This morning I went to the school to find out that students would be testing today through Tuesday of next week. This means I didn't have to teach my lessons today and could use the day to get caught up, especially with the upcoming 8th grade lesson on dividing polynomials. I had looked at this lesson earlier and the way that division is done in Honduras is definitely a different formatting than we use in the United States, so I knew that I would need some uninterrupted time to be able to figure out what they were doing, in order to mimic that process as well as give extra examples to the kids so they understand better. Math has always been a challenge down here, but I know that each year I come...the students are excited I am here because I give them quite a few extra examples that we can practice together as well as for them to practice on their own. So I headed back up to the house to begin taking a look at polynomial division.
So I worked throughout the morning and afternoon on wrapping up polynomial multiplication and division. Today it rained all day...quite literally all day. So it was a nice day to stay in and get these notes done. I had 12 "formal" pages of teaching and practice for polynomial division. It sounds like a lot, but each problem does take up a lot of space. Of course as I worked through these pages, I needed breaks here and there, so every hour or so I would find something to do around the Girls Volunteer House, from sweeping the kitchen, dining room and living room, to cleaning all 5 bathroom mirrors (it is a large bathroom with 3 stalls, 3 sinks and 3 showers), to washing and drying my laundry.
I took a temporary polynomial division break for lunch, and in the Comedor I asked Noah if he was heading back to his house before going back to the woodshop. Since he said yes, I told him to stop by the Girls Volunteer House to pick up the sports uniforms, warm up shirts, and hoodies I had brought down here that our kids have now outgrown. Since these items have our last name on them, donating them to Goodwill or another thrift store back in the States doesn't really make sense...so we have been bringing them down here for the children to wear and they definitely wear them with pride, especially since they personally know the athlete that it originally belonged to was! I figured since Noah has been down here since February, he would want to hand them out to some children he has made good connections with. We don't have many of these clothing items left back at home because the 2 kiddos left in the house don't really play sports where they would have constant access to this type of clothing that would have their names on the back. There was a hoodie and volleyball shirt that I had brought to the Comedor to give to Julissa and Oscar for all the work they do feeding everyone here at Emmanuel.
In the afternoon, I worked some more on the lessons as it rained. On one of my "breaks" from lesson planning, I put my clothes away that just finished up in the dryer. When I looked out my bedroom window, I could see that Noah was working at the new hotel (used to be the small girls house). I may have mentioned in my spring blog that the hotel they had for years was turned into offices. Noah told me that it was government offices (think along the line of our "Child and Protective Services" in the States). So the plan was to take the "U-shaped" old small girls house and turn that into their new hotel. They would get 5 hotel rooms out of this, as well as a large kitchen area, a large dining area and a large living/family room area. I decided to walk over there since it was just "drizzling" at this point, and check out the progress. Noah saw me and decided to show me around. The rooms are very nice, already painted and with future in them (queen bed as well as some chairs and a table). The living room area has 3 leather couches that Noah said electrically recline. He also said they will be getting a TV to mount on the wall in that room. There is a bathroom in the living room area as well, so you don't have to go all the way back to your bedroom to use the bathroom should you need it. The kitchen was locked, so I didn't get to see it, but John told me that they had covered the brick walls with paneling and that it looked very nice. The dining room is open to the courtyard and has 2 large dining room tables, one is brand new! I asked Noah if they were planning to close off the dining room so nobody would come to steal the tables or chairs in the middle of the night, but he said not that he didn't believe they would be closing it off. I am excited to have the opportunity to stay at the hotel in future trips here.
Before supper, I headed to the tienda...mainly just to have good conversation with those that were there. Noah stopped by, Milton was there, Lydia stopped by and asked who was hosting the "party" at the tienda. Although I wasn't really planning on buying anything, I ended up getting a package of red Chokis (similar to Chips Ahoy cookies), and a bag of Cheetos. Since Invisible (Pamela) was there, I bought her a bag of Cheetos as well. I took these items to the Comedor with me as I had no intention of eating all 6 Chokis myself, not because I couldn't but more because I didn't was to start up my system of wanting chocolate on a daily basis like my kids would do each year they were here (they are addicted to Chokis, LOL). In the Comedor, I gave a Choki to Oscar, one to Julissa, and two to Juan Carlos. When Josecito saw me eat the remaining two, he said "I thought you were on a diet!" I looked at him, then looked at the bag of Cheetos, and decided it would be best for me not to eat the bag of Cheetos...so I gave it to him.
When I came back to the house from supper, I got into my pajamas, did a few things around the house and pretty much went to bed about 6pm because I was tired, probably from all the rain today (and it was STILL raining).
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