This morning was similar to yesterday morning. I went to work at the school. I worked with a wonderful young woman today who's bilingual. Although she is originally from Honduras, she spent about 6 years living in the states, so she's fluent. Today, as we were talking about getting tan, we discovered that my arms are darker than hers. I felt satisfied to know I was darker than a Honduran, and she now wants to go tanning. She also invited me to a water park, and I'm really excited about this friendship that sprang up. It feels good to click with someone that quickly and well.
After an amazing meal of rice, salad, and BBQ chicken, I headed off to help Shari with her bi-weekly Bible study at Casita. I had forgotten how much the girl's orphanage resembles a prison, with 20 foot walls and barbed wire around the top. It's partially to keep them in or else they'll run and go back to drugs and sex on the streets, and it's partially to keep gangs out or else they'll come in and rape the girls inside. I can't imagine living under such conditions and with such constant fear.
There are a lot of babies there, because of the "loose" culture of Honduras and sexual abuse. I got to hold a little boy (who had thicker hair than I do) who was born on the 16th, making him a little more than 2 weeks old. What a precious boy! I was a little intimidated to be holding such a little one, but who can resist such opportunities?
As the Bible study started, I instantly made a new friend, a young girl with cropped hair and a green dress. I didn't get her name, but she was as touchy and sweet as they come. I handed out small sheets of paper with the verse on it that we were going over, I Peter 2:9. We said it several times, reading together and repeating each phrase after Alba (a young woman who lives with Terry and Shari). I don't think the girl knew how to read, but I followed the words with my finger as I read the words to the best of my ability. I can read Spanish pretty well in my head, but have trouble with the bigger words when reading out loud. But, by the end, she was able to say some of the phrases with the rest of the group. I stumbled through the last word, which ends in "able," which I was naturally pronouncing like I would table, or any other such word. But they pronounce each letter, so she was giving me funny looks. I asked her, and she corrected me with an encouraging smile. It's remarkably humbling to be corrected by a child, but it also feels good because she did it kindly, genuinely wanting me to speak better.
After Bible study, I helped pass out the cups of juice and cookies, and went to look around. They have a garden that someone came to help them plant, but it's not much. There are maybe 10 papaya trees scattered throughout a side yard of grass. The enclosure where the chickens were was empty. Shari had told me the other day that all the chickens were gone. When she'd called the director about what type of food she was supposed to get for the chickens, the woman told her they had all died. It's still a mystery to us as to how that happened. The chickens were something I was looking forward to helping with. :(
I then played with one of the toddlers as she ate her cookies. Mostly, we just made noises back and forth at each other and made faces. When I asked her her name, she said "Cinco" and held up two fingers. She's 3 years old and her name is Nicole, so I'm not really sure what was going on there. She was laughing at the time, too, so I suspect she was just being silly. But when I did call her silly, she insisted that she was not. I suppose not everything 3 year olds say can be trusted.
On the way back, the rain started coming down in buckets. It's crazy. You can see a video of it on my facebook. If I upload it to youtube, I'll be sure to put a link in here.
In other news, I got a list of students. I have 6 students, all age 5, and that's the biggest class there. There's a total of 20 students enrolled in school, but that's including Tammy's daughter who's only about 3, so I think she'll mostly just be hanging out. I also found out that I will be teaching science class, but that's only twice a week, and I have the book for it, so that shouldn't be a big deal.
Also, I had a scare with my camera. I replaced the batteries (old, dying ones with brand new ones), and suddenly my camera would shut off every time I held the picture button half down to focus. Then it started shutting off as soon as I turned it on. I was so upset because I just got the camera like 2 weeks ago so that I could be taking pictures and putting them up, but then I thought it was broken. So, I put the old batteries back in, and it worked. I put some different new ones in, and now it's back to working just fine. Yay!!! I'm not sure what the problem was before. I guess one of the new ones was defective or something. Oh, well. It's behind me now, and I can start taking pictures and posting them here, and on facebook!
Well, that's all for now. I'm sure I'll have more stories for tomorrow about the first day of school! :)
Melody, I really enjoy how you write. Its like I'm reading a book. I like the way you describe things and how descriptive you are. Keep on posting blogs and I doubt that you won't do this but don't lessen the length of your blogs. For the problem that you are having with learning Spanish, and speaking from a guy who doesn't know any Spanish, Google translate can be your best friend. I would just get a pad of paper and write words down or with comments so you don't forget those words and translate them when you have free time. That story made me laugh about that young guy that was trying to be a player or being flirtatious. BTW I looked up the passage of 1 Peter 2:9 and the word you were probably thinking of was admirable which means wonderful. I am really happy that you are having all these great experiences and doing all these cool things. :)
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