Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Funday!

Finally, it was the last week of school. I had so many mixed emotions going into last week. I was so ready to be done with the school year; it had been a long year. On the other hand I couldn’t possibly imagine leaving my students and my classroom. I knew the week was going to go by quickly.

On Thursday Jicxon came up to my desk, leans over and whispers in my ear, “The girls are going to do a surprise for you tomorrow! But shhh it is a secret!” Most likely a secret that was meant to be kept away from ME! He loves to ruin the fun sometimes. But I had no idea what kind of surprise they were preparing for me. I thought maybe they were making cards for me.  Little did I know…

Friday morning I was walking up the long hill to our school at 7:10…my usual arrival time. My students don’t usually start arriving until at least 7:15. But on Friday, I looked up at the school and saw ALL of my girls standing by the fence waving at me. Once they saw me they came SPRINTING down the hill screaming, “Close your eyes Miss!! Close your eyes Miss Erin (they were allowed to call me Miss Erin on the last day of school..they were DYING to use my first name).” As I closed my eyes they grabbed my arms and yanked me to lean over. They started putting something on my head; Ana had to help with this. I opened my eyes and felt a crown on top of my head! I briefly took it off to look at it. “Happy Journey Miss Van Dyke” was written across it. A smile broke out on my face, and it stayed there all day.

A few girls took my backpack up the hill for me, weighing at about 50 pounds it was interesting watching them try and stand up straight with it on, haha. I was Queen Miss Erin for the day! They walked me up the rest of the way and made me wait to enter the classroom. Finally I could enter, and with Ana covering my eyes with her hands, I walked into the room. As she took her hands away everyone yelled, “Surprise!!” There was a table in the middle of my classroom set up with a cake, presents, and soda on top. There was writing ALL over the walls saying things such as, “You are the best teacher”, “Please don’t go!!!!!”, or “I love you SO MUCH Miss Van Dyke!” It was so so sweet. I could not stop smiling!! There were balloons everywhere, which my boys were more than happy to be distracted with. Also on the table was a hand-made piñata decorated with my favorite animal-an owl.

My girls told me that they came to school at 6:00 that morning to decorate and set up the party. I was in shock such little girls could plan everything together so well!! Just shows I have the most amazing students in the world. They were all beaming with pride; they knew I absolutely LOVED it!! How could I not??

The rest of the day continued to be special. We had a dessert fruit cup delivered from one student’s mom, we watched Madagascar (personal favorite), played Red Rover, played futball, opened presents, and broke the  piñata! I gave each of my students a letter and some pictures..they LOVED the pictures and they loved the letter even more! One of my students looked at me confused, “Are all the letters the same?” He was ecstatic when I said I wrote a different letter for every student. I didn’t sensor my English at all in the letters, and I was amazed at everything they could understand from them. One of my girls told me today that she started crying when she read it. So precious.

Surprisingly, I didn’t cry. I thought I would, but I had so much fun all day with my students, it was so difficult to be sad!! I also knew I would see my students within the next day; it didn’t feel like a true good-bye. It also felt surreal; it’s hard to imagine not having them in my life every day…

After school the fun continued. Fifteen minutes after Gayle and I made it home (sweating to the max) our students came knocking at the door. Within 10 minutes our house population went from 2 people to 35 people. All of Gayle’s 5^th grade students and half of my students came over for a party! And party we did. There was tag, pillow fights, snacks, soda, hide and seek, movies, balloons, candy…pretty much anything a child could dream of!!

I ditched the party early to have dinner with some fellow teachers (yes I left Gayle to fend for herself). Afterwards I went on a motorcycle ride with Jake and Mike. We rode to one of my favorite spots; it’s a road that goes in between two huge mountain valleys. On either side of you there is a breathtaking view. It was a great way to clear my mind from the crazy day. The nature is going to be hard to part with as well..

Saturday Eleanor invited us to ride with some of her Honduran friends to a nearby waterfall to go swimming. We were eager to try this out..and curious to see what this so-called “waterfall” actually looked like. We all crammed into a truck and we drove 20 minutes to a small village called El Naranjo. From there we hiked 20 minutes surrounded by amazing sights.

Pretty soon I could hear the water running; maybe the waterfall wouldn’t disappoint us after all! And then I saw the waterfall. Absolutely amazing!! It was a VERY legitimate waterfall; for sure went above and beyond my standards. The closer we got, the more beautiful it was. I couldn’t believe that a waterfall was so close to my house, and that I had never been there before!!

We spent a long time climbing rocks by the waterfall, swimming in the tide pools at the bottom of the waterfall, and trying not to slip and crack our heads open on rocks (Gayle and Eleanor definitely came close). The water was ice cold, it felt refreshing. Some of the girls climbed extremely high to dangerous parts of the waterfall; we wanted to try too! We started to climb our way up and the Honduran girls yelled down, “It is REALLY, REALLY wet and slippery!” (A.K.A. do not let those white girls climb up here) So Gayle and I decided to stay back, but Eleanor charged on ahead. Thankfully, she made it up there ok, but coming down was a different story.

Pretty soon it was lunch time! The Honduran girls brought along meat and vegetables to make kabobs. They started a fire, and we got to cooking. I helped make the kabobs, and the other girls dabbled in making tortillas. I felt like such a survivor making my own meal over a fire at the bottom of a waterfall in the middle of nowhere! After we had our fill on food we spent a little more time in the water before we decided to head back.

One girl lead the way. In her little flip flops she started climbing up rocks and the steep dirt mountain. I tried to keep up with her, I was panting so hard I could barely breathe! She kept turning around with a big smile saying “Cansada??” Translation: Tired?? This girl was wearing flip flops and jeans and she was whopping my butt! Hondurans never cease to amaze me. After scaling the mountain for a good 30 minutes and a 10 minute break later we were back to the main road. Our ride picked us up and we rode back to La Union. It was the most perfect last Saturday afternoon I could have asked for!!

Saturday night was an Erin and Gayle night. We made dinner together and then had girl pillow talk for 4 1/2 hours. It amazes me that we can STILL find things to talk about. You would think by now we would know every detail about each other’s lives!! I’m going to miss having chats with that girl. We keep talking about calling each other back in the United States and I always say, “I’m going to want to call you every single day!!” It is going to be different being far apart.

Sunday was also a nice relaxing day. I attended my last church service (in Spanish). I can’t believe I’m going to be able to attend a church that I’ll understand everything that they are saying…it is going to be different! That afternoon we played volleyball; Hondurans vs. the Americans. Unfortunately the Hondurans killed us, but it was fun anyways. I don’t mind being competitive for a couple hours!

Sunday night the girls came over and we made dinner together to celebrate being finished with school. Yay, we were done working!! …or not. We  have been at school the past two days, and there is SO much to do. There are so many grades to fill in, on the computer and by hand. Of course we have to figure out every single average for all our students by hand. This doesn’t seem so bad until you see that there are 20 classes. No break for us teachers. Plus we need to make recuperation tests for our students, the keys for those tests, tutor those students who failed, and tidy our classroom. AND I’m leaving in 2 days! I feel a bit overwhelmed right now. Today I had to redo this official document multiple times, I was in tears.

I’m in a pretty strange mood. I am really upset to be leaving here, but I’m not sobbing about it (unlike graduation last year). I think I feel overwhelmed and shocked about everything. I keep expecting to be an emotional basket case! I go back and forth every day of being thrilled to see my family and friends and then being absolutely depressed about leaving. We’ll see how everything turns out in the U.S. It’d be great if you could pray for a smooth transition for me. I know it is going to be strange for the first little while! 

Lessons Learned

Before I came here, I was fresh out of college. I was ready to explore “grown-up” life. Little did I know, this “grown-up” year would be much different than most of my fellow graduates. I was moving to a third-world country; not only was a beginning an adult life, I was also starting my adult life in a small mountain town in the middle of Honduras. Usually during your first year in the real world there are quite a few lessons learned. I feel like I have grown over this past year, especially since I’ve lived in an entirely different culture. This “stuff” I’ve learned may be different than the “stuff” I might have learned if I had lived in the United States this year. Without further-to-do here are my top ten things:

1. Do not ever take modern conveniences for granted

Toasting bread in a toaster instead of on a frying pan, having central heating/air conditioning, screens on windows to keep out the bugs, garbage disposal to dump unwanted food, using a coffee brewer instead of filtering it through a cloth bag, hot water, reliable source of electricity and water, microwave, washing machines, …I could go on and on.

All the above I never thought twice about in the United States; I would say they are all quite essential conveniences I used daily. It wasn’t usual for me to wake up and think, ‘I hope we have water in our house today’ or ‘I wonder if the electricity will come back on anytime soon’. In fact, I don’t know if those thoughts have ever crossed my mind before living in Honduras. How blessed am I? When I move back (in just 9 days) I think I’m going to continually be surprised by all of the handy technology readily available for me. Just the sight of a toaster is going to bring a smile to my face!!

2. Kids are kids, no matter where you are in the world

My students may not speak my native tongue perfectly, but they have the same needs as students would back home. They still are in need of love, guidance, education, and wisdom…wherever they are from in this big world. My students love to have tickling wars, they beg to be spun around in circles, they crave attention, a high five could motivate them for weeks, and any kind of sticker will brighten their day!!

3. God is everywhere you go

Just because I’m in Honduras, a completely different world than my home, in a place where my native tongue is not spoken, does not mean God has ever left my side. He is always with me during the day, right next to me in every situation. I see Him working in the lives of so many people in this community. There are packed churches full of people with the Holy Spirit. It’s refreshing to see people all over the world sharing one faith and love in Jesus Christ.

4. You can’t save the world, but keep helping those in need

In my safe little bubble in the United States, it’s hard to imagine that extreme poverty affects a large percentage of people in our world. But now as I’m surrounded by poverty, I’m overwhelming with the amount of help everyone needs. It can make you feel like you want to do everything in your power to change the problem of poverty. The minute you calculate the amount of communities, schools, families, and children suffering from poverty, helping them seems impossible. Obviously I can’t help everyone, but there are little, easy things I can do that may alter one person’s life. For example: supporting a child’s education in La Union. Giving them this education will change their life completely. And hopefully if I help them change their life, they’ll want to give back and return the favor to other children.

5. Material wealth does not equal happiness

It is very obvious that people here do not have a lot of material wealth. Half of my students live in houses with dirt floors. Most of my students’ parents make about a dollar a day. Paying 5 dollars for a meal is absolutely mind blowing. You would think they wouldn’t be happy, enthusiastic, or excited about life. This could not be more opposite for most people in La Union. My students are always smiling, always bringing joy to the classroom!! It doesn’t break their heart that they need to share 3 sets of markers as a class, that they need to use stones and leaves for checkers pieces, or that they have 2 other sets of clothing besides their school uniform.  

Yes, they may not live as comfortable as we do in our lazy-boy recliners in the U.S., but they are still happy. They still have reason to give praise to God for the life they were given. And that is something to admire.

6. Praise God in all situations

This year God has thrown me into some pretty difficult situations. There have been times when I’ve thought, ‘I did NOT sign up for this’. My morning devotionals this year focused so much on trusting God and praising Him, no matter what. No matter what kind of day comes my way, whatever situation I may get myself into, I need to keep reminding myself to praise God through the good and the bad. He will get you through the impossible, just trust!!

7. Education is an empowering privilege

While growing up I never thought I was lucky for going to a school; a school that had teachers who cared and a curriculum that would enhance my learning. I never realized how privileged I was to receive that education. Not everyone attends schools, GOOD schools, as easily as I have. There are children all over this world that are starving for knowledge, but there is no one to willing or qualified to teach them. Education changes people’s lives. Education can change poverty. Education can build up countries. It is a basic necessity that (in a perfect world) everyone should be offered. And those who do receive it should realize it is a precious gift, and we should be eternally grateful for it.

8. Always be an example of Christ, you never know who is watching

Living as an American in a small Honduran village, its apparent people are watching. I know there are people in the town always observing Gayle and me on every adventure we go through…but not always have I realized how closely they are watching our actions. A few weeks ago one of Gayle’s students told me, “My neighbor said to me that you and Miss Gayle are always happy and you are always laughing together.” Which is completely true...we usually are laughing and smiling at the craziness of our day. But it struck me that people are watching all of our actions, all day every day. They watch how we respond to the crude whistling men on the street, they see how we interact with our students on the street, how we act when rain is pouring down on us (without umbrellas), when a driver splashes us in mud, when we get stuck in mud holes, when we purchase items at the pulparia, and most importantly they remember how we react in all of these situations. I can only hope that all of them could see Christ living in our hearts this year, and that we represented Him in everything that we did.

9. Respect other cultures

When I first came to Honduras I thought I had moved to a whole new world. This culture is not even close to being similar to my own. But over the year I have gotten used to the many different customs. I am going to miss kissing my friends cheeks whenever I greet them hello, I will miss leaving my front door open whenever I’m home, I’ll miss cooking tortillas on the kumal (oooh wait..my neighbors do that for me), I will miss being able to freely hug and kiss my students cheeks without someone thinking I’m inappropriate. Maybe I won’t miss being hissed at by the men on the street or the 5 o’clock wake up and 8 o’clock bedtime; but I still have become accustomed to a Honduran lifestyle and hopefully it will be part of me forever.

10. Never give up on a child

You need to have faith in your students! You cannot give up on them, no matter how far they are trailing behind. At the beginning of the year I was ready to give up on half of my class—they barely understood me when I told them to sit down! But I had a little faith, I worked with them constantly, and they improved beyond belief. My students went from understanding 15% of what I said in the classroom to now understanding 85% of what I say. Children need someone to believe in them, to give them a chance, and you’ll be AMAZED at what they can do when given that!!

Here’s some ways I have not changed:

-I still prefer to live in a house that has hot water and where there aren’t bugs that call my house their home.  

-I’m horrid at games.. seriously it’s amazing how I can lose every single time!

- I’m in the right profession; teaching is definitely my life-long calling

- It takes a lot for me to get tired of children

- Inventive cooking should not be done by me…stick to a recipe!!

- God still guides all of my life decisions

- Organization is my best friend (one I miss terribly)

- I love traveling

- The people God has placed in my life is what make it so special!