Throwing Fire Ants

This morning Noah wasn't quite ready when it was time to head out the door at 5:30am, so he got locked in the room.  I headed over to the Medium Boys House while Alina went to the Toddler House and we found out that on Saturdays, they run a slightly later schedule.  Instead of going to the Comedor to have breakfast at 6am, they go about 6:30.  After breakfast I headed back to the room to check on Noah and then headed to the yard with the medium boys.

Before lunch, I wasn't feeling so well (stomach issues), so I headed back to our kitchen to get some pear juice.  I opened our room door for Noah and accidentally spilled pear juice all over the floor in our room.  It is crucial to clean up any food immediately due to the bugs down here, and if there is food on the floor, ants will find it VERY quickly.  Noah got me some paper toweling and since the kitchen garbage needed to be emptied, we used that to put the paper towel in.  Noah took quite a while getting the kitchen garbage, informing me that it was absolutely covered in ants.  When we had the mess soaked up, I told Noah to run the garbage to the garbage cans on his way to lunch and that I would mop up the rest of the tile with bleach to get rid of any remaining juice.  I'd meet him in the Comedor.

After lunch, I helped Luis David with calculus and we looked on the internet for a suit for graduation.  He'll be graduating from high school on Saturday, December 15th this year and the boys are required to have suits and the girls are required to dress formally (generally in what we would consider to be homecoming or prom dresses).  Then we headed to supper.

After supper I spent a few hours with Michell before coming back to the room.  When I got back to the room, my foot was really hurting.  I had gotten bitten by kind of bug yesterday (not sure what because I didn't feel or see it at the time), but my foot has swollen up quite a bit since.  This happened to my arm the first night I got here as well.  I guess I will have to be sure to really apply the DEET from here on out.

Noah told me that the medium boys were throwing fire ants at him today.  I didn't think much of it until he showed me his arm, which looked like a bunch of mosquitoes had bitten it.  I guess when you throw a fire ant at someone, instead of bouncing off...it clings on to you for dear life and then bites you.  Noah didn't seem too bothered by it.  I guess boys will be boys.  He retaliated by holding one of the boys' hands on an ant hill.  Again, I guess this is pretty normal for boys.  He's shared quite few stories with me about his experiences down here and perhaps I'll have to share them here online too - so that those who might be a little nervous by this ant story can see it's just another day with the boys for Noah!

A Need for Male Volunteers

We had woke up 1/2 hour earlier, planning for Big Circle but unfortunately, there was no Big Circle today.  For those who are reading this for the first year...I will explain this next week when they have it.  So essentially we had more time this morning before we had to head out for our houses.  While Noah and I were at the Medium Boys House, I chatted a bit with Isaiah, who is a male volunteer from Ohio.  He said that up until Jordy came a week ago, he was the only one in the Male Volunteer House...and although he had only been there a month, mentioned that there hadn't been a male volunteer at Emmanuel since January.  I do remember quite a few years back that Wade had said that they are in great need of male volunteers, so if you know of anyone who would be interested - have them get a hold of me and I can hook them up with a short-term or a long-term spot down here.  The Male Volunteer house has 4 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen (of course a bathroom too!).  It is hard manual labor all day, but well worth it!!!

We headed with the boys to breakfast and then I headed back to our room to change my clothes into something a little more appropriate for teaching.  In the mornings when we walk over to our houses, we typically wear pants because there are a lot of mosquitoes and other bugs in the wet grass that like to pop up and take bites out of your feet and legs if they are uncovered.  We also have DEET (which is typically frowned upon in the States) that we use to repel bugs.  We still get a few bites, but not nearly as many as we would get if we wore shorts and no DEET.

The school gave me both morning time slots to teach calculus (from 7:30-9am and then from 9:30-11:15am).  We reviewed a LOT since these students will not be in school Monday.  I am still a little nervous about how they will perform on the test next Wednesday.

After lunch, I headed back with Alina to our room.  She gets to have from 12-2pm open because the toddlers are napping.  She took a nap too!  I cleaned a little bit and then did some more preparations for math.  When she headed back to the toddler house, I was going to go to the Medium Boys House, but got stopped along the way by the grandecitos (boys ages 13-15).  Some of our medium boys from last year had been brought up to this house and they wanted to chat a bit.  I spent about 1/2 hour with them and then saw the other male volunteer, Jordy, up at the snack shop with Noah.  I went up to chat with them and found out that Jordy is a 6th grade math teacher...so let him know I'd spread the word to the older students in case they're looking for a math tutor this weekend and I'm not available.

After supper, I hung out with Michell in the Medium Girls yard.  This is the set of houses closest to the Comedor.  Since Michell has been assigned to cooking each meal, she needs to be located next to the Comedor...so even though she's techically a big girl, she is in the medium girls houses with the other cooks.

When 6pm came and it began to get dark, we headed back to our room to retire for the night.

Catching Tarantulas?

This morning we were out the door at 5:30am and once again Alina headed to the Toddler House and we headed to the Medium Boys house.  The medium boys were outside the house having devotions as we got there.  When devotions were done, we headed to the Comedor for breakfast.  Most of the Georgia team was down in the Comedor saying their "goodbyes" to the kids since they were leaving this morning.  We found out that there would be teams coming down to Orphanage Emmanuel just about every week we'd be down here except for the last week.

As we were waiting for school to start, the boys and girls soccer teams left on a bus (along with a few others) to head for a big soccer game out of town.  The soccer field they were going to was just finished being built this month!!!  The 2 games, and a stop for lunch at a Chinese restaurant would take all day for the kids, and they weren't expected back until just before supper.  I didn't go due to having to teach calculus.  Noah and Alina did not go along either.  We heard later that both our boys and girls team lost.

School began at 7:30am, so I was in the classroom teaching calculus (definite integrals) from 7:30 until 9am.  When I came back to our room after class, Noah met me up at the room to tell me about his adventures with Selvin.  The man Noah normally works with is named Moncho, however Moncho went to the soccer game today, leaving Noah alone.  Noah tracked down Selvin (a younger man who speaks fluent English) and decided to work with him.  Noah let me know that they caught an alligator and a bunch of tarantulas (YUCK!).  I am still waiting to see the video footage from Selvin to verify that they actually caught a young alligator (probably about 10 inches long) because I am having a hard time believing that actually happened.  But when Noah described the process of catching tarantulas, I knew he participated in that because the process is typical for down here.  They used a bucket of water and poured them down holes in the ground where tarantulas are...which makes the tarantulas crawl out.  Noah said the one they caught was smaller than normal and a yellowish-color.

Noah went with Selvin to fix the fountain out front of the church because it was overflowing.  After fixing the fountain, Selvin pushed Noah into the fountain - I'm guessing because boys horse around.  Good thing Noah was wearing all dri-fit clothes, so they dried very quickly!  Noah said he had a lot of fun working with Selving this morning.

The fountain

We all headed to lunch and in the afternoon I went back to our room to work on this blog, to work on a good review for calculus tomorrow and to rest.  When it was time to go to supper, I met up with the Miller family and they shared stories of their day at the soccer game.  It sounded like a LOT of fun!!!

After supper, Alina went over to where the Miller family was staying to play games with their 3 kids who are between the ages of 12 and 19.  Noah went to the medium boys house to play some basketball, and I worked more on the calculus lesson for tomorrow. 

The curfew here at Emmanuel is 8pm for volunteers, although it gets very dark by about 7pm (not at all like in Wisconsin).  I have told the kids that they need to be back when the sun goes down so that they can get some good sleep in order to get up early again the next morning.

Chocolate-Covered Frozen Bananas (with Sprinkles!) on a Stick

This morning officially began our month of working at Orphanage Emmanuel.  We have to leave our room by 5:30am in order to make it over to the medium boys house by 5:40.  Their schedule has changed since last year and their day begins MUCH earlier.  The boys have also changed houses, so the medium boys are no longer in the dorm next to the dental clinic (the farthest dorm from us), but they are in the newest male dorm, which used to be the dorm belonging to the grandecitos (boys ages 13-15).  Alina headed to the toddler house to begin her day since she is a teenage girl and it is not really appropriate for her to be with us and the boys.  She has been working on her own for the past 3 years, since Noah has been here.  I thank God that she has shown herself very trustworthy and as a hard worker.

After circle, we all walked to breakfast in the Comedor (dining hall).  Since Alina is with the toddlers this year, she also goes to the Comedor, so we will see her for each meal there.  When she was with the babies the past 2 years, they remained in the baby house, so we rarely saw her during the day.  After breakfast, the children no longer go back to their houses...they go straight to school.  School begins around 7:30am now (instead of 8:30).  When they went into their classrooms, Noah headed out on errands with Moncho and I headed back to our room to do some final preparations before heading back to the school to teach calculus at 9:20.  The hour and a half lesson was on definite integrals and went fairly well.  After math class, we headed back to the Comedor for lunch.

On Wednesdays, volunteers are allowed to go into town for groceries or any other things they may need to buy (more time/GB on their phone chips, etc).  We headed into Guaimaca with Chris and Rebecca Miller to stock up on some groceries.  I felt like our list was not that long, but the heavy load that we had to carry on the way back to Orphanage Emmanuel said completely the opposite.  For the past few years, we have generally stopped at a store which sells various treats, including my kids' favorite - chocolate-covered frozen bananas with sprinkles on a stick.  I've included a picture below of what they look like (although these were not actually their bananas). 

When we got back to Emmanuel, we put the groceries away and then I had to take about a half hour nap before working on the math lessons for tomorrow.  In no time at all, it was time for supper in the Comedor and then time to go to church.  A man from the Georgia team gave the sermon about Jesus stepping in when we really need it and basically saying, "Don't worry, I've got this."  After church, the 3 Miller children (actually they're teenagers who are Alina and Noah's age) came over to play games with Alina and Noah in the kitchen.  Then we headed to bed.

A picture of the church at Emmanuel - taken by Noah

The Only Day We Sleep In

This morning we slept in.  By sleeping in, I mean I slept until almost 9am and I let Alina and Noah sleep until just about 10am...this is all on Honduran time, which would be an hour later on Wisconsin time (10am and 11am).  This was some much needed sleep since I hadn't slept since around 5am on Sunday morning.  When we all were up and moving about, we went down to see Morgan to find out what kind of help was needed at Orphanage Emmanuel this year.  Alina's help was needed a the toddler house and I would be spending the next week working with teaching math/calculus again this year.

Generally the first day that a volunteer is here (which would be today), you are allowed to have free time to explore the orphanage and get your bearings.  Although we knew where everything is, it was nice to have some free time to go and say "hi" to all of the kids that we've made connections with over the years.  Alina wanted to walk to the baby house first, and on the way we found Michell and Suly cleaning one of the houses,  We chatted with them a bit before continuing to the baby house. 

The Miller family (who I've mentioned in previous years) is also here this year and the girls are working in the baby house this year.  We chatted with them and Glenda for a while and then set about to accomplish a few things for the day that we wouldn't be able to do tomorrow.  I chatted with Profe Ramon about where they are in their math text and when the exam is.  It turns out the exam is next week Wednesday, and I will only have about 3 days of teaching to do to get them ready.  This seems much earlier than last year, because I'm fairly sure that I had around 2.5 weeks to get the students ready.  He assured me that he had followed my notes from last year and that they were on track to finish the book.

We stopped by the tienda for some lunch and visited with Lourdes and Invisible since we had missed lunch, and then Alina and I headed to where the Miller's were staying (a duplex out on the farm) to get the phone codes, so that we can get some really good discounts to call home.  I had forgotten to pack the codes from home, and these codes can get you rates as cheap as about 5 cents per minute when calling to the States!  It's quite a bit more if you don't use the codes.

We headed to the Comedor (big dining hall) to eat supper with the kids, and supper consisted of elbow noodles, beans and eggs.  Then the medium boys headed to the special needs yard out front of the church to play soccer after supper.  Noah joined in a game of soccer with them while Alina went to church with Sofia for choir practice.  Alina is not going to sing in the choir, she was just sitting and listening to Sofia practice.  We ended the night with a call home to let Bob know that we were all doing well.

Orphanage Emmanuel 2018

Our trek to Orphanage Emmanuel (in Honduras) this year began with traveling up to Green Bay to pick up our rental car yesterday afternoon.  Usually we rent locally in Appleton, however with EAA beginning as well...car rental prices were very high.  Luckily we found a good deal coming from Avis in Green Bay.  Bob dropped Noah and me off at the airport and we were told that they didn't have the size vehicle we had originally requested...FREE UPGRADE to a 2018 Subaru Forester, which would definitely fit the luggage for Alina, Noah and me.

We headed home to finish packing and Bob made us an awesome supper: steak, corn on the cob, beets and carrots.  I was so nervous about forgetting to pack something and that our suitcases would meet the weight limit of 50 pounds, that I wasn't able to take a nap prior to us leaving home just after midnight.  Alina stayed awake with me most of the way to Chicago (with a few very short naps inbetween tolls).  We returned our one-way rental to the Avis center and took the shuttle to the airport.  Our trip to Honduras was on American Airlines this year and consists of 2 flights which connected in Miami.

A very tired Noah on the shuttle bus to O'Hare

And even more tired Alina on the shuttle bus to O'Hare

Noah horsing around with Alina at Miami

We tricked Noah into thinking the flight was only 22 minutes long, 1:05pm until 1:27pm.  The time zone difference put the actual flight time at 2 hours 22 minutes.

Not enough sleep?

When we got to Tegucigalpa, we went through customs and picked up our bags and then found Norman waiting for us.  He told us that it would probably take quite a bit of time to get to the orphanage due to roadblocks all throughout the country.  Taxis and buses are on strike and protesting fuel prices and demanding the government lower the price of gas.  We got our chips for our phone and our modem, exchanged our money and then decided to head straight for Orphanage Emmanuel rather than stop at the grocery store, knowing it would be a long ride and we could go to the grocery store in town on Wednesday.

Road block

What is generally an hour and a half ride turned into a seven and half hour ride.  Our driver, Norman, had the news on and was trying to avoid all roadblocks in the capital city of Tegucigalpa.  However, when we were about 1/2 hour from the orphanage, we got stuck in a roadblock.  FOUR semi trailers had parked perpendicular in the highway side-by-side, blocking all traffic going both ways.  The ditches on both ends were so steep that they were impassable.  We were stuck from 3:30pm until about 8pm.  Alina slept most of the time, being so tired from having stayed awake all of Sunday, through the night and into Monday.  Noah decided to help himself to 5 ice cream treats as a vendor walked up and down the rows of cars who were blocked...not all at once, of course.  Food vendors obviously made out really well on these roadblocks.

At 8pm, there was an announcement on the news which required all roadblocks to be lifted.  Of course by this time the traffic jam was so tremendous that it took until about 9:30 to get to Emmanuel (what should have only taken 1/2 hour given no traffic).  We stopped at a restaurant just outside of Guaimaca (where the orphanage is located) and ordered some take-out food.  When we got all of our luggage in our room, we ate and then went to bed immediately.  We are very thankful to be here!