Happy Friday!

I didn't have a wireless connection last night, so I couldn't post. 

Spanish class has been going very well. There is still so much to learn, though, and I only have one class left! I have decided to travel to Copan Ruinas (site of the ancient Mayan ruins) this weekend with Stephanie. Tita is leaving early tomorrow morning to head back to England for her sister's graduation. We will miss her greatly, as she does a lot of translating for us with Argentina. I am getting better, but I still struggle trying to understand in conversations. 

The kids are doing great! I had an awesome lesson yesterday where I taught the kids the months of the year. Then, I had them work in groups to look through bilingual books on the months of the year and try to find word matches. They got so excited when they found a word they could figure out in English. They would shout "Teacher, Teacher!" Today, we reviewed everything I taught them this week. I made posters to put up in each room showing them important English phrases. We also listened to the "Apples and Bananas" song to work on vowel sounds and "Take me out to the Ball Game" just for fun. Next week, I will be at the school all day Wednesday through Friday. From what I can tell, first, second, and third grades use the school building in the mornings, so the other kids don't even have school. Not sure what I will do with the younger kids yet as they will probably have trouble reading, and I rely a lot on writing to help the kids learn new words. 

I spoke with the director today about getting supplies for the school. She gave me a list of things they really need, like markers, crayons, construction paper, and more. I will go down to the local supplies store next week, as I have about $250 in donations to use for school supplies. It won't get them everything they need, but it's a start. 

Last night, we had dinner by the beach, and there was a little kitten (gatito) who looked like he didn't get much food walking around our table. We fed him some scraps, and he was quite friendly! Tonight, dinner was at Applebee's. It was pretty busy because Honduras is playing El Salvador in a soccer match in Miami tonight. 

I tried teaching the kids how to play American football this week. It was quite interesting. They got the concept of hiking the ball and lining up on opposite sides. They even understood that they had to run to catch the ball. However, when it came time to explain what to do when they caught the ball, it was a mess. 15 kids would go after the ball if it fell on the ground or would try to take the ball away from whoever caught up. I quickly had to end the game instruction, and we stuck with playing catch. I also brought in a frisbee and hacky sack that the kids love playing with. 

This is the playground area - you can see one soccer goal at the far end. 

After only a week, the kids are doing so well with their English. They were able to write 5 sentences about themselves in English with my guidance. The 6th grade teacher and Rafael were both telling me how important it is for these kids to learn English as they live in the poorest area in La Ceiba, and it is difficult for them to get jobs when they get older. Knowing English increases their chances by a lot. I am going to leave a notebook of everything I covered with the kids hoping that another volunteer will come again soon and pick up from where I leave off. I can easily see myself returning every summer to work with these kids. They are so full of joy and appreciative of every  little thing. We often take for granted the small things in life. Being here has helped me see how fortunate I am to lead the life I do. 

I took shots of each student with their name tag that I made so I could try to learn their names before I leave. There are more than 50 kids though, so it has been a challenge!