Big Circle, Sports, Activities and an Awesome Surprise to End the Day!

This morning began with Big Circle, which was a great way to kick off our last full day here.  The weather was perfect, the children sang, Santos gave the morning devotion and the boys recited their verses.  Kaylyn got to experience her first Big Circle before going home.

Left to Right: Kaylyn, Sofia and Alina

After Circle ended, we headed to the comedor for breakfast.  We heard that the high school was going to have a sports and activities day today, so I asked Elvia if Alina, Noah and Kaylyn could participate with the classes and she said that'd be great!  We walked the toddlers back to their house and then headed to our room for the kiddos to change into more athletic attire.

At the school they decided to play soccer, zumba, twister and checkers.  The day started out with a girls soccer game, and the girls said they wanted Alina to play with them.  The boys invited Noah to help announce the game, and Noah was just hilarious because it was extremely difficult for him to follow the fast-paced talk (in Spanish of course) of the game.  This may have been the very first time that Alina has EVER played soccer in her life!...so the pictures below might be a little deceiving.  Her team lost 0-6. 

The boys began to play after the girls game ended, and Noah was out on the field playing (I didn't get any pictures in time), but it began to rain the and game got cancelled.  We went back into the school in order to get out of the rain.  A few of the teachers were selling chips with cole slaw and charamuscas, so I bought each of the kids a plate to snack on while they watched some students play twister.

Kaylyn with her plato and charamusca 

When the finished twister, they got the TV and Wii out in order to have a Zumba competition.  There were a few students who decided to compete against each other in Zumba.  The boys pulled their microphone and speakers inside and made suggestions on who should compete.  They (and the students) asked for Alina to compete against Noah in Zumba.  It was so fun to hear the students cheering for Alina and Noah as they competed against each other dancing to the Zumba recording.  I think Alina and Noah (who were hesitant to do it at first) were glad they did it and had a lot of fun.

We headed to lunch and then after lunch spent most of the afternoon giving away Alina's, Noah's and Kaylyn's Oshkosh North, Blizzard and Appleton West uniforms and warm-up jerseys that they've had through the years.  The girls were SO excited to get them!  

Before we knew it, it was supper time.  Alina walked her 2 toddler boys back to their house and I walked back to my room.  As I walked back, a girl came running up to me, telling me that Yency was in the office getting her papers.  I thought it was a girl who is here at the orphanage who I see on a daily basis, so I wasn't in too much of a hurry to get to the office.  I went to my room to go to the bathroom and then made myself a cup of coffee, and then chatted just a little with the neighbors when Sofia came running past me and said that Yency was in the office and I needed to get down there, and then she said, "Coco's sister".  This Yency I had not seen in 5 years when she left Emmanuel.  She was one of the original girls in the room I was put in charge of 12 years ago!  I was so excited that I let the neighbors know I'd be right back and sprinted to the office.  It was so nice to give her a hug once again!!!  I got a couple of pictures and then Alina came running down the hill.  A girl told her about Yency and she said she sprinted all the way from the toddler house to the office (it's quite a ways, and hilly), she said with her basketball slides...she just about sprained/broke her ankle, so she took them off and ran in her socks!

Coco came down and so they both went into the office to chat for a bit.  Alina and I hung around for a little bit but then decided to head back up to our room and give them the time/space to chat since they are twins.  It wasn't much after that Coco shouted up toward the hill to our room that Yency wanted to see me one more time to say Goodbye.  So of course I ran back down to the office (with Alina).

I really feel like this was a blessing, our last night at Emmanuel and we get to see Yency.  God is good!

My Last Math Classes

This morning the girls and I headed off to the toddler house while Noah took off for the medium boys house.  We all met in the comedor for breakfast.  Noah is eating more and more of his breakfast - and I can only assume because he's out of money to buy "extra stuff" at the store.

After breakfast, I went back to the room with Noah to get ready for school.  I got all of my books and notes in the bag and then sewed a pair of pants that I plan to leave down here, which had a small rip in them.  Mrs. Miller sent Kaylyn with some iodine and a big bandage so that I could clean Noah's back.  He slipped on a scooter last week and scratched up his back.  Most of it has scabbed over and looks like it's healing okay, but there is one patch that is rather large and looks as if it may be getting infected.  I was surprised that Noah didn't even flinch when I rubbed 2 pads of iodine on the spot.  We got him all patched up and he left to go work with Chino.

Today was the last day of math classes for me to teach.  The first 2 hours of the day were spent in Bachillerato 2 finishing up the lesson on limits.  There are still quite a few students who are confused (and rightly so with only meeting once a week for just an hour and 20 minutes), but I am hoping that they have enough notes to study from before their mid-term exam comes.  After working with them, I headed back to the room to use the open hour to prep for the other math class and also to make an answer key for the homework I gave to Bachillerato 2.  When recess was over, I headed back down to Bachillerato 1 to wrap up parabolas with them.  Many students in that class said they they were just beginning to understand everything that goes along with the study of parabolas (vertices, intercepts, quadratic formula, domain, range, graphing, etc), and I'm sure they have enough notes to study from for their test in the next couple of weeks.  I headed to the teachers break room to finish up the answer key for Bachillerato 2 and then took the math text books and all of my notes to Profe Ramon.  I made some suggestions on where to go next with Bachillerato 2, and reminded him that he had all of my notes from the past 3 years, so if he follows that as a guide, he should be able to get the students through the remainder of the book.

I only had about 15 minutes until lunch, so I spent it in the special needs yard, chatting with Sofia and Coco and a few others that were there.  I met up with Alina, Noah and Kaylyn in the comedor for lunch, and then helped walk the toddlers back to their house to put them down for naps.  When we came back we began to gather the clothes that the kids and I would not be taking back, and bagged it up to give away.  We put the smallest suitcase inside of mine, so taking our suitcase total from 5 down to 4, and rearranged some of the items.  That small suitcase is almost completely full of coffee (YUM!) and then solid dish soap to last us through the year.  In the small gaps between the small suitcase and the larger one, we stuffed some clothes that will go back to the States, but that we won't need until after we get home.  That suitcase is now locked and won't be opened until we get to Wisconsin (unless customs decides to open it up and check it out).  I am now sharing a suitcase with Kaylyn and Alina and Noah have a bunch of odds and ends (extra dish soap, candies, etc) in their suitcases.  I'm sure the 3 remaining suitcases to fill will still have a lot of extra space in them, but unfortunately none of them will fit into another, so we can't consolidate any more.

Alina and Kaylyn headed back to the baby house to get up the toddlers and I headed to the grandecitas house to drop off Kaylyn's bag of clothes.  We will have to see how many girls are wearing Kaylyn's clothes tomorrow and on Saturday morning!

After supper, Alina and I took our clothes to the special needs house.  We came back with NOTHING - which means we did not have to go to other houses to give the remaining clothes away - they wanted it all.

We decided to stay in tonight and watch a movie together as a family on Netflix.  The power had went out, but since the cell phone towers were still working, we were able to do it.  We watched a comedy and all had a bunch of good laughs!  What an enjoyable way to spend one of our last nights here as a family!

Kaylyn's First Communion

This morning I got up to post the events from yesterday, but my internet stick (USB modem) was empty.  I was a little bummed out because I only have 3 days left here, but since it was Wednesday, I knew I could get just a little more put on the stick in town later in the day in order to get me through the rest of the week.  So my morning routine changed a little bit since I couldn't type up my blog.  I finished prepping for the math class I would teach today (Bachillerato 1) before waking up the kids.

We headed to our houses and then to breakfast.  Noah is eating more at the comedor now because he is out of money...both his and the allowance I gave him for the week.  Alina and Kaylyn walked the toddlers back to their house after breakfast while I headed to my room to get ready to teach math class at 7:30am.  I packed up the books and notebook, my glasses and calculator, and pens and pencils.  We are wrapping up parabolas today and tomorrow and then I will turn the class back over to Profe Ramon who will get into teaching the students how to graph logarithms, exponentials, rationals, absolute values, etc. in the next few weeks.

When I finished teaching, I took the materials back to my room for safe-keeping before heading to the toddler house.  I also got our backpacks emptied out and ready to head into town later.  Our neighbors (Angela and Erin) were there, so I chatted with them briefly before heading to the toddler chosa.  Erin was here last summer for 2 months as a volunteer working with the small boys.  Angela, her mom, had never been here before so Erin wanted to show her around.  They will be here until Sunday (and Erin goes to back for her last semester of college on Monday), so we will be neighbors for the duration of our stay down here.

I headed to the chosa and saw that Alina's friend, Mirian, was wearing Alina's shirt.  Alina had taken a bag full of her clothes that she brought down here to the toddler house to give away to the teens in that house.  She let Mirian have first pick of the clothes because they have grown close over the past few years.  When it was time to go to the comedor, we took the toddlers down there and at a bit before heading back to our room to get ready to go to town.

We went into town with the Miller family, Angela and Erin, and the male volunteer that's here.  We stopped at both grocery stores for more coffee and solid dish soap (I SO prefer this to liquid dish soap), and then headed to the Claro store to get just a little bit more time/GB on my internet stick.  On our way back to Orphanage Emmanuel, we stopped at the bakery which sells chocolate covered frozen bananas so that the kids could purchase one, just one last time.  Noah had just enough money left in his account at the store at Emmanuel to ask for the money in cash to get a banana.  They are $7 Lempiras (about 30 cents).  Not bad at all for how much the kids enjoy them!  

Kaylyn with a frozen chocolate covered banana (with sprinkles)

Our last stop was to Glenda's to say our goodbyes.  We bought another watermelon and I am hoping that the girls share it with those who are in charge of the special needs house, or those in charge of the toddler house.  We will see.  

Left to Right: Alina, me, Kaylyn, Glenda, Noah

When we got back to our room, we unpacked everything before heading to the comedor for supper.  Tonight was church and Alexander was preaching about Moses and being brave.  We had been told earlier in the week that there would be communion tonight.  I meant to talk to Kaylyn all week about it, but every time I would have had the chance, it slipped my mind.  The style of communion at Emmanuel is just like Calvary, with everyone taking communion as one congregation.  When they called us up for communion, I noticed (after that fact) that Kaylyn went with us.  After she had taken communion, she smiled at me and said it would be a most memorable experience!

Before heading to bed, we chatted a bit with the girls in charge of the small girls house, next door...and then chatted a bit with our neighbors.  I think all of the kids were sleeping by 7:30pm due to having went into town.  It was not as hot today since there were clouds all day and a breeze.

Taking the Toddlers on a Walk

This morning was fairly normal (with going to the toddlers and medianos houses and then heading to breakfast), up until breakfast was over.  We dropped the toddlers off who would be going to school at their house before heading to the chosa in the back.  It was just minutes later when they all came running and screaming into the chosa, announcing that they didn't have school today.

Having all the kiddos from the toddler house in the chosa for the morning for just over 4 hours would be just as busy as it was on Saturday, so Laurie and I decided to take the older ones for a walk to the farm since it was still a little cooler outside.  We asked for all of the kiddos who should have been in class, and also took Rebekah, Kaylyn and Noah (who stopped by the chosa briefly to return our room keys).  Kaylyn had not yet been to the farm, so I'm glad she was able to come.  In all, we had 9 children from the toddler house.  We walked to the farm the back way, stopping at the campo (BIG soccer field), by the pigs, roosters, cows, plants/garden, tilapia farm, chicken house, and ending up at the horse barn to drop Noah off for work.  As we began our walk, I realized I didn't have my camera so I wasn't able to take any pictures.  I think Kaylyn was amazed by how big the farm actually was!

When we got the toddlers back to the chosa, we found out that a new girl was dropped off (by the Honduran version of social services) at the toddler house.  She was really quiet and didn't want to talk.  We headed to lunch with the toddlers, and then came back to get them down for a nap before heading to our room for the next hour and a half to rest up ourselves.

Lower Right: Alina and Kaylyn patting the toddlers backs to get them to nap

When we came back, we got the toddlers up.  The new girl began talking and told the girls in charge of the toddler house that her name was Rachel (she pronounced it in English).  We got the rest of the kiddos ready and them took them to the comedor for supper and then back to get them showered and their pajamas on.  As we came back to our room, we met our new neighbors...a mother and her daughter (who was a volunteer last summer) who are from Alabama, named Angela and Erin.  We chatted a bit before turning in for the night.

Big Cockroaches

This morning I went about my normal routine.  My alarm is always set for 3:30am (4:30am Wisconsin time), and sometimes I get up...sometimes I snooze it.  I never get up after 4am though as I want to be showered and dressed before I get the kids up.  After showering and getting dressed, I usually sit down on my bed next to Kaylyn (who is still sleeping) and type up my blog from the day before.  This morning as I was typing up the blog, I notice a super-sized cockroach on the floor right beside the bed, making its way by one of my sandals.  I grabbed the sandal to kill it, but then it took off at lightning speed (as most uninjured cockroaches do).  By the time I got off the bed and looked under it to try to find the cockroach, it was gone.  I can honestly say with that experience, I did not need coffee this morning...I was awake.  Cockroaches don't scare me, just gross me out.  It didn't take more than about 20 minutes before I saw it again on the other side of the room by Alina's bed.  I opened the door to outside, grabbed the broom and swept it out.  I'm not really into killing cockroaches and tarantulas if I don't have to, just don't want them in our room.

We had a pretty normal day today, heading to the toddler house and medium boys house before breakfast, meeting up again in the comedor for breakfast and then heading in our separate directions once again...the girls and I to the chosa, and Noah to the horse barn with Chino.  Mid-way through the morning, I headed to the school to see if Elvia had finished Michell's school report to give to David, but she wasn't at the school so I would have to go back later (or tomorrow).  Then I headed to the farm to check on Noah, who was working on painting the metal rafters.   I noticed that one of his eyes was just beginning to get puffy and red around the eyelid, so let him know he'd have to go to the clinic in the afternoon.  Then I went back to our room to get money to put into the kids' accounts at the store for the week, $120 Lempiras (about $5 USD).  I am guessing Noah will go through this super quickly again, but he also said that he only has $57 Lempiras left of his own money, so we will see.  I also grabbed money to pay for Luis David's passport and my notebook with the dates for future visits. 

My next stop was to the office.  Fabio (a student from 2 years ago) was visiting and said HI.  I think he had to pick up some papers and he was talking about a job in the San Pedro Sula region, either working in the office or being a security guard, but he mentioned how dangerous working security is...anywhere in Honduras.  I first went to Morgan and gave her the dates that Bob will be here in December for Michell's graduation.  I am hoping Andres goes with him, and am guessing that I will not be able to go due to my new job.  Then I gave her the dates we would plan on coming down next year, and finally checked in on what time Norman would be here this Saturday to pick us up and take us to the airport in Tegucigalpa.  Three weeks has went so fast.  After taking care of those things with Morgan, I headed over to Sarah to give her the money for Luis David's passport.  In early June, she said it would cost $50USD (or $1200 Lempiras).

I then headed to the store to drop $120L into each of the kids accounts, their last allowance for food while they are here.  And finally I walked back to the chosa to be with Alina and the toddlers once again.  Kaylyn had caught up with me at the tienda and asked for the keys to go back to the room to take an ibuprofen, but she made it back to the chosa.  She handed me a warm bun and told me that Alexander was in the bakery and gave her two, one for her and one for me.  I broke mine into small pieces and gave it to the toddlers in the chosa.  We walked the toddlers to lunch and then brought them back to the living room at the toddler house for them to take naps.  While they were napping, we came back to our room to take a nap too.  The mid-day naps have been nice, even I have been taking them lately.  At 2pm we got up to head back to the toddler house.  They don't wake the toddlers up at 2pm anymore...it's more like sometime between 2:30 and 3pm.  But sometimes those kids just need to nap a bit more.  We played with them until it was time to go to supper and then walked them to the comedor and back to their house in order to get them showered and into their jammies.

When we came back to the room, Alina took Noah and Kaylyn to the school yard soccer field and hit the volleyball around with them.  I decided to take the computer and internet USB modem up to the special needs girls house and try to help Michell find a dress for graduation on Amazon.  We found 2 that she likes, but are still going to look.  Since she only liked 2 on Amazon (she really wants a green dress), we tried the Walmart website, Target website, Old Navy website, TJ Maxx website (which doesn't work in Honduras), Ross Dress for Less (which doesn't list clothes on its site).  I was trying to think of stores by our Fox River Mall that would have sites.  I told Michell I'd come back tomorrow with more ideas of other sites.  When I got back to the room, Noah mentioned Kohl's...I don't know why I never thought of that.  So we'll be searching the Kohl's website tomorrow, and perhaps Maurices and whatever else Alina can think of.  We went to bed early because we were pretty tired.  It was our last Monday here at Orphanage Emmanuel, and it was well-spent.

Live Tarantula 2019

As we got up and ready to head down to the comedor for breakfast this morning, I reminded Alina, Noah and Kaylyn that this was our last Sunday at Orphanage Emmanuel.  It was our last "free" day.  After eating breakfast, Noah asked for the keys to the room, so I gave them to him and he ran back...I assume to change for church and then head over to the medium boys house to grab Brayan and Gibran.  Alina was next to head to our room as Kaylyn and I finished up breakfast.

When Kaylyn and I were done with breakfast, I took her on a tour of the school since it was on the way to our room.  I have forgotten she hasn't yet gotten a full tour of this place.  We will have to do some more walking out to the farm later this week.  I showed her the 2 classrooms where I've been teaching (Bachillerato 1 and Bachillerato 2), and then we headed back to our room.  As we made it up the hill, we saw Alina standing outside the hotel room, smiling.  I approached her and asked if Noah left her the keys and her response, at that time, was yes and they were on the arch.  I got closer to the arch and noticed a small black blob and paused, smiling at Alina.  Kaylyn, confused why I didn't go immediately grab the keys, went and grabbed them herself and let herself into the room.  Now, before I go any further, I do want to say that this black blob was on ONE side of the arch and the keys were on the other, so Kaylyn was not in danger at all.  I let her know after she grabbed the keys that there was a tarantula on the arch. 

Alina told me after the fact that as she came up to the room, Noah was leaving.  She noticed the room door was closed, so asked Noah for the keys.  Apparently he replied with a smile, "The keys are on the arch, right next to a tarantula!"

I'm not sure if it was "sleeping" or if it was all tucked into a ball because it was cold since it was still morning, but it wasn't that recognizable if you didn't know what to look for.  I decided that the tarantula had to go, so I got my broom and swept it down from the arch.  When it hit the ground, a leg popped off (I did NOT intend for this to happen), and then I swept it off the porch onto the grass.  It landed upside down.

I kept an eye on the spider, and a little while later noticed that it had flipped itself over.  Once again I went for the broom and decided to poke at it, so it would go running in the opposite direction as our room.  Each time I poked at it, it decided to come running towards me, so I flung it again - further away from the room.  Once again it landed upside down.  We had to go to church, and I will say when I got back from church it was gone.

We went to church this morning and Noah had brought Gibran (his sponsored child) and Brayan.  I brought Nikoll and Julissa, and Alina had went to the toddler house to pick up her 2 boys that I had posted pictures of earlier, Jose Francisco and Dilmer.  David opened up the service today and also dedicated Allison's baby to God, so it was wonderful to see a dedication.  Alexander preached the sermon today and talked about having been with pastors in town who received donations from Orphanage Emmanuel of clothes and toys, and watched as those pastors gave the donations out to the poor in town...allowing them to take 5 items each.  He mentioned a woman who only had 1 dress, so she would wear it for a week without changing/washing it...what a blessing to receive extra clothes!  When people send supplies down here to Orphanage Emmanuel, they are not just blessing the orphanage, but those in town as well.

Kaylyn with Dilmer, Alina with Jose Francisco, Julissa, me, Nikoll, Gibran, Brayan, Noah

David (founder of Emmanuel) opening the service

After church, we took the children to the store to get them chips, a soda, cookies and ice cream.  We spent the morning with them and then headed to the comedor for lunch.

Left to Right: Alina, Jose Francisco, Kaylyn, Nikoll, Michell

Kaylyn with Dilmer

Left to Right: Gibran, Brayan, Noah

After lunch, I spent the afternoon with Erika, Dayana and Coco in the medium/big girls yard, which it out front of the comedor.  One of the girls braided my hair as I chatted with the girls.  Kaylyn got her nails painted by some of the older girls.  The nails on her hand are an alternating red and blue, and her toe nails are a deep burgundy (which she didn't really care for, but then do look much nicer than they were before).  Kaylyn walked back to our room (where Alina was taking a nap).  I stayed in the yard with the girls until it was time for them to line up for supper and then went to the comedor again.  Noah made it down to the comedor on time for supper, but Alina was about 20 minutes late.  When I asked her where Kaylyn was, she didn't know.  What actually happened is that Kaylyn went to the bathroom and Alina thought she had left for the comedor, so she left too...locking Kaylyn into the room.

When we got back from the comedor, Alina and Kaylyn decided to enjoy the rest of the watermelon that we had bought from Glenda last Wednesday.  I let them know they would really need to clean the kitchen when it was gone because ants would find their way to the kitchen in droves if they weren't careful with the cleaning.

As they finished up eating the watermelon, Rebekah and Nathaniel (Miller) came over to play with them.  They headed down to the school playground and played until dark.  It does get dark early down here, compared to Wisconsin.  It's pretty black by 7pm...so I really don't have to worry about them staying up too late!

Kaylyn Sees Iguanas

Today went fairly smoothly, with us going to our toddler and medium boys houses in the morning and walking with them to breakfast.  Noah got to spend the morning with the medium boys playing soccer in the yard outside the church and school.  The girls and I were in the chosa all morning with the toddlers.  We have not yet been out to the park or on a walk with the toddlers in the 2 weeks we've been here, and Laurie (Miller) thought that was really odd since we were out in the park almost every day when Glenda was with the toddlers.  Glenda is now with Veronica Diaz working in the Team House. 

We walked with the toddlers to lunch and then walked them back to their living room area for naps.  It's neat how they all lay down next to each other in a row (I'll have to try to remember to get a picture of this) and just fall asleep so quickly.  I guess that means they played hard in the morning.  We walked back to our room to get some rest too.  Before Alina laid down, her and Kaylyn heated up some of the chinese rice from Luis David's birthday on Monday.  They like the rice and have been eating a little each day, but I let them know that it would have to be gone before tomorrow in order to eat it prior to it going really bad (Morgan gave us a LOT of rice).

On the way back to the toddlers house, the girls ran on ahead.  I saw 2 iguanas in the park next to their chosa.  I let Kaylyn know about it once I got to the toddler house and she ran to the park to try to see them.  We let her know exactly where to look.  She came running back and said she saw FOUR iguanas!  When the toddlers were up, they played for a little bit before lining up for supper.  We went to the comedor for supper and then walked them back and gave them showers and got them into their pajamas.  On our way back to our house there was 1 lone iguana yet, half on the cement, half in the grass.  Kaylyn noticed it and I said she should run towards it to see how long it took for the iguana to run off and hide.  Kaylyn got within 10-15 feet before it took off under a patch of cement.  She ran up to the hole and said she could see the iguana hiding under it. 

When we got back to our room, I decided that we should just stay in for the night.  Noah came back, so I got out one of the games I had purchased from the Dollar Tree (prior to coming) for them to play.  It is like our game "Watch Your Mouth" back home, where you put in that dental appliance that opens your mouth and then try to say a phrase and everyone needs to guess what you're saying.  They had fun doing that, and it was much needed, as the kiddos were starting to get on each other's nerves the past few days.  Alina cut up the watermelon we bought from Glenda, and I think the girls ate around 1/2 of it!  Alina said it was SO good.  I may have to buy another one for the kids here when we go into town on Wednesday.

The power went out again, so we lit the candles and turned on the 2 flashlights in order for the kiddos to shower and then we decided it would be time for bed.  This was the last full Saturday for us here at Orphanage Emmanuel (well, in 2019 anyway).

Big Circle Cancelled

Last night I had reminded Alina, Noah and Kaylyn that they were to be ready on time in order to attend Big Circle today.  They actually got ready on time!  Unfortunately, as all the children made it to the circle, it started to rain...and they had to cancel.  The children walked back to their areas and each had their own small circles (something that they do on a daily basis, except for Fridays).  When they walked away from Big Circle, we took this as our cue to get to where we normally go in the mornings.  I am hoping that they (especially Kaylyn) are able to see a Big Circle next week as it will be our last Friday here.

A picture of Alina, Michell and Kaylyn in Big Circle before the rain came

We walked the toddlers to breakfast and then back to the chosa to play for a bit.  Veronica Diaz had told Laurie Miller that she would open the Team House store (where they sell both Honduran goods and Emmanuel goods) at 7am, so we all walked over there to see what there was.  Kaylyn had seen a backpack last week that she really wanted and was hoping was still there.  The South Carolina team was getting ready to leave and the bus was pulled up.  Mary Beth and her husband, Steve, were headed to Tegucigalpa with the team and were going to stay there for the weekend as a mini-vacation, so I chatted with her about last evening's and this morning's events.  Kaylyn was able to buy the backpack with money her grandpa gave to her, so went away really happy!

We walked back to the chosa at the Toddler House and after just a little bit, Kaylyn said that she wasn't feeling well again.  Her stomach has been empty for a while now, so I'm guessing it will be tender while it recuperates.  I took her back to our room and got her some more pear juice, and also heated up and drank some of the tea (from yesterday) for my throat before returning to the chosa to be with Alina.

Alina has had 2 boys at the Toddler House who hang around her constantly.  One's name is Jose Francisco (and he likes to such his thumb constantly).  The other is Dilmer, who calls Alina by 4 different names: tia, Annie, Alina and mama.  Alina is so great with all of the toddlers but especially to these 2 boys who follow her everywhere!

Alina with Jose Francisco and Dilmer in the chosa

Left to Right: Dilmer, Alina, Jose Francisco walking back from lunch

After taking the toddlers to lunch (and noticing that Noah had been painting all morning again), we walked them back to the Toddler House to take their naps, and then headed back to our room to get our own rest in too before heading back to the Toddler House to get the kiddos up from their naps and ready for supper.  At the comedor for supper, I talked with Chino (who I worked with the past couple of years in the Medianos House when I was with Noah) just to see how Noah has been doing.  Chino said he's been working hard and he's really matured in his 4 years here.  That was a great compliment and I'm so glad that Noah has someone like Chino to work under!

We brought the toddlers back to their house to give them showers and get their jammies on for the night, then headed to the Special Needs house to spend the rest of the evening watching the rest of Aquaman (that we had only gotten to watch the first 30 minutes of on Wednesday night due to the power outage) with the Michell and the other girls.  They really enjoyed the movie.  When we got back to our room at 8pm, Noah was already there waiting for us.  Alina showered quickly and we went to bed to prepare for Saturday!

Making Tea Naturally

This morning Alina and I went to the toddler house, while Noah made his way to the medianos house.  I decided Kaylyn would stay back to recuperate from having been sick yesterday.  She let me know that she was still feeling quite weak and had no real desire to eat anything (and her stomach was pretty empty from not having ate yesterday), so she needed today to rest yet.

After breakfast, I headed back to my room to check on Kaylyn and to prep for math for the day.  Today I would have 3 sessions to teach.  Below is a picture of some of what we went through in the Bachillerato 2 class (which is learning calculus).  Between last week, this week and next week, we will be working a lot with limits and tangent lines.

I got a little bit of a break after teaching 2 sessions of Bachillerato 2 in order to prep for Bachillerato 1 and once again check on Kaylyn.  She ate a couple of apples and a cucumber throughout the morning, which was good.  We finished up x-intercepts with parabolas and then went into how to graph parabolas given the vertex, y-intercept and x-intercept(s).

At lunch, Suyapa told me that she would send me leaves to make a tea for my throat.  It is still pretty sore and I only have about 1/2 of my voice right now.  I went back to the room and she met me there with the tea, letting me know exactly how to make it.  I wish I would have taken pictures for you, but I didn't think to do it...probably because I made manzanilla tea many times when I lived in Mexico and this is not a foreign concept to me.  This was not manzanilla, but rather a leaf that when you make the tea, turned the water a burnt sienna color.  I pulled the leaves off of the branches, quickly rinsed them and then put them into a pot of boiling water.  I let them boil in the water for about 5-10 minutes (time flies down here), and then took the leaves out of the pot and strained the tea through a coffee filter into a juice pitcher.  I thought the tea was good, but when I shared it with Alina, she didn't much care for it.

After our 12-2pm break, Alina and I headed back to the toddler house and spent time there chatting with Laurie and Rebekah Miller while we waited for the toddlers to wake up.  We played with the toddlers for a bit before walking them to the comedor for supper.  We asked that they didn't prepare supper for us at the comedor because the team had invited staff and volunteers to once again dine with them tonight at 6pm.

After supper, I went with Alina (upon her request) to go see LaShawn.  Alina is pretty sure she is starting to get impetigo again.  Tara and LaShawn agreed and gave her the proper antibiotics for the infection to last for the next week.  LaShawn let Alina know she didn't need to feel bad or embarrassed about it because being a type of staff infection, it will come and go.  She let Alina that Sarah (in the office) gets this often, which actually made Alina feel more "okay" and less embarrassed about the entire situation.

We caught Noah playing soccer with the medianos down in the cancha after supper tonight (see picture below).

About 5:45pm, Noah came up from the cancha and we walked to the team house together.  This would be the last team dinner we will eat while here since this team is leaving tomorrow for the States and there is not another team coming down to Emmanuel until September.  I included a picture of what dinners typically look like at the team house.  

After eating dinner, when we felt the first few drops of rain, we decided to walk back to our room.  We lost power once again, and it did not come back on until probably 9 or 10pm (not really sure because I had fallen asleep).  What I do know is that our room got really warm to the point where Kaylyn and I had cold wash cloths on our foreheads until the power came back on.

Kaylyn Gets Sick

Kaylyn woke up this morning and said she had a heachache and didn't feel so well.  She didn't look terribly ill, so we went about our normal morning routine.  After breakfast, Alina and Kaylyn headed back to the toddler house while I stayed back in our room for last minute prep before this morning's 7:30am math class in Bachillerato 1. 

I had given the students homework for today (finding 4 vertices to cuadratic functions), and let the students know that if they got all 4 of the answers correct, I would give them a paleta, which is a chili-covered mango sucker that I buy in the Mexican grocery store back home before I come.  We bring LOTS of bags of these down because you cannot get them down here.  Only 5 of the 20 students had all 4 answers correct.  I gave the students the correct answers and let them know that those who didn't get a correct answer would need to go through it and make corrections in order to be sure they knew how to solve for a vertex.  We then went through today's lesson: solving for x- and y- intercepts of quadratic functions (along with talking about discriminants).  And once again they got homework.

When class was done, I decided to go back to our room for about an hour or so in order to prep for tomorrow - since I would be teaching over 3 class periods.  Alina came in around 9am to say that Kaylyn had been sleeping the entire time in the chosa without moving and the other girls said she had a fever.  So I went with Alina up to the chosa, stopping at the tienda along the way to buy an apple juice for Kaylyn to drink.  When we got to the chosa and began walking up the steps, I noticed 2 legs that were on the steps that belonged to a tarantula...they were only the legs, but when I looked on the ground, I saw the rest of the tarantula (dead, of course).  Ants were already all over it trying to figure out how to carry it away.  I picked up Kaylyn and showed her on the way out.  She had a little reaction - probably would have been bigger if she hadn't been so sick.  This is the 1st tarantula she's seen down here.

When I dropped Kaylyn off at our room, I gave her a pear-flavored Enjoy drink.  These are a bit thicker (more like a nectar) and have quite a bit of Vitamin C in them.  I told her that I had to go to the school to pick up the plates of food that I had ordered for their fundraiser, deliver them to Alina, Noah and Luis David, and by the time I got back, I expected that the drink was gone.  I went to the school and Noah was there (one less delivery for me), so I gave him his plate and 2 charamuscas, then I began walking to the comedor to give Luis David his plate.  Yensi (who I call Senorita Santa Barbara) stopped me to ask where I was going.  I explained and let her know I had an extra plate that belonged to Kaylyn if she wanted it (I knew Kaylyn wouldn't eat it, being sick).  She was happy to take it off my hands. 

The graduation fundraiser for this week. 1 Plate = $30 Lempiras ($1.25USD)

Luis David got his plate and charamusca, and Mary Beth told me she had gotten a plate for him too.  Luis David said he'd end up fat, and I reminded him of the sign my mother-in-law had in her kitchen that said, "Never trust a skinny chef".  I then went to the chosa at the toddler house to drop off Alina's plate and charamusca.

I went back by Kaylyn for the remainder of the morning since this is her 1st summer here and she is sick.  I used this time to prep some more for classes tomorrow.  Before I headed to lunch, I gave Kaylyn the apple juice and told her I needed her to drink it before we got back from lunch.  We had to eat lunch quickly in the comedor because, being Wednesday, it's our only day to go into town for groceries.

When we got back from the comedor, Kaylyn had the apple juice drank.  Alina, Noah and I got ready to go into town (Kaylyn would hang back and sleep).  Noah gave almost ALL of the Mexican suckers he had brought with him to the children throughout town.  We got quite a bit of coffee to take back to the States with us, and saw Glenda on the way back to Orphanage Emmanuel.  I am hoping that everyone is healthy next week to get a picture of all of us.

Alina, Glenda, and Noah

As we walked into Emmanuel on the way to the office, Alina and I saw another dead tarantula.  Must be all the rain that hit us yesterday and today...washing them out from their holes.

We had to quickly put groceries away in order to get ready for supper and then head to church.  After church, Alina and I went to the special needs girls house to watch Aquaman (which I had bought for Michell earlier in the week).  We got through about the first 30 minutes and a huge rain storm came through.  It pounded on the metal roof and knocked the power out.  We decided to chat with the girls in the dark until about 7:30, but Alina got pretty tired and I wanted to check in on Kaylyn.  It was a dark walk back to our room.  The girls tried to help illuminate the way by holding up their flashlights for us from their doorway to make a path for us as far as the flashlights would reach, which we really appreciated.

We made it back to the room.  Noah had already gotten back from the medium boys house.  Alina took a shower and noticed a rash forming on her face.  I'm really hoping that this isn't year 3 of her coming back to the States with impetigo, but I'm going to have her go see LaShawn tomorrow just in case...and if Kaylyn's still not 100%, Kaylyn will be going with her.

Dinner with Team South Carolina

This morning at breakfast I was sure to say happy birthday to Suyapa, who is one of the girls that takes care of and oversees Michell's house.  She had told me last week that she wanted to celebrate her birthday but wasn't sure she could do it today.  I had bought her a tres leches cake in town last Wednesday, but gave it to her early since I wasn't sure it would last until today (6 days later).

Mid-way through the morning, I went back to my room for an hour to prep for tomorrow's math class.  Their homework for tomorrow is to find the vertices of 4 parabolas that I gave them.  There were already 2 students over the weekend who asked me for help in calculating the vertices, which is nice that they were able to get a hold of me.  Here, they just grab me and we chat wherever we are.  In the States, students typically look for me on their study hall, go to a different teacher for help, or email me with their questions (which probably is the most common).  Students emailing a teacher here???...doesn't happen, as technology isn't as easily accessible to students down here.  Actually I like the face-to-face contact we have down here!  Everything is so much more personal.  Even Alina (who is an "American teen") says that this is like a home away from home for her because she feels much closer to the teen girls down here than to those in the States.

The Miller family arrived last night while we were at Luis David's birthday party, so Laurie and Rebekah were at the toddler house when I got back from prepping for math.  Our trips tend to overlap some each year.  Many of the children think we are/were friends in the States, so I explain (quite often) that we had never met until their 1st time here 6 years ago!  

We headed with the toddlers to lunch and then back to put them down for a nap and came back to our room.  Lately Alina has been using this time to nap too.  For the past 3-4 days, she has had quite the cough and sore throat.  Please pray for her health, especially since when she gets back to the States, she will be trying out for Varsity volleyball (in a very competitive program) with only 1 day to recover from travels.  So we are really hoping that this sickness goes away by then.

Noah was also with us in the room during this break.  He was with the horses all day.  When 2pm rolled around, we headed back to the toddler house (and Noah the horse barn) to get them up and ready for supper.  It rained today!  It's been pretty dry the past few days, so the rain was nice.  We did have to wait for the rain to stop to walk the toddlers to the comedor.

After supper, we walked the toddlers back and the normal routine is for them to get their clothes off, into the shower, and then jammies on.  After that, sometimes they play a little bit, sometimes they stay in their room, sometimes they go on a walk.  

The team that is currently here is from South Carolina, and we were told that they were providing supper for the staff and volunteers, so we didn't eat in the comedor and had to head to the team house for dinner at 6pm.  They served tortillas with beans and eggs (and cheese & cream if you wanted), sliced hot dogs, fruit, plantains (Alina LOVES these), and a dessert.  It was a lot more than we usually eat.  It was Kaylyn's first time trying plantains, and she's not really a fan, so gave her extra ones to Alina.  Believe it or not, Noah was not able to finish his plate...but I think that may have something to do with him using all $120 Lempiras that went into his account at the tienda (store) on Monday by mid-way through the day today (Tuesday).  I guess he was buying food non-stop!

When Noah went to return his tray, he didn't come back...and we were ready to leave.  So the girls and I just took off towards our room, knowing he'd follow at some point.  Perhaps he was talking to Nathaniel (Miller) since they hadn't seen each other since last year?  Back at our room, we got ready for bed, and Mary Beth drove over to drop off some Halls cough drops for Alina and me.  We are so grateful to have such caring people here!  We truly feel like everyone here is family.  

Luis David is Officially an Adult!

Today began like most of the other workdays, heading to the children's houses and then having breakfast...but then that's about it for the "same routine".  In the toddler house, Alina got her braids taken out and had puffy, wavy hair.

Alina and her braided waves

After breakfast I went to chat with Sarah in the office about Luis David's plan to study at a culinary school in Costa Rica.  She let me know that she broke down all of the costs for him and he has that information.  It will be expensive, and this appointment we made last week for him to get a passport is only the tip of the ice berg in costs that he will incur.  I also chatted with her about Michell and how we'd like to bring her up for a visit to the U.S. once she graduates in December.  Sarah reiterated (we had emailed in June) that the chances of a Honduran citizen obtaining a visitor's visa to the U.S. are slim to none, thanks to our president and the caravans of people sitting at the border from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.  She let me know that it would be much easier to get Michell a student visa - but that means she would have to study in the U.S.  Either way, we would need a report from her school (which is what David, the founder of Orphanage Emmanuel, said he'd need to see when we spoke to him last year).

So, my next stop was to the school to chat with Elvia.  I have known Elvia the entire 12 years I've been coming here to Emmanuel.  Elvia is now the principal of the school, grades K-12.  She said she'd be happy to chat with Michell's teachers and to put together a report on how Michell is doing.  She thought that there wouldn't be any issues at all, since Michell is a good student, and would give me a copy and send a copy to David.

My next stop was to the library.  I wanted to grab a couple of books for Noah to read while down here.  Apparently Kaylyn and Alina remembered to pack books, but Noah sort of forgot.  After a few attempts at trying to take Kaylyn and Alina's books to read and being unsuccessful, I figured I'd look in the school library.  There are quite a few books in there that are in English as they have been donated by people in the States.  They are rarely (if ever) read by students down here.

At lunch I asked David if it would be okay to purchase the movie Aquaman for Michell.  He asked a little bit about the movie, and I let him know that Alina and Noah had seen it and for Michell's age (18), I really didn't see anything wrong with it.  David told me I could get the movie for her, so I was pretty excited especially since all of the girls in her house told me that they hadn't yet seen it.  I gave some money to Milton to run into town to get it for me in the afternoon.  Milton has been my "movie guy" the past few years when I've wanted to purchase movies for the medium boys.

Around 1pm I made my way to the comedor to spend Luis David's break with him.  It was his 21st birthday today, which in Honduras is the legal age to becoming an adult.  The tradition for ANY birthday here is to smash an egg on the person celebrating a birthday.  Down here, it's pretty common to get "egged" multiple times throughout the day of their birthday!  Apparently David had told everyone that if they egged Luis David in the kitchen/comedor, they would be punished/grounded for a month!  So Luis David's safest bet was just to stay in the kitchen all day.  The 2nd reason why I went to be by him is that Mary Beth let me know the team was going to bring him a cake and they needed him around.  So by me telling him I would come to him and spend his break with him, that would ensure he was actually in the comedor when the team members came with the cake.  The pastor of the team said they'd also like to help Luis David financially with his endeavors to study in Costa Rica.  What a blessing!

Luis David in the comedor with the cake from the team

We chatted until 2pm and then I headed to the toddler house with Alina.  Noah had taken Kaylyn to the horse barn to give her a ride on Pharoah, one of the horses.  We met up in the comedor during supper time to drop the toddlers off, then ran quickly to our room to go to the bathroom, etc.  Morgan, who is a staff member in charge of the power toddlers where Luis David lives, invited us to his birthday party up at the power toddler house.  They were having chinese rice and cake.  It was a really fun time...got a little messy when Alina took Noah's egg and smashed it on Luis David's head (he wasn't in the kitchen!) and then there was a cake fight (smashing cake in the face is also common here).  I really wished I had gotten a video of Alina getting Luis David with the egg, but I didn't really she was ready to do it.  It was the first egg he received all day!  It was a fun time.  I hung around a little bit to help clean up while the girls went home to shower all of the cake off of themselves.

Luis David and Noah with his cake from Morgan

Luis David getting Kaylyn in the face with cake

Luis David going after Alina (after she got him with the "traditional" egg)

A Sunday with Michell

Since today is Sunday, it is a free day for us!  We began by heading to the comedor for breakfast.  They were serving a type of corn flakes with warm milk.  Instead of a moon pie, the had a mini coconut pie for dessert.  I have actually been passing on the breakfast desserts this year, trying to drop a few pounds more quickly while down here.  While at breakfast, Alejandra came up to me to give me a hug (as she does every meal in the comedor).  I gave her a new dress to wear for today (that we had brought down for her from the States), since we were planning on bringing her to church and I knew that her family would be coming later for a visit.  She was pretty excited about the dress!

We went back to the room to get ready for church and then decided to bring Michell, Alejandra and Coco to church.  Noah headed to the medium boys house to grab his sponsored child, Gibran and then also grabbed Brayan.  After church, we headed to the tienda to get some snacks.  I bought each child some chips, cookies, a beverage and later - ice cream.  We stayed at the tienda until lunch, just chatting with each other and also the other children who came to the tienda during the morning.

Noah hugging Gibran with Brayan at his side

Left to Right: Kaylyn, Michell, Alejandra, Alina

As children started walking past the tienda for lunch, the girls mentioned that there would be chicken for lunch.  In fact, it was chicken, white rice and cole slow (YUM!), but the girls weren't interested in eating lunch in the comedor and were insistent on continuing to spend time with us, so Alina and Noah went to lunch, but Kaylyn and I stayed back.  I do have to say, compared to what is served most days, I was actually a little bummed out about not getting lunch in the comedor today, but wanted to honor what the girls wanted.  Even Steve came to check in on us after lunch to see if we missed lunch by mistake.

After lunch, Alejandra's family came.  It was her grandmother and her brother.  I walked her down to the area where Orphanage Emmanuel does visits and then let her know I'd see her later, probably in the comedor for supper.  Alina and Noah wanted to head down to the school playground to get Kaylyn ready for a game they call "Ninja Warrior" and play with the children from the Miller family that would be coming down tomorrow.  We brought Michell along, and they took Kaylyn and Michell through the course they had planned out a couple years ago.

When they got tired of playing on the playground, Noah headed back to the medium boys house and we took Michell up to the hotel (which is what they call the building where we stay).  I grabbed my laptop and USB modem and got on Netflix.  We were going to try to watch Aquaman, however movie options on Netflix down here are very different than what you can get in the States and it wasn't available.  We settled on watching Poseidon.

When the movie finished, we headed to supper where cheesy rice (that had chunks of chicken) and whole beans were served.  After supper we walked back with Michell and her room of girls.  Suyapa let us know that they were going to mop the floors and then she would like us to come over and watch a movie with them.  So we stopped at our room to change and then headed up to their house to watch the movie: 17 Again.  Seems those girls like romance and drama movies.

When we got back to our room, it wasn't long before Noah met up with us.  He left the room briefly and then came back just as fast.  I will tell the story in his words:  "I went to the kitchen to fill up my water bottle.  I opened the door to the kitchen and was looking around for cockroaches and tarantulas and then saw a huge rat come out from behind the water heater and go running between the kitchen cupboards and the wall.  I looked at the sink and where the rat ran and decided I didn't need water that bad."  I don't think I've seen Noah that uncomfortable in a LONG time!  So we avoided the kitchen for the remainder of the evening.

All About Hair

Even though it was Saturday, we are still working.  Our only day off as volunteers is Sunday.  So that means our day began as all of the others this week, the girls and I heading to the toddler house and Noah heading to the grandecitos house, breakfast and then hanging out with those kids.  

Because we were in the chosa all morning (4.5-5 hours), some of the big girls decided to braid Kaylyn's hair.  Unfortunately, Kaylyn was really not in the mood to be in the toddler house (I won't get into details on that), so I had to walk her back to the room and lock her in for the rest of the morning.  So instead, the girls asked Alina if they could braid her hair.  It turned out really nice and they asked Alina to leave the braids in until Monday when they would take them out.

We headed to lunch and then Alina walked the toddlers back to the toddler house while I walked Kaylyn back to our room to rest a little bit more until early afternoon when we'd have to head back to the toddler house.  When we headed back, Alina was watching a movie with some of the big girls.  She had used her spending money to buy a bunch of snacks and 3-liter sodas (yes, you read that right) for the girls.  She let me know that that she was surprised the 3-liter sodas were only $2 USD each!

We took the toddlers to supper and when we got back and showered them, another girl asked if she could crimp Kaylyn's hair.  Knowing that we had to wait for Invisible (Pamela) to celebrate Angel's birthday with his mom, Cecilia, I said "yes".  Invisible and a few others got chinese rice, soda and cake to celebrate Angel's birthday with all of the toddlers and the big girls at the house.  She shared the rice and cake with us (she had invited me earlier in the week) and also sent a plate for Alina, who had went back to the room early because she didn't feel well.  She also cut a slice of cake for Noah.

When Kaylyn and I got back to the room, Noah was gone.  Alina said he had just left for the medianos house.  She still wasn't feeling very well, and we went through the 4th power outage since being here a week ago.  This one, fortunately for Alina, only lasted about 20 minutes or so.  I say fortunately since she was on the brink of having to sprint to the bathroom.

When Noah got back, he ate the rice and cake and locked up for the night.  It's pretty dark here by 7pm, so we generally head to bed just before 8pm.