (who was still sick with flu-like symptoms) and swept out our room, the kitchen and the front porch.  Sweeping is definitely at least a daily thing down here as the floors are all 12"x12" tiles and dirt gets tracked in fairly easily.

Once the floors were swept, I went to check on Bob.  He's been working with Mike to put up a technology education building.  I got a few pictures (and he took some pictures from the scaffolding as well, so you could see how the building is coming along.

Bob on the scaffolding with a volunteer

Aerial view of building progress

Aerial view of building progress

Ground view of building progress

 After taking a few pictures, I headed to the special needs yard to be with those children all day.  Noah wanted to work with Moncho again today.  Some days I allow him to do it, some days I don't. I often wonder if Noah just wants to ride around in a John Deere Gator all day.  I found out later in the day that they headed to the medium girls house to fix some electrical things.  I'm so glad that Moncho has been so patient with Noah and has made him feel helpful.  I pray that this helps Noah in gaining confidence and learning responsibility.

Moncho with Jordy (Ohio volunteer) and Noah in back

Children playing in the special needs yard

View of the church from the special needs yard

 We headed to the comedor for lunch.  I have a routine now of standing outside the doors to the comedor and holding my hand up to 'high-5' all of the medium boys that enter.  They really enjoy this!  After lunch, we headed to town (Guaimaca) since it was a Wednesday.  Wednesdays are the only days that volunteers  are allowed to head into town, because they seem to be the most 'safe' days to do it.

Luis David had stopped me this morning to see if I had happened to bring a scientific calculator with me down from the States.  I'm not sure if he thought since I was a math major I would have one on me all of the time or what?  Actually I used to bring one down, but since I found an app of a graphing calculator and downloaded it onto my American phone, I haven't had the need to bring an extra calculator along with me.  I told him I would look in town for one.  On the way into town, Chris saw a store that had calculators.  We went in and they had 2 scientific calculators, an off-brand and a Casio.  As a teacher, I definitely have a preference for the TI (Texas Instruments) brand, so I let the man know that I was looking for a particular brand, and if I didn't find it in town, I'd be back to get the Casio.

We stopped at the pharmacy first, since the daughter of the Miller family (right next to us) have been sick longer than Alina.  I helped translate for them to get decongestants and cough medicine.  Then we headed to the first grocery store.  Bob had put a list together for me, and there was so much less to buy than the last 2 weeks, so we got through the store fairly quickly.  Our next stop was the Claro store.  Claro is one of two cell phone companies in Honduras.  A friend of the Miller family who had come down with them ran out of data on the modem we had bought at the airport in Tegucigalpa.  I don't think she realized how much data that face-timing uses up.  She purchased more at the orphanage, but didn't really understand what it meant to activate the phone chip, so that amount disappeared just as quickly and the chip broke...so we had to get this situation fixed.  Then we headed to the second grocery store to buy the remainder of the supplies on our grocery lists.  We've made a habit of stopping at a bakery that has chocolate-covered frozen bananas on the way back from town, so definitely stopped there and I also bought a tres leches cake for a boy whose birthday is tomorrow.

While in town, I didn't find a Texas Instruments calculator for Luis David, so on the way out of town, I stopped once again at the store we had found on the way in to buy the Casio for him.  After walking back (man was it hot today), we got the groceries put away, and although it was just about supper-time, I didn't have the energy to walk to the comedor to eat...I wasn't hungry either.  So we just stayed in our room, rested and waited for church.  It was one of the shortest services ever!...but that was okay because Alina had stayed back to rest.  She feels like she's getting over her sickness, but wanted to be sure.  Many girls from the baby house came up to me after church to say that they hoped Alina was feeling better soon, so I know she's making an impact there.

When we got back from church, we called my parents back to to chat with them and with Kaylyn and Jaden.  It is best down here when making phone calls to buy what's called 'packages'.  There is a sequence of numbers to dial to see what packages are available for phone calls.  In the 2 weeks that we've been here, the best package has been 20 minutes for $15L (means 15 lempiras or approximately 70-75 cents).  We called for 20 minutes and then when that expired, we hung up, bought another package, and called again.  After chatting with family back home, we finished up our game of Phase 10 (that we had started over a week ago) and each read a chapter in our books before heading to bed.  It is dark here by 7pm, and we are very tired around that time, so at the latest we are in bed by 8pm.

Hurricane Franklin

This morning at the medium boys house, Luisito asked Noah to show him some ball-handling skills.  So Noah took Luisito through many of Frank Schade's drills (Head Coach at Oshkosh North for many years, now retired) from the camps he's been attending since kindergarten.  About half way through the drills, Noah stubbed/cut his big toe on the cement.  He was wearing his flip-flops rather than his toe-covered hiking sandals.  He didn't cry and continued to show Luisito drills.  When it was time for Luisito to take some boys to the health clinic, we walked with him so I could use the first aid kit that Bob purchased and brought down due to our request from Noah getting hurt earlier in our trip.  Noah's toe was actually cut worse than it initially looked.  We got the antiseptic wipes out and cleaned it thoroughly.  Put antibiotic cream on it and thena butterfly bandaid with another bandaid over the top and then gauzed it up with tape.

Noah (in red shorts) showing Luisito (in blue) some basketball drills with Nathaniel, Moncho and Chino looking on

Noah and I were in the yard all morning since there wasn't really any work for a 12 year old to do on the technology education building today.  Alina came back sick from the baby house (dizzy, feverish), so I checked in on her every hour and a half or so.  Gave her ibuprofen, saltines and water and told her to rest for the remainder of the day.

Bob, Noah and I had lunch together in the comedor and then it started to rain...well, not really rain but downpour!  And it was nothing but a torrential downpour for over an hour!  Emmanuel is in the mountains, so water was rushing everywhere.  The culvert outside the comedor was about 10 inches tall and completely covered with running water.  We were told that this was the residuals from Tropical Storm (or hurricane) Franklin.  I have actually never seen rain like this.  They ended up cancelling all afternoon classes and work for everyone.

Torrential downfall outside the comedor

The rain coming down from the hills outside the comedor

The rains and flooding passing between the back of the school and the comedor 

When the rain went down to a sprinkle, all of the kids headed for their houses quickly.  We went with the medium boys and I had my movies on me, so we watched Ice Age: Collision Course and then began to watch Zootopia before it was time to head to supper.  After supper, the boys headed back to their house to shower and finish watching Zootopia.  Luis David asked for me to stop by and chat with him for a bit (which turned into about an hour and a half chat).  At 6pm when the big boys had to go inside, I headed to the medium boys house to pick up Noah.  He was sitting with a couple of boys and they asked if they could finish up watching Zootopia, so I let them.  We walked back to our room at about 7pm, cleaned up Noah's toe and turned in for the night.

A Basketball Tournament in Honduras

This morning when we went to the medium boys house, Moncho let Noah know that he'd like to do a basketball tournament later this afternoon with his medium boys.  Noah was all for this!  We did our usual routine of walking the boys to breakfast and then headed back to the house because Noah was going to work with Bob today on a new technology education building that they are constructing.  They are now putting the last side on the structure which should only take a day or two.

I walked the boys to school and found out that the boys in 5B (there's two 5th grade classes, A and B) didn't have school today because their teacher wasn't there, so they would be in the yard with me.  I brought games with me (Connect 4, Checkers, and Dominoes) so that some of the boys could play them.  As we were in the yard, some volunteers came to grab boys to go on a walk, which helped a bit since the yard had more children than usual today.  Even though some children left, a fight still broke out between two of our medium boys.  One boy ended up getting so upset that he ran off and an older boy had to run after him.  They were both told that they would lose their dessert (a moon pie) at lunch time.

Noah and Bob came into the comedor at lunch time and ate with us.  When we headed back to the house, we found that Alina had stayed at the baby house over lunch.  Volunteers are allowed to leave the baby house from 12-2pm, but she generally stays to chat with the older girls and watch movies with them during that time - which is when the babies are napping.

I was in the yard during the afternoon again, and once again, even though I stayed in the shade just about the entire time, I got pretty tan (and a little burnt).  It's amazing how you don't have to be directly in the sun down here to get the effects from it.  When we went to the comedor for supper, Noah didn't come.  I finished eating and decided to search for him because Moncho said he'd like to do the basketball tournament after supper.  He was still working on the building with Bob, so I said that he had to eat all of his supper and return his bowl and then he could come to the gym to play.  Moncho set up 4 teams, he took one and each of the teen boys in the house (Luisito and Chino) took a team, and Noah got a team.  They got to pick the boys on their team, and we set up some brackets for play.  We decided on 7 minute halves (since they only had about an hour and a half to do the tournament).

First up was Moncho and Luisito...Moncho likes to shoot hoops in his spare time (there's a hoop at the medium boys house), so he quickly started building up the points.  When Alina came into the gym, the score was 6-0.  She asked if she could play and I think that Moncho felt sorry for Luisito's team, so he said she could play with them.  I don't think he knew how good Alina was.  Even at playing only around 25-40% (because the floor was slippery and she didn't have her ankle braces down here), she helped to turn the game around and the game ended up tied.  They decided to go into a 2 minute overtime...each scored once, still tied.  So we decided to do a free-throw shoot off.  Each time that a teammate from Luisito's team would miss (or make) a shot, so would the team member from Moncho's team.  To be fair, Alina shot last and she made it.  We told Moncho to shoot against her (even though he had JUST shot against Luisito).  He made it.  So then the boys started shooting against each other again.  Eventually a boys from Luisito's team made it and the one from Moncho's team couldn't match the score.  So Luisito's team was put into the championship game.

The next game was between Noah and Chino.  Noah's team took an early lead 8-0, but then Chino began to score and the game was very close right up until the end.  Noah's team lost by two...so the championship game was between Luisito and Chino.  We told Alina that she could not be in the game while Luisito was in the game otherwise there would be 2 big kids on one team and only one on the other.  Luisito played the 1st half and at the end of the first half, the score was about 10-2.  When Alina went in for him in the 2nd half, I told her to mainly pass the ball to the medium boys to give them opportunities to score, and for her not score unless it got close.  The medium boys wanted her to score as much as possible.  She ended up putting 2 points in, but the entire time, impressing all of the boys with her dribbling abilities, passing abilities and shooting abilities.

Luisito bringing the ball up the court against Chino's team in the championship game

Bob and Salomon

After the tournament was over, we headed back to our rooms.  Alina and Noah's backs were completely full of sweat, so it was shower time before we settled in for the night and read chapters in our books and headed to bed.  All in all it was a good day and the kids had fun!

Alina's Last Sunday

This morning began with church at 8:00am.  I went with Noah to the medium boys house to pick up Jairo (one of the twins) while Alina and Bob went to get Michell.  We met at the entrance to the church and then headed in together as a family to sit down.  When we were seated, Bob asked if Luis David could sit with us as well.  The sermon was led by Pastor German from in town (Guaimaca) and translated to English by David (founder of Orphanage Emmanuel) and revolved around the question, Are you simply a 'believer' or a 'disciple' of Christ?

From front to back: Luis David, Bob, Alina, Michell, LoriAnn, Jairo, Noah

After church, we brought Jairo, Michell and Luis David up to the hotel to eat pancakes with syrup.  Bob made up the rest of the box of pancakes and there were only 3 left, so he packaged them up in aluminum foil to send with Jairo for his twin brother.  We then brought the three to the store for some sodas and also to meet up with Coco since it was her birthday.  I had bought her a tres leches cake back on Wednesday, so we wanted to give it to her.  We sat at the store until all the children came down to the comedor to have lunch, and then we walked Luis David, Michell and Jairo to the comedor so that they could join up with their houses.

Noah and Luis David walking to the store

At the store, clockwise from Bob: Alina, Noah, Luis David, Michell, Jairo

Luis David had told us that there would be a soccer game today, so we walked to our room to rest and get some water and a blanket to take along to the big soccer field at the back of the orphanage.  It is quite the hike and that definitely helped in getting my steps in for the day (which I forgot to sync on time, so they didn't end up showing up in my Fitbit competition against my sister for the weekend).  We had to walk through the farm on the way, so Bob and Alina stopped to pet the calves, who seemed to really enjoy the attention.  There were more calves thank this who were waiting up ahead to be pet as well.

Bob and Alina petting the calves

When we got to the field, we found some shade and sat by some older teen boys from the orphanage and cheered on Emmanuel.  Althought I took my camera, for whatever reason I forgot I had it on me, so sorry that there is no pictures.  They ended up in a tie, so had a kick-off (not sure of the proper word for it)...and it was the longest kick-off I had ever seen (not that I watch a lot of soccer games).  I think they exhausted all of their players and had to begin again!  In the end, we got a kick into the net and then Luis David (who is the goalie) blocked the one that came in for their team.

On the way back to our room, I heard a voice call my name and looked in that direction.  It was my little Alejandra...and she was wearing the blue dress I bought for her!  The first weekend of every month is reserved for family visits, and her mom had come today to visit her.  I walked over that way and got to meet her mom.  What a nice lady.  She said that she hoped Alejandra was behaving for me.  I said (with a smile), "She always does!"

I left them to visit some more and went back to our room.  A little later I say Suyapa walking by and stopped her.  I asked her if it was her birthday (I knew it was) and she absolutely jumped!  She said, "You're not going to throw eggs at me, are you?"  I let her know that I would not throw eggs at a girl, I just had a cake for her.  I went to get her cake, a napkin and a plastic spoon and handed it to her and said Happy Birthday.  She thanked me and went back by the big girls (who she is in charge of).  After a while, I went down there as well to sit and chat with Michell while Bob made supper - rice with garlic, onions and green beans.  After supper, I tutored Durbin in math to prep her for her make-up test tomorrow (she was sick on Friday), while Bob and Alina played Phase 10 with Michell.  When they were called in for the night about 6pm, then we also went in to settle down for the night.