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