With all the travel and being away for almost 24 hours, I slept really well through the night. Ana and Olivia were super quiet, which allowed for even longer sleep time. I thought perhaps their movement in the house would wake me up, but it didn't. I woke around 7:30am here when my norm is typically anywhere from 4-5am WI time in the summers (3-4am Honduras time). I showered, dressed, made my bed, made my "proffee" (coffee with a smooth vanilla protein powder added in), and then began the process of unpacking. Most of the items I brought down in the 2 suitcases, the carry-on and my backpack will be staying down here, so I needed to sort through all of that. Then I decided to sweep and mop my room after the bottom of my feet getting so black last night due to how dusty the floor was.
I am going to show pictures of the room in the girls volunteer house that I will be staying in over the next almost 4 weeks, however note that for the first time ever I decided to purchase a net for my bed to keep the mosquitos away from me at night. This was definitely on the orphanage's recommended list over the years, however I wasn't willing to spring the money to get one. Instead, I would just grab a fitted sheet and tuck myself inside of it over night. I would also face a fan to blow right on my face, hoping that the moving air would keep mosquitos out of that area, which for the most part worked. But since Kaylyn and Jaden didn't come down with me this year, I had a little extra money to spend and decided to splurg. I set this up last night and...GAME CHANGER!!! What a peaceful night's sleep, even through the heat of Honduras.
 |
| View from the doorway, net and all |
 |
| View from the window towards the door |
 |
| Artwork on one of the walls |
I had heard music and announcing coming from the gym the entire morning that I was working on unpacking and cleaning, so when I was caught up, I decided to go down and see what all the commotion was about. I got there roughly the same time Noah did. This event was for the high school kids and they were just wrapping up playing soccer and were setting up to play volleyball. Noah told me that he would be on Profe Jorge's team (of all the high school teachers). For the most part, Noah allowed others to hit the ball, but when the team got down 2-9, he decided to take a few hits for himself and show the kids what he could all do!
After watching Noah play, I headed to the Tienda to begin an account so that I could just drop in and buy things without actually having to have money on me. I said "hi" to Brenda and bought a water for myself, 2 bottles of Pepsi (one each for Julissa and Oscar because I was headed to the Comedor), and then I told Brenda she could purchase a beverage for herself as well. I got to the Comedor just a little bit before lunch which gave me time to chat with Julissa and Oscar. Lunch consisted of noodles and "pastellitos de papa" (potato pastries). I was seated next to John, who is Noah's roommate. He decided to chat with me about accents, because he comes from the south so we sound a bit different to him, and then he chatted with me about genetics and height...well, because us Midwesterners tend to have it, haha. John is pretty tall himself, only a couple of inches shorter than Noah (6'5"). He really likes biology, so any chance to discuss topics related to biology, sounds like he's gonna take it.
After lunch, Noah stopped by to pick up the computer that he had purchased and had me bring down for Hector. There were also a few other things that he asked me to bring down (sunglasses, bilingual Bible, DS game) that he picked up as well. I headed down to the office to check in with Danielle about my responsibilities while here, but she had went to Tegucigalpa with Eva for the afternoon and wasn't due back until much later, so I will have to check in on another day.
I was invited to the gym at 6pm by the team to play Dodgeball (Graciela and I decided not to participate in that) and then enjoy some pizza that was catered in as well as some brownies, which were delicious. Noah pointed out JJ Weeks, who is a Christian artist and came down here with the team. I knew he was down here, because Noah had mentioned that he was here to me on Sunday when I was back in the States. So many children throughout the day told me that there was a team member who sang on Sunday and on Wednesday who can sing SO WELL. I had to chuckle just a little bit because they didn't know who he was. For those of you who don't know who he is...I will include a video of his song "Let Them See You" here below:
Graciela asked about Alina, and Chino told me to let Jaden know he misses Jaden and his help. After Dodgeball, pizza and brownies, Noah and Hector spent time playing a game of 1-on-1 basketball, while Milton and Chino hung around. At some point, Danielle showed up and let me know to go to the high school tomorrow to check in with Profe Jorge about which classes I should start teaching next week. She said there were not classes for the high school, but that the teachers should be there in the morning planning for the next week. As it got later and later, I decided to head back to the Girls Volunteer House for the night. Noah and John walked with me. I settled in and went to bed.
Posts
