My Surprise Birthday Party-Nov.16th

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!!
So my kids threw me a surprise birthday party on Friday. It was so cute. I couldn't believe they could do this at their age (9 and 10). They cleaned up the entire room and put all the desks and chairs against the wall. Then they swept the entire floor and mopped it so it was squeaky clean. They set up a table with food and drinks. It was great. They even brought cds and they got a cd player so we could listen to music. I opened the door and they screamed SURPRISE!!! All of them started to jump on top of me. I cried.

Jesus, Felix, Angela, and Cesar

Angela brought me a birthday cake that said "Feliz cumpleaños"

The kids decorated all the boards. We have one white board.
Another board. This is basically a wall with black paint in the shape of a rectangle.
So they are in 4th grade. Some of the girls are still shy to dance with the boys.

Valeria, Angela, Norma, Stephanie, Carol, Adriana Leticia, and Carmen

Another blackboard.
Some of my kids.

Valeria, Adriana Maria, Luis (the crazy one) and Katy.

My kids do not know how to sit still during a picture. They love to jump up. Some of the kids had the desire to put paint on their faces.

TODAY WAS A COLOR DAY. THE STUDENTS CAN PAY 10 LEMPIRAS TO DRESS IN BLUE JEANS AND A NICE SHIRT. 10 LEMPS=50 CENTS

RANDOM STUFF

Pupusas-tortilla filled with cheese
COMIDAS TIPICAS












RANDOM COWS IN THE STREETS OF EL SALVADOR












LA COSTA DEL SOL DURING THE RAINY SEASON
WE WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE ON THE BEACH AND IN THE RESORT.
THE RESORT WAS SEMI-FLOODED.












SALVADOR AND HIS FARM MODEL











MY GIRLS PLAYING IN THE FUTBOLITO.
A COMPETITION AGAINST THE OTHER GRADES.

Angela and her PATIENCE award

My adorable 4th grader, Angela, won the PATIENCE award for the month of September. I was so proud of her.

Girasol-Sunflower

Here is a sunflower that was outside of my friend's house. He said that the sunflowers get stolen all the time. So I took a picture just in case. That was in the afternoon. A bunch of us went out for a bit and when we came back it was gone. Well he was right about the stealing part. The sunflower was beautiful though.

Different Themes of the high school parades

A girl in a dress.

I don't know???

One of the oldest public schools in Juticalpa.

Typical Honduran Outfits

Los ratones

The school mascot

Social issues in Honduras

Kidnapping, Delinquency, Corruption, Alcoholism

This is an Asian theme for one of the public schools.

Every theme group has a presentation and this is it.

Marching Bands

This is one of the marching bands that performed on Saturday, September 15th.

You will notice a lot of female percussionists.

I like this marching band. I think they came in 4th place. Some marching bands get really into it.

Salute to the church

The vaqueros are saluting the church that is in front of the main park.

Vaqueros: Paso 2

Here are my cute little cowboys doing one of the moves during the parade. I was so proud of them.

Sorry for the shaking. I was clapping at the same time. heheh!

Honduran Friends

Jessica and her boyfriend, Franklin. He is studying business.
Amanda and I in a typical restaurant for seafood soup. Sopa de mariscos.
Top: Random guy, Amanda(She is a pharmacist) and my friend, Lalo. He is the one that designed all the houses.

Bottom: Beto- He is studying to become a dentist.

Everyone studies medicine or engineering.

Roommate

My roommate Jessica.

More more desfile pics

A guy climbing up the wall so he can see the parade better. Principe y Princesa of another school.
Our principes y princesas of Day-Star. They are so so cute.

They have all the disney characters.

Floods in Juticalpa

This is from 20 minutes of rain. They have no draining system here. How lovely!!!

Mis alumnos (My students)

In this picture: Children's Day-El día de los niños-September 10, 2007
We celebrate children in Honduras only in the elementary schools. The kids get the opportunity to dress in their own clothes and wear all sorts of colors. We have a half day and before the day ends, we have a celebration. Kids bring in all types of Honduran food. ORCHATA, BALEADAS, HOT DOGS!!! HAHAH! Seriously, I had one student that brought in 28 hot dogs with the buns and the ketchup and mayo. NOT MUSTARD. They love mayo mixed with ketchup. Russian dressing. Every morning they have to line up at the wall and then I come down the stairs to get them. As soon as they see me coming, they are running for that wall. It is so cute. They go bonkers. This is picture of the basketball court.


This is some of the food for the fiesta. There is Jesus in the background. He loves the camera. He is so funny. He also has really nice handwriting.

Luis is in front with the blue shirt. He is very loud and very hyper-active. He can never stay in his seat. But I still adore him.

This my classroom. I just put up some of their artwork. So the room is more colorful. It is not shown in the picture. This is taken from a while back. Right in the front is Ernesto. He is the smallest kid in the class but with the biggest mouth. That is why he is sitting alone. That is the uniform that they were every other day. On Tuesday and Thursday, they were their physical education uniform that consists of a T-shirt with the Day-star logo and black sweatpants with the same logo.

Class Photo-Children's Day: The kids love the camera. I have 28 beautiful rugrats.

Look at little Ernesto in the back!

Comidas tipicas

This is the sopa de pescado. They just throw the whole fish in there. The Hondurans love the eyes. I have not tried the eye yet. Maybe in June.

Anafre-tortilla chips, chorizo, queso and frijoles (beans) all in this pot. It is heated with some charcol. It is kind of like fondue dish.
A meal created by Jessica's boyfriend, Franklin. He wants to open a Honduran Restaurant in Philly. LOOK AT THAT PRESENTATION!

More desfiles

These are two of my students. Adriana and Dolores. They are cousins and best friends. Their family owns El Supermercado Olanchano. They swing batons around. They are called PALIONAS. (I think I spelled that right!) They are so adorable!

This is a picture of the younger children. They are dressed in typical Honduran clothes. The little girl is wearing a vestido de danza.

Desfiles-parades

This weekend was Independance Weekend!!!! We had the elementary parades on Friday and the high school parades on Saturday. The official day of Independance was on Saturday, the 15th. Here are some pictures of the elementary parade. There were about 25 schools that marched and we had to be there at 6:50 in the morning. We waited around until 8 am and then we started marching down the boulevard. It began to drizzle a little and then it downpoured for the rest of the time. It was wonderful. I still got color!!! I was in charge of the vaqueros/vaqueras (cowboys/cowgirls). They were 5th and 6th grade students. My students did not march because they were too young. Only special groups and the 5th/6th grade students marched.

In the above pictures are my vaqueras. You can see my awesome cowgirl hat!!! Neato!!!

I worked closely with the boys and learned all of their pasos. The girls had it more under control and they had 15 girls. The boys only had 12.

There were three pasos.

1. Swing the lasso from side to side.

2. The cowboys will cross to the other side and switch. They scream HEY and lift up their sombreros.

3. Swing the lasso above their heads.

There are also SALUDOS - SALUDOS

SALUDO AL PUBLICO--- SALUTE THE PUBLIC

SALUDO A LA IGLESIA---- SALUTE THE CHURCH

SALUDO A LA BANDERA--- SALUTE THE FLAG

Well I just gave you a lesson on what happens at a parade.

Hurricane Felix and the aftermath

The hurricane was horrible. I had to swim for three miles to get to my house. I was swimming next to cows and chickens. They were trying to push me out of the way but I said "no."

Then the power was out for 15 hours and we just played pattie cake in the dark.
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Okay, I can't do this anymore. I tried to be funny but it did not work.

So we didn't have school on Tuesday. It rained off and on all day but it was a drizzle for most of the time. We lost power only in the morning but I didn't know because I was sleeping. My roommate had to tell me.

We relaxed in the house all day. I got some work done but not all of it. I thought we were not going to have school again but I received a call that we had school. I was walking to school and a taxi driver stopped to ask if there as school. I said yes and he drove off to his house to wake up his children. I arrived at school and I had about 10 kids that were there at 7 in the morning. They do not have a phone chain or anything like that. You take the risk of going or not going to school. I was about to take my kids to the classroom and then the Director said that every student had to go home. The Department of Education called the school and said that we were not supposed to have school today. We had to send all the kids home. Now, I am at the school doing work because the teachers still have to stay here.

Oh well :(

So overall, the hurricane was a flop and it was just some silly rain. Thank you for your concern and I bet we will get another one soon.

I love you all!!!

-Hannah

Hurricane Felix

So I have a kid named Felix and he is so happy that this hurricane was named after him. School is closed tomorrow. I live close to the river so hopefully my house will not flood. Vamos a ver.

I love you all and I hope everything works out!
Love,
Hannah

Teguc

So I went to the capital to this weekend. It is called Tegucigalpa. It is a very civilized city and it is located in a valley. It is much cooler there. We went to the mall and I bought a prepaid cell phone for 25 bucks. If you ever feel the desire to call me or text me, you can reach me at
011 504 98252680. This is my cell number. So nobody follows the traffic signs or anything. They go through stop signs and traffic lights because there are barely any cops around. My roommate Jessica, introduced me to her friend Lalo. His real name is Lissandro. Every person has a nickname here. It is crazy. Anyway, Lalo is a very nice guy and he is the one that built our house. It is building a mini complex with fourteen houses and two apartment buildings and a pool. The houses are mini condos with 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, kitchen, backyard, and livingroom. It also has a driveway. I think he took the idea from the states. But they are really nice and right now his sister's house and my house are the only one's occupied. They are two story houses. They also have a room outside if you wanted a little trabajadora or worker to live there with you. The worker has his/her own bathroom. It is beautiful sight from the front. Lovely little construction trucks and dirt everywhere and men working everyday from 7-4 drilling away. It is beautiful. My room is in the back and i have a simple sight of the mountain tops and palm trees, banana plants, and cute little rooftops. Lalo is very well off. He is only 25 and he is a civic engineer. The houses go for 74,000 USD. That is a lot of money here. He has already sold six houses. The whole complex should be done in a year says Lalo but honduran terms might be two years. We need to put barb wire around our backyard because I am afraid someone might jump over the wall and go through our backdoor. Lalo also has a house in Teguc where it is a gated community and the President of Honduras lives in the same community. He showed us the house.

Anyway, Teguc was nice and I know you thought that I would be living in a little hut but I actually don't. I have running water for the most part. The power goes out a lot so that will turn off the water as well. It is a risk that you take. We went to Price Smart. It is like a costco. Literally. I bought some stuff in bulk becuase it is cheaper than buying it at the little store every week. Teguc even has an Applebees and a Friday's. I did not go there. I went to TACO LOCO instead and they are not like the tacos at Taco Bell. The food is good here but I only eat once a day because my belly is dying. I will try and eat more once I get used to the food. We took a bus back to Juticalpa and they say that the bus leaves at 5pm but you have to be there at 4pm because if they sell out after 4pm then they just leave. So I guess the busses really leave at 4pm. A little strange don't you think. Also, we paid for the cable to be installed but they haven't installed it yet. I don't think we will get it until next month. They are so slow here. Restaurants like El Rancho take forever. You order food and you get it like 30-45 minutes later. The whole place is outside and they have little bands come in and play for money. La Ranchera is the type music that they play here. They look kind of like Mariachi bands but it is a little different.

Well I said too much. I love you guys!
Hannah
I had a pineapple breakfast bar. It was interesting.

Sickness stinks

Hello,
I was sick! It sucked! I wanted to die.