The first is of my 4th grade students at the Children's Day fair, and the second of us at school on "Crazy Hair Day". The third is of our school director getting her hair done for crazy hair day. Each student who had their hair painted paid 5o cents and the 6th graders raised money for microscopes for the school.

Pictures

The first pic is of the winning team of drama, from Guatemala! And the third is of them performing their drama. The middle is of me and my friends from Jovenes.

Varias Cosas...Various Things

Well, I've been wanting to find a place of my own lately. I just started looking at apts. and houses to rent. Today I saw a real pretty one I really like for only $200 per month, but it's not furnished and I own nothing. But it had a cute kitchen and a hot water shower. It just might become home, although it's far from school and I like to walk. We'll see. Anywho, after checking out the house, we were on our way home when we stalled on a hill because we had no gas in the truck. Lucky for us we were able to buy gas nearby and didn't have to stand in the rain too long. It has been raining a lot everyday lately, for the last couple of weeks. This morning it was cloudy with some sun, which is a new thing.
Today in the school we had a big typical Honduran Folklorica Fiesta complete with tons of yummy, yet greasy, Honduran food and drinks, dancing, music, and costumes. The kids looked great and i'm sorry i forgot my camera!
Recently I did take some pictures of when we went to Jovenes en Camino, a Church of Christ home for young street boys. They go to school nearby but live on about 2 or 3 acres of land in modern homes, modern kitchen, a lot of room to play, and horses, cows, and dogs. During Encuentro we went with all the youth and had our church service there Sunday morning. I also am posting pictures from Encuentro, which is equivalent to a youth rally for kids from all over Latin America.
Much love from our Lord Jesus!

How to keep clean in Honduras, and other important happenings

Bueno...
As I have had such fun times just trying to take a shower lately, I thought I would share with you just for heck of it, and so in case you are in Honduras soon, you will be well prepared. First, I take my great big towel {thanks for the advice, mom}, my loofah, shampoo, soap, and go outside to the enclosed shower area...you can't really call it a shower, per say. Then I lay my towel on the washer, which is certainly a luxury, and my other things on the shelf and put my dirty clothes in the cardboard box next to the washer. I am all set, and turn the handle. Ah! No water today. What a surprise! So I put my towel around me and take the big bucket out the door to the large sink holding day old water that was filled up when there happened to be running water. I thank myself for working out so I am able to life the bucket filled with water, and carry it into the shower area. Now I am ready. No, wait. Where's the little bowl I use to dip into the bucket to pour the water on me? UGH! OK, get my towel again. Walk outside. No bowl in the sink. NO bowl on the table{which is used to hold all the "clean" dishes}. Ok, so I will use a small pot this time, to save time. Riiiiiiiiiiiight. Ok, now i'm ready. Finally I "shower", pouring bowls of cold water. I'm done. Another successful cleaning brigade. Gracias a Dios.

"Courting"

Hola familia y amigos
This is my boyfriend, Beto, or to be proper, Jose Humberto Perez Monterroso.
We met last July when I studied Spanish at Baxter and he is a second year student studying to be a missionary. We kept in touch through emails and phone calls all year while I was in the States. In December I visited his family in Guatemala and now we are praying about what God wants for us in the future.
Please pray for us and him in his studies. He has two years left and we are seeking God about where to minister after he graduates. We would like to minister in South America.
Thank you for your support, love, and prayers!
Laura

DR. PEPPER!!!

or i guess in spanish...el doctor de pimiento. Not the same clear ring.
Bueno.
How is everyone? I am excited to write today! I am usually excited to write but struggle for what to say. Well, not today! Today I bought a Dr. Pepper, in a can! And I can´t wait to drink it! I also got to touch a can of Mt.Dew and Root Beer, which I hadn´t done in over 2 months. Shoot, I don´t even drink them that much in the States, but just the fact that they were there made me excited! This was in a gas station with one of those mini marts, but this wasn´t just ANY gas station! oh no, especially for Honduras, this is IT! I know where I´ll be spending MY Friday nights now! My friend Amber came across this little jewel yesterday as she was driving through the city. She has lived here over a year and I stayed with her a bit when I first arrived. She used to live with the family I now stay with and is a missionary here. Today she picked me up from school and we went to immigration to pick up our passports, then drove over to the hot spot! I wanted to ask Äre we there yet?¨about five times, but did my best to wait patiently. When we arrived, I couldn´t contain my excitement any longer! I was like a little kid in a candy store, or rather, an adult in a minimart with Dr. Pepper! By the way, I didn´t buy Mt.Dew or Root Beer. I wanted to leave something to look forward to in the future. Of course, now that I think about it, if that´s all I have to look forward to...
Amber and I have been spending more time together lately, really enjoying going to the movies, eating together, making treat bags for children´s day, etc. and of course, buying dr. pepper´s. Last night we saw ¨Dark Water´s¨. I know it came out in the States awhile ago, but if you havn´t seen it, DON´T! It´s not worth it! Amber is an awesome girl so check out her blog. I still havn´t figured out how to make links.

amberinhonduras.blogspot.com

and while we´re on that subject, a couple other blogs to check out arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

greg england, preacher extrodinaire... stoogeman.blogspot.com

scotty vanAtta, the funniest engaged man i know... thatsawesome.blogspot.com

allan heida, famous half-latino, half-german, teaching english in china! how much more multicultural can you get than that?! allaninchina2.blogspot.com or allaninchina.com

Encuentro

well, on my two days off from school i wasnt idle. there was a youth rally in baxter for youth from all over honduras, costa rica, guatemala, y nicaragua. it lasted from thursday night until sunday night and reminds me of lecturship, but on a much smaller scale, and for teens. the singing was great, of course, and a good chance to practice my spanish and learn spanish praise songs. there was also some friends that came from guatemala that i met last year when i was here. one is an american missionary and we got to stay on campus in the presidents apt., whom we are good friends with him and his wife, since they are vacationing in the states right now.
as for school news, please pray for Javier. i think i blogged about him recently. but didnt mention his name. he was in 9th grade and caused a lot of problems, so many that he got expelled. i wish the administration had given him more of a chance. i had planned on ministering to him but didnt get the time i thought i would have. that was a lesson to me to minister each day and not wait for the ¨perfect time¨. anytime we minister to another is the perfect time with God.
also, today, there was sudden heavy rain and my classroom flooded. i was able to mop and sweep it out onto the balcony, from whence it came, after the storm died away. that was something i had never done before,let me tell you! but i thought of the victims in new orleans and knew that my plight was nothing.
Things are going well. More pictures to come soon via email.

yes, i work

but there are so many holidays here! well, i miss the quietness of the city and seeing many many people walking around. the strike is definately over, sad in a way, but i was happy to go back to work, for about 2 days. This past Monday night i woke up at 3 and lets just say i got to be real good friends with the bathroom, particularly the round porcelyn structure. i slept some more however from about 4-6 and tried to get ready for school, but felt too sick. Long story short, Guillermo took me to their family holistic dr. who gave me meds, a cold drink like alkaseltzer, and a shot. i slept there an hour or so and felt better, but when i went home that night i was feeling worse. Nauseous, and total body pain, especially in the head. Think i had a fever. All the symptoms pointed to Dengue, a disease caused by mosquitos. But after a second shot and finally be able to eat something besides steamed veggies, which are very good and which i miss, by the way, i am doing a lot better. Still weak and tired at times, but much better, gracias a Dios!
So there was Independence day yesterday and day of the teacher today, so i only taught 2 days this week.
But never fear, i plan on working 5 days next week.
Thanks for your prayers. MORE LATER.

No hay taxi´s o busses, pero hay lotion!

So I have heard some, but not nearly as much as I´m sure you´re hearing in the States, about the tragedy in New Orleans. And as is with life, we here in Honduras have our own event going on, but I am in no way even trying to compare it with what´s going on in N.O, only to inform you of what life´s been like here the last few days.

Gas prices went up throughout the country on Monday, surprise surprise. Immediately, busses and taxi drivers refused to drive. They stopped in the middle of the road, blocking even civilians from passing, or at least making it near impossible to pass. Busses full of people were emptied and those occupying them had to walk to their destination, some for two or more hours. As a result, school´s were cancelled, including private ones, like where I teach, because most teachers and some children arrive at school in busses or taxi´s. If they don´t they couldn´t get through on the main streets, or if they tried, they risked the danger of having rocks thrown at them. I saw on the news one man in his own car trying to get through but protesters put big rocks in front of his tires and a big booth on wheels in his way, so he was completely stuck.

Yesterday I enjoyed my day off by watching ¨Newsies¨in English with an american friend and relaxing, but I miss my students and do wish I could teach, although I can´t be one to complain about NOT HAVING to work today and tomorrow too.

Today the gas prices went down and busses and taxi´s are moving again. I heard from one person that there will be classes tomorrow and from another that there won´t, so today I´ll need to do some research on that.

In the meantime, I´m still using bug spray as my main perfume, but i found that right after shaving my legs is not a good time to put it on! oweeeeeeeeeeeee!

For the past 2 weeks, mas o menos, I discovered that humidity ruins a loofah´s ability to produce suds from soap. Interesting, I thought. Usually I can use less soap on my loofah but lately I had to use more because it wasn´t sudsing up. After 2 weeks of puzzlement, I finally actually looked at the soap bottle only to discover that it is body oil, like lotion! No wonder there weren´t any suds, and no wonder I had to use more bug spray than usual to keep the bugs away! Not really, but I decided that if Greg can share a whole blog about shaving his EAR HAIR, gross, then I can write a short paragraph about only bathing with lotion!

All else is well here, liking my job and schedule. Tomorrow if there is school we are going on a field trip to a fair in the morning and no classes are scheduled after 11:30. It´s ¨Children´s Day¨, which is a bigger deal here than Christmas. But really, isn´t everyday Children´s Day? Why do they need their own day of special celebrations??

Stay classy!

Viernes y Pepsi

mmmmmm...Fridays. gotta love ém. Today, I was feeling a little under the weather. I am glad it happened Friday when I mostly just give tests and reviews, not much work for me, and my fourth graders are good and trustworthy, so I can give them a page of review work, leave the room, and not worry about them. I know they´re not perfect, but at least I know I can leave them for about 3 minutes. Well, around mid'day, I was feeling worse, but craving a Pepsi. I held off awhile because I thought it might make my stomachache worse. I finally gave in and I felt 100%better! Amazing. Pepsi is huge here, the most popular by far, and now, my personal hero.

This weekend I plan on relaxing. All my plans and tests are ready for next week. Monday we´ll start full force, but until then I will try not to think about school.

One of the teachers told me today about the hurricane in New Orleans and Mississippi. I had no idea! I don´t watch tv at home but when it´s on it´s never the news. A teenager and a 5 year old control it. I will try to get some info from the web, newspaper,or tv today. i will keep all those affected in my prayers.

I am praying with my class everyday in the morning and trying to remember to do it also before recess and lunch to get them in the habit and to plant some seeds. Pray for all my students please. I do not know where they and their families ¨are at¨ spiritually, but prayer never hurts. Also, for one student in particular, i have been praying for him. He has a poor attitude and is a source of frustration to most of the teachers. He hasn´t given me many problems, but i am praying for a change of heart in him this year. I don´t know the eco level of the students but in general they are at least middle class or higher if they can pay for this school, uniforms, supplies, entrance fees, etc.

As for Teguc., it´s a lot like Los Angeles, which may be why I like it and feel pretty comfy here. It is rainy season right now, which they call winter because of it, and their only other season is summer, in march and april when it´s really dry. it hasn´t been too rainy this week but very hot and humid. our 4th grade room is upstairs and very stuffy, unless we open the balcony door, but then we get street noise, or the classroom door, but then we get hallway noise. but we have a fan, although it blows students papers to the floor a lot. you can´t winem all.

well, i´ve rambled enough for today. in conclusion, i´ll end with two more ways you know you´re in Honduras...
you use more hand sanitizer than soap
you always carry a portable roll of toilet paper with you.

hope i didnt mention those already. i´ll be sooo embarassed!
more for later
que le vaya bien...hope everything goes well!

Dia de la Bandera

aw, flag day. that sure doens´t bring up any memories, but here in Honduras, Flag day is a day much to be celebrated. My kids in 4th grade made paper flags and a banner in their social studies class in spanish. They also have spanish, art, and music in spanish, but the rest are in english, except for german of course. these kids are so impressive.
Teaching high school as well is challenging. I like the students, but the extra planning and grading is tiring. I like the students ok but am not as excited about teaching them as 4th grade.
Recently for fun I´ve been able to watch cable since the family I´m living with has it. I have watched Elf and The Mask in spanish, among others.Even thought I´m not fluent, Will Ferrel and Jim Carrey are still hilarious in any language.
In the morning I don´t need an alarm which usually makes for a much more pleasant awakening, unless it´s at 3am by the confused rooster who crows every hour throughout the day. Only once i tried taking the public bus to school but later than i should´ve. i asked where it was going and they said they´d go past my school. Well, 3 minutes later, i was about a quarter of a mile out of the way from my route. i jumped off the bus while it was slowing down, causing me to dramatically, and comically i might add, trip over my feet and keep running trying not to fall down. i walked quickly back the other way about 10 minutes, with busses passing me, but not on the way to the school. out of no where, however, one of my students stops and he, his brother, and dad give me a ride! i was right on time, thank you God!
I´m also blessed to have a nice computer and printer in the house where i stay so i can plan lessons and type tests there.
Saturdays are usually spent running errands, grocery shopping, etc. Sundays I try really hard to do absolutely nothing. Usually I meet my goal and enjoy going to church. I can walk to the nearest Church of Christ in about 7 minutes. It´s a nice size, and they have air conditioning, as of 3 weeks ago.
last night the electricity went out in the city, because of ¨bad lines¨, Guillermo said. Guillermo is the dad-husband in the house. and by the way, to answer Dino´s question, NO, he´s not ¨THE¨GUILLERMO from City of Children, although I wonder what ever happened to him. Anywho, so all the lights go out and a roar goes up from the entire neighborhood. There was fear that more robberies would happen and the question of what and how we would cook for dinner. I suggested Dominoe´s becasue they deliver, but much to my dismay, 5 minutes later the lights were back on. I had to finish my lessons plans, then, and no Dominoes. oh well, a girl can dream.
hasta el proximo, cuidense ...
con Carino