tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112400268268637052024-02-07T21:29:20.574-06:00Cuentos CatrachosI saw this quote once that said, "She packed up her potential and all that she had learned, grabbed a cute pair of shoes and headed out to change a few things." Well I guess that's what I did! I'm living in a small, lovely town in Honduras teaching English for the next year, and here are my stories. I've thought of this more as an online journal, and less of entertainment for family and friends, but I hope you enjoy! Thanks for sharing with me in this adventure...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-48664571745045772622014-01-29T08:08:00.000-06:002014-01-29T08:08:56.308-06:00Buena Vista (Round 2)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Driving to Tuesday's village Remmie mentioned he thought we'd visited the same village on our 2011 trip. I thought there was just no way, but he was absolutely right! We were greeted by the same, smiling teacher, and her students lined up in the same neat little rows to give us an incredible welcome.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leading the morning prayer. They said a few different prayers, all of which were beautiful, but hearing such tiny voices recite the Catholic Morning Prayer brings tears to my eyes every time. Well, twice so far, but the odds are good I'd well up given a third opportunity.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The name, Buena Vista, means "good view"--proof they come by it honestly!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I translated Tonia's morning greetings in each village, and Tuesday Nury surprised me with a microphone. We are cracking up here because as I was trying to act all shy about the microphone I was having no problem using it to call the team over for the welcome. Silly girl</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clinic! I am almost positive our station is back right.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting in a manicure on her lunch break!</td></tr>
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<span id="goog_993520535"></span><span id="goog_993520536"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-6137257729527630562013-07-08T07:52:00.000-06:002013-07-08T07:52:46.488-06:00A year already...I can't believe I've been home for about 10 months now, and still miss Honduras like it's been my home for years. I'm not sure how you can spend more than 25 years in one country, in one state, then suddenly after only a year my "normal" isn't my life in the States anymore. There are so many things I miss about Honduras, but also so many things I'm enjoying now that I'm back in the US. I finished my first semester back in school with a 4.0. Four A's and I was so darn proud of myself! I also got certified in a dynamic body balancing technique, craniosacral therapy and myofascial release. I feel like the world has opened her arms to embrace me in the most wonderful way. Things keep happening in the most "perfect-timing" only His timing can create, and I love it. I'm trying to take my dad's advice and learn to write shorter posts, so I won't drown you in all the details, but things are great. It's like I'll be thinking about something, and then an opportunity will present itself. And that really makes me smile.<br />
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<b><i>Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>-Joseph Campbell</i></b><br />
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So things are great, but I do miss my kiddos! The sister of one of my students found me on Facebook, and I was able to chat with her for a bit--in ENGLISH! So proud of all 49 of my smarties :) School is out for summer, and it's crazy to me that my little second graders are going to be big fourth graders. A year already?! I recently received a care package from my Honduran family, and that was amazing. The man I called abuelito has a son who lives in Manassas. He called me and said he had a gift from my abuelito and other people from his church! Apparently he hadn't been home in seven years, and just went for a two week visit. While he was there they asked how close he lived to Falls Church, and he offered to get me a package. It was so nice getting all their letters, and they even sent coffee and treats.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My sillies from 2A on the last day of school</td></tr>
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I'm almost done with my summer semester. Hoping to finish all the drafts that never got posted, and looking forward to reminiscing on the trips and events with my students I didn't get a chance to share on here last year.<br />
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<b><i>Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>--Denis Waitley</i></b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-32533506425237354362013-01-23T21:24:00.000-06:002013-01-24T05:55:14.793-06:00Pushing That Comfort Zone!So it has been five months since my last post. Which is absolutely ridiculous. Let's blame it on change. For those who aren't in the know, I'm back from Honduras, which was quite the change but so great to be with friends and family again. It seems my adjustment phase is over, and it's back to work for this girl! I had a few (too many?) months of 'down time' after getting back, and it was good to have the time to get settled, catch up with people and try to figure out the next step...<br />
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I started training in Craniosacral Therapy and Myofascial Release, which I find fascinating. The body and all its inner-workings...just incredible. I'm about to begin level 3 of 5, and more excited with each training session. I won't go into too much detail here, but CST/MFR is an energetic form of healing, hands on and excellent in pain relief. I thoroughly enjoy my training, and hands-on experience with patients and willing (brave) friends has been great. Looking forward to all that training will bring! I've been offered to be part of a pain clinic this weekend, which should make me available to a larger number of patients for hands-on and observation experience. My dream of living on a healing farm is becoming more detailed and more exciting!<br />
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Work started once again, and it is honestly nice to be back into a routine. I've always had a job, ever since I was about fourteen, so being 'unemployed' for so many months was just strange! But a blessing, I know. I was fortunate enough to be offered a position with my old company, which was pretty exciting. I'll be working there part-time, MWF, and so far it has been great to see everyone again. My supervisor is new to the company, and seems like he will be a great boss. He says my days will fly by and we'll keep me nice and busy--sounds good to me!<br />
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I will only be working a part-time schedule, because I'm back in school! I have class Tuesday/Thursday and a couple online, and am so happy to be back in the classroom. Let's be clear--it has been pretty intense so far, but exciting. Deciding to make a nutritionist dream my reality meant going back to school, so I am beyond happy to be getting my studies rolling. My anatomy and physiology class is going to be a LOT of work, but so far I find it interesting, and couldn't have asked for a better professor. There's also a student study center in the science building, and the professors there are super helpful. It's going to be a great semester! And today was my first speech for public speaking. A speech already! It was just an introductory speech, 3-4minutes introducing some aspect of our lives to our classmates. So as I was fretting over my topic and the prospect of giving a speech, shamefully questioning if returning to school was such a good idea, I reminded myself that these feelings are common when I'm presented with an opportunity to step outside my comfort zone... a couple years ago I would have said "No, thank you." But now I've seen just how much I can grow when I really push my comfort zone. And there birthed my topic. Pushing my comfort zone! I was pretty pleased when I finished within the time limit today, because all of my practices were a few seconds over four minutes. I think I talk faster when I'm nervous :)<br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/bl4p0rww4jssffl/Video%20Jan%2022%2C%209%2007%2009%20AM.mov" target="_blank">...I can't seem to load the video, so here is a link!</a><br />
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Won't know my grade until Thursday at the latest, but I am proud of how hard I worked on it, and that I didn't have to look at my note cards! My posture could have been a lot better, but that's something to work on for my next speech. We had this list of seven criteria, and I think (hope!) I met them all...preparing the speech left me thinking about this blog, and how even starting it was such a push for me. My darn comfort zone! I'm always sooo nervous in the beginning, and then so pleased I've pushed myself. I wonder if I'll make time to post stories from Honduras last year, and little updates as this year continues...here's hoping!<br />
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Now go do something that scares you...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-19392586210260085282012-08-01T15:24:00.003-06:002012-08-01T15:24:54.880-06:00Mom's Hammock Hour(s)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
When we left La Casa Rosada we left our hammocks for the next year's teachers. It was a tough decision, but it seemed like the right thing to do. I also don't have much of a hammock hanging space at Pastor Alfonso's, so it wasn't entirely an act of social service. Every now and then I get this major urge to take a nap, and though I can't remember the last time I actually took one, this hammock provided some of the best naps you'll ever have. So great in fact, my mom enjoyed a post-school nap every afternoon while she was here! Except for the few days we were in Copan, I didn't give her a chance for much napping then, but the first few days she was here I let her get nice and cozy. It is almost embarrassing to share, but I found something soothing about how tired she was after her first day teaching with me. And second and third days too. Not that I mean that in a terrible way or anything, it was just comforting to know that it wasn't just me!</div>
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It can actually get a little chilly with the perfectly chilled breeze that flows on the porch there, so i was kind enough to cover her with my Aunt Di quilt. I was also hateful enough to snap a picture of her all adorable and comfy conked out after a long day at school!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-61961626078046516182012-08-01T15:15:00.002-06:002012-08-01T15:15:54.719-06:00Catching up!HOLA! It has been so long. And so much has changed! I also no longer have steady internet, so posts will be even more sporadic, but who doesn't love a good surprise now and then? So let's see...<br />
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Irene and Maryann are no longer Peña Blanca residents, I don't spend all week with 2nd graders, I have four younger brothers and a house filled with love, although I'm no longer a teacher I am working my little butt off as a translating missionary, and loving the flow of spiritual peace and guidance. School ended in June, and there were papers to grade, report cards to fill out and visas to extend. Right after final exams we had to rush through grading so that we could leave the country to extend our visas in time. We spent a lovely time in Antigua, Guatemala, but I'll let that story tell itself in another post, with lots of fun picutres! After the brief trip to Antigua we had about a week of remedial school, followed by report card finalizing and house packing/cleaning. It has been a fantastic whirlwind ever since! The girls and I moved in with Pastor Alfonso and his family, and they make us (now just me) feel right at home. Everyone in the house keeps pretty busy during the day, but there is so much going on around there I can almost always find an ear to burn. Wow. That feels like such a Sue Harris quote. Aww I miss my mom :)<br />
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So I translated with some Barnabas teams, and even got to help an art team paint murals in the foundation rooms. There have been many opportunities to translate for mission teams at church, and that's been great because my Spanish to English translating has gotten really strong. English into Spanish doesn't flow so easily, but all in due time I suppose. And I was able to get quite a lot of practice for a few weeks in July--<br />
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I travelled with a family of missionaries who did a sort of crusade for two weeks. I can safely say it was a most intense translating experience, but one that taught many lessons and left a mark on my heart. Comfort zones seem to have lost their fashion. I never dreamed I'd be in front of a church translating an english sermon into Spanish, in front of a table of principals presenting an agricultural education project, translating a pastoral conference <i>(again, into Spanish!!!) </i>getting interviewd by local TV to talk about the agriculture project we presented to the mayor and head of department of education or meeting the secretary of agriculture and one of the Honduran Vice Presidents to share a presentation about said ag project.<br />
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Like I said, it has been a whirlwind, and I'm enjoying every second. Sending big I miss you hugs to everyone back home!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-34879953409665579922012-06-04T19:25:00.000-06:002012-06-04T19:43:55.702-06:00April Fool's DayI love my Honduran family! Was blessed with a serenade phone call from Mari, then a serenade at church with lots of clapping and bright, beautiful smiles. There's this song all about giving thanks to God for such a wonderful life and blessing said wonderful life, and you can´t listen to it and not feel <i>wonderful</i>. Especially when the crowd is singing it to <i>you</i>!<br />
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In the morning on my birthday Maryann and I walked into town laughing and chatting all along the way. We saw my student Eric, his little sister Ericka and their nanny waiting for the bus. I didn't even have a chance to say hello before Eric was yelling, "Happy Birthday!!!" It was such a great birthday present :) Then I treated myself to some of Chevo's fresh-sliced mango, and un fresco de tamarindo to enjoy during our walk. When we got to Marvin and Doris' they surprised me with a birthday canteloupe. This birthday was full of sweet little surprises :) And when we got home Irene whipped up some pancakes!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cute little flower-shaped pancakes!</td></tr>
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Our friend Natalie's birthday is April 2nd and Lisa and Gordon planned a surprise for her on the 1st. They were super sweet and had us both blow the candles out on the yummy Queen's cake they had for us. They even had a few presents for me! It was a really great day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In one of the shirts Mrs. Cessna sent down with one of the teams--she sent a great birthday package!</td></tr>
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Later in the week Eric's mom and dad had a party for me over at their house. It started early evening and went late into the night--almost 10pm is what Eric was claiming to the students on Monday! We had a great time chatting and relaxing. Eric and Rosemery (mom and dad) really went all out. They had a grill full of meat, avocados with chimol (yum yum yummy), a table FULL of all kinds of delicious fruit and the cutest little cupcakes. After dinner, cake and coffee we went inside and I had a great time talking with Rosemery for what turned into hours. We talked about favorite movies, different places we've traveled, hopes and dreams--all the fun stuff! I love seeing how my children interact with their family, and seeing how they are outside the classroom. And I really appreciate Rosemery's friendship. We have grown quite close this year, and plan to keep in touch over the years to come. I need to know the man their son grows to be!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ericka runs up to give me hugs almost every morning at school, and she didn't want to leave my side during the party. She is way too cute.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She was definitely the most excited about the quequitos. She ran inside to show me the little cupcakes, and then Rosemery reminded her they were a surprise. I said, "Don't worry I didn't see anything!" and Ericka scolded me for lying!!!</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-46810403115346007442012-06-04T18:57:00.001-06:002012-06-04T18:57:41.030-06:00El Castillo en Omoa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The last day with the team was so much fun. We went to a town called Omoa, toured a famous castle and swam in the ocean all before lunch! It was quite the day. I think a lot of us were used to teams going shopping at the market in San Pedro Sula for their Saturday hoorah, but this was just so much better. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They used coral as some of the <i>stone</i> in the castle. This feels silly to admit, but I had no idea you could use coral to help build a structure! Of course I would later learn that the mayans used coral in their architecture as well, and it is really just something I should have known. But it was a fun new fact. And adds a very pretty element to the side of the old structure!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I learned that they exported all sorts of things from this castle, but he had me at chocolate :) I wonder what their kind of chocolate tasted like. I have enjoyed the fruit of a cacao tree, and the seed is so bitter most people just can't stand it. I know there is a drying and grinding process with the seeds, but then I assumed said powder is mixed with all sorts of things to create even the darkest of dark chocolates sold these days. Back then would they just sell it as powder?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cool view from the top!</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-87612402610775262232012-06-04T18:50:00.000-06:002012-06-04T18:50:16.516-06:00Birthday SurprisesThe day before my birthday kicked off a stretch of special celebration for me. I know I'm "far away from home" and all, but I have really found family here, and they worked hard to make me feel incredibly special for my birthday! I kicked the day off with a trip to a nearby town to visit a student and her grandmother. They suffered some pretty difficult deaths in the family due to a fatal car crash, and my student missed a few weeks of school. Pastor Alfonso, Mari and I went to visit and pray with them, and we had a great visit. It was of course difficult, but a blessing for everyone involved. The following week my girl was back at class, and just today she was singing me different worship songs she'd learned from her cousin. We talked about practicing some more tomorrow, and you should have seen her skipping to her bus singing her new favorite song. Precious :) Ok so that was the morning of March 31, and a great way to start my birthday weekend!<br />
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Once we got back I stayed and visited with Mari for a while. Zenaida had invited the girls and I over for coffee and sweets, so Irene met me at Pastor Alfonso's to walk over together. I washed some clothes at Mari's, but hadn't had time to hang them to dry, so I toted a bag of wet clothes to put on the line at Zenaida's. Once we got to Zenaida's I walked down into the yard rather than climbing the steps to go into her house, and Irene was all perplexed about what I was doing. I reminded her about my laundry and said I was going to hang the clothes before going in...I remember she looked at me confused, but then said she'd see me inside. My response was that she could help me before we went in, but she pushed for me to just come in with her. Then I heard Zenaida calling out and telling me to come in for a minute. So in I go, laundry in tow, and I hear a great big SURPRISE!!! from my friends inside. They threw me a surprise birthday party! And got a great picture of me all kinds of surprised (sporting my laundry bag!)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">surprises are SO fun!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back row: Gisselle, Jen, Sara, Richard, Allan, Maryann<br />Front row: Zenaida, Yo, Irene</td></tr>
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They had quite the spread with a table full of veggies! Zenaida doesn't believe in broccoli, but she made an exception for my special day :) Then we hung out, drank some coffee, ate a good amount of CAKE and played with a children's puzzle toy. Zenaida and Jen take in children from time to time to try and get their nutrition back in check. We all appreciated Lesy sharing her toys for a couple hours.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Irene made me a sweet birthday hat, that happened to match my outfit perfectly!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We played with one of those puzzle balls. It started with curiosity, and ended with a heated race! Yes, I turned 26 this year.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maryann made a delicious red velvet cake, from scratch. Red velvet! Mmmmm.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Irene sewed beads to write my name on my card. And she cut the hearts from paper she water-colored!</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-61187259963521297052012-05-31T21:24:00.001-06:002012-06-03T21:37:59.921-06:00Las Quebraditas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Friday's village--always a mixed feeling kind of day. You almost can't believe your week is almost over, and you want to pour all you have into this last day of clinic. Friday villages are normally smaller so that we can get home and have inventory started at a decent hour. It was definitely a small village, but of course full of interesting people. Janet and I saw a woman well into her eighties, wearing this beautiful blue dress and a smell that could dry tears. She was full of so much joy; such a great way to start clinic for the day! We normally tried to pray for patients before they left our clinic, but we asked this woman to pray for us. She was bursting with hope, love and happiness, and we wanted her to share some of that with us, so we could share it with the rest of the families that visited us throughout the day. Thinking about the hug she gave me as she left gets my eyes a little tingled. I remember later in the day a little girl looked at me and said, "Hey, you, give me a hairband" pointing to our little pile of ponytail holders. I smiled and said, "Hey, you, be nice and answer some questions!" Janet gets a kick out of this story because I tell it like she offended me with her "hey you!" ... but not much later she was on my lap and I was braiding her hair. I must really be a softy :)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This little thing was just too much.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sara fell in love :)</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-211994649765289282012-05-31T21:10:00.001-06:002012-06-03T21:37:59.906-06:00Santa Fe de Abajo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Thursday we were all geared up and excited to hold clinic at a new village for the Barnabas Foundation. It was a long, wonderful day. Janet and I were busy all day, and we saw some incredible families. I loved how we worked together, and we enjoyed a special treat that day because MacK had time to join us for a while. Unfortunately, we were too busy to get many pictures, but the kids were cute and the people were many.</div>
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I know I've mentioned this before, but a lot of times the people we see come needing more of an ear than a prescription. I remember a lovely woman came through our station and ended up sharing a good bit of her story. Melvin and their community leader (I should really know them by name, and I am a little ashamed that I don't! ... Fausto...quizas/maybe) came over to chat with her for a while. I was fascinated listening to Melvin giving pastoral advice and then helping him pray with her. I am not sure I had ever seen Melvin in that capacity, and I was impressed by his harsh but sound advice, delivered with the perfect amount of cariño. I have a hard time describing what it is like, having no medical training, to be able to play a role in <i>healing</i> someone.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-74422719103334903662012-05-31T20:25:00.000-06:002012-06-03T21:37:59.924-06:00Las Nieves<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Wednesday's village was filled with tender faces. The community leader gave me such a warm hug when we arrived. She remembered me from the church, and it was great getting to spend more time with her. We also learned she is quite the baker, as she passed around some homemade cookies and cakes to go along with our afternoon coffee. At the end of the day Janet and I went for a little walk to visit a few of the houses. There was a sweet little girl who sort of glued herself to my side for the afternoon, and I think she wanted to show us where she lived. It is so fun looking back on this trip. All the smiles, tears and stories we shared. I love what I do. I just love it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfyF5fGkCCQRCv1_QNzIDnOIM8vL6coNxrSf1TX0oQSG6qpSHNVsi1u4O40M-Oi6Aqv4atCjsHX5GCjIGpUC9VbIwunQ1qwYFGAlo62qmgLckM77g7Cg3DqSsTeLn-_IrHF_nK35Q5A3t/s1600/Las+Nieves+hair+flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfyF5fGkCCQRCv1_QNzIDnOIM8vL6coNxrSf1TX0oQSG6qpSHNVsi1u4O40M-Oi6Aqv4atCjsHX5GCjIGpUC9VbIwunQ1qwYFGAlo62qmgLckM77g7Cg3DqSsTeLn-_IrHF_nK35Q5A3t/s320/Las+Nieves+hair+flowers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Tonia's braids just looked like they wanted to enjoy some fresh flowers :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieGrlLIQI_hpehE6UgD5RVCr2WU1AV1WvUwlTrqmhJMWYPpWNhQB2xLWBumslLIAuoeGT-qIdg0c68ZPuXzwsnSH9Tijr65uaaiokY_XL8LT20ISR8EoXXE4n_FmYldMh52WlwOao0FHcZ/s1600/nails+nieves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieGrlLIQI_hpehE6UgD5RVCr2WU1AV1WvUwlTrqmhJMWYPpWNhQB2xLWBumslLIAuoeGT-qIdg0c68ZPuXzwsnSH9Tijr65uaaiokY_XL8LT20ISR8EoXXE4n_FmYldMh52WlwOao0FHcZ/s320/nails+nieves.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tuesday night manicures, extra shiny thanks to Papa Joe's sweet glitter polish stash!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbUkD_xC62WNFioAiuVAES5rm9Gzppf3Puaj6NMWiuD7Xg7lMvhyD-Fujahtywn0spIAAzQZXc8mtRX9G5feI78AZog0i5iB_9L7OHHslmrPmcYsziBq5RP-0mOxTv25BKCasvS3S5ePt/s1600/nieves+abuelita.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbUkD_xC62WNFioAiuVAES5rm9Gzppf3Puaj6NMWiuD7Xg7lMvhyD-Fujahtywn0spIAAzQZXc8mtRX9G5feI78AZog0i5iB_9L7OHHslmrPmcYsziBq5RP-0mOxTv25BKCasvS3S5ePt/s320/nieves+abuelita.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The community leader's home she graciously opened for restroom access.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ARWty2SSrkmL-gDMckELV0u75eeavfLl8TukVNK6h3z6uqlygSmGS4GISjf5_lKeJkNCVggQFzIk_O1U_34xXnrwyU8u604yFNRQMM_76z5Xr67eJMXVcEyXSi16hugjy4Bku4Myaaxj/s1600/nieves+sad+eyes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ARWty2SSrkmL-gDMckELV0u75eeavfLl8TukVNK6h3z6uqlygSmGS4GISjf5_lKeJkNCVggQFzIk_O1U_34xXnrwyU8u604yFNRQMM_76z5Xr67eJMXVcEyXSi16hugjy4Bku4Myaaxj/s320/nieves+sad+eyes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHChrww6HVmqeufm8kXkbkIeegtQOFU7z3QXKVF4SaBc9505iAi37n_kR6JWnCSiR8miuM6LzTNDbKU0Qll3meiTiA12uI8A0SA97VAuitpv4WMS8UxpAZU6m2ORlD_ACtcMvDLQk2I82/s1600/nieves+song.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHChrww6HVmqeufm8kXkbkIeegtQOFU7z3QXKVF4SaBc9505iAi37n_kR6JWnCSiR8miuM6LzTNDbKU0Qll3meiTiA12uI8A0SA97VAuitpv4WMS8UxpAZU6m2ORlD_ACtcMvDLQk2I82/s320/nieves+song.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Melvin (black tshirt and sunglasses) and Pete (red tshirt and hat) LOVE to sing, and have lovely voices. Melvin and I taught the team a song that is well known around here--it was fun to get each day started clapping and singing.<br />"Yooo tengo un amigo que me ama, me ama, me ama..."</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5I1b-PCi_aRhiE2hfz_xXtdho5zIhU0lr7lZPLe_bk3BFN5wIOhNM45z8wnxdPtr8RGHzkGvS0L48z1r44VKio2micf8qx3XqVIPO-SP-64Hs-S0ugR5PVvIYBanAMlPKT5qdcY5iGMf/s1600/nieves+muchacha+seria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5I1b-PCi_aRhiE2hfz_xXtdho5zIhU0lr7lZPLe_bk3BFN5wIOhNM45z8wnxdPtr8RGHzkGvS0L48z1r44VKio2micf8qx3XqVIPO-SP-64Hs-S0ugR5PVvIYBanAMlPKT5qdcY5iGMf/s320/nieves+muchacha+seria.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGVz-wnmOLF1xyGxy-N7lEhqz3s5H4N4moJsdEfHU-JaXdVeD_2_RBLxphWdwTcAeHPEmr3iEByvqX9QfDWKzBGUdt9TlVim11f_fMJz68oxt7JEdK2fZLfehsN43ewHMKLi7-bYq2ssa/s1600/nieves+closeup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGVz-wnmOLF1xyGxy-N7lEhqz3s5H4N4moJsdEfHU-JaXdVeD_2_RBLxphWdwTcAeHPEmr3iEByvqX9QfDWKzBGUdt9TlVim11f_fMJz68oxt7JEdK2fZLfehsN43ewHMKLi7-bYq2ssa/s320/nieves+closeup.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH8iy2jsdwIZlROeGh7CPdSq9u5IPH1KGX3g7zpTbRpifyzZSuL4oR2G3w5KdzeV98t5m3-_pm7eG_WDVP2hiGOo0Km_Uc4N59fe_vsGlu0vYUF1WTTEqY2QAeW8uVzLtiJndBZdCJAWI6/s1600/nieves+abuelito.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH8iy2jsdwIZlROeGh7CPdSq9u5IPH1KGX3g7zpTbRpifyzZSuL4oR2G3w5KdzeV98t5m3-_pm7eG_WDVP2hiGOo0Km_Uc4N59fe_vsGlu0vYUF1WTTEqY2QAeW8uVzLtiJndBZdCJAWI6/s320/nieves+abuelito.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">those eyes!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJDKWLfTQeknLCS2C1oOQ8UujPdXaaDPjMbR4nJuh_DPQ1l3VXqZyFFAVqUPJOPZHfB3o4sPJLNWmfZ2H61zOBaocjVxGrcnAaGduigstAK2CMKJ1uCli_PDElVw-bl9B3mxL-_1SztFU/s1600/nieves+deep+eyes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJDKWLfTQeknLCS2C1oOQ8UujPdXaaDPjMbR4nJuh_DPQ1l3VXqZyFFAVqUPJOPZHfB3o4sPJLNWmfZ2H61zOBaocjVxGrcnAaGduigstAK2CMKJ1uCli_PDElVw-bl9B3mxL-_1SztFU/s320/nieves+deep+eyes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9OInWfNq1JjMEAHtNInIVI_-XD_198f9p84tg638bfmLG9gzaKgh-DN8B390ssIVDEVgNM-_WhTrawyyO070Z8Ax8sf6JDtnp0nXWFcsYmB-mOX3rI09sytAS48IUni2cufiSlIpaUDzy/s1600/nieves+will+and+elmer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9OInWfNq1JjMEAHtNInIVI_-XD_198f9p84tg638bfmLG9gzaKgh-DN8B390ssIVDEVgNM-_WhTrawyyO070Z8Ax8sf6JDtnp0nXWFcsYmB-mOX3rI09sytAS48IUni2cufiSlIpaUDzy/s320/nieves+will+and+elmer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXLv9PKt0G66W_Ks6epH3i2n8_wbISIJ7HQkwP-8KFK1vZsvamgzT4s8oKblMh6Cu9e5Dlu_FGSlUzFK_APDqeC6M-YGRqDCTa2SsqdTiCIsCZX1x3CNyEO40yLh6HYsFYV9w10ES1uoKW/s1600/nieves+nina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXLv9PKt0G66W_Ks6epH3i2n8_wbISIJ7HQkwP-8KFK1vZsvamgzT4s8oKblMh6Cu9e5Dlu_FGSlUzFK_APDqeC6M-YGRqDCTa2SsqdTiCIsCZX1x3CNyEO40yLh6HYsFYV9w10ES1uoKW/s320/nieves+nina.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zz7_JMl1bZLs5aDG81sifxFKSHniB1VjLArfdBeiE2tdiaEFWSgqcfshuuRaeUugIYnO1c2dV0F9sFxbiAxBwuTIsw3YvOAal_B3fYFbdCy8ra_KtODppASPihF3xB_we1Z0XZPfaCMj/s1600/nieves+janet+contenta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zz7_JMl1bZLs5aDG81sifxFKSHniB1VjLArfdBeiE2tdiaEFWSgqcfshuuRaeUugIYnO1c2dV0F9sFxbiAxBwuTIsw3YvOAal_B3fYFbdCy8ra_KtODppASPihF3xB_we1Z0XZPfaCMj/s320/nieves+janet+contenta.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love Janet's expression in this one.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH43_nQoFs0hsd2jisIzh2KNvXmWu7SkujrEJwZ6AGQ9TXoXs_6fWskPfzEWs6L-rkcIFcIEbo4WS8TLRUESuhoN_oKCcUNDWUoQiqmAcXjobaaAewGM9VoW3z1Zi0ozr4QUBzouwwqN-j/s1600/nieves+healing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH43_nQoFs0hsd2jisIzh2KNvXmWu7SkujrEJwZ6AGQ9TXoXs_6fWskPfzEWs6L-rkcIFcIEbo4WS8TLRUESuhoN_oKCcUNDWUoQiqmAcXjobaaAewGM9VoW3z1Zi0ozr4QUBzouwwqN-j/s320/nieves+healing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPH_KKUwTd-_RfXQoJU9R-Qk9vLxDTDj-FmqMV1lS_PLPmJIFyMGp2yyiuNv3jkrf7TZJ1x37IiXTRQDpcNPAOVH-odYiMiWoZo2adD8MJalCRW4UbJskQllYtsGFO9fJ-izBPwlhkadh2/s1600/nieves+2da+abuelita.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPH_KKUwTd-_RfXQoJU9R-Qk9vLxDTDj-FmqMV1lS_PLPmJIFyMGp2yyiuNv3jkrf7TZJ1x37IiXTRQDpcNPAOVH-odYiMiWoZo2adD8MJalCRW4UbJskQllYtsGFO9fJ-izBPwlhkadh2/s320/nieves+2da+abuelita.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzhahxE7gcJmxwbLwqWSOAW_NE-PE8fktLt5_iCV26KgSAKtnElMhpNHe-fhrt4syeWwBKfv4oSofi0S5xkQLnw3X7BzNDn04ICsLpQCmbiNQz9qZCtaJIpTur350msclRomMJsXudG8D/s1600/nieves+relaxed+rem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzhahxE7gcJmxwbLwqWSOAW_NE-PE8fktLt5_iCV26KgSAKtnElMhpNHe-fhrt4syeWwBKfv4oSofi0S5xkQLnw3X7BzNDn04ICsLpQCmbiNQz9qZCtaJIpTur350msclRomMJsXudG8D/s320/nieves+relaxed+rem.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and love Remmie's relaxed smile in this one!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtgQ4gMH6-9vsbDbY4EdHEkk6QNQHPyDf2QVZvMHb7nJ446X_OcaklbAuRs_JGXx_dYtZUL1inAh5-UBJdycvqLBvtIXa8uZiR1MFhszb14kYyw6RdfgEYjfIuDe6ALqWaPRG4V9cu32EB/s1600/nieves+elmer+bus.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtgQ4gMH6-9vsbDbY4EdHEkk6QNQHPyDf2QVZvMHb7nJ446X_OcaklbAuRs_JGXx_dYtZUL1inAh5-UBJdycvqLBvtIXa8uZiR1MFhszb14kYyw6RdfgEYjfIuDe6ALqWaPRG4V9cu32EB/s320/nieves+elmer+bus.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-83629282908756056632012-05-31T19:33:00.001-06:002012-06-03T21:37:59.928-06:00La Masica<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Our first village was a town called La Masica. Everyone had a great Monday, and first day of clinic. I translated for Janet this year which was a real treat. I definitely missed Jed, but getting to work side by side with such a dear friend was something special. We did our best to treat each family like the only group we needed to see that day, listen to their stories and really get a feel for what they needed. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLeIhj3CKmJNkfJuuAY9e_Rqkl5SPCBZow_nC9JJVgspReX-KuPBWk-gRPZ3pX7ukYl0DQ9GMWDV9HPk5mCR0iGlrkhDMKG9Gb_8PWtQqQjhJpfKEhCV0Oma0mKiB9yWvpHmzMDzFgVlC/s1600/Masica+familia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLeIhj3CKmJNkfJuuAY9e_Rqkl5SPCBZow_nC9JJVgspReX-KuPBWk-gRPZ3pX7ukYl0DQ9GMWDV9HPk5mCR0iGlrkhDMKG9Gb_8PWtQqQjhJpfKEhCV0Oma0mKiB9yWvpHmzMDzFgVlC/s320/Masica+familia.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How could you have anything but a great day when you get to help treat a beautiful family like this?? Look at all those smiles! And the fun pigtail braids :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">she was such a giggler!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just wanted to hear her stories...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KdfiJiMnFcT_uTB02mP2z908wwrP0RbgCv9cE_o_hJxQWiWQtbCompxTiS7BdyRQiZc_KBg6iG7JwLSjq8sEm4fRTfZ-my9pb8AU5oxYNNbH6Du8vjHMDpsBr6xF2879ftulQjBRYXn1/s1600/hands+in+masica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KdfiJiMnFcT_uTB02mP2z908wwrP0RbgCv9cE_o_hJxQWiWQtbCompxTiS7BdyRQiZc_KBg6iG7JwLSjq8sEm4fRTfZ-my9pb8AU5oxYNNbH6Du8vjHMDpsBr6xF2879ftulQjBRYXn1/s320/hands+in+masica.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes people just need someone to listen, which is where my sensitivity shows itself to be a blessing. </td></tr>
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Monday evening we had our staff dinner and really enjoyed a night outside with the Honduran crew sharing our table.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-23047572131983092772012-05-31T19:24:00.003-06:002012-06-03T21:37:59.909-06:00Team 3 2012...the arrival!I got to enjoy a mission trip down here! Team 3 of the Friends of Barnabas Foundation came down in March, and I had the privilege of translating for the second year now. This team holds a special place in my heart, seeing how Team 3 2011 introduced me to Honduras and the town I now call home. This year's group had some new faces and some familiar faces, but we all got along like old friends. I've been to the Barnabas house plenty of times since I've been down here, and always have a good time visiting the teams. But there was something so surreal about walking into the house and seeing so many familiar smiles. And not just popping in for dinner, or to do a little translating, but claiming a bed, unpacking a suitcase and calling it <i>home</i> for a week! It was such a special week, shared with very special people, and I hope I do some of our moments justice with the string of stories I've put together.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFU_ECHuCVgpehltjodfmLGTRKY04WUiY_tF1OkwIlaoDsZUl8_afVBYJwgdBgOR_nupwWpCBRum2vbpM4z0E52LCQX6SKfnawVIZUkVfxil0RI88DbejbJfs5uiuo1BtCGzbeTvLphjV/s1600/arca+trail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFU_ECHuCVgpehltjodfmLGTRKY04WUiY_tF1OkwIlaoDsZUl8_afVBYJwgdBgOR_nupwWpCBRum2vbpM4z0E52LCQX6SKfnawVIZUkVfxil0RI88DbejbJfs5uiuo1BtCGzbeTvLphjV/s320/arca+trail.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the trail to the lake from Kid's Ark</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elmer found a cozy spot by the lake--it was a long, warm hike!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">napoleones...God's gift to purple</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeyqvYMpULdrHXBac-x6GgF2uMmNOcyWJQfohgqY5NPopiKovbKaNkbU7_Ka61Q6p4fg20yDnvc6keHf6rnQTLl42-H5Tv5L5yNV5duov7SaOm-OZ7Wpvz__J6JzE0_dCSm8ni6pam7-9O/s1600/lake+house.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeyqvYMpULdrHXBac-x6GgF2uMmNOcyWJQfohgqY5NPopiKovbKaNkbU7_Ka61Q6p4fg20yDnvc6keHf6rnQTLl42-H5Tv5L5yNV5duov7SaOm-OZ7Wpvz__J6JzE0_dCSm8ni6pam7-9O/s320/lake+house.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the chicas checking out the backyard at the lake house</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love this photo! Part of the team hung around Kid's Ark and didn't make it down to the lake, but here is a partial group photo. From left: Elmer, me, Dani, Robin, Cami, Will, Sara, Kevin, Pete, Bruce and sweet Janet down in front. </td></tr>
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We had our usual inventory fun on Sunday morning, and then everyone let me take them on a hike down to the lake. While walking through Kid's Ark (Arca de Cristo) we had the chance to meet Randy, the owner from the States, and it was great to chat with him. We hiked around the property, down around the lake, then back to Kid's Ark to enjoy a little fruit and juice picnic Nury was thoughtful enough to put together. It was neat playing a bit of a tour guide for the afternoon!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-49375497306293292972012-05-22T18:50:00.000-06:002012-05-22T18:50:36.359-06:00Community LeadersIn early March an education team came down for Friends of Barnabas, and it included Janet and Nancy so I was very excited! The Foundation will work with twenty-five different villages this year, and each village appoints its own community health leader. Those leaders get together for a few days of training the education team holds at the Barnabas house. Due to limited sleeping space, the women stayed on site and Nury coordinated with Pastor Alfonso for the men to sleep at the church. Pastor Alfonso was away that week, and I was so happy when he trusted me to handle things in his absence. FOBF delivered mattresses, sheets etc, and Pastor provided some blankets for the men. I didn't get the chance to spend any time at the training sessions, but from what I heard from Janet it was quite the week! The team and community leaders came to church for Thursday's prayer service. I translated for Marvin Paz, who gave a lovely sermon about the importance of specific, detailed prayer. March was a special month. I got to help with the arrangements for these community leaders, and I got lots of time with some people I love dearly. I will get into much greater detail down the road, but not long after the education team's departure I was travelling for a week with Team 3 in the mountains around my new home town!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-33402519361259072172012-05-22T18:34:00.000-06:002012-05-22T18:34:35.327-06:00Sunday with the neighborsOh Sunday on the lake. Lots of time in a hammock. I´m getting all relaxy just thinking about it! It´s been a while ago now, but we still talk about it with lots of joy. The friendliness of our neighborhood block is something special. We have gotten really close with a few of the families, and Edwin and Yamilet have had us over for dinner, to their mom´s lake house and for a road trip to the beach! It has, of course, been a while ago now, but Maryann, Irene and I were invited to Yami's mom's lake house one Sunday afternoon. We headed out <i>early </i>morning, a little later than planned due to a little rain delay, but all packed into the truck and drove the hour or so to a little spot called Arca de Cristo or Kid's Ark. Kid's Ark is a beautiful park opened by a guy named Randy who lives in Florida, but spends a good chunk of time travelling between the two countries. A friend of ours, Josias, is Randy's right-hand and helps with any retreats or other events held there. There are two reliable options to get to the lake house. You can either row a boat from one side of the lake to the little nook where her mom's property is, or you can hike from Kid's Ark. The rowing is I'm sure beautiful, but I love the walk. I have been back a few times since this first trip, and it is always a great time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yami with her mommy!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the drive out there is sandwiched with the prettiest views--love it!</td></tr>
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Her mom's house was simple but wonderful, surrounded by nature at its finest. Various types of crazy tropical fruit trees, including rows of coconut trees, and sprinkles of bright, beautiful flowers. The kids had a great time running around and playing, and I did not hesitate to take advantage of some relaxation time. The hammocks were cozy and the breeze was perfectly timed! Abuelita (Yami's mom :) had a HUGE pot of chicken yucca soup, but we all started with a few slices of watermelon. Ah yes--the hike is beautiful, and I really enjoy every step, but having to carry all the food you anticipate craving throughout the day has me very thankful for strong, eager to help, young neighbor children. Their two sons, Andy and Mauri, keep us smiling all afternoon watching them race bikes and goof off around the neighborhood, and I'm pretty sure they each toted a watermelon down to the lake for us that day. I toted Abram, their handsome tiernito, and he was way more fun than some melon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andy and his cute smile!</td></tr>
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A few of Yami's nieces and nephew's joined us for the day, and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy bringing me different fruit and telling me all about them. We climbed a ciruela tree, and were told we could eat them even though they were green. Those things were <i>bitter</i>! But here they like to eat unripened fruit with a little spiced salt, in case anyone back home wants to give that a try! I've since had a ripe ciruela, and you can absolutely taste a difference.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the boys showing off cacao fruit...that's a crazy one!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cacao!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">zapote! Some people say it tastes like pumpkin pie...it has an odd taste and consistency, but proper ripeness helps both of those work out for tasty.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">guayaba--SO pretty!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abuelita getting things going for tamalitos. We had fun shucking corn!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Future tamalitos...those things hit the spot with afternoon coffee!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hand-cranking the tamalito masa!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one of my new favorite places :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">tell me these kids aren't stinking cute! Hanging out by the stove.</td></tr>
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Before we left Edwin took us to harvest a little yucca. I am pretty sure we wasn't expecting us to actually harvest, but mostly just wanted to show us the plant and how it all works. Irene and I are too fun for that! We each had a go at it, and it was <u>so</u> tough but I am happy to be able to say I've done it! I worry for the men who harvest yucca all day long, but I definitely appreciate their hard work. Yucca is just too tasty. Although I learned if you try hard enough, it is something you can burn yourself out on! We had a coconut feast while we geared up for the hike back to the truck. Edwin was so patient hacking into coconut after coconut. I learned there are yellow coconuts, and brown coconuts. I have heard different stories on the differences, but the most common is that the brown have been given time to dry. The water in a yellow coconut is quite tasty, but the liquid in a brown coconut is more like coconut milk--que rico! Makes me think of hot yoga and how refreshing it would be to hack into a coconut after a long, steamy session. The fruit in the yellow goes is more like a jelly, but the brown ones is the hard, white meat they shred and bag to sell in stores. And it is so stinkin tasty. Yum now I'm craving coconut.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edwin doing work!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">so excited! It is like a mini earthquake the way the whole ground shakes when you're pulling it out! I honestly thought it grew sort of like a carrot...a root attached to a bunch of green leaves. Way off dude!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Irene even held a baby for the first time!</td></tr>
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The walk to the truck felt a little longer than the morning's venture to the lake, but I think the shoulder full of yucca had something to do with that! Abuelita sent me home with a bag full of henny penny eggs (or brown, fresh from the hen eggs if you're not my mother, brother or grandfather and don't get that reference!) and Maryann was kind enough to carry them gently, without breaking a single one! You know, it is too easy to get hard on myself for not being better about promptly posting, but it can be so fun to reminisce about all the little details about the mini adventures I've been able to enjoy. I love that spot on the lake. The neighbors and I have already discussed that before I leave we need to spend at least a night or two there. And that at some point, even if I'm old and gray, I'll need to come and spend a chunk of time there. No electricity, no indoor plumbing, hoards of fruit trees, exploding flowers and a view that makes your knees weak. Already looking forward to our next trip out there!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't have many pictures of the flowers there, so that's something to work on, but that purple plant you see? That's one of the things that I think called me back down here in the beginning. It is one of the most incredible shades of color I have ever seen exist in creation.</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-35760681229427503232012-05-21T20:35:00.001-06:002012-05-21T20:35:07.239-06:00Back...Packers...The end of February marked another trip for visa extension, so we headed back to Guatemala for the weekend. The first trip was planned totally by Emely, but this viaje held more wiggle room. I know basically nothing about Guatemala, and my budget was $50 or less for three days, so it was fun to get creative. We wound up bunking at a dorm and spending less than $4 each/night. How is that for a deal?! Since Eulogio and Leah had been doing this for a few years, Leah had a wealth of ideas for Guatemala or Belize visa viajes. She gave us info on <a href="http://www.hotelbackpackers.com/" target="_blank">Hotel Backpackers</a> and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there! It was right on Río Dulce, and I mean <i>right on</i>---our dorm was built on a dock over the lake!<br />
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The stay at Backpackers was lovely, but finding it in the dark Friday night was quite comical. The english name made things interesting, and it's tucked back off of a side street so you can't just happen upon it from the main road. Hearing Chris try to ask for directions was cracking us up, especially when Chele "translated" giving the vowels different sounds and saying the syllables a little faster. It's hard to type, but hopefully you can imagine the spanish inflection. Those who can't will just have to find me stateside. Since then none of us have been able to say <i>backpack</i> without smiling and saying "behckpeyhkers" with some giggles.<br />
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So we arrived late Friday night, but were so happy to be able to leave right after school instead of taking off early (like 4am!!!) Saturday morning. We checked out the dorm and it surroundings the best we could with all the darkness, and all laughed at our slightly nervous attitude with staying there. None of us had stayed in a dorm, but we had heard great things about this place and had faith that we would enjoy our time there. We ended up meeting some really nice people, including a great couple from Canada who love to travel, sail and meditate. It is amazing the things you can learn just stopping to say hello to someone! But I'll get back to that later...<br />
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OK, so Friday night we celebrated Irene's birthday over dinner, and then slept a long sleep, all agreeing to wake up easy and have a slow Saturday morning. Breakfast was perfect. We must have sat at the table for hours! The view from the open-air restaurant was absolutely beautiful, the coffee was rich and satisfying and the homemade bread with jam was super tasty. The three of us girls sat chatting about all sorts of things, and then eventually decided we ought to do <i>something</i> while we were there. We walked across the bridge into town, and enjoyed discussing the semejanzas and differences between their market and our beloved vendors in Peña. Lunch was a delicious indulgence into some Guatemalan street food. They had fried pacaya, which was more exciting to the eyes than the palate. Irene and I battered and fried some once with Leah. It turned out tasty, but we thought we'd botched the whole batter and fry thing since we all lack experience with that technique. Turns out ours was way better than the "real" thing, so that was exciting. The Guatemalan chile relleno saved the day. I think I had three before we left! So tasty, and the woman who made them was so friendly and cheery I was happy we stopped at her stand.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coconut water and a breather walking across the bridge in the heat of the day! </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Irene's plate, and she said the fist was tasty! The pacaya is in the middle under the tortillas, and the chile relleno is the little mound of glory on the right of the plate.</td></tr>
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That evening we played a few games on the dock, had a nice dinner with Chris, Maria and Chele and I'll brag that Maryann and I kicked butt at a random game of Foosball before heading back to the dorm. Actually, Irene and I just tried to remember exactly how the teams were broken down, and who ended up with the "title"--the only thing we remember for certain is that there was a lot of cheering, some potentially obnoxious yelling and a bit of arms over head GOOOOOLASO laps around the tiny space. Before heading to bed Irene and I walked out to this quiet part of the dock, and took in the stars for a while. I remember laying with my head in a way that all I could see was pure sky...great, gaping night sky. It was stunning. I know I have mentioned this plenty before, but I absolutely love the sky. And I love to let my head get lost in the stars.<br />
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Some of the group wanted an early start Sunday morning, so we were up with the birds (that saying makes less sense after living here, but I've come to think they might never rest...). Saturday afternoon Irene and I purchased a watermelon to tag-team on the ride home. The couple I mentioned from Canada? They are used to this type of travelling and came prepared with various kitchen tools. They lent us their knife to hack into the watermelon, and were apparently expecting a crazy mess wondering just how we thought we could turn a watermelon into road food. They brought me a cleaver and cutting board, and looked at me like I was nuts when I took the watermelon and cleaver down to the dock saying I didn't really need the cutting board. Once I showed that we just hack the melon in half, cheers with a pair of spoons and enjoy scoop by scoop, they were stoked to try it next time they walked into town. She said they'd always eyed the watermelon, but weren't quite sure how to work it into a manageable on-the-road snack. I am so glad we could help. Central american watermelon is sugary sweet, and sharing a watermelon with a good friend and good chatter is one of my favorite activities these days. On the drive home I also learned a new, easy (granted, messy!) way to eat mango, but I've already posted about that. It works best with the smaller, avocado-sized mangoes, but I've seen it done with the big boys too!<br />
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Visa extension can be a hassle to get organized, but we always manage to make it a good time, and sneak in a little adventure!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-24177701654703129302012-05-14T17:11:00.000-06:002012-05-14T17:11:22.784-06:00Día de AmistadI'm so glad I made a few notes on Valentine's Day, knowing that I wouldn't have time to write a post immediately. Didn't think it would take <i>this</i> long, but here we are! So here Valentine's Day is a celebration of <b>friendship, </b>and that is a tradition I am very much looking forward to bringing home. My mom is incredibly thoughtful and sent us gobs of ridiculously cute valentines to pass out at school. We had fun handing them out to all of our students, and it was nice to give them to the other teachers. The kids went crazy for theirs! The girls had little princesses and cupcakes with adorable smiles. And the boys had funny faces that were so fun to imitate. I love that working with kids let's you basically be a big kid! Well, plus all that responsibility stuff, but it can still be very fun. Some of the kids brought random gifts, but nothing too surprising. That afternoon I had my English class at the Barnabas House, and they surprised me with cake and coffee to celebrate friendship. It was lovely! And we talked about family vocabulary which fit in quite perfectly.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh-picked flowers from our yard! Put together beautifully by Irene. And yes...there was a cake. And it was in fact delicious.</td></tr>
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After school and lessons we got together for a girly dinner at Zenaida's and made tortizzas (pizzas with a flour tortilla crust--as a complete aside, when I get back to the States I plan to make these on brown rice tortillas with raw cheese and call them yum!) with lots of veggies and cheese. For those who enjoy salami, I made heart cut-outs in the little meat rounds that were just too cute. They made the pizzas all the more adorable! If memory serves, Z had one of her banging chocolate cakes ready for dessert. I didn't jot that down, which likely means I enjoyed two slices.<br />
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The next day at school the kids totally surprised me! Quite a few brought in baggies of candy for me, and other little knick knack type gifts. They just make me feel so loved! Beky gave me her special Little Mermaid rubbery...square thing for lack of a more intelligent description. Libni in 2B really touched my heart. Of course I love the bracelets and stickers she gave me, but her note was so dear. I really do my best to give them smiles almost all day long, and it was nice to get some positive reinforcement on that!<br />
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So it is way after February 14th, but hug a friend today. And tomorrow. And always share a smile.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-91609351336704519392012-05-02T21:59:00.000-06:002014-08-25T08:04:00.882-06:00The Contraction Game!We have been learning all about contractions, which proved harder than anticipated. After a charming debate with Lissie on Monday I decided we'd have to come up with a better way to learn them. Lissie called from the back, "Miss, I don't like contractions" and was bitterly frustrated when I reminded her she'd ironically just used a contraction. So today we played with our words. They were all given a few different cards, some of which had contractions and the others a pair of words that can combine to make contractions. On the count of "Ready, Set, Go!" they set off to find their matching cards. It was even cuter than I could have imagined, and I'm hoping we get to play again tomorrow! The first round they just matched their cards and brought them to me excitedly. The next round I had them tell me a sentence with their contraction before they could take off to find another match. Some of their sentences were awesome! "We're going to Spain to play futbol." "It's my panqueque." "Don't touch me!" "They're totally awesome!" Hahah that last one really got me. That one was Eric referring to <i>the students of Miss Harris</i> which he corrected to Miss Harris' students when I raised an eyebrow. And by the way, yes they are!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of my Breakfast Club even got into the game!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maybe the sentence was more like, "You can't eat my panqueque." These girls always get me laughing!</td></tr>
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So we had tons of fun, and even managed a little learning. After school Dana cracked into the cookie mix she brought down. The cookies were chocolatey delicious, and went great with the cup of coffee I'd been craving since about when my alarm went off this morning. Oh and before I forget--Ariana brought me a big, fat mango today. It smelled so ridiculously good sometimes I'd slip it out of my bag just to awkwardly take a big whiff. It will be the perfect treat tomorrow morning. These kids are learning the way to my heart!<br />
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Pastor Alfonso called and asked if we wanted to go see the house people from church are building for Hermano Amilcar, so Maryann, Dana and I headed out with him for a bit. We spent time with a great family, and the girls got to hold some little chicks! The view of the mountains from their house was just incredible. I couldn't get enough of it! I told them I want to come down sometime for the sunrise. I had a little tortilla patting lesson in the kitchen before we left, and they got better with each try. I am in such awe of how quickly and perfectly round they press those babies by hand! Amilcar's granddaughter, Michelle, was great entertainment while we were there. She is too stinking cute with her Shirley Temple curls. She kept bringing us flowers to put into our hair, and she said she had a Barbie that looked like me! We went a visited a few more people who live in the neighborhood which was a nice surprise. Dana is visiting for the week, and I was glad she got to see inside some more of the houses down here.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Their current house, where seven people live. They're building one next door out of concrete and cinder block.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hermano Amilcar with his nieta, Michelle. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">algunos pollitos! </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKK5CSQhVMfIgJ862i_EnPKnSjmD2Oh-NGuK8AcQeaH0_2hyphenhyphenylavQiRFmmwfmEAXhEAaV9R6t-MdY2lZKzPcvPmOWGZ92L8wPY6w68hdBCBlKBKSWj-scDhUcSKRuvAa716gO1AZb3kCt3/s1600/P5021021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKK5CSQhVMfIgJ862i_EnPKnSjmD2Oh-NGuK8AcQeaH0_2hyphenhyphenylavQiRFmmwfmEAXhEAaV9R6t-MdY2lZKzPcvPmOWGZ92L8wPY6w68hdBCBlKBKSWj-scDhUcSKRuvAa716gO1AZb3kCt3/s320/P5021021.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">beauty.</td></tr>
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After the time with Pastor Alfonso we headed into town to meet Jen and Zenaida for dinner at Doña Tina's. Dana thoroughly enjoyed her chicken and tajadas, and agreed that her salsa verde is ridiculously tasty. It was a long, full day, but full of smiles and curly-cutie laughter, so I'm going to bed happy! Something new to love every day.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-76952110677148294572012-04-22T09:55:00.000-06:002012-04-22T09:55:19.892-06:00A hike to Butt MountainThere is a mountain here that peaks with two tall bumps, and people think it kind of looks like a bottom! So we´ve heard it called Butt Mountain from time to time, and I´m honestly not sure what the technical name for it is. Do mountains have technical names? Proper name. I´m not sure of its proper name. Maryann, Eulogio, Leah and I went for a Butt Mountain adventure one afternoon! It was lots of fun, and there were some great views. We climbed up and down one cheek, took a break down by the lake and were back on our way home.<br />
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We drenched ourselves in peppermint oil and reapplied in an effort to keep the bugs away. Jungle hiking is a different beast. Eulogio had his machete <i>just in case</i> you know, and used it quite a bit to hack down more of a pathway. They had recently harvested some bananas, and it looked like the scene of some monster thriller. Banana leaves and parts of their plant scattered across the ground. Actually all sorts of crazy vegetation grows in the mountains here. Furry plants and spiky plants and big green leaves with brightly colored adornments. I remember Maryann being nervous about the bot fly, and furry poisonous plants. Luckily we made it out of there harmed by neither.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrTGTYx1aCThWdjUvDao-PxJLT0TSxKxVnXx-Hrl6I3fP_PBXvYl3ir83EnONx6DD7O4aZUya-r6F84esTqFvHaCLsLexEkzRwIfblhA3LDM8o6TyLMH1-IEeUfDC3KGH1WGe-g7W3q8wf/s1600/IMG_2078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrTGTYx1aCThWdjUvDao-PxJLT0TSxKxVnXx-Hrl6I3fP_PBXvYl3ir83EnONx6DD7O4aZUya-r6F84esTqFvHaCLsLexEkzRwIfblhA3LDM8o6TyLMH1-IEeUfDC3KGH1WGe-g7W3q8wf/s320/IMG_2078.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiunf1c8YHtyJdXjfZNbKBB5b18zjKTLNqsPxZ-EFx7RyFVNaLf9GCnBttjVBLQOWTlQ6PlV8pHhVoP04kfF4ZYDQL1MXUJKBuczGH8_ZUhFPT5qYtaxmrN5dOgoGe8oU0IkHl-8R6KaVmr/s1600/IMG_2081.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiunf1c8YHtyJdXjfZNbKBB5b18zjKTLNqsPxZ-EFx7RyFVNaLf9GCnBttjVBLQOWTlQ6PlV8pHhVoP04kfF4ZYDQL1MXUJKBuczGH8_ZUhFPT5qYtaxmrN5dOgoGe8oU0IkHl-8R6KaVmr/s320/IMG_2081.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I used a walking stick for most of the hike, and it was a little heavy but a good crutch at a few different parts of the trail. Oh the trail. For part of the hike we followed what likely used to be a trail, but it would have been so easy to get lost up there. I was happy Eulogio and Leah were there to guide us! Eulogio led most of the hike, but once we´d reached the lake and were heading back up we got a little turned around. Leah was determined, and wandered off to find the right path home. All of a sudden we heard a, ¨Yes! It´s up here!¨ Score Leah! On the way back we hopped off the bus in market to pick up all sorts of yummy food. Marvin could tell we´d been on a hike and gave us each a banana. Love that guy. We got back to the commune (aka Eulogio and Leah´s house...) ready to eat and relax! It was a very fun afternoon, that led into a nice evening with friends. Man I miss those guys!!!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1adgzEBYwjc1kySm6kiGEmgQTl70nsF1y214D4bXNnB6JabHXOex8rzciUCKDYKbgwhafd1DNb9I5x3kqcTvJIkwbSBw0K__MeWjiMZu-q4qj0BDdVW_wsM0Pm8IWOKd05KqU7aYupbF/s1600/IMG_2083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1adgzEBYwjc1kySm6kiGEmgQTl70nsF1y214D4bXNnB6JabHXOex8rzciUCKDYKbgwhafd1DNb9I5x3kqcTvJIkwbSBw0K__MeWjiMZu-q4qj0BDdVW_wsM0Pm8IWOKd05KqU7aYupbF/s320/IMG_2083.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-56114401315703021052012-04-19T23:35:00.001-06:002012-04-20T18:01:12.841-06:00I Want to Be MeWe just got our power back after a few days of darkness. Yayyy for being able to heat water for tea and breakfast tomorrow morning! When the guy told me he wouldn´t be able to make it out the last couple of nights my first response was, "and how am I supposed to heat water for coffee?!" But here I sit with internet and a light over my head, very thankful for a house with electricity. We had such a fun day at school today! The kids are learning about <b>is</b> and <b>are</b> and I´m trying to do more fun activities to keep things interesting. We read a book called <u>When I Grow Up I Want to Be Me</u> by Sandra Magsamen and I´m not sure who enjoyed it more, me or the kiddos. It is a wonderful book with cute illustrations and a lovely image. The whole thing is written in a pretty scripted font, which had me wondering if it wasn´t one of those air-quoted children´s books meant more for the adults.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beky wants to be a teacher. Nathaly wants to be a singer, and she sang a lovely song for Miss Maryann and me today. Samantha wants to be a ballet teacher. Her students will call her Miss Samantha, and they´ll all wear long purple tutus. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>As we read we talked about following our dreams, and reaching for the stars. The kids were too cute mocking me reaching their little arms up as far as they would go. I loved that it talked about each day being filled with adventure and fun. That´s one of my new life mottoes (I <i>really</i> don´t like the look of the e in that word!), so it was totally fun talking about it with my kids! That page had a little pop-up of squares for the days of the week. Each day showed something doing something new and excited and we let out a little "Woo!" of excitement as we lifted each square. I think next week I might do some sort of "week of adventure" project with them. How fun would that be? They got really into the story, so it would be fun to develop it more over next week. It went on to talk about turning to nature and your surroundings for comfort when you feel frightened or alone, which totally touched my heart. AND it talked about loving who you are, and especially loving who you see, illustrated with a woman smiling at her reflection in the mirror. We should all be so brave! Is brave the word? Maybe confident is a better word, but I think it takes a bit of bravery to fully and truly love being YOU. That part of the story sparked my theme for Friday´s Art class--Self Portraits! I´m super excited, and I´m sure another post will be in order.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDA3Od8iT0JbW40EOwtCJcZuoutaxl321u8zHoNJ1PNioy2yKjcd3cVkKgPtSvNymRtDnH-76wTfTokFaLqEUAaEYgUQ3ZRXWnoiwW2hzBgLtnZbCJscSmW68xHErknXu-yCPDdYOw6sKr/s1600/P1200172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDA3Od8iT0JbW40EOwtCJcZuoutaxl321u8zHoNJ1PNioy2yKjcd3cVkKgPtSvNymRtDnH-76wTfTokFaLqEUAaEYgUQ3ZRXWnoiwW2hzBgLtnZbCJscSmW68xHErknXu-yCPDdYOw6sKr/s320/P1200172.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dulce and Lissie both want to be artists. These girls are something else!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After we read the story we talked about the amazing power of their imaginations. It is so fun to chat with them about prayer and the importance of talking to God; I always find myself so blown away at their answers. I believe it´s important to truly see the life you want and believe that it is already yours. Anything that comes to your imagination is possible, and the love you shower over any situation or idea is what drives the outcome. So I had the kids write in present tense, rather than future, about the them thirty years from now. Their eyes got all big picturing themselves in their late thirties, and a few snickered at how OLD the miss will be. Or <b>is</b> as one of them corrected. It is incredibly cute to see the kids light up talking about what they want to do and who they want to be. Even my slow workers had their pencils moving today! Estela drew herself as a teacher writing math problems on the board, and she made it 2-digit addition with regrouping, and was super-concentrated making sure she had all the correct answers. Tell me that´s not adorable! Sometimes I wonder how a <i>real</i> teacher would work her lesson plans for different topics, because I´m sure there are all sorts of strategies. But I tell you what, with my second language learners, it is very neat to read them a story and let them draw a picture writing a sentence about what they read. I love watching their vocabulary grow, but it´s honestly just nice getting to see deeper levels of their personalities.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0AiKCx7vFeaKskPCSKyu0fLwkNMxI56KZ-AbkwxDRA8SSYge75Sl793nvJGiySY6_z7GQJRJKnSiYLwi07hdOLRtLzWLpQAGrI2QbLEBpTwi7x7wTaytw4HlKk9JPy4MkYJ7VnPgvzZ-4/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0AiKCx7vFeaKskPCSKyu0fLwkNMxI56KZ-AbkwxDRA8SSYge75Sl793nvJGiySY6_z7GQJRJKnSiYLwi07hdOLRtLzWLpQAGrI2QbLEBpTwi7x7wTaytw4HlKk9JPy4MkYJ7VnPgvzZ-4/s320/003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monica, Daniela and Samantha each want to be teachers. They also want to be stylists who own their own beauty salons, singers and I´m pretty sure Daniela and Samantha had it down that they´d like to be song writers. Jefry and Roberto (back row) want to be soldiers. Cristian David wants to be a police officer, and I hope to always remember seeing just how proud they were when they told me. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>We started with the prompts "I am..." "My family is..." "We are..." Most of the I am´s ended with various professions. The most common response for My family is was <i>happy</i> which was obviously adorable. We are probably had the most variation. 2A was relatively generic, but 2B kept using all the same adjectives and not really giving it much thought. So I threw out a few different ideas and apparently said blessed at some point down my list of potential adjectives. Do you have any idea how warming it is to read a kid´s notebook and have it say "I am a teacher. My family is big and happy. We are blessed." I know, I know, I´m sensitive. But I love it!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-70497357883913877212012-04-16T20:14:00.000-06:002012-04-16T20:14:53.887-06:00Getting back to normal(ish)It is hard to believe Mom´s visit came and went so quickly. Where does the time go? For so long I used her trip as a little marker...things would get tough and I´d think, "Hey, just get to Mom´s trip. Recharge for a week, and afterwards you´re almost home." But now she´s gone, and I´m sort of in that <i>oh my</i> place...it is crazy to think I´m almost home! Crazy exciting, but also crazy emotions swirling...no need for that right now! We all enjoyed a wonderful week with my mom, and count on posts to come gushing about all the fun we had in Copán and around my sweet Peña. She fell so in love with my hammock I´m surprised she didn´t try to bury it inside her carry-on! I wonder how much she missed front porch nap time after school today...<div><br />
</div><div>The kids did a wonderful job helping fill the void of my mama not being with us at school today. They were too cute asking all about her, and mimicking all the fun things she showed them while she was there. A few of them got to halo shining, and then Marvin quickly started showing off with his silent round of applause. They are seriously too stinking cute! It would have been easy to get a little mopey about my mom already being gone, but thankfully this town gives great hugs. Sometimes just when you need them! A few of the kids had some adorable moments today, but I´m wondering if typing will do them justice. I started to feel pretty rough this morning, and it was aching down in my ears to talk too loudly. Of course this set in while I was teaching in 2B, and quietness is not their strength! I sneakily took them to the library for a little bit, which they loved, and Miss Harris appreciated the forced quiet time. After school I really just wanted to take a nap, but I did my market thing and almost instantly perked up. Always enjoy chatting with my favorite vendors! It has been incredibly warm lately, and my shoulders have been taking a beating so I decided today was the day to pick up an umbrella. I popped into Elvia´s and was excited Joel was there to help me choose the best pattern. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Luck would have it my buddy was on his way home, and Joel accompanied me part of the way back to the house. We stopped at Chevo´s for a bag of mango for each of us and had fun letting him practice his English talking about our favorite things (he loves animals)! Not long after I got home the girls and I headed to Zenaida´s for afternoon coffee and homemade treats. She had chickory coffee from New Orleans and made fresh beignets that were so tasty. We played a couple rounds of Banagrams which was totally fun. Now I´m just finishing up a delicious bowl of steamed veggies and quinoa waiting for some chick peas to finish toasting in the oven. Hope everyone has at least a few reasons to smile tonight! I´m having a good time finding the joy in getting things back to normal and feeling incredibly grateful for a life of so many blessings.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-73801038313114423422012-04-14T22:40:00.000-06:002012-04-14T22:40:38.504-06:00The Mom of the MissCourtney is kindly letting her mom write while visiting during her spring break. Courtney's students call her the mom of the Miss because they find Miss Harris and Mrs. Harris very confusing. Why do you have the same name, they ask!<br />
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Arrival...<br />
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Well, it was incredible to walk out of customs and see Courtney's smiling face. We literally ran into each other's arms. It was the most amazing moment for both of us. The months apart made our greeting so very sweet.<br />
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Her pastor and his family picked me up and Courtney translated. She is totally bilingual now. She zips through her Spanish as quickly as the Hondurans. In fact, at lunch sometimes she would turn to me and go, oh yeah, blush, and gush into a flow of translation. We went out to eat. My first Honduran food. I had grilled chicken and shrimp, a vegetable medley (no, I have no idea what they all are) and platanos maduros (ripe plantains) which were sweet and delicioso. Yes, I am picking up a few Spanish words...very few. Lunch was terrific. I love the food. No surprise there!<br />
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Courtney generously gave me her bed and she bunked with roommate Irene. I "slept" to the all night sound of barking dogs and intermittent crowing of roosters. Perhaps they ought to be brought to Virginia farms for retraining. The melody was not sleep-inducing, said a woman who rose for the airport at 3:30 a.m. Wow, morning came quickly. I was all set to step on the shower when the system malfunctioned, fried itself so to speak. No problem! There was a back-up plan. A spiggot with cold water at my ankles... And a sink with cold water. Both had good flows. Hey, I'm in Honduras, no problem. So, I was a good sport, managed to get soap and water on all of me from a spigot, and washed my hair at the sink. The water spout was too low to put my head in, so I just splashed it up there. Think of a 6 a.m. water fight with yourself. Refreshing! Soap and rinse. Ladies and gentlemen, it can be done I tell you.<br />
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School was incredible! Courtney's co-workers are all friendly. They also kept saying I was young and pretty...and looked like Courtney. True or not, it sure feels good. I may have to stay here forever, healthy for the ego. Courtney's kids are adorable. They were excited to see me and clearly love and respect Miss Harris. She has a wonderful way with her students. I was in awe watching her, mesmerized. Then she invited me to teach with her and hand in hand we completed the day. We worked really well together. We found that we use similar mannerisms, expressions, and more as we interact with others. It was a pretty amazing insight for both of us! By the end of the day I was exhausted and HOT but it was irreplaceable.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-17343220172559342012-04-06T19:13:00.000-06:002012-04-06T19:13:03.858-06:00Crayons for EveryonePastor Alfonso was heading to the la Roca of a small town near Rio Lindo and invited me to join him for the afternoon. He had a few different food and clothing items to give away, and he knew I´d been wanting to spend some time with different Sunday schools. The church was lovely. It was basically a large carport with plastic chairs, and it had a great view of the mountains and pretty flowers. The air moving through was also a nice treat! I´d bet it isn´t too fun in the rain, but on a nice, sunny day it was perfectly comfortable. La pastora preached for a little bit, and then Pastor Alfonso said a few words. Later Mari went up to talk to the children, and she called me up to join her. It feels so silly, but I was a little nervous to get up and talk to the children. I guess something about microphones makes me nervous, but that´s a part of my comfort zone I´ve learned to push quite well since being here. Someone told me recently that if you´re not at least a little nervous public speaking, you don´t respect your audience enough. I´d never thought of it like that, and I find it comforting!<br />
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</div>The kids and I talked about God, the wonders of His love and the marvels of His creation. Afterwards we passed out some paper and crayons* and everyone got cozy to draw some of their favorite things about the world around them. Some of the kids were really creative! It was fun to wander through the group and share in all their excitement. I even got to break out some chalk and some of us drew on the cement. I love getting to be a kid again, and really enjoy when I get to meet new groups of little ones. When we were finishing up our drawings Pastor Alfonso and Mari started handing out food and a few different options of clothing to some of the women. He even had some pretzel m&ms to give away, and those were pretty popular. We sat and chatted with the pastor and his family for a little while after all the families had gone. His wife led Sunday school, and he and a guy from church were busy applying paint to the columns around their new church space. They said they´d been meeting inside their house, and were pleased to have been able to build a separate place to worship with their congregation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This little lady was all worried Pastor Alfonso would mess up her hair, and he had a great time trying to get that hat onto her head. Too fun!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mari was patient and sweet with each girl, trying to make sure they got the best sizes and best clothes for their personalities!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>*Thank you to everyone who has helped support me along the way. The donations of art supplies allow me to do things like take boxes of crayons to little children who love to color, but don´t have any art supplies at home. --I guess now I just need to come up with a way to make your own paints and crayons, and take being a hippie to a whole new level! Some of the kids were too cute trying to return the crayons when they were done with their drawings. I will do my best to recreate their hugs for you when I get home, because they were pretty great. Also a big thanks for anyone supporting me spiritually. It isn´t always easy or even feasible to send a package down here, but I feel your prayers and appreciate them more than I could express.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-6208688059663596082012-04-06T17:51:00.000-06:002012-04-06T17:51:51.608-06:00Ringing...or Reventando in the new yearSo people here l o v e to reventar cohetes. Blast off fire crackers. Those who love me enough understand just how much I l o v e loud, startling noises. Especially ones that sound alarmingly similar to gunshots. Puchica.<br />
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That being said, New Year´s in Honduras was wonderful, and 2012 has been so great I´m just getting around to telling you about the 31st! We had a great service at church with a view different dramas and other special presentations. I was part of a drama all about God´s desired church. It had a powerful message, and a lot of us were touched just by participating. I played one of the people chained by something, struggling to break free. My prop chains were incredibly heavy over my wrists, so I was definitely struggling! But I loved the message, and we all shared some hugs when the song was over. Orlin and Judith performed a beautiful duet of one of the songs off Javier and Kerem´s album. Those two are quite the brother sister pair. Since the new year I´ve heard them sing a couple other duets, including a very moving version of <i>Altisimo</i> that left just about everyone in tears. I´m not sure what got it all started, but we ended up taking a ton of pictures after church.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gvtkYcVOg1NCJm7t0hyphenhyphen5XAKaeJGAijLS5OnE1lN0xB7bi8xo7eemDFkMiWhyphenhyphenYc6MgSfmlUGpMVcDMnPZX_sXGzM5ZPk_9l-qhR0sYHfPRikdyoU-fQnNWMOSgzqAbWEKeX9MTme5eP08/s1600/big+group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gvtkYcVOg1NCJm7t0hyphenhyphen5XAKaeJGAijLS5OnE1lN0xB7bi8xo7eemDFkMiWhyphenhyphenYc6MgSfmlUGpMVcDMnPZX_sXGzM5ZPk_9l-qhR0sYHfPRikdyoU-fQnNWMOSgzqAbWEKeX9MTme5eP08/s320/big+group.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDcJNQ7kDKoLGzY0CUMe_CqvMa8M213cLdfPF3FoLrO_0nnfKYpfXI3rbygJOPjwY3Lf7p09zh4qvvqRu-lVVQPxJPqVYmHgQizbrYHHWLJFq0C07rYPVe9iwUr6ruwRfHY3XzzRqCVPxj/s1600/henry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDcJNQ7kDKoLGzY0CUMe_CqvMa8M213cLdfPF3FoLrO_0nnfKYpfXI3rbygJOPjwY3Lf7p09zh4qvvqRu-lVVQPxJPqVYmHgQizbrYHHWLJFq0C07rYPVe9iwUr6ruwRfHY3XzzRqCVPxj/s320/henry.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With sweet Henry! </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After church and all the pictures I went to Pastor Alfonso´s for some food and more importantly the new year´s eve cake! A large group of youth from church came over, and we spent a good time chatting. At midnight they set off a really great fireworks show in town, and Mari and I walked down for that. I can say I´ve never been quite so close to where they were actually lighting the fireworks. That was a little unnerving, but they shot off quite the display. I´m always a little mesmerized by fireworks, almost enchanted. I think it´s totally crazy they can do what they do! </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9nlRY6o8k-cnKTioIJJUL1eOQMLopPBNoept0R_VD2Ltb0GzeyC7gKcIQd5-4x-xvkjhtmfhCzARpFo-kPTQA4xaRJ2KTS7LXNz9GJsww2OozLHHszZ4NVEzCCCRl6pc35zgTS3r5F9c/s1600/cake+and+laughs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9nlRY6o8k-cnKTioIJJUL1eOQMLopPBNoept0R_VD2Ltb0GzeyC7gKcIQd5-4x-xvkjhtmfhCzARpFo-kPTQA4xaRJ2KTS7LXNz9GJsww2OozLHHszZ4NVEzCCCRl6pc35zgTS3r5F9c/s320/cake+and+laughs.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can´t see the whole thing, but Pastor Alfonso has a huge laugh going, and one can only assume he´s picking on me. Something he does well and often. It´s nice to have a catrachan dad looking out for me while I´m here!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After the fireworks we went to Cañaverales (a town just down from Peña) to spend some time with Naun, their oldest son, and his girlfriend´s family. It was my first time meeting them, and they were incredibly friendly. It was so late I wasn´t sure what it would be like paying someone a visit after midnight! We stayed over an hour just chatting and of course sipping a little coffee. Much like the other holidays I´ve enjoyed here, I was up very late but went to sleep with a smile on my face.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2011240026826863705.post-79645722412077347732012-04-06T11:40:00.000-06:002012-04-06T11:40:54.257-06:00Donde estan las tamaleras?I spent a whole day making tamales with Pastora Mari! It was SO fun. And SO much more work than I could have imagined! It was somewhere around December 30th, and we made a huge pot of them for the whole family to enjoy. You should have seen the love this woman poured into her masa, which is the cornmeal substance wrapped around the filling. We´re not talking maseca (icky corn flour) mixed with some water. We took a bucket of corn, walked a few blocks to a neighbor´s with a mill. Chatted with some neighbors along the way, and had a nice conversation with the woman while we ground our corn into a soupy mush. I was thinking we´d head home with our puree, add some water and get to making tamales. How many times do I have to tell myself, Silly Girl!!! It was an awesome process that involved so much I can´t remember it all. I did get to wear a fun apron for part of it, so that was nice. We boiled and strained la masa, added oil and tons of seasoning. We made a sofrito out of peppers, cilantro, ajo y tomates and swirled that into the masa.<br />
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When it came time to transport the pan (more like tub!) of masa to the fire, I was really wondering how it was going to all work out. We mixed and cooked the masa in this big metal tub, like what you´d see for bobbing apples at fall festivals in the States! The men lugged it to the wood stove out back, and Mari and I had some fun while we stirred our masa. I definitely need practice. Pastor Alfonso was <i>cracking</i> up because I was stirring it so fast and crazy, and Mari was stirring it in such graceful swirls. I´m blushing typing about it. We got it on video, which I´ll of course attempt to load here, but it was very funny to watch the replay of my feverish stirs in comparison with hers. We interviewed her on the video like she was hosting her own cooking show, and we all agree that her perma-smile makes her a natural. On the video I was asking her what goes into the masa, and the last ingredient she listed was love with a smile towards me. Everything tastes better with a little love mixed in!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzXjb9j0VspYvlhYYvdzQNcVu039W6ynbRgR6Pglzbs-z0xkMd_hmeFQdEMdstHjv4yGW0jAzOQ1tXb63P_VQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
Once the masa was a perfect thickness, the men came to our rescue (again) and lugged the tub back into the kitchen. Mari taught (correction: tried her best to teach) me how to properly fill, tuck and roll tamales. Again, just something that will take practice! We filled them with a few different veggies and chicken that Mari slow cooked all morning. We made <u>so</u> many, but they´re a big family and tamales are one of those gifted foods people are often giving away, so we needed lots. Mmm they were tasty. I´m of course completely biased, but even the boys said they liked them! My hands had a funny yellowish tint to them from the banana leaves, but that just had me smiling at the hard kitchen work (mostly lots of kitchen fun) I´d gotten to share with Mari. She is a very special woman in my life. And Pastor Alfonso was loving having me there for the day. Especially since I was there making a fool of myself with the tamales! Every time he walked in he´d call out for las tamaleras. It was such a fun day!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEnT2cbXUZCsE9YwWjEwjGMua-HCuMZ7hr15FI8xrXdis42Dqv9C-5W-Vb9dB5G6dboIRE5j8CH82RPHGLQSTKn7NxMtYv5jOJ9TiPjpSr0eok653pw3Rx0EvfwjlKzvGt1E-b27FnOde/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEnT2cbXUZCsE9YwWjEwjGMua-HCuMZ7hr15FI8xrXdis42Dqv9C-5W-Vb9dB5G6dboIRE5j8CH82RPHGLQSTKn7NxMtYv5jOJ9TiPjpSr0eok653pw3Rx0EvfwjlKzvGt1E-b27FnOde/s320/004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abuelita Lolita (Pastor Alfonso´s mom) teaching me the art of masa stirring!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuR94gTZL-9fP58InSD68SiimbgQmfqfGOD3RDATfvnU4OhNoFk6-0jVa0gveIrmY1_-vUoyY_TOp38Kp7vOfZBST4fPJ0yMVLyV8PBlO1CY6wtC6i5S9Lk2ovbWNeoRbvt5M3R8eG1gmK/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuR94gTZL-9fP58InSD68SiimbgQmfqfGOD3RDATfvnU4OhNoFk6-0jVa0gveIrmY1_-vUoyY_TOp38Kp7vOfZBST4fPJ0yMVLyV8PBlO1CY6wtC6i5S9Lk2ovbWNeoRbvt5M3R8eG1gmK/s320/017.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This step seemed to be very important. A delicate balance of pressure and edging...</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPAo7Th_opGScjL5Jvw1fbm9ugzdc4o9OgRVMEOwPQqLVzX8hAhRHXwHy2FLLcH-3UU9Hqo0PCEXPSAlFgOY76reg8v7VrcqNv5GflBMldszhijqNYPcdqibGi3wmiH7ICIbg3q1G1kTZ4/s1600/019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPAo7Th_opGScjL5Jvw1fbm9ugzdc4o9OgRVMEOwPQqLVzX8hAhRHXwHy2FLLcH-3UU9Hqo0PCEXPSAlFgOY76reg8v7VrcqNv5GflBMldszhijqNYPcdqibGi3wmiH7ICIbg3q1G1kTZ4/s320/019.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQAzxPBT0rtTKxKXUpHsYN0Kh_E9Tt_DkkZJeeSsA02XagVv1SGGVqM7wFy5G-imYjfr8h6HlBkGQ71rtb2mTGF-N5wJqZcNYO03o2jy9D_HXiLgpGE_5uBgsMsF4hdOhOVMeJ1xAzcxF7/s1600/024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQAzxPBT0rtTKxKXUpHsYN0Kh_E9Tt_DkkZJeeSsA02XagVv1SGGVqM7wFy5G-imYjfr8h6HlBkGQ71rtb2mTGF-N5wJqZcNYO03o2jy9D_HXiLgpGE_5uBgsMsF4hdOhOVMeJ1xAzcxF7/s320/024.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You normally wouldn´t use the plastic you see here, but our banana leaves hadn´t been handled properly (so I was told) and the kept tearing. So we improvised!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com