Hello again! So as some of you may have noticed I have been somewhat out of contact with the world since I returned to the finca from my vacation in July. I have been back in Honduras for exactly 51 days, and I can honestly state that these have been the longest, craziest, and most exhausting 51 days of my entire time here. They have also been full of many graces in their own unique way. In an effort to catch you all up on my life here is a list of 51 things that have happened in the past 51 days.
1. Upon return to Honduras I spent a lovely night in Ceiba (where our adolescents live and go to high school) followed by a great morning run with Erin (their encargada) around town.
2. Upon arrival to the farm I met the 6 new kids who arrived at the finca while I was gone: Angel, Nahomy, Duncan, Hildebrando, Kimberly, and Brittany…the last five being siblings, and all proving adorable
3. We celebrated the national holiday “Day of the Lempira” at school with amazing costumes for every child.
4. We celebrated Magadlena’s 11th birthday with chocolate oatmeal cookies…she lovingly named her new stuffed dog Mary Kate.
5. We celebrated the golden birthday of our beloved nurse Deirdre with amazing chocolate cake and a fun game of watermelon rugby out in the ocean.
6. Nils’ very kind mom, sister, and dad visited the farm.
7. After a series of unfortunate events, Keenan and Ted (volunteers) had to leave the finca 4 months before their planned departure. This proved the saddest day on the finca of the past year for many volunteers, myself included.
8. As soon as Keenan left, I became the middle school math teacher in addition to my job as a special ed teacher.
9. A group of social work and teaching specialists from Chicago came to the farm to help out and help paint a mural for our school. Jeanette, the special ed teacher of the group, proved an angel during a very trying week for myself.
10. Mangos are finally ripe again, and the second wave of yummy mango surplus season brought a little joy to all our taste buds.
11. Kristina and Nelly head out to World Youth Day in Spain for 2 weeks.
12. The Hurst family left for a well deserved vacation in the states.
13. Betsy came back from vacation, this brought a smile to everyone’s face.
14. Due to the high rate of vacations and other things going on, I had the pleasure of covering kinder garden, health (grades 1 through 9), and computers (grades 1 and 2), during my free periods.
15. I kept eating delicious mangos.
16. A tarantula took up residence in the girls’ bathroom in the vol house, but proved very kind and never hurt a soul.
17. Iced coffee became a popular breakfast treat, this is a trend all would like to see continue.
18. I gave out the tutus and ballet dresses to the girls that I brought back from the states, the little ones literally screamed and jumped in joy.
19. I went on a lovely silent retreat with several fellow vols and found peace in the silence.
20. Deirdre and I celebrated our one year anniversary of arriving to Central America with baleadas and smoothies in town.
21. Rony, one of my all star students, won the responsibility award for second grade in the month of August.
22. Jonathan, another one of my all star students, not only learned cursive, but can now write it better than me.
23. Jessica and David, my two all star sixth graders, got 95% on their math test on conversions of measurements.
24. House 1 giggled wth glee as they danced in their pink tutus in ballet class.
25. I learned that the big apple style mangos are my favorites.
26. Sor Elda, one of our Fransiscan sisters, took her final vows.
27. I slept well every night...in part due to an extreme level of tiredness that hit me about 9 pm every night.
28. My special friend Elena lost 3 teeth, and is now even cuter than before.
29. I got a new special friend (similar to big brother big sister program) named Hildebrando (8 years old)
30. We celebrated 6 birthdays in one week in July (4 kids, 2 volunteers).
31. My kids at school have fallen in love with my new crayola special dry erase board.
32. Since the priest cancelled last minute, I got to lead a communion service for the entire school.
33. Magdalena almost read a book all by herself…twice…it’s going to happen soon!
34. The 7th and 8th grade boys very craftily and dramatically removed a large blue crab that was blocking my way of unlocking the padlock to the computer lab.
35. The mosquito population of Honduras all moved to the finca, and they have fallen in love with my ankles.
36. I got a wonderful care package from my mom with rice krispy treats and oreo cakesters, along with 2 letters all in one amazing mail day.
37. My new water bottle from my sister with the flip top made me very popular with the little girls on the farm…they quite enjoy playing with it.
38. Deirdre went home for a brief vacation to catch up with family, we were glad to see her get a break, and even more glad to have her back.
39. I got a double scoop ice cream cone at Saritas…twice.
40. I spent a lovely weekend in Ceiba with Amanda visiting our teenagers Arturo, Dalila, and Marina, vol Alisha, and the Satterlee family (friends of the finca).
41. We sang all 10 verses of the Honduran national hymn to celebrate flag day at school.
42. I have only done laundry three times, each time I hand scrubbed clothes for several hours because I was literally washing almost all of my clothing in Honduras.
43. Scarleth, one of our amazing Nicaraguan psychologists, went on a three week well deserved vacation, and was welcomed back with open arms.
44. I began practicing with my 1st grade ballerinas for our presentation in the Independence Day parade on the 12th.
45. Swim lessons continued on, and every week I still had to explain that grey sand dollars are still alive, and you therefore cannot take them home with you.
46. My community and I enjoyed my experiments in breakfast bread making on Saturday mornings.
47. Every two weeks the vols get to watch a video. Amanda and I continued our Harry Potter video series and very much enjoyed videos 2, 3, 4, and 5.
48. All of the incoming class of volunteers arrived in Guatemala for their entry retreat and language school. They will arrive on the farm October 1.
49. Nature continued to be beautiful and inspiring all around us.
50. I found solace in cold showers after many long hot and sweaty days.
51. I finally found the time and means to write a blog update!
I promise to try to keep you all better posted form here on out. Wishing you all the best!
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