Alina Gets Sick

I woke in the middle of the night to Alina running to the bathroom and the sound of vomiting.  When she stopped, I got her cleaned up and set large bowl next to her as she laid back down in the bed.  Since it was about 1:00 in the morning, I did the best I could to clean up the bathroom (it was everywhere), and then headed back to bed, since I normally get up about 3:00.  Alina has been sleeping with me at night, mostly to get her a little more acclimated to Honduras.  She's had quite the "culture shock" when she first came down, although it's getting a little easier every day.  Now the typical illness of heading to a foreign country has finally reached her.  As the day went on, her fever got higher and higher.  I did need to stick her in a cool shower at one point, which she didn't like at all (it was her first cold shower ever with the purpose of trying to break a fever).  I wanted to wait the standard 24-hours and try natural ways to get her fever to break before resorting to medicine, since that would just "tide the fever over" until the next day.  Since she had been up quite a bit of the night, I decided to head out & tackle my responsibilities in short bursts, stopping back in to check on her every chance I could...but that she would be able to sleep some of the fever off.

I headed first to the little girls circle.  Gabi led the circle, but there were so many volunteers around that the girls paid little attention...which Gabi made note of.  After breakfast, I stopped home to check on Alina.  She got up to unlock the door and said she had been sleeping.  I made sure she drank a bunch of water before heading back to the little girls house to walk them to school.  I am so glad that the apartment we are staying in is so close to the little girls' house, so that I have ability to check on her like this.  I walked the girls to school and then began my classes for the day.  Today's classes are mostly 6th graders, so I had to teach in the Narnia books.  I have gotten caught up in these books, although my plan is to finish the book and planning before I leave Emmanuel...and that'll be a long way to go yet.  I had forgotten to check how many classes were on "prize day" (a day that Amy would celebrate with the students if they had 4 good behavior weeks in a row).  I'm giving the hot chili coated mango suckers to the children for prize day, and I needed to run home to grab just a few more that I was short.  I was so glad that Julie (a volunteer from the Maryland group) had been working with me all week and had seen how I had been leading classes.  She said she'd be comfortable enough leading the 6th graders while I ran back to grab some suckers.  She did a GREAT job!

After classes, I walked the little girls back to their house to have lunch, and then back to school.  After leaving them at school for the afternoon I headed to the orphanage snack shop, where I bought a chicken sandwich for Alina...something a little less "greasy" for when she would regain her appetite, as well as a 7Up.  I also ordered a baleada (a type of burrito) for myself, and they now have a COLD snack shop where they make smoothies!  I tried a blueberry-banana smoothie.  It was very good.  They do sell ice cream cones at this cold snack shop too, and have about 8 different flavors to choose from.  It was at the store that I found out there is a volunteer here with dengue fever right now.  I got a little worried, so I stopped back to the apartment to check on Alina once again.  Her fever seemed to be getting higher (which is what it was at this time during the day that she got the cold shower I mentioned above).

When I walked the girls back to their house, the Maryland group was waiting to give them their afternoon devotions on being God's princess (since God is the King).  They had styrofoam crowns for the girls to decorate with jewels, and then taught the girls how to walk like a princess, wave like a princess, and finally curtsy like a princess.  The girls had a TON of fun!  Before leaving, one of the Maryland moms asked about Alina and offered 2 tylenol pills, which I figured I'd give her before evening came...to get through the night.

The little girls had supper and then we bathed them.  Karelia lent me a thermometer from the clinic for me to monitor Alina's temperature for the night.  Unfortunately after the first measurement I took (102.0), the battery on the thermometer died and I was not able to check anymore through the night.  I decided to not go to the evening services today since Alina's temperature was so high.  I did hear later that I missed a very emotionally moving testimony by one of the Maryland group members.  Alina took 1 adult tylenol prior to heading to bed for the evening.  She hadn't vomited all day and each time I checked in on her, I made sure she was drinking enough water.  I had been praying that it was just the sun & dehydration, rather than dengue.

Alina's Volunteer Day

This morning Alina & I participated in the little girls circle together.  We noticed that some of the little girls can get a little "out of hand" around Alina, so I did tell her to be careful around them...& not to encourage them to be disruptive.  She did a good job with this (although some of the girls can still get a little crazy).

Reina was in charge of leading the devotion, but she looked to me quite often to keep the girls 'in line'.  When the girls got done singing and it was time to listen to God's Word, she begged Yolany to do it for her.  So Yolany took over.  Reina had told me this weekend that the little girls do not listen to her at all and that she's been struggling with that (being a house leader).  She's only 14 years old, so please pray for strength for her.

After breakfast Alina & I headed our separate ways.  I headed with the little girls to school.  I had an idea for Julie (the volunteer who's helping me from the Maryland group this week).  I wrote down some students' names who had struggled the day before with reading and had her pull them out to read with her one-on-one.  It was a great opportunity for them to get some extra reading time in and a way for her to get more involved.  Down here when children are pulled out to read, it's actually a privilege and a treat!  They love it.  As I'd pull out some students this week, then others in the class would remind me which day they got to go, with a smile on their face.  :-)

I found out later that while I was gone this morning, Alina got to fill around 100 water balloons for the medium girls' field day today.  Then she went to the toddler house to play with them.  She spent time in the 'Casita' which is the arts & craft house, painting the book shelf ends for the library.  These ends will help tremendously, since right now the books just slide right off the shelf because it does not have sides.  They ended up looking so wonderful too (another reason why I'm disappointed my camera broke).  After painting, Alina went to participate with the medium girls in their field day.  She got soaked!!!  Finally she came over to the small girls' house to watch a movie with them...Narnia (but not the one I'm reading, one about a King named Caspian).

When the girls came back from school, there were two women volunteers from a Panama City group waiting with me to give them some cookies that they had made.  The cookies were delicious!  They socialized a little with the girls and then when they left, it was time for supper & baths.  We did save some cookies for the bigger girls who were still in school and those adults who are in charge of the house.

When the little girls settled in to watch the Narnia movie, I did stay for a little bit.  But when I realized that it was NOT the one I needed to have read for tomorrow's classes, I headed out and prepared about 20 pages before heading to bed.  I also wrote down some ideas to possibly share at tomorrow's circle...if Reina would accompany me.  I'll let you know more when I actually lead the circle.

My First Day of Classes...EVER

I do have to say I was a little nervous this morning.  I had everything planned for the 5th graders, in terms of the Alto Secreto book.  I actually recognized a few of the girls' names as girls I had taken care of in the past.  But as any teacher on their first day, you're always wondering what you forgot.

After breakfast with the little girls, I walked with them to school.  Amy met me at the school and introduced me to each of the middle school teachers.  Once school began, I went to get my first class.  All of them went very well.  The children were good.  The Maryland team sent a team member over who sat in with me.  She handed out stickers at the end of class to those students who read out loud - which was every one today!  After classes, I thanked her and mentioned that I'd see her tomorrow and then we headed our separate ways to lunch.

I ate with the little girls, walked them back to school and then spent the afternoon reading the next 2 books - one was the Spanish version of 'Dinosaurs before Dark', and the other one was called 'Help! A Vampire!'  They were slightly easier to read than the 'Top Secret' book I had already read, so moved quite a bit more quickly.  As I went through these books, I did laundry.  When it was time for supper and baths, I headed once again to the little girls' house to help out.

This evening Alina asked Kimberly if she could paint her nails.  Kimberly chose a purple nail polish with a clear sparkle over the top, and then Alina chose to paint her nails 1/2-pink and 1/2-blue with purple polka dots lining where the 2 colors came together.  She also got a clear sparkle over the top.  They had a blast!

I was completely exhausted from having read so much this weekend that I needed to go to bed extremely early.  Tomorrow will be another day of reading...but a Narnia book - in Spanish!

Kimberly Moves In

Just like back in the States, on Sunday there is church.  The difference between here & the States is that church begins at 8:30 and lasts just under 2 hours.  I let Alina know this before we headed there, because since she's been raised as a Lutheran, she's very used to those hour-long services; and I didn't want her repeating over & over, "When will this be over?"

Normally volunteers go to the store on Sundays to get lunch together.  Most times they take children from the orphanage with them.  Today I decided that since we'd have quite a few Sundays where we could take children, that I'd just spend lunch with Alina.  The menu item was pizza and I do have to say I was a little bummed that it wasn't a Honduran dish.  :-(

After lunch, we spent some time with Leticia and Yency in the big girls' yard.  They wanted to know if Alina could ride a bike, so they lent them the only bike they had in the yard (which was a little too big for Alina) and then sent her on her way.  It was a little difficult since Wisconsin is so FLAT and she had lots of hills to ride up & down in the yard, and since it was all grass rather than on roads, but she did it.

I came home and worked more on my reading for classes tomorrow.  I got the first book all planned out.  The title of the book is 'Alto Secreto' which means Top Secret in English.  So I was quick to say, "One down, three to go!" (in terms of the books I had to read).

Kimberly moved in after church today.  She just had 2 more loads to bring over, so tonight will be her first night in the house.  She had quite a bit of stuff...but I'm very glad she's here.  I now have access to an internet stick, which is a modem via a USB.  I had planned on buying one in Tegucigalpa, but Kimberly mentioned that it would be no problem to share.  Now I can get caught up on my devotions each morning, making sure any important email gets taken care of (since I'll be down here right up until I head to work at Oshkosh North), and also get this blog updated fairly quickly.  :-)

Before the night was over, Alina & I headed to the team house to visit with Joanne.  While I'm in classes each morning for this coming week, Alina will head with the Maryland team to do various volunteer work.  She was excited to get to work with them again (did I mentioned the team misses Andres?).  In the afternoons, she'll come back my way or go to the medium girls' house.  After making sure everything would work out with Alina's arrangements, we headed back to the apartment to turn in for the night.

A Field Day (Carnival) for the Little Girls!

This morning Alina & I headed to the little girls' house (that's my assignment).  After breakfast, Alina helped clean with the big girls.  They taught her how to use a mop properly...Latina-style!  She kept a good attitude while cleaning and I very much enjoyed watching her interact with the older girls, and also watching how the older girls are taking her under their wings.

After cleaning, Joanne and the Maryland group came over to begin measuring the girls.  This group measures all of the children each year so that their sponsors will know what size they're in, should they want to send clothing as Christmas gifts.  The sizing charts will most likely be posted online sometime between September and late October.  The group has pretty much gotten sizing down to a science and are very efficient about it.

Around noon, Maggie (another volunteer who's assigned to the little girls' house) and I went with the small girls down to the gymnasium for their field day, put on by the Maryland group.  They got hot dogs and chips for lunch and participated in a bunch of activities including 3-legged races, baseball (with a big whiffle ball), and numerous water games!  It was a bright, sunny, HOT day down here...so the water games were NICE!  Alina participated a lot, and I even allowed the girls to squirt me with their water guns from time to time.  I also did a 3-legged race with Joanne!  It was fun.  :-)

When the field day came to an end, Kimberly had already brought a bunch of stuff over to the apartment, to begin the "moving in" process.  She mentioned that she'd still sleep in the volunteer house for one more night but that she wanted to get some stuff over before-hand.  We decided that she would take the 2nd bedroom, which has 2 bunk beds and that for the meantime, Alina would sleep in the double bed with me so that she would feel a little more comfortable about being down here.

After everything of Kimberly's was in the apartment, we headed to supper with the little girls.  They decided to bathe the girls first and then do supper (whereas it is usually in the reverse order) since supper was not yet ready.  When all the girls were clean and had eaten, I headed back to the apartment to wait for Amy.

Amy is a long-term volunteer who teaches classes at the middle school (4th-6th grade).  She teaches the Spanish reading classes, but in a small group setting.  For the past few weeks, she has been in the high school teaching for a volunteer that is on a short leave with her family.  So, the middle school classes needed a teacher...which is where Katja mentioned my next job would be.  I made some Mexican guacamole for Amy and just about when I was finishing it up, she came knocking at the door.  We discussed the classes and what they all entailed.  It looks like I'll be up for a pretty busy weekend.  There are 4 books which I needed to read (in Spanish, of course) and then prepare questions for.  She mentioned that she generally discussed the books page-by-page.  The book reading level wasn't too bad at all...the most difficult level being the Chronicles of Narnia (Lion, Witch, Wardrobe) - which I actually haven't yet read in English!...just seen the movie.

So after Amy left, I began reading!

Kimberly Gets her Residency

This morning was BIG circle.  Big circle is when all of the children of Emmanuel gather and sing praises to God, followed by a devotion.  It's an awesome event to be a part of and you can really experience a joy and love for God while surrounded by hundreds of children praising our Heavenly Father.

Today I had to head back to Tegucigalpa with Kimberly so that she could get her residency papers, which are basically papers allowing her to stay in the country for a maximum of 2 years without having to leave every 3 months like she would have to do right now.  I arranged for Alina to stay with the Maryland group while I was gone for the day.  After yesterday, she was a little apprehensive (okay, a LOT apprehensive) about me leaving her alone for the day...but I convinced her than Andres absolutely loved this group and that they would take good care of her.  I showed her how to get to the team house and who to report to.  Later she told me she had a lot of fun and that she worked with the toddlers and then went to the small girls house to put on a puppet show, and ending with playing soccer in the yards...where the bigger boys taught her a few tricks to soccer.

We spent just about the entire day in Tegucigalpa (working with paperwork for businesses and/or the governement is a completely separate story that could take me hours to share how this experience goes!).  Our experience was overall pleasant with quite a bit of help from a man in immigration named Ricardo Carillo.  Although Kimberly should be waiting 30 days to get her official residency card, Ricardo worked hard to get her papers pushed through and said it should be ready to pick up in 10 days!  Kimberly was so excited that she purchased a Snickers bar for him (or was it a Twix?...it was chocolate nonetheless).  We took the rapidito bus back to Guaimaca and were home around 5pm.  At that point, I really needed to call it a night since it had been a lot of travel so far this week.

Alina's 1st Full Day at Emmanuel

Because we did not yet know our responsibilities, Alina & I headed to the medium girls' circle this morning.  Most of the girls that I had been responsible for 6 years ago when I began coming to Emmanuel are now in the medium girls' house.  I placed Alina in the circle next to Michell, since generally the kids are part of the circle and adults stand either with the children or behind them.  They sang songs and then had devotions.  Alina was quite shy with the girls...I think that although she's been working on Rosetta Stone at home, it was slowly beginning to sink in how much she still needed to learn.

After circle, we headed with the medium girls to their dining hall.  I met Amy, the volunteer who is assigned to the medium girls' house, and she mentioned that they may be needing help in the school or with the special needs classes.  She was really excited to tell me about the school's teaching opportunities, but in the past I have never been assigned to the school since I'm only here for a few weeks and that would mean swapping teachers often, which isn't in the best interest of the children.

After breakfast, Alina & I headed to the big girls' yard so that I could introduce her to Yensi.  They were heading to breakfast and Yensi was carrying a bundle of wood for their kitchen.  She passed the wood to a friend when she saw me and came & gave me a hug, then gave Alina a hug (since she recognized Alina).  After chatting quickly, because she was on her way to breakfast, we headed back to the apartment to rest.

Just after 9am, I went to see Katja in the office to see where I would be assigned - the little girls' house once again.  Since most of my girls through the years have moved up, it'll be a year of learning quite a few new names!  I'm excited about that though.  Kimberly is in the power toddler house, so we probably won't be seeing much of each other, but she did get the "okay" from Katja to move into our apartment, so she'll be doing that this weekend.  Also, Katja wanted me to start working in the school...so I needed to head back to talk to Amy, and perhaps I'd have to chat with Elizabeth about my afternoons and perhaps working with the special needs children once again in the arts and crafts.

After my chat with Katja - Kimberly, Alina & I headed to town to get some groceries.  I think the difference in cultures started to get to Alina a bit when she walked past various houses of poverty, and on the dirt road leading in to town.  Kimberly was handing out sweets to children along the way and although Alina had treats in her purse, she didn't give them out.  We headed to the older grocery store first (for a better picture of what this grocery store is like, think of the general store on the TV series Little House on the Prairie).  After getting our first batch of groceries, we headed to the newer but not necessarily larger grocery store in town.  This is where Alina got a bit sick & asked to go outside.  Unfortunately the town in not safe enough to allow Alina to go outside and wait by herself, so Kimberly took her to the Tigo store (for cell phone & internet service) while I finished shopping and then made a purchase for Kimberly as well as for myself.  By the time I got to the Tigo store, Alina didn't look so good.  We got a "toot-toot" back to the orphanage (think of those tiny golf cart-type taxis in China) because it would be quicker than walking.

I rested in the bed with Alina while she slept off her travel illness and later Kimberly brought over some supplies.  Across the hall, a man named Barry (who I had met 2 years ago and helped finish the painting of the girls' volunteer house) moved into the apartment with his pastor and a younger man.  He remembered me and as soon as he mentioned his name, I remembered him from his voice and demeanor.  Alina & I headed to the medium girls' yard so that we could play with them.  When it was time for supper, Alina headed with Michell to the medium girls' dining hall while I headed to the small girls' dining hall.  While I was serving supper, Sofia ran over to tell me that Alina was crying.  I'm guessing she was overwhelmed by so many girls trying to speak to her all at once in a language she didn't understand.  She came back with me to the little girls' house and we had supper there.  After supper we needed to get the girls showered and their hair combed so they'd be ready to go to bed.  Doris painted Alina's nails which turned out really cute looking like a french manicure with tiny black flowers painted on each nail.  I wish my camera was working so I could've taken a picture to attach to this blog.

Before going to bed, I chatted a bit with Amy about teaching in the school.  It looks like I'll be taking on the middle school "lectura" classes (4th-6th grade).  It's a pull-out system where I'll have 4-6 students at a time and we read a certain book together.  I'll keep you updated on this as I get more information.