Bob Arrives!

Because it is Saturday, we got to sleep in an extra 1/2 hour this morning.  Instead of breakfast being at 6am, it is served about 6:30 (since there is no school), so this will give Alina and Noah a little bit longer to sleep in.  Today the Ohio team left (after breakfast), and I spent the morning in the special needs yard, just out front of the church.  I decided that since I was so close to our room, I would make runs back and forth between the yard and the room to get our loads of laundry finished.  Noah grabbed a bunch of boys and arranged for a soccer game...the winning team won the special lollipops we bring down each year.  These suckers are made in Mexico and come in mango flavor (the kids' favorite option down here), watermelon flavor, or corn flavor and is coated in a hotter chili pepper.  You cannot buy these suckers in stores down here, so they only get them once a year...when we're here.

We also spent quite a bit of time giving a lot of the clothes away that we had brought down.  I had bought quite a few bras for the big girls house that were on sale for 90% off.  This is one of the biggest needs that the girls have.  I've already mentioned shoes for the medium boys earlier and in past years.  Unfortunately, even though I had brought over 20 down, there were still girls who only have 1 bra and it is so worn that they have to hold it together with a safety pin.  My mom had given me a bunch of makeup, which I gave to the older girls...lipsticks and some eye shadows.  We really needed to clear a lot of these things out of our room to make room for Bob when he came later today.

After lunch, we headed back to our room to fold the laundry, reorganize some of the furniture in the room to make more space, and then clean the room.  I went to the big boys house then to chat with Luis David about his math test, which he missed a passing score by 2 points.  We talked about the importance of graduating and how he will have to do the retake exam in order to be able to graduate in December.  Keep in mind that here in Honduras, school is only mandatory through the 6th grade.  Any years beyond that are considered completely optional, so graduating from high school really is a big deal...perhaps the equivalent of Americans getting a college degree.

I went back to the room around 2 to wake up Alina so that she could head back to the toddler house.  About 10 minutes later, Norman drove up to the room with Bob.  He brought his suitcases in and then wanted to walk around to say his hellos.  We stopped at the Comedor first, and he said "hi" to Michell.  Then we walked to the medium boys house, where Noah was watching TV with the boys.  Although Noah wasn't overly excited to see him, quite a few of the medium boys were.  Then we walked to the big boys house so he could say "hi" to Luis David.  Finally we got over to the toddler house so he could say "hi" to Alina.  Once again, Alina didn't come running at him (until she needed technology help in getting the DVD player to work).  I am hoping that the love that the kids here at Emmanuel demonstrate on a daily basis to everyone rubs off a little bit onto our own kiddos.

When Bob got the DVD player fixed, it was time for supper, so we headed to the Comedor, ate quickly and then retired to our room for the night since he was very tired from the all-day travels.

A Special Dinner for Staff and Volunteers

Being Friday, today began with Big Circle.  All of the children come right out in front of the building we're staying in to worship, have devotions, and sing praises.  Some children's houses are chosen to recite their memory verses, which usually is comprised of an entire chapter, rather than just 1 verse.  Today it was our medium boys turn, followed by the big boys and then the small boys.

Medium Boys reciting their verses

Small boys reciting their verses

The children of Emmanuel in Big Circle

Big boys reciting their verses

After circle, we went to breakfast and then headed to school where we found out the results of the math test.  Two girls had decided to turn their tests in completely empty.  They were told that there would be absolutely no chance of a retake and that they had to talk with the principal of the school.  There were 2 boys who would be able to retake and we'll have to figure out how that will work so that they can retake next week.

In the afternoon, I was at the medium boys house, helping put together a trampoline that they received from the semi container that came this week.  It is a larger, rectangular shaped trampoline.  It looks really nice outside the boys house.

This afternoon a smaller team also arrived from South Carolina.  There were about 13 people in this group.  Meanwhile, the Ohio group was saying their "goodbyes" as they'll be leaving tomorrow.  Chino (in charge of the medium boys) put together a basketball game with the medium boys and Alina and Noah participated.  There were 3 teams.  Alina's team won the first game 8-16 (against Noah).  Then Noah's team played game #2 and won, and then the final game was between Alina and Noah's team once again (with a few more big people joining in...mostly on Noah's team) and Noah's team won 13-12.

Alina vs Noah

Alina vs Noah

Noah shooting a 3-pointer

Alina ready to bring the ball up the court

We finished off the evening with a dinner put on by the Ohio team for staff and volunteers.  It was extremely filling and consisted of ribs, mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw, fruit and donuts.  I think Noah went back for thirds!  When we walked back to our room from the team house, the power to the orphanage was completely out and we forgot to bring flashlights, so we walked in complete darkness.  We all slept well with full bellies!

A Container and Basketball

It was super cold last night.  Perhaps not Wisconsin cold, but pretty cold by Honduras standards.  I had to turn the ceiling fan off and Noah had 4 blankets on during the night...3 of them were heavier blankets.

The students took their math test today.  There were 2 girls who put their name on the test and turned it in completely blank.  The rest took their time and a few asked questions.  There were 2 small errors on the test, but I put a note about them up on the blackboard.  The test originally had 10 questions and was worth 45 points.  Profe Ramon and I had decided to take off the one question that would be impossible for all of the students and make the rest of the 9 problems worth 5 points each.

Profe Ramon had asked if I would correct the tests, so I took them with me and said that I'd have them back to him by the afternoon.  I had most of the test corrected before lunch, but since my brain was tired, needed to take a quick nap before correcting the last word problem on volume using definite integrals.  The tests didn't look the greatest to me, but ultimately Profe Ramon would be determining who passed the course and who did not.  Students need a 70% in the course to pass.  I returned the tests before the end of the school day and Profe Ramon said that he would take them home and combine those scores with homework, classwork, and behavior to get an overall score for the course for each student.

When we went back to our room, Noah and I saw that the container arrived, so we headed down to help unload the container.  The boxes that we had sent at the beginning of July were on the container and would soon be in the proper hands.  My cousin Sara had sent quite a few clothes for the kids in the baby and toddler house (Honduran toddlers tend to be a LOT smaller than American toddlers), and I sent a bunch of uniforms down for the kids.  After the container was emptied, it was time for supper.

The container up against the warehouse, ready to by emptied

Noah is in green way at the left ready to empty the container

The beginnings of emptying the container

Noah holding Ramen noodles and smiling

One of many boxes sent by us (Thanks Sara!)

 We were told that the Ohio team would be playing a game of basketball against the big boys tonight...in what they called "Americans vs Hondurans".  The Ohio boys let us know that they had challenged the big boys to a game of soccer last year and lost 0-13 and figured it was because soccer is a Honduran thing, so they were bound and determined to beat them in a "American" game of basketball.  Alina and Noah were so excited to be able to play their first game of basketball down here for this year.  When we went in the gym, we saw the big boys first, and they asked if Alina and Noah were going to play.  I let them know that the group said it was "Americans vs Hondurans" but them told the big boys that Alina and Noah weren't part of the group, so I asked the big boys who they should play with...of course they said Alina and Noah should play with them...which the Ohio crew was completely okay with.  Fast forward a little bit - the Hondurans won (with Alina and Noah's help) 32-20!!!  Did I mention that the Ohio group had a boy that was 6'6"?  Alina did a GREAT job defending him.  He was bound and determined to dunk, and never had the chance.

After the game, Alina and Luis David played a game of 1-on-1, Alina was always up by 2 or 4 points, and then Noah and Luis David's friend joined in...making it 2 against 2.  Ending score: 49-38, Alina and Noah won.

Alina 1-on-1 against Luis David

Luis David tries to score on Alina after being taunted by her

It was an awesome day to be at Emmanuel today and I had two teenagers who came back to our room ready to sleep!!!  (After they showered off the stink and sweat from the game, of course)

A Very Difficult Calculus Test

This morning began with our usual routine of heading to our respective houses, taking our children to breakfast and then heading to school.  When I got to school, Profe Ramon showed me the test that the students would have to take tomorrow.  It only took about 5 seconds to look at the test and I felt sick to my stomach.  There were 2 problems on the test that we didn't cover and there was NO WAY the students would be able to do one of the problems (not to mention there wasn't any similar examples of this problem in the book). 

Profe Ramon wanted to know if I could review with the students, and I let him know exactly what I saw on the test...that it was quite a bit harder than the reviews the students have been given the past few days (based on the prior test he had given me).  I told him that I needed to go back to my room to prepare a review for them.  I work best in complete silence.  Rachel (from the Miller family that I have mentioned a few times in my blog) said that she would review with the students a little bit.  She had helped me last week and I had a small review today to do with the students.  She said she could work with them on that until I got back with a more intensive review, so that was the plan.  When I got back, I taught the students one of the topics that they had missed, but unfortunately there was no way that the other topic could be taught in such short a time with sufficient practice to be successful on that question.

After reviewing with the students, we headed to lunch and then being Wednesday...headed into town for our weekly groceries and supplies.  I stopped at a store on the way into town and got Michell a calculator.  She had been borrowing one from a friend all this year and I decided she should really have her own.  I bought a bunch of groceries that Bob had requested, since he'll be coming down on Saturday.  Noah wanted to stop for the chocolate covered frozen banana on the way back, and then we stopped in to see Glenda and bought a few vegetables from her.  She was making tortillas when we stopped by, so she had Alina finish up the tortillas while she helped us get the vegetables.  When we were done buying, she had Alina take 4 tortillas with her to eat since Alina helped finish them up.

When we got back to the orphanage, we put the groceries away, read for a little bit, headed to supper, and then headed to church.  Noah brought 2 boys to church with him, and as usual Michell found her way over to us when she came in from cleaning the Comedor.  When church was finished, we headed back to the room to call home.  Everyone got to talk to Bob and Kaylyn.

School Fundraiser

Because I spent so much time looking for Noah last night (and he chose not to be where he was supposed to be), and also because I ended up with a blister on my foot from circling the orphanage so many times looking for him, I had decided that he would need to be locked in the room this morning.  Alina and I set out to our houses (medium boys and toddler) at about 5:30am while Noah slept.  We went through our traditional morning routine, heading to the houses, taking the children to breakfast and then I took the boys to school while Alina went with the toddlers back to their house. 

After taking the boys to school and seeing them off to class, I went to the special needs yard to spend some time with Carolina, one of the ladies who is in charge of the yard.  Carolina has been at Emmanuel ever since I began coming 11 years ago.  She seems like tough lady on the outside, but when you begin talking to her, she is super nice and sweet and genuinely cares for all of the kids.  We are all here for the same reason...to show the kids love.

As I was chatting with Carolina, one of the bigger boys came through the yard carrying baliadas.  Baliadas are hand-made gargantuan tortillas with beans and eggs and a special Honduran cream (looks similar to sour cream but with a different taste).  The students who will be graduating in December need to do fundraisers to pay for their graduation expenses, and this is one of many of their fundraisers.  They had told me about the sale last Thursday and I had placed an order for 2 plates of baliadas.  They also came with juice in a bag (rather than a glass or plastic bottle or cup).  I had completely forgotten that I had placed the orders, but when I saw this big boy with his baliadas, telling me my order was ready, I quick hopped up and ran over to the school to get my order.  I gave away the bags of juices to 2 students at the school and then took the baliadas back to our room for me and Noah.

I stayed in with Noah until lunch time and then we headed to the Comedor.  When we were done eating lunch, Alina had her 12-2pm break, so I came back to the room with her.  She had gotten her hair braided into a heart today.  There is a girl in the toddler house that can make many different letters and shapes out of braids.  After unlocking the door to the room for Alina, I headed out to the medium boys house to spend time with them before walking them to supper.  They invited me to come back to their house later to watch movies.

When I got to their house in the evening, they were just finishing up watching the Fantastic 4 with the team members that came over (with soda and popcorn) to watch the movie with them.  Rather than watching this on the "big screen" that I had described earlier, they were watching on their very little, dated television set.  When the team left the house, Chino announce that we would be doing the Cinemax experience once again to watch another movie that I had bought them...Ferdinand.  The boys were so excited!  So I stayed even later with Noah to watch it.  We didn't get back to our room until the orphanage's curfew time for volunteers (8pm) and Alina was extremely worried about how late it was.  Nice to have the roles switch around for once and the daughter is worried for the mom!

Surprise! I'm Teaching Today.

This morning began another week of what will become our morning ritual for the next few weeks.  Noah and I heading to the Medium Boys House and Alina scrambling to find the toddlers.  I say that because she found this last week that if she walks to the Toddler House, sometimes they're at the house, sometimes they're 'en route' to the Comedor, and sometimes she has absolutely no clue where they are.  And sometimes when they're 'en route', they are taking a different route to the Comedor that she is taking to go to their house (there are at least 3 routes they can take).  I have a feeling that she may just meet them at the Comedor from here on out.

After breakfast, I headed to the Special Needs Yard to spend the morning with Carolina, but Rachel came over after about an hour or so to let me know that the biology tests didn't come in today and the school was wondering if I could teach math during that time.  This week is test week at the school.  Today was supposed to be the biology test, tomorrow the English test, and Wednesday the math test.  These are national tests and all students in the country take.  The students must pass these tests in order to graduate.  I guess the biology tests, didn't make it to our town of Guaimaca from the capital (Tegucigalpa) yet.  So I went to our room and grabbed the math material and headed down to the school to teach, unprepared.  We worked through the review I had given the students on Friday and I made a few extra similar problems for the students to tackle as well.

While I was in the school this morning, Noah was out with Selvin.  They found a horse that got onto the orphanage property that was from town and they also caught a few big grasshoppers.  We all met up at lunch and then Alina and I headed back to the room since she is free from noon-2pm because the toddlers are napping.  We read for those 2 hours.  She is just finishing up The DaVinci Code and really enjoying it.

When she had to head to the Toddler House at 2pm, I headed to the medium boys house.  They were distributing some shoes out to the boys.  Once again the boys' shoes are in really rough shape (see pictures from my blog 2 years ago to see what "rough shape" actually means).  There were not enough shoes to go around, so some boys will have to wait until more shoes come in.  After the shoe distribution, we headed to the Comedor for supper, but unfortunately Noah didn't show up.  I had to walk the orphanage twice trying to find him and when I finally did, let him know that he would have to be in our room for the rest of the evening and tomorrow morning because he wasn't where he was supposed to be.

Chino invited me back to the Medium Boys house this evening to watch the movie Coco with the boys.  When I went, he had an entire 'Cinemax' experience set up for the boys.  That's what they called it - Cinemax.  They set up a double bed sheet on the wall and Chino had a projector and nice speakers hooked up to his laptop.  They played the movie onto the "big screen" (bed sheet).  I had written down a list of movies for Chino to download since he has an app that downloads movies for a much more reasonable price than buying them in town.  Coco was one of the movies I asked him to get and the boys had never seen it before.  The boys really enjoyed the movie and it was nice to have an evening to enjoy it with them.  Hoping many more movie nights come out of this!

Sunday = Free Day

Sundays are our free days here at Emmanuel, the days we can have off to relax just as God intended.  Noah took this literally and decided to sleep in, past the normal wake-up time of 5:15am.  He said that he was okay with skipping breakfast if he could just sleep in...so I headed to breakfast with just Alina.  When we got back, we got ready for church.

Noah decided to bring 3 medium boys to church: Salomon, Maycol, and William.  I brought Alejandra (from the small girls house) and then Michell came in and sat by Alina when she got done cleaning the kitchen.  After church, we headed to the 'tienda' with the kids.  Noah bought his boys quite a few items from the store, like chips and soda and popcorn and ice cream.  I think he may have spent most of his money now. 

We waited at the store for the houses to come down for lunch in the Comedor.  Word got out that they were having fried chicken!...which doesn't happen very often - only when teams decide to sponsor a special meal for them.  The chicken was SO good, and was served with mashed potatoes and cole slaw.

After lunch I went over to the big boys house to help Luis David and Luisito with their math review.  The test is coming this next week and it will not be easy.  It is their last math test before graduation in December.

Noah met me at the big boys house as I was tutoring and his head was covered in eggs.  Apparently the medium boys went out to the farm and decided that they would have an egg fight of sorts.  He had to run back to our room to shower up and change clothes before supper.

When supper was done, Noah went to play some more with the medium boys in the yard out front of our room.  I went down to watch for a bit, but then decided to read for a little while before turning in for the night.  Our work starts again tomorrow!