party.

September is a big month in Honduras. There are birthdays, celebrations as well as other important days in the history of the country.

The 10^th is the Day of the Kids, and of course the kids anticipate that day like none other. At home the day is make special with food, games, and spending time with family. At school there is a huge party. They play, dance, eat a meal prepared by the moms, play games, and of course the party is ending by a piñata and lots of candy.

The 15^th is Independence Day, and every school marches in their town in a parade like style. Some girls dance like cheerleaders, the high schools have bands, one is dresses like a traditional native, another the princess of Honduras, soldiers, flag carrier and others march along.

One of the girls from the property is in the band in her high school and with the band went to almost every village and town to march and play in the valley, as well as La Ceiba, the city we are closest to.

As always we have birthdays in every month, but this month was extra special because one of the house parents daughters, Tania was turning 15! So of course that means a quinceñera. In Latin American cultures the 15^th birthday is a big deal and kind of like the 16^th birthday in the states. For the quinceñera, the girl wears a very nice dress, has an escort, a dance or two with the dad and escort, a meal, and being with the friends and family that came to celebrate with her.

It was super fun to celebrate Tania in that way and with her, as well as helping her get her huge dress to the party.

teaching

Teaching has been a blast these past several weeks. Homeschooling 4^th graders has its ups and downs, but it’s been good.

The boys have been struggling through fractions but they are getting the hang of it. They have loved learning about the Mayans and Christopher Columbus, as it is a huge part of the history of Honduras. Copan is a very important city, in Honduras, that is very important in history and to this day as the descendants of the Mayans live there and keep the culture alive. They have loved doing activities and talking about some people from Copan that we know.

            One science unit that we did was about natural disasters and volcanoes. We were able to make a model volcano that erupted and they loved every minute of it.

 

When a group came they got to be apart of a service project where they helped paint inside one of the churches in one of the nearby communities.

English class has been pretty fun as well. Everyone has a good laugh when I don’t make sense, or say a completely different word that sounds like the word I’m trying to say. It’s also super fun when they learn new words, and are trying to make new sounds and say the words correctly.

 For one class only about half the kids come but the ones that come have been learning about feelings. Their favorite answer for “How do you feel?” is always happy or in love, because those are the easiest words to say.

Another class is learning about fruit, and their favorite fruit is always mango because it is the same in Spanish. Those punks. It’s fun to hang out with them and expose them to new things even if they only retain a little.