Alina, Bob and the Team Leave

This morning began like most of the others...heading to the Medium Boys House and then to the Comedor, but it was the last time that Bob and Alina would be with us...their last breakfast here too.  They're taking off today with the team and heading back tot he States 

They left just after breakfast, around 7:30am.  I always get a little nervous when they head back because it is a long trip.  Generally we leave Emmanuel any time between 6am and 7:30am, but the flight doesn't take off from the capital of Tegucigalpa until around 1:30pm.  We get into Miami, but don't catch the 2nd flight until sometime around 8:30pm.  Bob let me know from Miami that their flight had been delayed until close to midnight, putting them into Chicago about 2:15am...and then getting a shuttle to the hotel and driving home right away...getting into Neenah about 5:30am.  That's a lot of hours of travel.

Back at Emmanuel, Noah spent a bit cleaning the bathroom and then we headed to lunch.  Noah played soccer in the yard and then while he decided to go spend time with the medium boys, I decided to spend time with the big girls.  It was a tiring day, knowing that 1/2 of our family was in transit back to the States.

The Last Day for Alina and Bob

This morning was Alina and Bob's last Big Circle.  I tried to get pictures to show you how many children are actually at this orphanage and what Big Circle looks like, but unfortunately I don't think there's any place where I can stand to capture the entire circle (perhaps if I owned a drone and brought it down). 

After Big Circle, we headed to the Comedor for breakfast, then went to school with the medium boys.  The boys who is 2nd in charge of these medium boys is affectionately called Chino because he looks a little Asian.  He had purchased a bag of Nanches, which is a yellow fruit that I don't even know we have in the U.S.  They are about the size of grapes.  He was throwing them one-by-one at the boys, who were fighting over them like when candy is thrown at children on the street in parades.  Then he began throwing 5-8 at a time...even more excitement for the boys!

When school began, we headed back to our room to stock up on water and other items, and then headed out to the special needs yard.  When it was time for recess, we headed over to the school and after recess, Noah noticed the 6th graders playing soccer for phy ed class, so he asked the teacher if he could join in.  She allowed it.  I told him that he should take a 'paleta' (Mexican chili-coated mango-flavored sucker) to the teacher and tell her 'This is for allowing me to play"...thanking her.  He did and I was impressed!

After school, Bob and I met with Luis David at the 'tienda' (store) to give him his graduation outfit (a suit, dress shirt, shoes and tie) and to discuss his future plans after graduating.  He thinks he'd like to be a chef.  We talked through 2 options for him to carry out these plans, and will be looking into both of them with him over the next few months.

When it was time for supper, we headed back into the Comedor.  We ate quickly so that we could get back to our room to microwave the 12 bags of popcorn we had purchased in town on Wednesday for the medium boys.  After getting clearance from Chino, we were going to surprise the boys with popcorn, soda and a movie and share with them our typical "Family Night Fridays".  It was a hit!

Noah Does Morning Devotions

Noah had been asked all week to give the morning devotions at the medium boys house.  He kept saying that he didn't want to, but given how much he was in our room...he had plenty of time to prepare and Bob and I told him that he should do it.  This morning was the morning he 'preached'.  He talked about following in the footsteps of God and focusing on where those footsteps actually were.

After his chat with the medium boys, we went to breakfast and then Alina, Noah and I hung out at the school with the medium boys until school started.  I realized that with Bob here, I haven't really made a daily habit out of blogging, so I have quite a few days to catch up on now.  I tackled that in the morning before recess, and then headed to the school at recess for Almy Misel to braid my hair.  She really enjoys braiding my hair and I need to have it up due to the heat...so it's a win-win situation!

After recess, I worked with Miguel on his math.  He had had surgery the week of the testing and will need to make up his tests this week, although based on the tutoring, I don't think he'll be ready this week.  I worked with him right up until lunch and met Noah, Bob and Alina in the Comedor.  I have been walking to the Comedor this week with Rachel Miller (the oldest of the Miller family children) since she is teaching reading in the elementary school.  After lunch, I headed back to our room with Alina for her 2 hour break from the Toddler House and Bob went to fix a computer. 

At 2pm, Alina took the camera with her to get some shots of the toddlers.  Here are a few of the photos she took.  Unfortunately since I didn't work in the toddler house this year, I do not know their names.

The afternoon and evening were fairly uneventful.  We were going to play a basketball game with some of the bigger kids...Alina was really looking forward to it, however it got cancelled due to a Bible study that was added in at the last minute because of some adolescents that decided to break some rules here at Emmanuel this week.    I guess the kids who were going to play against Alina will just have to wait until next year!

The Boys Passed!

This morning again began the same - medium boys house, toddler house, Comedor for breakfast.  And then the rest of the day was different:

I headed to the school right away because I had no idea when Profe Ramon was going to give the test.  It turns out he wanted it to be done 1st thing during the school day.  While Luis David and Carlitos were doing the retake in the presence of another teacher, I worked with Miguel on reviewing for his test.  He was absent the day of the original test because he had some sort of surgery on his stomach, which set him back about a week.  I asked him what exactly was done, but he didn't seem to know either.  We spent the hour working through problems, reviewing for the original test.  When it was time for recess, we decided to stop and pick up tomorrow.  It looks like he'll be taking the test on Friday.

During recess, a student came to get me to let me know that both Carlitos and Luis David had a couple of questions regarding the retake test I had made for them.  They were small questions and Luis David finished his test fairly quickly after that.  Carlitos used up all of recess and still needed a bit of time to finish, so we were sent to the office for him to finish up the test.  When he finished, Profe Ramon asked me if I could correct the tests and get the results to him before lunch.  I wasn't really sure at that point because there were only about 45 minutes until lunch and I hadn't even made an answer key for the test.  I told him I'd try, but it'd be more likely that I would get it done just after lunch.  I took the tests back to our room - because I work best in complete silence, and I knew that if I stayed in the school...there would be students who would walk the halls, pop in to say "hi" and just distract me from getting the tests corrected in a timely fashion.  In our room, I quickly made an answer key and was able to correct the tests with a few minutes to spare before lunch time. 

I ran them back to the school and gave them to Profe Ramon, explaining Luis David's score was how it was because he had completely forgotten to do 2 problems on the test - one of them was the absolute easiest problem on the test.  Students have to get a minimum of 70% on the test to pass the course.  Carlitos passed with an 82% and Luis David, even though he missed 10% of the test because of missing those 2 problems, passed with a 71%.  The boys were SO happy to hear that they had passed because now they are still on track for graduation.

We headed to the Comedor and then after lunch Doris grabbed Bob to help her set up a printer in the orphanage office while I got Alina and Noah ready to head into town.  Bob had to download a driver in order to get the printer and the computer to 'talk' to each other, and said that this would take a while, so we headed into town together and the plan was to work with the download when he got back.

In town we wanted to buy a year's supply of coffee.  Coffee costs SO much less down here, and it's SO good!!!  Last year we got so much that it lasted through March, but our intention last year was never to buy a year's supply.  With both Alina and Noah not taking many clothes back, we should have enough room in the suitcases to not be over the limit in weight.  Coffee was just about all we got in town.  We did stop at Glenda's when we were on our way back from town so that she could say "hi" to Bob and then say goodbyes to both Alina and Bob since they'll be heading back to the States on Saturday.  I let her know that I was planning on making a guacamole for the medium boys next week, so I'd be by to get some avocados, tomatoes, onions, and other ingredients for that.

We unpacked all of the groceries before heading to the Comedor for supper.  Noah had found out it was Salomon's 13th birthday today, so brought an egg to the Comedor to get him.  After Noah threw the egg, then one of the 'encargados' (bigger boys who help with the medium boys house) put water over Salomon's head, and then another 'encargado' poured hot sauce over Salomon's head.  I'm not so sure Salomon has ever gotten this kind of treatment on his birthday before.

After supper, we needed to get ready for church.  I wore a dress that a teen girl had given me.  The dress was a size to big for her, and she said I should wear it to church.  However, when I put it on, my knees showed and I'm not very fond of dresses that are above my knees.  I did wear it to church, but will be giving it back to this girl since I know I won't wear it in the States.  Perhaps she can gift it to another girl here at the orphanage. 

We had asked to bring William, Maycol, Salomon, Brayan, and Cristopher to church with us.  As usual, Michell snuck in to sit by us when she was finished with her chores of cleaning the Comedor.

From left to right: Brayan, Alina, Cristopher, Salomon, Noah, Maycol, William

Tutoring for the Retake

Today began like most of the other days here...Noah, Bob and I headed to the medium boys house while Alina went to the toddler house.  We all met up in the Comedor for breakfast afterward.  Noah decided to head with the boys after breakfast without telling Bob where he would be, so he ended up 'castigado'...which is a word our kids learn very quickly...it means 'punished'.  Noah was told by Bob that he would have to be in our room all day and could only come out to eat.  All of the children here need to ask permission to have any privileges, from going to the store to going to the bathroom.  Noah needs to learn that he must stay in constant communication with us so that we know where he is at all times.  If you remember, he had tried doing this to me a week or more ago and got the same results...'castigado'.  The medium boys think that it's funny when Noah gets punished, mostly because I don't think they see many foreigners punishing their children, so they figure that they're the only ones who get punished.

After recess (between recess and lunch), I worked with Luis David and Carlitos on the review for their retake test tomorrow.  We got through 16 of the 20 problems when it was time to go to lunch, so we made arrangements to study together after school today and get those remaining 4 problems finished. 

We headed to the Comedor and then I went back to the room to meet up with Alina.  Just before classes finished at the school, I headed down to the 'tienda' (store) to wait for the boys walking back to their houses from class.  Carlitos came over by me and let me know that he got out of farm chores so that he could study.  Originally I was going to come by later for him, when his chores were done.  We walked up to the big boys house where Luis David was and all 3 of us studied together for the retake test, finishing those 4 problems.  The boys will have to do a little more studying later tonight as they are still a little deficient in different areas, but should be fine for tomorrow's test.  Since we had finished up about 1/2 hour before supper, Carlitos decided to go help out on the farm and relieve the boy who stepped in to do his chores for him.  I headed to the Comedor with Luis David, where I met up with Bob, Noah and Alina, and then headed back to our room for the night.

More Birthdays Today

This morning as I moved the towel from the doorway, a tiny gecko ran out.  I said something to Noah and he decided to play with it for a bit before letting it run up the wall to the ceiling.

We got ready for the day and then headed to our medium boys house while Alina went to the toddler house.  We all met in the Comedor for breakfast.  After breakfast, I went to the room to finish writing the retake exam that Luis David and Carlitos would be taking on Wednesday.  Profe Ramon had also asked me to write a review for the test to work on with them over the next 2 days.  When they were both written, I took the test to Profe Ramon so that he could make photo copies of it to give to the boys on Wednesday and then I went to the special needs yard where I spent the morning with Suly and Bob.  I chatted with Suly a lot about her upcoming wedding.  She met a guy in the States and they were working through all of the paperwork, and hoping to be married by the end of the year.

Suly, Bob and I took all the children in the special needs yard out on a walk, through the farm and around the back of the orphanage so that they could get out of the yard for a little bit.  Wilson chose to walk with me as well as Jorge from the power toddlers house.  Wilson has really come around since being in the toddler house years ago.  He seems more calm and less naughty (haha).  He offered to carry my water bottle so that I had 2 hands available to hold hands with him and Jorge.  It was nice to walk with them both!

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.  Alina met us in the Comedor and then we all headed back to our room together.  Since Alina has off for the 2 hours after lunch, she took a nap.  Bob took a nap as well.  Around 2pm, I headed to the medium boys house and just as I was arriving it rained hard...there was thunder (so assuming there was lightning) and it just poured.  I'm glad I got there when I did, because I had books in my drawstring backpack that I didn't want to get wet.

We walked to the Comedor together for supper and then I brought Suyapa, Coco and Cristofer their birthday gifts (tres leches cake, paletas and a gourmet candy cane).  I talked yesterday about Honduran birthdays...Cristofer got quite a few eggs on the head today as well as a cake mashed into his face.  I think he knew as I approached him that I wasn't planning on doing any of that, so we were all good!

How Hondurans Celebrate Birthdays

This morning I was the only one who went to breakfast.  Bob was too tired from his travels yesterday, Noah's least favorite meal of the day is breakfast, and Alina decided she wanted to sleep in.  This meant that I was the only one who got to see Luis David all covered in eggs and moon pies!  Today is Luis David's birthday.  Here at Emmanuel, the tradition is that you "egg" the person who's having a birthday.  Luis David told me that his roommates woke him up at 3am by dumping hot water on him.  That was the first step to celebrating his birthday.  Then, when they got to the Comedor, a friend smashed 3 eggs on his head (this is VERY common down here for birthdays) while another friend grabbed some of the raw egg and smeared it on his face and then finished off by smearing a large moon pie on his face.  I didn't see all of this happen, but I did see Luis David run out of the comedor and he was ALL messy!!!  When he came back, he chose to sit next to me, and I had to warn him about not touching me!  (haha)

We asked permission to allow Luis David, Michell, Nikoll, Alejandra, Cristofer, Brayan, William, Salomon and Maycol to sit by us in church this morning.  We took up an entire row in church...but it was nice to sit by these kids.  Noah's complaint is that he had to sit behind a pillar so unfortunately he couldn't see the words to the songs on the projection screen at the front of the church.

After church we took some of these kids to the tienda for chips, sodas and ice cream.  While we were there, Alejandra's mom came for a visit, so she had to leave early.  The parents are allowed to come and visit the children at the front of the orphanage once a month, and usually it's towards the beginning of the month.  I sent a paleta (lollipop) with Alejandra for her mom.

Clockwise from left:  Bob, Noah, Brayan, Cristofer, Alina, Nikoll, and Alejandra

When we saw the kids heading to lunch, we grabbed those we still had and headed into the Comedor to eat.  I'm not sure how much they ate since they had been snacking all morning, but after lunch we needed to grab Michell and Luis David...two who are very close to my heart...so that we could give them their gifts.  We had purchased quite a few clothes for each of them and also needed to give Luis David his birthday cake.  So we spent the afternoon with the birthday boy and Michell and had quite a few good conversations about school and Luis David's upcoming graduation in December.

Luis David, LoriAnn, Bob and Michell

We had to bring Michell back to the Comedor at 2pm because her work assignment at Emmanuel is to be in the kitchen for all meals, so she needed to get there early to prepare supper.  When it was time for supper, we headed to the Comedor to eat and then decided to retire to our room for the evening.