Things Have Changed

Since being in Honduras the past 4 years, technology seems to have advanced all around me and it's kind of weird coming back to the States for a few weeks and experiencing all of it. Here are a few examples of things I've noticed in the past year or so:

1. 4 square is a game kids at our school play at recess. A game I used to play at recess. Apparently it is a way to "check-in" somewhere.
2. "Checking-In" used to be a process involving at least 2 people...like checking in to a hotel, or at a doctor's office.
3. People in churches, pastors included, used to use an actual Bible. Now many of them use iPods, iPads, iPhones, or whatever similar thing.
4. My parents now know more than I do about the TV and recording stuff.
5. A cell phone that flips open seems to be less popular.
6. People rely more on GPS.
7. It is not necessary for some people to carry around actual books. You can read them all on something that is smaller than my laptop.
8. You can scan a little bar-code thing with your phone and show that to a store for a coupon.
9. You can talk to people through your computer...and they can actually see you and hear you.
10. If you have a certain kind of phone, you don't have to be near a Wi-Fi "hot-spot" to access the internet.


Saying all this makes me feel old. Some of these things are readily available in Honduras. Some are not. And I'm not saying any of them are bad. They just take some getting used to.

How to...

A recent writing assignment for my students was to tell how to do something. I thought they were cute, so I decided to share them with you.

How to Ride a Horse:

1. First get a horse.

2. Then get on a horse.

3. The ride the horse.

4. Then we jump with the horse.

5. Then we go to bed.

6. Then we get a horse.

7. Then we put the saddle.

8. Then we ride the horse.

9. Then we love the horse.


How to Put My Socks:

1. Get socks.

2. Put socks on right foot.

3. Put socks on left foot.


How to Ride the Bicycle:

1. Get out the bicycle of the house.

2. And ride the bicycle.


How to Go to Bed:

1. Go to the bathroom.

2. Brush your teeth to be clean.

3. Put your pajamas.

4. Go to bed.

5. Go to sleep.


How to Watch a Movie:

1. You get the TV on.

2. Then you choose a movie

3. Then you get a coca cola

4. Then you get popcorn

5. Then you watch the movie


How to Get Married:

1. Be friends

2. Then fall in love

3. Then be boyfriend and a girlfriend

4. Then get married

5. Then have a honey moon

6. Then have babies

Talking Coffee Plants

It's coffee season! That means that we have lots of workers from the community coming to the ranch to pick the coffee. They come and are starting to work between 7:30 and 8am. Anyways, sometimes when I'm walking to school in the mornings it sounds like the coffee plants are talking b/c there are people picking coffee,  but you can't see them because the plants are so dense. It always makes me laugh or reminds me of some movie or children's book or something imagining plants that can talk. I always like coffee season because I enjoy seeing some more people from the community and this whole agricultural process if you can call it that. Growing up in Richardson, there wasn't much going on in the way of harvesting any kind of crops, so being here and watching them work with the coffee and moras (blackberries) has been very intriguing.

Chicken Feet

On Monday, one of my students came back to school after lunch and showed me a bag of something that she said she brought for the boys in our class. I didn't think much of it until later one of my boys came up with a chicken foot hanging out of his mouth!! I asked him about it and he said it was given to him by this other student. He thought it was delicious and continued to eat several of them in front of me of course because I thought it was disgusting and was making a big deal out of it. Just when I thought it was safe to uncover my eyes and actually supervise the rest of the kids at recess again, I looked to my right and there was another boy in my class with a chicken foot in each hand taunting me with them! It was disgusting and of course they thought it was hilarious. Then I felt bad thinking that maybe I shouldn't make a big deal about it if maybe it was a cultural thing...but then one of the Honduran teachers reacted the same way I did about them. Here's a picture I stole from my roommate:

3rd grade quotes

Here are some fun quotes from my 3rd graders...just a tiny glimpse into my daily life:

"Guess what? I have a new boyfriend at church. He's really awesome. You know why? He knows how to control the TV."

Me: "Who can tell me what two categories animals are classified into?"
Student: "Ummm....mammals and femammals?"  :)

Me: "God made us different from the animals. Who can tell me what the difference is?"
Student: "Well, animals, when they have babies, they just kinda pop out, but humans have to go to the doctor and have lots of help...and people have to go inside to use the bathroom, but animals can go wherever and whenever they want."

Student: "Miss Hannah, you should be Princess Jelly."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Student: "You know, like on Star Wars?"
Me: "Oh, you mean Princess Leia?"
Student: "Yeah, yeah...that's what I meant."

Student: "Miss Hannah, we should have really hard spelling words this week."
Me: "Like what?"
Student: "Something like....Rock and Roll"

(while working on spelling)
student: "Miss Hannah, I need moist (one of the spelling words)."
me: "I don't understand. You mean you need to know how to spell it?"
student: "No. Don't you know what moist is? We talked about it with the plants. I'm so thirsty, I need moist."
me: "Oh, you mean you need water."
This lead to a discussion about the difference  between moist and moisture, etc.  :)

Mr. Fluffypants

One of my students brought in a caterpillar she had caught today. His name...Mr. Fluffypants. His habitat consisted of a cardboard box with the top cut out of it, and a hole just the size of a plastic "insect-catching- aquarium-thing" turned sideways to fit in the side of it, the whole thing covered with a piece of fabric. Inside this home were sticks, leaves, and several torn pieces of cardboard. I thought they were just regular pieces of cardboard, but it turns out they were a bathroom, TV, remote control, and video game for Mr. Fluffypants.

When it was time for prayer requests this morning, a student raised his hand and asked for prayer for all the people in China to be able to talk about Jesus without getting trouble. (Our Bible lesson was about China). The owner of Mr. Fluffypants then raised her hand and said, "the same...for mr. fluffypants." So I asked if she was saying she wanted all caterpillars to be able to talk about Jesus. This led to a discussion between the rest of my students about communication between caterpillars and rather or not caterpillars talked about Jesus. I tried to end the conversation by saying, "Caterpillars don't talk, and they don't have souls, so they don't talk about Jesus." to which one of my students replied, "But what about Hermie and Wormie? They're caterpillars, and they talk about Jesus?"  :)

She ended up praying for people in the whole world to be able to talk about Jesus.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's been raining A LOT here. In the morning it may be sunny and look like it will be beautiful day, but then it will start raining in the afternoon and continue pouring on and off all afternoon/night. I actually love the rain. I love putting on my rain boots and taking my umbrella and walking through big mud puddles. I like how hit cools everything off and how a lot of times the clouds linger over the trees and mountains. I like how sometimes there are thunderstorms with really cool lightning.

Earlier this year we were praying for more rain b/c we were in a drought, but now we're praying for the rain to stop b/c it's causing lots of problems. Part of the main road in the city that we take has collapsed and is impassible. The river has been too high to cross many times. The tractor has been needed to pull vehicles out of the muddy patches on our road. Because of all these things it's taken people anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours to get into the city when it usually takes about 45minutes. As you can imagine, this can be very tiring for those who commute back and forth every day....all this to say, please be praying!

Pray for the safety of those in the city and everyone who has to travel on these roads!

Thanks!