So today, we didn't have music class because the teacher was sick. I had to come up with something to occupy my kids for 40 minutes, and since we had just learned the letter "D", I decided to make my kids into ducks.
Its amazing what a little yarn and contruction paper can do...
Could my students possibly be any cuter?
By clicking on this link, you should be able to view some of the short video clips that I have taken with my digital camera. Keep checking it too, because I will be posting more and more videos on here.
***NEW*** http://www.zippyvideos.com/5328953126342706/sjds_video/
Clip from my laying-out time at the beach...taken for no other reason but to make you wish you were here.
***NEW*** http://www.zippyvideos.com/9733426556279596/hpim0430/
This video footage was taken in Copan, Honduras.
http://www.zippyvideos.com/8953208846139766/hpim0360/
This is a clip from the local fruits & veggies market
http://www.zippyvideos.com/1257276326144886/shortened_classroom_intro/
This is a small introduction to my classroom in Honduras
http://www.zippyvideos.com/4734802436139866/kinder_c_students/
This clip shows my beautiful children singing
http://www.zippyvideos.com/2954883736149276/jam_session/
Late night jam-session on the compound
The other day I put out my vegetables for my maid to wash for me (since the process takes a little long with the soaking to completely disinfect everything) , and I left a small note which said
"Buenas Dias Rosy! Puede llavar las verduras en la bolsa? Gracias!"....which I thought said
"Good morning Rosy! Can you wash the vegetables in the bag? Thanks!"
What I actually said was "Can you take the vegetables in the bag?" The verb I wanted was LAVAR, 'to wash', and I wrote LLAVAR, which means 'to take'.
So I don't have vegetables. I think its pretty funny though.
I told you so. If the man who worked on the bus to Valle de
Angeles could have spoken my language, he would have said "I told you so."
After walking about a mile and a half from El Centro to the bus stop, there were 2 options: Go on a bus with about 100 other people, or go on a busito with about 12 other people and arrive there about 30 minutes prior to the bus. So, we chose the busito. The bus driver told us not to go on it, but we just thought it was because he wanted our money. I mean, who wouldn't rather have a little more personal space and arrive at your destination more quickly?
Our destination, by the way, was an orphanage about 40 kilometers outside of the city. We were going to stay there Friday night, work with the kids all day Saturday, and then come back to the city later on in the day.
About 30 minutes later, we were quite a ways out of the city and stuck on the side of the road. In the dark. With only us girls....and a guardian angel that God sent to help us...I am convinced of that. There is really not much of anything between Tegus and Valle, and even Valle is rather small. So when we broke down, we knew that we would have some difficulties, probably in the form of sleeping on the side of the road in our broken down busito. There was one other woman who was with us, and as we were trying to explain where we were going in our not-so-perfect English with our not-so-perfect directions, we were even more convinced that there would be difficulties. Then, in the sweetest voice, Beatriz (guardian angel) said "I speak English. Can I help you girls get to where you are going?" Godsend. So, as we are walking in the direction of the town "(which was definitely quite a ways off) we see a few buses go by, but Beatriz helped us get on the right one--the one going to the actual pueblo that the orphanage was in. As we walked on the bus, the driver and the money changer looked very familiar, and then I place their faces. They were the ones that tried to convince me not to take the busito in the first place, but rather ride on the bus with 100 other people. God definitely has a sense of humor.
Beatriz rode with us and got off on our stop and showed us where the moto-taxis are, which are tri-ped motorcycles with coverings on them that seat about 5 people. We took the mototaxi down about 3 different dirt roads, and finally we arrived at the orphanage. She came with us the whole way, even though she needed to go in a different direction and had a 1-year old at home waiting with her husband.
After arriving at the orphanage, we were shown our room and brought into the TV room where all 16 kids were in their jammies watching Mulan. The kids range in age from 2-7 and most of the kids have been there since their infancy, except for Aura (the beautiful girl
pictured on the right) and one other girl, who have been there since age 5. Aura has the most heart-breaking childhood story, and I do not know how she has lived through the horrors she has lived through, but in this home she has brothers and sisters, a mom and dad, and is surrounded by love and stability. The orphanage has been open for 4 years, and is run by this amazing young couple. The wife is the daughter of a missionary and graduated from Academia Los Pinares a few years ago. The orphanage is still in the process of being built, and is only built as the money comes in from the states or from mission teams who stay at their facility. The bedrooms are totally cute--not the institutional feel-- and the whole place is created so that it feels like a home and not a government building. Their goal is to have 25 children, all long-term and all successful with their education.
As soon as we walked in the orphanage, we were attacked by the children. They were stuck to our sides the whole time, and would hardly let us leave the room without clinging to our legs. These children were so loving and trusting...but you could tell that as soon as you left you knew they'd feel the disappointment of someone coming into their live
s and leaving all too quickly. When they knew though that we lived close by them and weren't leaving for the states, they felt much better...especially after arranging our next visitation time. On Saturday, we took the kids on a hike on the mountain range closest to the valley where the pueblo was situated. They loved it, and don't get to do things like that very often because there just isn't enough supervision normally. The view was incredible, and I got to take some really great pictures of what life is like outside of the city in these tiny villages.
I am so glad that I was able to experience this orphanage, and I am even more excited at the thought of being able to return on a semi-normal basis. I also am planning on writing the older girls during those stretches of time that I am not able to come so that they can see that not everyone in their life is temporary. Being the oldest and coming into the home at age 5, they have had to overcome more difficulties in their lives than the younger ones, but any amount of love and individual attention that they are shown goes so far.
I hope you enjoy my pictures, and I will add the link to the website for the orphanage when I can find it. For anyone who is interested, they have room for and accept mission teams as a way to pay for the children's needs throughout the year. You do not have to do work at the orphanage to be able to stay there, but for $10 a night per person, they are able to house, clothe, feed, and educate 16 children for an entire year. For those of you looking into summer missions, this would be an amazing opportunity.
It says in the Bible that we are to not neglect kindness and hospitality to anyone because we never know when we might be uknowingly entertaining angels. I think I had my encounter with a few of them this weekend, and its so amazing to see the work of God in this place. I cannot look into the eyes of these children, see glimpses of their beautiful hearts, and not want to do more than I already am doing. I look at the people who run this orphanage, or those people who just give of themselves so selflessly for nothing other than serving others, and I see the impact of their kindness. Although its slightly terrifying to think of the amount of responsibility thats needed for endeavors such as running an orphanage or ministering to street kids, I am also completely drawn to it. Everyday that I am here I want to do more and give more, and I am so excited to see where my life will lead me. I don't know where I'll be, but God does and thats all that matters. All of this is just prep for the work that lies ahead...
The pictures below were all taken from that day: The first two are of some of the children from the orphanage, and the rest are pictures from our hike. Enjoy!
Hey everyone~ Life is going well, and I've completed my 2nd month living abroad. The longer I am here, the more its beginning to feel like home. I have made big efforts to fix up my apartment, buy some things to decorate, and really begin to get settled. In the past when I have moved into a new apartment, I have had things set-up within a few days...a couple of Target runs and some paint and suddenly I have what feels like home. This has taken longer, but there have also been other things ranking much higher on the list...adjusting to a new job, new culture, and so on .
On Mas
low's Hierarchy of needs, decorating a room...i.e. aesthetic beauty, organization, etc. ranks 2nd to the top, only beneath self-actualization, which, in theory, is never fully attained but merely placed before you as an idealistic goal for which to strive. Like the unattainable dangling carrot. So why go on and on about decorating my room? It means that I am progressing up the Hierarchy of Needs, which means that I am getting to the point where I can move towards self-actualization and begin to focus less on myself and more on others. I would love to say that I could do that anyways without having a decorated room, but alas human nature kicks in and decorating is not only for aesthetics, but more like a coping mechanism. I think all the ladies reading this will understand...
I have also seen other changes in my language and how I am comprehending Spanish. Let me start first by explaining some of the core people (who you will probably hear and see more of).
Naomi: Room-mate (acompañera)- Has been teaching here for 3 years, is fluent in Spanish,
knows her way around, and lets me tag along. Most likely a bad-combination of personalities since both of us are very independent and are constantly daring each other to do stuff.
Jen: Chem major, teaches High School Chemistry, also first year teacher. Went to El Salvador together, and has dreams and ambitions of seeing all Central American countries within the school year as wel
l as saving planet. Also, most likely a bad combination of personalities since we also are both very adventurous and dare each other to do stuff.
Jorge: Best Honduran friend, and good balance for all of us since he does not dare us to do stuff, but rather scolds us when he hears of our dares. Free Spanish tutor extraordinaire, and city tour guide.
Anyways, to come back after that little jaunt, I am understanding Spanish much better. Last night after church I was having dinner with Naomi and Jorge at this great little street restaurant (the best restaurants, I've noticed, are the ones that only have 2-3 things on the menu and 5-7 picnic tables that are always packed. Oh, they also charge on average 25-40 lempiras for a plate of food, which equals out to about $1.10 to $2.00) and I realized that while I was listening to Jorge talk that I was no longer translating his Spanish into English in my brain. To explain this a little better, my language acquisition thus far has gone like this: Someone speaks to me, and I translate the first word I understand into English, and by the time I'm done translating 4 more words have gone by, and I catch the fifth one.
Ex. Perro (dog).....blah blah blah blah....Calle (street)...blah blah blah blah....Fùtbol (soccer)....blah blah blah blah....Entiendas? (Do you understand?)
So, I would try to best understand the sentence by piecing it together with the words I knew combined with any hand-gestures the person may have thrown into the mix. However, the other night I wasn't having to do this...I didn't have to do any Spanish-English translation, I just knew the words and what he was saying. Totally cool. I also have been unconsciously speaking Spanglish. For example (Por ejemplo), I will be speaking in English to someone who also speaks English, and I will throw in random Spanish words without even thinking about it. I guess that means that its coming more naturally to me, but at this moment it now means that I am awkward at two languages instead of one.
I still have a lot of work to do with my spanish, and I mess up grammatically all of the time. But, at least now I am able to get my point across though, even if it means that I use the future tense verb instead of the conditional tense. At least they're understanding the verb I'm using and not giving me the dreaded blank stare...the "you are making absolutely no sense" stare. Its more along the lines of a "bless your heart" pity stare, but I'll take what I can get.
I will be honest though and say that the past few days have brought my first sad moments since I've been here. This weekend, both my former roommate Erin and my cousin Eddie both had their weddings, and I didn't get to go to either. That got me thinking about how I haven't seen my other cousin, Elizabeth, since her wedding 3 years ago. I haven't seen either of her two beautiful babies ever, and I won't see them for a long time since I will be here. I have also felt a huge need to reconnect with old friends, and desperately try to hold on to the ones I have back in the states. I know this is all normal, but I guess what I'm trying to do is still feel like I have some consistency in my life---that not everything has changed. I am not homesick, because I am loving it down here... I just need the people in my life who I care about to make me feel a little closer to normalcy. So, it would mean a lot if you write and put posts on here. I love hearing about anything- even the boring, mundane life details.
Anyways, that's all for now. I will give more life details when I have any more little stories or details worthy of being published.
Macayla
P.S. For any of those that know me,
you will sense the humor in this.
On Saturdays we leave for the
market at 6:30 a.m., and I went
to bed so early that I woke up at
4:45 a.m.. Naturally. I am no
longer capable of sleeping in past
7. So sad...
I think that all of these pictures are beautiful, but maybe not beautiful in the traditional sense. Beautiful in the traditional sense would be like the ballet or a Michelangelo; but these are not so traditional. These pictures, through my eyes, are beautiful in the sense that slightly crooked teeth are beautiful, laugh lines are beautiful, and lightning storms or really dark thunder clouds in the distance are beautiful.
This is a shot of just an average neighborhood...
This was taken at a park, which is just slightly off the beaten track. All throughout the park are Mayan architecture and places for kids to play. I love it there, and until I find another cool little gem, this is my favorite park.
These pictures were taken while I was waiting for a rapidito to take me home. On Sundays, the rapiditos change their location to this tiny side street, and I was able to talk with these kids and watch them play. I wish I could have been able to join in on the fun, but alas my bus left. 
This picture is of the Catedral del Sagrado Corazon just on the outskirts of El Centro. It is not near as big as the main cathedral in the heart of El Centro, but I love all the details in this building. There are also some really cool market streets that fan out from this location, and I always see some kind of street performer or street preaching going on...the cool kind of street preaching and not the soap-box kind.
