Adios

I have been struggling for, well, over a month on how to write a good-bye blog post. Every time I tried to find the words, I came up short. It is difficult for me to believe my year is over. The other day I was reading through my journal that I kept in Honduras. I came to my last entry, written on the plane ride home. It is the goodbye I was looking for. I hadn't planned on sharing this on my blog, but writing another goodbye is too hard.

Before sharing, I want to thank EVERYONE for all the support, prayers, concerns, and love over this past year. It will truly be a year I will never forget; knowing all of you were there for me made it that much more special.

June 14, 2012

I am on my plane ride home. I can't even believe it. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of events. First off, God is incredible and always has a plan. I am teaching at Hanford Christian next year, living in Visalia. I'm so thankful he has provided me with a job- He is amazing. And even better, I am about to be reunited with my family for good. 

That being said, I feel so sad today. I wanted to shout "STOP!! Let me off!!" as the wheels lifted off the ground. Living in the United States is going to be so different. I keep praying I'm just as needed there as I am in Honduras... 

I can't believe I said goodbye to them all. All I can picture is Eleanor holding my little Nohelia in the street while she cries for me, so upset that I left her. I can't believe I won't see my students for a long while...ooooh their precious faces will be in my mind for a long time. 

I can't believe all my fellow teachers are no longer in my life. They have all changed me for the better this year. And Gayle--I keep thinking its going to be difficult to find a friendship like that again. She is truly special. 

I've been so blessed this year- ABUNDANTLY blessed. I was given the most incredible experience of a lifetime. I keep thinking "When can I go back??" If I'm already thinking that I can't imagine what it will be like when I get back to the U.S. And it frustrates me thinking that no one is going understand my emotion, it is an unexplainable feeling. 

I feel numb-shocked that this day is already here. I have felt this way for the past few weeks. It was so difficult to play and be excited with my students when I kept thinking 'I have to leave them behind.' Who is now going to give them that special love they so desperately need?  


It's so tricky, for so long, all I wanted was my family close by and modern conveniences at my reach. But right now, all I want are my students' arms wrapped around my waist.... 


I can't lie, this past week was a complete disorganized MESS.. I wanted to rip my hair out! So many papers and legal documents to write up, recuperation tests---->BLAH


But all that frustration is not what I'm going to remember the most. I am going to remember barefoot Jicxon driving his big red bike around, Carlos mowing his grandmother's lawn with a machete, Any with her dog leash made out of weeds, Osman's house booming with music, the grandmother's caring heart always bringing us coffee, Liliana's side pony tail, Litzzy telling me daily 'You are crazy Miss', and Anthony's mad dance skills. 


These are the things that will go with me wherever I go- always with my in my heart. 


Last night one of the teachers wrote a song for us teachers that are leaving..the song was amazing. It talked about how people travel to our town La Union to teach--they come with love and a desire to educate the children. It goes on to talk about how we are going to part ways with the Hondurans. Some will leave laughing, and some will leave crying. But wherever we go in this big world, the people and town of La Union will always have a great love for us.. 


I get chills just thinking about this again. It's so true. What an amazing, blessed year. 


Mostly this year has been great because God has been there with me every step of the way. And I know He will continue to be with me the rest of my life, in whatever my next journey is. I pray I can continue to grow and learn in this amazing life. I hope God continues to challenge me and expand my horizons.


My adventure of life isn't over, only a chapter is. I can't wait to see what else is in store. But over time, I will be revisiting this chapter ~ again and again.. 


Until then, 


Erin Leigh

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! 

What I'll Miss...

I can’t believe it is almost time for me to move back to the United States. I only have three more weeks left of teaching, three days of packing, and then a plane ride sending me away. In some ways I feel as though I blinked and this year was over. It’s a bittersweet time; on one hand I can’t wait to see my family and friends, on the other hand I have to say goodbye to my family and friends here...for awhile. I’m pretty positive I won’t live in La Union again during my lifetime, so it is going to be hard to say goodbye. I have been thinking about all of the things I am going to miss after I leave this place…there are too many to count.

I am going to miss the breathtaking beauty of this place. I live in one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my entire life. This place is so unexpected…so untouched. I love walking out my front door and seeing all the mountains that surround me. I literally live in the valley of multiple mountains; when traveling into or out of La Union there are amazing views that a picture or words cannot capture.

While La Union is the most beautiful, I have also been able to travel around and see an abundance of God’s great creation. I am going to miss being able to take weekend trips and see different parts of the world. I have been blessed by living in Central America and being able to see all different countries this year! Every place was beautiful and unique. I’m not saying the United States isn’t beautiful…it’s just pretty great traveling to different countries.

I am going to miss being challenged. Yes, I’ve been challenged before in my life, but living in Honduras is a whole different kind of challenge. There are issues I’ve had to deal with or overcome this year that were completely foreign to me. I was forced to grow and expand my abilities, which overall has been beneficial for me. Sometimes I think about when I move back to the United States and how easy it is going to be to simply ask a stranger a question. Whenever I picture myself going into a store in the United States I immediately think of what Spanish words I’m going to need…I forget how easy it will be to speak a language I know. Overall this year has been a welcoming challenge I am thankful to God to say I’ve accomplished. 

I am going to miss being a part of a different culture than mine. It’s an eye opening and humbling experience to live in a poverty-stricken community. I have learned so much about the world in just a short year here. As frustrated as I get sometimes, I do love that I live in a Spanish-speaking culture. It is great for me to get out of my comfort zone and to learn how to communicate in different ways. I am going to miss everyone’s generous attempts to have conversations with me, and their patient smiles when I can’t think of the correct verb-form. This especially holds true with my neighbors. They could care less about our cultural differences—they love us more for it. Even though there are many unspoken words between us, a smile can say a million things. I have grown a deep love for them. It is hard for me to imagine my daily life without the grandma poking her head in the door and bringing coffee with cookies for our afternoon snack.

Speaking of coffee, ugh I’m going to miss that too!! The coffee we get here literally comes from everyone’s farms that are only minutes away. It is so fresh, so delicious, and soul soothing. I have been spoiled with a supply of quality (and did I say free?) coffee all year! My morning cup of Joe won’t be the same next year…

The family of teachers will be missed. I was so blessed to have amazing Honduran teachers who are 

supportive and willing to help in any way possible. They are so kind and amazing examples of Christ’s love. As my teaching career grows, I can only hope to be such a hospitable teacher as the teachers at ALCS. It’s also hard for me to imagine my life without my fellow American teachers. We have all grown close throughout the year. I will miss our daily walks to the school, even though sometimes they are filled with sleepy smiles and morning yawns. I will miss Jacob’s pure-heart, Jake’s sarcasm, Anna’s daily news from her iPod, Heather’s venting sessions, and Eleanor’s pure joy for life.

Oh yeah, and then there is Gayle. I could probably write a whole blog on everything I’ll miss about this girl. I cannot believe how perfectly my prayers were answered.  God had a plan for both of us. This girl has become more than just an amazing friend, she feels like a sister to me. It is hard to be excited to leave when I know I won’t be living with Gayle again next year. We have shared every high, every tough time, and every laugh together since August. I barely spend an hour apart from her (besides teaching) every single day. We are together from the minute we wake up until the minute we go to bed. Sometimes we even pull our beds into each other’s rooms and have sleepovers! That’s a lot of time with one person, and I’ve enjoyed every moment. She is always positive, always happy, and always caring. I am going to miss sharing my life with her!

One of the biggest things I’m going to miss about my life here is cooking with Gayle. I always look forward to that time of day, because it’s always an adventure. You never know what is going to happen in our kitchen; whether it be a dead chicken flopping around, mud coming out of our kitchen faucet, cutting vegetables by flashlight, creating thousands of soups, trying to figure out the best way to cut an avocado, or even exploding plastic coffee pots on our stove. Gayle and I have become quite creative with the limited supplies that are available. Not only do we cook together, this is also a time where Gayle and I talk about our past with each other. We have shared things about our family, college experiences, and most importantly discussed our faith. I have been blessed to have such a strong Christian friend to keep me growing throughout this year. 

Thankfully, I know I’ll see Gayle in the United States. It’s high on my priority list, and I know it’s on hers as well. We will see each other soon. Although, I can’t say the same about my students; it’s hard for me to write this next piece without choking up. I can’t even express how much I am going to miss each and every single one of them. My heart feels heavy whenever I think of saying goodbye. I can’t even imagine what kind of mess I’m going to be on the last day of school, they are going to have to mop up my tears.

I’m going to miss walking out of my house and hearing a child say, “Hi Miss Van Dyke!! Hi!! Hello!!” My students are everywhere I go, and I love seeing them all throughout the town. I’m going to miss the proud looks the parents give their children when they are speaking in English with me. I’m going to miss my students walking up to me with their arms wide open and simply saying, “hug”. I’m going to miss our attempts at getting past the language barrier, and the laughs it brings. I can’t imagine not kissing their cheeks and hugging them goodbye at the end of the school day, my arms are going to feel empty. I’m going to miss their hands that lace through mine while we walk through the hallways. Their sparkling eyes when they remember an answer or a challenging English word, their absolute ADD craziness at the end of the week, the desire to make me proud, the innocent joy that new markers bring, their a cappella voices singing praises to God, and their beaming faces when I give encouraging words.

I know every teacher’s first class is always a special one, but these students will always be extra special in my heart. I will always carry a piece of them wherever I go, and I can only hope a piece of me goes with them as well. This class has made my passion for teaching even stronger and my love for children even more apparent. I love them all and absolutely dread saying goodbye. On Friday Carlos wrapped his arms around me and asked, “Can you take me to the United States with you?” My eyes teared up as I told him no. His shoulders dropped, his eyes looked down, and he said, “I want to go with you.” I want to tell him and all the rest of my students to stuff themselves into my suitcases, anything to avoid saying goodbye.

To be honest, it is a good thing I have so many things I am going to miss about this place. I’m happy it is going to be a difficult goodbye. It only means it was that special of a year, and it had a wonderful impact on my life. I’m glad I’m going to cry my eyes out; it only shows how much love I have for everyone here. I know I will meet new amazing co-workers, new great friends, a new community, new students…but nothing will take the place of La Union. Everyone and everything here will be forever missed. 

Agua Agua Agua

Water, H2O, the most basic element a human needs to survive. In the United States I never think twice about water. I have full currents flowing through all bathroom and kitchen sinks. When I turn the knob of my shower on, water, WARM water, comes bursting out at high speeds. As for right now, I live in Honduras and this could not be more opposite of the case.

I turn on the faucet in my sink, in my bathroom, and in my shower, and all I hear is absolute silence. Nothing is coming out of my sink, not even a drop of water.

We have hit the dry season here in Honduras, where thunderstorms come few and far between. This means that the water needs to be regulated, which means water in my sink is seen few and far between. I imagine an evil man sitting in a small room next to a switch board that says “water- on” on one side and “water-off” on the other side. I picture him snickering to himself as he flips the switch to “water-off” for days on end. “Ha-HA-ha… good luck surviving on THAT, American girls!!” I can almost hear it coming out of his mouth.

This would be my dream come true as a little girl. I HATED taking baths, and even WORSE, showers!! They were terrifying. Why would I want to get clean when the minute I hopped out of the tub I would go back to digging in mud holes and catching wild animals?? I was such a boy when I was little; ask any of my childhood girlfriends. They were constantly telling me how I smelled like a fish (embarrassing) and how I needed better manners. At the time I really didn’t care—I’d rather be one of the boys! My mom had to FORCE me to take a bath, literally holding me down in the tub. What in the world ever happened?? I can say I now don’t enjoy smelling like a fish and I prize my showers. I especially prize them in Honduras since they have been almost non-existent these past few weeks.

On Sunday we were blessed enough to have water flowing strong through our house. We quickly washed our dishes and took long, cool showers. At 7:40PM Sunday evening the water stopped coming through the pipes, we began a dry spell.

Monday we started a new school week. It has been a pretty normal school week with only one slight change…it is BOILING hot. Every day on the walk to school the sweat begins. By the time I arrive to school my entire shirt is soaked with sweat, sometimes it’s even dripping down my face. One day a Honduran teacher looked at me with wide eyes and said, “Miss!! Your FACE!!” I know. I sweat. A. LOT. It’s rather disgusting.

From there the sweat does not end. As the day goes on the temperature keeps on rising. By the afternoon I’m completely drained. My students are asking to drink water every 20 minutes..the heat takes it out of everyone. It’s difficult to concentrate on teaching when you can feel sweat rolling down your back. I’ve started wearing an undershirt to hold in all of my sweat so my uniform isn’t completely soaked every day. I dream about having a water fight with my students—that would go over great with administration I’m sure!

Gayle and I have tried to start running again, but every day we are too hot and too tired from sweating all day long. It almost feels as if we had been running all day long from the amount of sweat we accumulate by the end of the day. By the time we walk home we smell horrible. The only thing I have on my mind is taking an ice cold shower.

On Monday afternoon we walked home in the heat, only to find our pipes bone-dry…no water for us! We waited patiently for the water to come on, but it never did. We sat at our kitchen table exasperated…we were STILL sweating while grading papers..and this is what we were going to have to go to bed in! Even while I had a fan directly on me the entire night with no covers over my body, I never cooled down. I woke up feeling even hotter than the night before.

Tuesday: repeat of Monday. Only this time, when we arrived home from school we smelled twice as bad as Monday, and we were even hotter than Monday. Our clothes were drenched with sweat again, and we  ran to our sink to see if we had water. NOPE. None. Zilch. Nada.

At this point, we not only smelled and felt horrid, our kitchen was also starting to smell from the pile of dirty dishes accumulating next to our dry sink. We were running out of things to eat off of. Gayle and I felt absolutely disgusting. There was no way we could go to bed without a shower..the water HAD to come on. But no, it didn’t. 8:00 hit and we were exhausted from the heat so we headed to bed. Gayle and I both had trouble sleeping because our bodies were burning, radiating heat. I woke up several times in the night in a sweat. My whole body was sticky, and I’m not even going to mention what I LOOKED like.

Wednesday Gayle and I headed to school trying not to complain, but we were at our wits end..is it too much to ask for a simple shower?? It can even be cold! As we walked to school with Jake, Jacob, Heather, Ana, and Eleanor they all shared how they took nice cool showers the night before..it’s the only way they can cool their bodies down. We shot them a look of disbelief. “YOU ALL HAD WATER LAST NIGHT?!” They all looked at us and said…”Yeah, our water comes on every afternoon and stays on until the morning…we have water every day.”  ………………………………… Seriously. They were shocked to learn we hadn’t had water since Sunday evening. I don’t know why our house was so blessed to be skipped with flowing water, we must be extra special! I guess our patience needs to be tested more. We both agreed that if Wednesday after school we STILL didn’t have water, we were going to the girls’ house to take showers.

Walking into our house Wednesday afternoon we ran to our kitchen sink..and there was the most beautiful sight. Water was flowing over our dirty dishes filled sink. We were ecstatic!! We both quickly took showers and washed all the dishes. I had never felt so amazing; I also couldn’t believe how much a shower cooled down my body heat. Just an hour after we were cleaned up, the water turned off again and hasn’t been on since. I’m not sure when the next time will be when I see water flowing again in my house. It could be today, it could be three days from now… you never know. All I DO know is that I have never appreciated having water like I do now. Another thing I can chalk up on my list of how I’ve been privileged my entire life.  

S.A.G.

S.A.G.= Student Annual Gathering

This is where I was for an entire week. Last Tuesday (the 24^th) at 4:30 AM we packed up all of our 7^th-10^th graders on a big yellow bus and headed towards the capital, Tegucigalpa. Every single year, all the Abundant Life Schools (there are 6 of the schools, all in different cities) meet together to have competitions against one another. I was brought along as a chaperone for all the girls, and I also coach the volleyball girls.

4:30 is too early to get on a bus and drive through the mountains. By the time we had reached paved roads, three of the students had thrown up into plastic bags; I was swallowing hard forcing myself to not ask for a bag myself. Once we were on the paved roads it wasn’t so horrible. All the students except for the 7^th graders have been to S.A.G. before, so they weren’t too crazy!

I was really looking forward to seeing the dynamic of all the other students from the different schools. With most of our students coming from low-income households and being on scholarship to study, I was curious to see what the other schools were going to be like. Our school is unique, the other schools do not have as many, if any, students who are on scholarships.  

Once we reached Tegucigalpa at 11:30, S.A.G. started right away at the Abundant Life School. The event on Tuesday afternoon was the girls and boys basketball tournament. Coming from Northwest Iowa, I know what good basketball looks like….and this was not it. A week before we left for S.A.G. I played basketball with our best girl player and a couple of the boys. I felt like the biggest champion in my life; they thought I had such skill in basketball. All the while I kept remembering I didn’t even make the freshman basketball team! This can give you just a little preview of what their games were like. But to their credit, basketball is not an important sport in Honduras, unlike futball. I thought our girls tried their best and I was proud of their hard work!

While watching the girls play basketball I watched all the other schools arrive at the Teguc school. It was so interesting. The first thing I noticed is that everyone was so HUGE! All the students were bigger built, and they had TALL students. Students were as tall or even TALLER than me! This is a rarity; I am taller than every single one of our secondary students. Jake explained to me that our students were all from Lenkin Indian descent, so that is why they are so small.

That evening we had the opening program for S.A.G. The first night was also the singing competition. Before the opening program started, I helped my two girls get dressed and ready to sing. I helped them put on their make-up. I thought I was putting on a normal amount of make-up, in a pretty normal way. They looked in the mirror and gasped, “Wow, Miss. How did you learn how to do this?! Wow, I look so beautiful!” People in La Union do not wear make-up, this was not a normal, everyday look for them. I was happy to make them feel all made-up for the occasion.

It was interesting to listen to the singing competition. Whenever a school had one of their contestants enter the stage ONLY that school was cheering them on. The school you were from never cheered for anyone else. Maybe if they were really talented they got a few claps from different schools, but that was about it. A little preview of how the entire week would be.

After the program was over we got back on our bus and headed towards the camp where we were staying for the week. But of course, nothing in Honduras goes according to plan. Our students were hungry and wanted to stop at McDonalds to eat, so we did. At this point it was 10:30 and we had been up since 4 in the morning. We didn’t arrive to our camp until after 11:00. All of our girls stayed in one huge room. It was a large cinder-block cell. There were metal bunk beds 3-high with one thin mattress. The girls went to bed fairly quickly, they were tired from our long day!

I slept well, considering it felt like I was sleeping on a block of wood. I couldn’t believe my ears when the first alarms started going off at 4:00 AM. I couldn’t figure out if this was for real…but it was. My girls started taking showers and getting ready!!! And of course each one had an initial scream when they stepped in the shower because it was so ice cold. At 5:30 one of my girls shook me and said, “Miss, you need to get up and start getting ready!!” I don’t know what was sadder: that they had to wake me up and tell me, the chaperon, to start getting ready, or that they started getting ready at 4 and we didn’t need to leave until 6:30. It is beyond me how it can take you over two hours to get ready!! I got up at 5:30 and was ready before 6. After the first day they realized I didn’t need to be woken up early haha. 

Wednesday morning we spent at the school. We watched a physical competition; boys did push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, etc. Also there was a basketball shootout for boys and girls. The best event that morning was the academic competition. Each school had a team of 4 people. They all sat up on the stage around a table, and each table had a button with a light bulb. The judges asked questions and the team who hit their button first could answer the question. I know our students were so nervous, but they did really good! I was so proud of them. They ended up getting third place. The Teguc school of course got first place. This was also a reoccurring theme throughout the week.

Before lunch I was talking with one of the American Teguc teachers and he told me the secondary students haven’t had class for the last two weeks. Every day for the past two weeks they have been practicing for S.A.G……. hmmm well no wonder they were winning every single event!! How can you even compete against that?

After lunch all the schools drove to the Honduran Olympic track. It was amazing how horrible of shape the track was in, my elementary track was nicer than this. Nonetheless it was still a track, still able to run on it! And run my students did. They placed first in almost every single running event of that day! If they didn’t place first, they got second. La Union dominated every single event! I was such a proud teacher. Having small, fit students really helped us take the win!

Late that afternoon all the schools drove to the camp in the mountains and the girls from Tegucigalpa moved into our room. Our girls warned me about the attitude the girls had from Teguc, but nothing could have prepared me for how they acted. One of the Tegus girls looked at me with disbelief and said, “Ella es la maestra?!” Which means, “She’s the teacher?!” My girls quickly advised me to ignore everything they said. Well, if you know me at all, you know I have problems keeping quiet when someone is offending me. But I bit my tongue.

We stayed at the camp from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. During those few days there were multiple competitions. There was a Sudoku challenge, current events cross word, origami contest, timed rubik’s cube race, futbalito (futball on a basketball court with a smaller ball), comedy night, battle of the bands, spelling bee, Bible verse trivia, speeches, I could go on and on. There were so many different and unique events! What amazed me more is that there were students who excelled in each of these categories! I was blown away by all the talent I saw this past week.

On Thursday afternoon we had our volleyball tournament. It didn’t go as well as I planned. I had a great rotation set up that we practiced over and over, with one of my players being a libero.  Just as our first game was about to start I told the judge which number my libero was. As the whistle was blowing for the game to begin she informed me, “She doesn’t have a different uniform, she can’t play libero.” What?? Excuse me?? I totally forgot the libero has to wear a different shirt, and since this is Honduras, I didn’t realize they would be so strict about the rules. So my libero had to play all the way around. Once my girls realized the libero couldn’t rotate out they got really nervous and didn’t know what to do. I felt so bad for them, I really felt like I let the team down. I was disappointed in myself as a coach. We lost the first game 15-5 and lost the second game 15-11. After that we were out; a little bit of a bummer. I really do think these girls can do well in volleyball. Our school also only has up to the 10^th grade since it’s newer, so the other schools have older girls who have been playing for longer. I know my girls will continue to improve, and next year I know they will do even better!

My favorite event to watch of the week was boys and girls futball. It is absolutely amazing to see what they can do with a futball; I was speechless while watching them. This is definitely a sport that they all naturally excel at. It is funny, because to me basketball or volleyball comes natural but if you give me a futball I’ll embarrass myself. That is not the case with my students!! The boys sadly lost their first game, but our girls made it to the championship against Teguc. The game ended with a tie 3-3, so there was a shootout. Almost 20 girls participated in the shootout until someone messed up, which happened to be our girls. They were pretty bummed to lose, but they still got second. Once again, they are a young team and they can only go up from here!

The biggest drama over the entire week was the breakfast, lunch, and dinner line. Students would budge in front of other students, which caused some people to stand in line for an unnecessary long period of time. The other American teachers and I decided to do something about this “budging issue”. We monitored the line; any student who budged was sent to the waaaaaaaaaay back. You would not even believe the kind of attitude I received from students!!!  Some students laughed at me directly in my face. Some students told me “No, I’m not going to move, sorry.” Some students rolled their eyes, turned their backs and kept standing there. Other’s who I knew spoke fluent English only would respond to me in Spanish. I was in such disbelief at how much disrespect all of the students carried with them. You can about imagine how much attitude I let them give me until I laid it into them. At some points I literally had to dig my nails in some boys’ arms to get them to move out of the line. No joke, 2 minutes later they would be budging again. By the end of the week I was sick of patrolling the lunch line, sick of disrespectful students, and sick of being looked at as the strict teacher.

But I have to say, my La Union students had such an amazing attitude the entire week. Every teacher from other schools commented on how respectful and nice all of our students were. I was so proud of how well behaved all of them were! As I chaperoned the girls throughout the week, I was blown away by all of their maturity. I kept remembering when I was that age, and I wouldn’t have come even close to how mature all of our girls are. Each of them were so responsible, so caring, and so aware of the big picture of S.A.G. The reason for their awesome behavior is because of their amazing relationship they have with Jesus Christ. I was taken aback at how strong their faith was! It was refreshing to see such young girls so certain about their faith, and to have a personal relationship with Him. I felt honored to be their chaperone for the week!

And once again, I could not be more thankful as to where I am this year. Out of this whole world, La Union is the only place I would want to be. God has given me this amazing, life-changing experience. I have a deep love for all of my 3^rd graders, and after this week I have bonded with secondary students. I know when I go back to the United States I will meet special people, and I will have love for all of my future students. But I also know all of these students here in La Union will forever have a special place in my heart.

That is why, it seems impossible for me to say goodbye to everyone in just 40 days. I can’t imagine my life without them.  They have made such an impact on how I live, and I hope this stays with me as I go back to the United States. As most of you know, I am not coming back here next year. After a LOT of prayer, I felt as though God has other plans for me! It turns out he did. I accepted a Specialist position with Hanford Christian in California. This is bittersweet, I’m obviously more than excited to move there and start my new job, but I’m also going to have a difficult time leaving this special place. I am trying to give my students as much love and knowledge as possible with the time that I have left. My students keep asking, “When are you coming back??” and I truly hope it will be soon. I promised myself I need to see these children’s faces again, there too special not to! Just see for yourself.. 

Craziness!! 

So many reasons to smile :) 

What a stud... 

Happy Birthday Jicxon! 

EXCITED birthday girls! 

We made monsters for art one day.. "Cry Girl"

Pictures

Here are some pictures from my family's visit, El Salvador, and days at school 

Megan teaching my class

Outside my house

Out to eat with my family in Roatan

                                                                     Crazy students!

On a hike with my students

Gorgeous view of La Union

Megan and my dad playing futball

Showing some stickers from the U.S.

Sisterly love! 

La Union 

Last sunset in Roatan

Here are some pictures from my travels to El Salvador:

Surfing: first and last time trying that. 

Visited a volcanic lake 

Beautiful sunsets! 

Have to keep the bugs out somehow..

Here are some pictures from random school days: 

The Limbo has become a popular game! 

Life as a teacher when you have no where to put your materials...AHH!! 

So much energy after recess one day

                                                 We made paper airplanes for art one day

Hope you enjoyed!

Sharing My World

I had been anticipating my parents’ and Megan’s visit since they day I came back to La Union from Christmas vacation. It became easier to live here knowing in the near future my family would be joining me in my adventure. How quickly their visit sprang upon me! Before I knew it March 28^th was here and my parents and Megan were flying into Honduras.

My students were PHSYCHED for my family to be here, it was their topic of choice for weeks! My parents and Megan planned to get into La Union at 6PM on a Wednesday. The entire school day was filled with anticipation, my students and I could not WAIT to see them!! I rushed home after school to tidy the house and make a batch of cookies and an egg-bake for breakfast in the morning (I didn’t want my parents to starve here!). I was trying to rush through both recipes before my family arrived; Gayle and I were running into each other, all of our dishes were being used, food covered the countertops. Meanwhile, I started to have a trickle of students show up at my house! They all wanted to see my parents just as badly as I did. Nearing the arrival time of my family, Gayle and I managed to finish both recipes, we had washed all of our dishes, and I had 8 screaming children running around my house. I have never seen my children so crazy before!! And trust me—they are crazy. They were doing flips on my tile floor, punching each other, throwing candy across the living room, using our huge butcher knife to cut onions, taking full BITES out of the onion, and all the while screaming at the top of their lungs.

Finally, I watched as Ablin (their chauffeur) drove up the hill towards my house. My students got into position, holding a frying pan full of candy. It felt so great to hug my parents and Megan…they were FINALLY HERE!! It was so strange to see them in my every day setting. They walked into my house with my students screaming “WELCOME TO LA UNION!!!” and throwing candy at them. Thank-goodness my entire family loves children as much as I do! 

After I showed my parents around my house, they rubbed off (almost) all the dirt from their face, and my students had shown them every trick in the book, we headed for dinner. I took them to our only “restaurant” that we eat at in La Union called El Comedor. Almost every little eatery is called El Comedor in Honduras. Since the power was out for all of the day before, the chicken was not edible; we opted for some baleadas ricas instead. I couldn’t really tell you if my family enjoyed them or not, they were too busy sleeping at the dinner table!  I think I even heard my dad start to snore. I felt so bad for them; they had all been traveling for almost 24 hours straight with no sleep.

On the walk back to my house I asked Megan how the ride to La Union was. I had been so nervous for them; riding on the dirt tracks straight up the mountain is not the most comfortable ride! Megan told me, “It was actually fine, it just felt like we were driving to the end of the world!” …Tell me about it!

Back at our house, we crashed and went to bed. I was lucky enough to share my twin bed with Megan for the next two nights! But it’s not like that is uncommon..we’re used to it.

The next morning we were up early and were walking to school by 6:40AM. I was so excited to bring them to school and show them more of my everyday life! It was fun to walk through the streets and have my family look at the town for the first time. Everything for them was new, exciting, different, and culturally opposite while I am used to walking through poverty-stricken streets.

Once we arrived at school it was a non-stop Tom, Helen, and Megan celebrity day. My students ADORED my family and were overJOYED to have them in the classroom. During morning devotional I thought my eardrums were going to shatter they were singing so loudly. They poured their hearts out into EVERYTHING they did on Thursday. Every two minutes it was, “TOM, watch me do this! TOM look what I wrote!! Helen, play this with me!! Megan, look at me!! TOM!! TOM!! TOOOMM!!!!” Of course my dad was the star of the show. For some reason, kids love love love my dad. Always have, always will..there’s no use trying to compete with him, he’ll always win the popularity contest with children.

Some of my students would start to ask absolutely ridiculous questions just so they had a question so that my family would turn their attention to them. It was absolute mayhem. I tried having my mom and dad play a spelling game with them; that was sensory overload. Any time my dad or mom got an answer right they would scream at the top of their lungs… “YEAH!!!!! YES TOM!! TOM IS THE BEST!!! TOM!!!” Even the principal had to come to our classroom to tell my students to quite down! I couldn’t even control their excitement. My students wrote them and read out loud letters welcoming them to La Union and asked a few questions. The most popular question was “What is more beautiful, La Union or the United States?” One of my students wrote in his letter, “Thank-you for your daughter. She is very beautiful and I am very happy she is my teacher.” My eyes welled up at that one!

During recess my dad played futball with all the boys in the class while the girls surrounded my mom, Megan, and I. My dad must have impressed them during their futball matches, the boys came back from lunch break with an even more adoration than before! Their little hearts were broken when my dad and mom went back to my house after lunch to take a nap. Every 10 minutes they asked, “Where is Tom? Why your parents go to your house?” Thankfully Megan stayed at school which satisfied their attention needs. They found out they got the same reaction out of Megan when they tickled her as when they tickle Miss Van Dyke.

By the end of the day my energy was completely wiped out. I couldn’t believe the amount of energy my kids produced the entire school day!! After school I took my family up to the cross where there is a beautiful look out of La Union. We were up there just as the sun was setting over the mountains; one of my favorite parts of the day! My family was in awe of the pure beauty I am surrounded by! Once again, I was overjoyed to share my life with them.

We climbed into bed early that night; the students had worn us out!! We woke up Friday refreshed and ready to go. Thank-goodness my students were not as crazy on Friday. I think they were so exhausted from expending so much of their energy the day before! Some of them could barely keep their eyes open during class.

Megan took over my Language class and taught them the difference between Can and May; she was a natural. I enjoyed watching someone else’s attempts at getting my students to understand! During lunch we all went down to the futball field and played with all the boys in my class. This time I got to witness first-hand the love all my boys had developed for my dad in just these two short days. They were constantly vying for his attention, impressing him with their mad skills. At one point, my dad was standing still on the field and one of my little boys walks up to my dad, reaches up, and holds his hand. It brought tears to my eyes; this little boy had never experienced the great love of a father. His father is not a very kind person, and it is very apparent he shows no love in the household. Having my dad there showed him love from a man is possible. It made me so happy my boys got to see what a loving and involved dad looks and acts like. But at the same time it breaks my heart that all my boys do not have dads more like mine. I am so blessed to have a dad who loves me and shows his love to me. 

Towards the end of the day my parents had a surprise to hand out to my students. Each of the boys were given a nerf-football and all of the girls were given a jump rope. All of them also were given bubbles from my brother Greg’s wedding. At this point I let the mayhem take over; there was no point in trying to control the class anymore! Thankfully they settled down for a few minutes to take some pictures with my family.

I couldn’t believe how sad I was to see my parents and Megan say goodbye to my students. It felt so amazing to have them with me in the classroom; I didn’t want to see them go! I also know my students were very sad to see them go, they kept asking, “When are you coming back?” My eyes (again yes I know) were tearing up as each student said goodbye and walked out the door. I think part of it was my family was foreshadowing what I have to do in just two short months. It is hard to fathom how in the world I am going to leave them!!!

That night a teacher made a dinner for my family and then we went to play volleyball with the 10^th graders. The next day we headed out for our vacation in Roatan, which is an island off the coast of Honduras. Our travels to Roatan is a whole different story in itself…I’ll spare you the 30 minute long story. We spent the next 3 days relaxing, sunbathing, and eating in paradise. It was exactly what we all needed!

Wednesday I had to say goodbye to them and it was not easy! I really did not want them to leave me, I felt like I wanted to hop on the plane with them! Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I have two more months here, but it isn’t easy to see your family leave.

I was so happy and so thankful for my family’s visit. I loved sharing my little world with them!! I am so thrilled someone got to see where I live, where I teach, what my students are like, what my every day schedule is like. Now whenever I tell them, “ugh I feel so dirty and the water’s off..all I want to do is take a shower!” they will completely understand how I feel.

My students are still asking about them this week, they are quite concerned about when they will see Tom again. I told them now it’s their turn to visit the United States, and they need to promise to attend a university there. They said it sounded like a perfect plan. 

(I tried adding pictures to the blog, but the internet isn't working well enough..I'll upload them sometime soon!)