It has a long time since I’ve written anything on here! I don’t have a good reason… I have gotten into a rhythm, things have stopped surprising me so much, and lately I have been content with just letting things happen with no desire to record them. So I’m sorry to anyone who uses this blog as the only way of knowing what’s going on in my life. Here’s a little update:
At work… school started about a month ago. It has taken until now to get into a routine and for the school to finally figure out a schedule for all the classes. I have been having each class come into the library once a week—that means 2 or 3 classes in the library each morning (there are no afternoon classes this year). During each recess I open the library and read with kids that come in. One encouraging thing is that reading during recess has become super popular. This makes me hopeful especially since last year it was a struggle to get anyone to come. After school/lunch I have the library open for 2 hours for kids to come and do homework, read, and play games. So far I only have 5 or 10 kids coming, but I’m working on spreading the word. Since I’m in charge of leading all the library classes, my free time at work is spent planning and organizing like crazy. As always, learning to discipline in a way that is appropriate in a Honduran culture is a challenge for me. I have been able to use some of the teaching strategies I learned at Bethel, but definitely not all of them work here. For instance, I was taught to wait until the class is quiet, to not talk over the noise… yeah, that doesn’t work here. I promise. I also want to adopt some strategies that are used here, but not all—for example, hitting kids when they are out of line is not my thing. I definitely think my voice has gotten louder though. Learning extreme patience and flexibility is still something I am working on as well. It is common for plans to change at the last minute, for people to forget about a meeting or postpone it without telling me, or to feel like I am the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on. On the other hand, I also am learning that it’s important not to take these things personally, and I am getting better at adapting my plans to fit those of others.
At home… there has been a lot of sickness within my host home. My baby sister (who I think has Down Syndrome) has been in and out of the hospital, but seems to be doing better now. My 3-year-old brother, Hector, has had a bad cough for months and no medicine the doctor gives him seems to help. Of course my host mom insists every illness is related to the climate or drinking cold drinks. As crazy as it sounds, sometimes I think she has a point. My host mom’s brother was in the hospital recently, close to death. This was an interesting time because his daughter and 2 nieces all came to live with us so they could be close by to take care of him (they live on the north coast). When he was released from the hospital we took him to live with us too, and he is still living here. I just found it really interesting that all these family members dropped everything, including high school classes, to come be close to him during this time. I like that, and I feel like that wouldn’t happen in the states. It’s kind of fun having new people in the house too. In other family news, we got a new pet about a month ago—a rooster named Pancholรณn. A few days I went up to visit him and he was gone… it turns out he was in our soup the day before. Awesome. Princesa is still doing well though, in case you were wondering. J
Danes… The only Danish volunteer left from the original group is Malene, and I’m so thankful to have her help in the library as well as her friendship. And now a new group of Danes has arrived! There are 4 girls and 2 guys. Yay for new friends and running partners!
MCC… We recently had a MCC get-together. It was a lot of fun and super refreshing to be together again, at a water park in San Pedro. Unfortunately, the reason for our gathering was to say goodbye to the Stephens family. They have been living and working at a farm here in Honduras for 3 years, and now that their term is up they are heading back to the states. I have loved having them on our team and have learned a lot from all of them, so it was hard to say goodbye. I guess goodbyes are part of the deal when you work with MCC though. L And I continue to be thankful for the MCC friendships I have here in Tegus, like Elise and the Troyers. Not sure what I would do without them.
Other exciting news… my parents and Quenzer grandparents are coming to visit me next month! I’m very excited to show them my home and community, as well as a few other parts of Honduras—including ROATAN!
I am interested to hear what news (if any) you all have been reading in the states about Honduras. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks again for your prayers and support from afar. It is so much appreciated!
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| 1st blog photo! This is me with some kids from my after-school reading program, as well as one of the Danish volunteers. |
