A few events since the last time we chatted -
The gringas threw a little barbecue get together with some of our new friends. Fortunately right by our houses there is a basketball court and grill. SO, we invited some cool peeps and we played, ate, and talked. It was so nice feeling normal and 'at home.'
LOOK AT THAT FORM! I WAS AWESOME! HAHA!
A few of our friends...
Edwin helped out on the grill, but believe it or not...I was telling him what to do!
A BIG stresser that I dealt with in February was Valentines Day. Now, don't start thinking that it was hard because I'm in a strange country ALONE with NO ONE to love or to be loved by...bc that was only part of it! :) If you didn't know, I am the STUCO Advisor at DelCampo and we decided to host a Valentine's Day Sale. We sold roses, candy bags, balloons, cookies, and a few other things. That doesn't sound so bad until the add in all the planning we had to do to buy the stuff. The HOURS it took us to wrap the roses in the celophane and tie them, all the balloons we had to physically blow up, the candy bags we had to fill, the orders we had to organize and deliver....it was one of the most stressful days that I've had here! I thought for sure that we were going to lose money on the whole deal too which made the efforts during the day seem completely pointless. Well, by the end of the day we not only sold out of EVERYTHING but we also made almost 25,000 lmps ( = $1,315.00). I'd say it was worth it after all! I seriously don't know how we pulled it off. I definitely owe most credit to several of my stuco kids because they were the leaders behind the whole shindig...I basically just did what they told me to do! haha. We did have a few orders go undelivered so we had to refund some money but overall I'd say we handled it well...and we learned a lot for next year!
Some of my crew! The auditorium was a nightmare by the end of the day. Rose stems, scrap paper, trash, order forms, money...a complete mess.
Our food sellers!
This is how we all felt at the end of the day!
My homemade shirt! If you wore something that said "I <3 ..." STUCO gave you a free lollipop!
Another fun and exciting adventure happened when Sarah's father and brother came for a visit! We spent a few nights at Sarahs playing rockband and I must say I might be ready for a REAL guitar or drum set after all that! haha. We also took a day trip to a town called Yuscaran! Very quaint and friendly. Not much there but they did have a museum which is where we spent most of our day. Also we walked around the little town (getting lots of stares) and enjoyed the cozy feeling of a local town. Supposedly this town has some HUGE parade of Giants in the springtime (see picture below). I can't recall what they represent or how the tradition started but there was a cool story. The museum has a lot of old artifacts...it is placed in an old presidential home if I remember correctly. Luckily Sarah is fluent in Spanish otherwise I wouldn't have had a real idea of anything since the entire tour was in Spanish. It was good practice though!
Can you say creepy? Jenn was scared of them and didn't dare get close.
I however tried making friends! haha! There was an entire room just with Giant Heads!
This was a mural they had showing the story of how it all started and where they are now...pretty cool.
An old vanity of one of the ladies. Jenn obviously would not have fit in well with this family...they probably would have put her in the parade! hahahahahaha!
This was definitely a bathroom. I must say, I'm glad certain things change as time passes!
Just some old cameras they had on display. They also had typewriters, newspapers, instruments, and more...
And a beautiful picture looking over part of the town. It was a beautiful place!
We did a bit of hiking, and what I call squeezing and entering...Sarah knew someone from the town that owns a hotel (no functioning) so we went to visit. Once we got there we discovered no one was home but we squeezed through the fence and looked around anyway! Then someone 'caught' us but in reality we think we 'caught' him doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing...but I guess we'll never really know.
Now keep in mind - we have had NO DAYS OFF since we've returned from Christmas which is why it seems like I'm actually doing some cool things here - we're tryin to spice up life so it makes it less miserable! haha! So in those efforts, I called my friend David and asked him to show me around down town Tegus (not safe to go without a Honduran). So, I taxied by myself downtown (which was an adventure in and of itself) and met up with David on some morning. We went to a few museums and I was able to learn some Tegus history. One of the museums was being temporarily housed in on official presidential home. It was HUGE and BEAUTIFUL of course. This tour was also in Spanish but if I had trouble understanding, David was there to clear things up! I got to see where important legislative meetings were held, they had a lot of Tegus pics "then and now" which was insane to see how much it's grown over time...and how much hasn't changed at all! It was a great day of learning and walking and experiencing 'my city.'
This was the room of espejos (mirrors).
Just a normal courtyard in the MIDDLE of the house! How incredible.
A view of Tegus from a balcony.
This was like a rooftop patio. If only I could rent this out for some huge party - it was SO SWEET!
And these were stairs to a watchtower on the roof. We got to climb up and look around. Seriously to be a kid living in this house would have been unbelievable. A game of hide and seek would have taken DAYS! hehe!
A different weekend we were invited over by the same family that took us to their second home and had a barbecue at their house. The food was FABULOUS as always!
We've spent several weekends relaxing and tanning/burning at the pool. We went to watch the national volleyball team play in a tournament where I met up with a new gringa that I met in the airport. Melissa (new gringa) has been a blessing. She is here as a missionary but teaches English at a school here. She has introduced me to a church which I am slowly falling in love with! Last Sunday I went to service with her and went out to eat with some of the church family...i was exhausted by the time I got home because EVERYTHING (including lunch) was in Spanish. Melissa has been in Honduras for over a year now and she majored in Spanish so she is completely fluent. We are actually her first 'white' friends she has had here! I look forward to hanging out with her more and maybe finally joining a church family!
The school year is quickly coming to an end - Praise God! But the bigger praise is that in 6 days my parents will arrive here in HONDURAS!!! I can't wait for them to experience my life! Hopefully we won't experience a day like today...waking up to NO ELECTRICITY! Ahh! I can't complain though because it has been a long time since that has happened. My one hope is that they don't get sick from the delicious food here! :)
On a school note: I only have my senior class for another 3 weeks! Time has gone by sooo fast! At this point I only have 17 parents that want to kill me for not passing their students! :) I'd say that's pretty good! haha. We had our LAST parent teacher conference yesterday! I only had 7 parents show up...usually I have 16-20. The best part about our conferences is that as a fundraiser there is always super good/fatty food! I had tamalitos y pan dulce y y hay pupusas pero no comi. Sorry...switched to Spanish just for a sec...:) Speaking of spanish...I'M GOING TO COSTA RICA!!!! I have decided to go to San Jose Costa Rica for two weeks to study Spanish before returning home for the summer. I am very excited! I can't wait til I can walk around alone and experience a new culture and practice Spanish! I have to admit, learning Spanish is not as easy as I thought it would be here...I am surrounded by too much English! So immersion in Costa Rica will do me some good!
Okay, well I'm gonna go nap or grade...we'll see what happens. Hope you enjoyed this session! The next will be telling you of all my Spring Break fun!!!!! Vaya bien!
SIERRA
Oh and Sarah (other foreign hire) was asked to make a webpage for potential foreign hires (which I found out we won't have any new ones next year...sad...) so feel free to check it out!
delcampoforeignhire.weebly.com
