I cannot believe I forgot to post this... probably the most exciting news is that yesterday I played my first game of Futbol! What we call soccer... it is serious stuff here! It was a game of teachers vs. highschool girls after school yesterday. They asked me if I would play, I thought well yea if they will let me. I told them they might not want me to play! But I did play, for a short time, but it was fun for me, and all the kids thought it was amazing! They kept asking me all afternoon yesterday was I really going play, and did I even know how to play.
Unfortunately the teachers lost to the students, but the other teachers really played well!
It was a fun game!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Since my last post I have had many memorable events....
A night with no electricity... a new Honduran food... another unsuccessful trip to immigration in Tegucigalpa... the puppy´s eyes have opened and he is learning to walk...puppy began to eat puppy mush ... a visit from the giant moth ...
Yes, it has been an eventful week!
When I last posted I had come to the internet because I thought the power was out in the barrio. When I returned home that evening it was dark and when I pulled into the barrio and saw the lights on in people´s houses I was so excited... until I pulled up in front of my house. It was completely dark! I began encouraging myself by saying Ï will not cry... I will not cry¨ as the tears were coming down. Well I decided there was nothing I could do about it at this point, and I needed to just make the best of it, and be thankful for the blessings that I have. So as I lit candles around the house I began to sing... Give me oil in my lamp keep it burning burning burning, give me oil in my lamp I pray... Give me oil in my lamp keep it burning burning burning keep it burning till the break of day...¨ It lifted my spirits and became my theme song for the night.
I put the puppy´s homemade formula in the freezer hoping that I could keep it from going bad during the night. (By the way I have been calling him Samson because he is strong!) Sang some songs to entertain myself, then went to bed. The following day we learned that the electric company had turned the power off at the house. When Lisette asked them why they had turned it off, the lady said Öh it was a mistake¨ Well we know that... so when can I have my lights back on! Ended up that the father of one of the students at the school had to come to the house after school that day to turn my power back on. After Lisette´s visit to the electric company, and telephone calls to the electric company and their promises to turn it back on right away, I was still with no power, so a phone call to a dad who works for the electric company and he came and met me at the school and followed me home to get me turned back on! You don´t know how wonderful electricity is until you have none!
Last Sunday I was with Patty in La Villa and she introduced me to a new food. I can´t remember how to say it... but it is very good. It is hard, sort of like a very hard cracker, and is made with corn and parmesan cheese and baked in these big mud ovens. They are very good! It was fun learning more about the culture here!
Tuesday morning Porter and I headed to Tegucigalpa to go to immigration ... again! The week before they told me to come back in seven days to get my passport that would be stamped with the permission for my extension. Well without knowing what the lady said I could tell from the look on her face that it was not good news when I handed her my paperwork. She told Porter that my passport was not back (we don´t know where it goes, or if it even actually goes anywhere), and that the man who has the stamp is not in today so it couldn´t be stamped anyway! GREAT! So then she fills out another permission for me to come back in 5 days. Porter says 5 days is Sunday. We cannot come here on Sunday. She says oh well you can just come on Friday it will be ready for sure by then. (Do I believe that? NO!) Well actually we got her to fill out a new paper for me to have until Tuesday again, Porter is flying to the US so he was going to have someone drive him to Teguc so we can share the gas expense and both go on Tuesday. So Gabby will drive us, take him to the airport and then go with me to immigration. And hopefully I will get my passport! All I know is that I need my passport before December 3 when my flight leaves for the U.S.
And then there is sweet little Samson... one eye opened on Monday morning, the second eye opened during one of his middle of the night feedings Monday night/Tuesday morning...he has started walking - it is soo cute! He gets his back legs up and starts to walk, takes a few steps then plop on his belly! He is getting better each day. And yesterday he started eating puppy mush (a mixture of the homemade formula and puppy chow in the blender). He loves it, but just like a baby is very messy while he learns to eat! This morning he stepped in the mush and began walking - thankfully there is no carpet so it is easy clean up!
And my moth... He could star in a Stephen King movie... for two days he would come flying up out of the basement and right in my face and I am up jumping and screaming and he is flapping in my face... then he flies up to the high rafters in the living room and stays there. I can´t reach him there, not that I know that I really want to reach him. I tried spraying flying insect spray at him, but it didn´t reach him he is too high. I haven´t seen him for a couple of days so I am praying that he has flown outside.
Other than these exciting events... Life is good! It is beautiful here, the mountains are beautiful, the sky is beautiful, the colors are magnificent! Some mornings I am on my way to school and look at the mountains and they don´t look real, they look like a magnificant painting that is a back drop to the city, but they are real, they are so beautiful!
One of my students passed her sciense test today (yes Saturday, some of the students who are behind come to school on Saturday morning. It was Krissia... it is a hard Pace, it is about airplanes, and I now know all about altimeters, and control wheels, and rudder pedals, and ailerons, and elevators, and aerodynamics... I have had to help a couple kids study for this test and it is really tough. She couldn´t remember a couple of the words and she sat there and sat there and wouldn´t give up. She spent the entire 3 hours on this test, but she passed!!!! She couldn´t remember the word elevator, and she could describe to me an elevator like we ride on, which an elevator on an airplane is what make the plane climb and dive... she said oh miss it is the thing that is at a hotel, and the door opens and you get in and then it goes up... I said yes yes and it is called... oh miss I do not remember. She needed to answer one more question correctly in order to pass... about 30 minutes later she said ËLEVATOR¨ I was so happy! And she was too!!! I told her that every time I ride in an elevator I will think about her!
Annette comes home in about 1 1/2 weeks... I will be happy to see her and it will be good to have someone at the house with me!
The month of November will be busy busy and it will go by quickly then I will be coming to the U.S. on December 3.
A night with no electricity... a new Honduran food... another unsuccessful trip to immigration in Tegucigalpa... the puppy´s eyes have opened and he is learning to walk...puppy began to eat puppy mush ... a visit from the giant moth ...
Yes, it has been an eventful week!
When I last posted I had come to the internet because I thought the power was out in the barrio. When I returned home that evening it was dark and when I pulled into the barrio and saw the lights on in people´s houses I was so excited... until I pulled up in front of my house. It was completely dark! I began encouraging myself by saying Ï will not cry... I will not cry¨ as the tears were coming down. Well I decided there was nothing I could do about it at this point, and I needed to just make the best of it, and be thankful for the blessings that I have. So as I lit candles around the house I began to sing... Give me oil in my lamp keep it burning burning burning, give me oil in my lamp I pray... Give me oil in my lamp keep it burning burning burning keep it burning till the break of day...¨ It lifted my spirits and became my theme song for the night.
I put the puppy´s homemade formula in the freezer hoping that I could keep it from going bad during the night. (By the way I have been calling him Samson because he is strong!) Sang some songs to entertain myself, then went to bed. The following day we learned that the electric company had turned the power off at the house. When Lisette asked them why they had turned it off, the lady said Öh it was a mistake¨ Well we know that... so when can I have my lights back on! Ended up that the father of one of the students at the school had to come to the house after school that day to turn my power back on. After Lisette´s visit to the electric company, and telephone calls to the electric company and their promises to turn it back on right away, I was still with no power, so a phone call to a dad who works for the electric company and he came and met me at the school and followed me home to get me turned back on! You don´t know how wonderful electricity is until you have none!
Last Sunday I was with Patty in La Villa and she introduced me to a new food. I can´t remember how to say it... but it is very good. It is hard, sort of like a very hard cracker, and is made with corn and parmesan cheese and baked in these big mud ovens. They are very good! It was fun learning more about the culture here!
Tuesday morning Porter and I headed to Tegucigalpa to go to immigration ... again! The week before they told me to come back in seven days to get my passport that would be stamped with the permission for my extension. Well without knowing what the lady said I could tell from the look on her face that it was not good news when I handed her my paperwork. She told Porter that my passport was not back (we don´t know where it goes, or if it even actually goes anywhere), and that the man who has the stamp is not in today so it couldn´t be stamped anyway! GREAT! So then she fills out another permission for me to come back in 5 days. Porter says 5 days is Sunday. We cannot come here on Sunday. She says oh well you can just come on Friday it will be ready for sure by then. (Do I believe that? NO!) Well actually we got her to fill out a new paper for me to have until Tuesday again, Porter is flying to the US so he was going to have someone drive him to Teguc so we can share the gas expense and both go on Tuesday. So Gabby will drive us, take him to the airport and then go with me to immigration. And hopefully I will get my passport! All I know is that I need my passport before December 3 when my flight leaves for the U.S.
And then there is sweet little Samson... one eye opened on Monday morning, the second eye opened during one of his middle of the night feedings Monday night/Tuesday morning...he has started walking - it is soo cute! He gets his back legs up and starts to walk, takes a few steps then plop on his belly! He is getting better each day. And yesterday he started eating puppy mush (a mixture of the homemade formula and puppy chow in the blender). He loves it, but just like a baby is very messy while he learns to eat! This morning he stepped in the mush and began walking - thankfully there is no carpet so it is easy clean up!
And my moth... He could star in a Stephen King movie... for two days he would come flying up out of the basement and right in my face and I am up jumping and screaming and he is flapping in my face... then he flies up to the high rafters in the living room and stays there. I can´t reach him there, not that I know that I really want to reach him. I tried spraying flying insect spray at him, but it didn´t reach him he is too high. I haven´t seen him for a couple of days so I am praying that he has flown outside.
Other than these exciting events... Life is good! It is beautiful here, the mountains are beautiful, the sky is beautiful, the colors are magnificent! Some mornings I am on my way to school and look at the mountains and they don´t look real, they look like a magnificant painting that is a back drop to the city, but they are real, they are so beautiful!
One of my students passed her sciense test today (yes Saturday, some of the students who are behind come to school on Saturday morning. It was Krissia... it is a hard Pace, it is about airplanes, and I now know all about altimeters, and control wheels, and rudder pedals, and ailerons, and elevators, and aerodynamics... I have had to help a couple kids study for this test and it is really tough. She couldn´t remember a couple of the words and she sat there and sat there and wouldn´t give up. She spent the entire 3 hours on this test, but she passed!!!! She couldn´t remember the word elevator, and she could describe to me an elevator like we ride on, which an elevator on an airplane is what make the plane climb and dive... she said oh miss it is the thing that is at a hotel, and the door opens and you get in and then it goes up... I said yes yes and it is called... oh miss I do not remember. She needed to answer one more question correctly in order to pass... about 30 minutes later she said ËLEVATOR¨ I was so happy! And she was too!!! I told her that every time I ride in an elevator I will think about her!
Annette comes home in about 1 1/2 weeks... I will be happy to see her and it will be good to have someone at the house with me!
The month of November will be busy busy and it will go by quickly then I will be coming to the U.S. on December 3.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Immigration....
Upon entering the country you are given permission to be here for 90 days. I arrived on July 29, and my return flight is on December 3. So I needed to go to immigration to request a 30 day extension on my permission to be in the country.
Doing the math, that is still not enough permission to get me to December 3, so I also needed to find out what to do about these extra days, or if I would have to change my flight.
So Porter picked me up Monday morning and we headed to Tegucigalpa, which is a drive which takes approximately one and one-half hours through the mountains. So we head out Monday morning and arrive at the immigration to find that Monday was a holiday and the office was closed!
So we ran a few other errands that Porter needed to do, at lunch at the mall, and headed back to Comayagua.
So we decided to make the trip again on Tuesday, which we did, left in the morning for the drive through the mountains again. We got to immigration and here is where the fun starts....
First the lady told us that we had come too soon. I arrived on July 29, had 90 days so that is 3 months so I did not need to ask for an extension until October 29. (Now to me the first problem with that is 90 days and 3 months are not the same - I am used to counting deadlines and when something says "days" it means days - but this was not the case). Well she thought I had come too soon, she didn´t understand the concept of planning ahead. So first she said that she could only do the 30-day extension from the date we were there (October 16) rather than from the day my 90 days expired (October 29). We went back and forth... well actually Porter and the lady went back and forth because it was all in Spanish and I just stood there not really knowing what was going on. Finally the worker in the next booth said that they could give me the extension from the date that my current extension expired. So they would fill out the paperwork for me to have an extension on my permission to be in the country until November 29.
Porter explained that I had a return plane ticket for December 3 and could we get an additional extension for those days.
Nope, that could not happen.
What would be possible is that I would pay a fine when I leave the country. She said that if I am here for one day more, up to thirty days more, the fine was the same - 1450 limperas (which is approx. $75 U.S. dollars). So hopefully that will be the case when I go through customs at the Honduran airport and I won´t have more problems than that.
But it still isn´t over. So I filled out the paperwork to request the 30-day extension, paid for the extension and then I had to leave my passport and the paperwork there at immigration in Tegucigalpa. And I have to return in 7 days to pick up the passport and document indicating I have permission to be in the country through November 29.
So next Tuesday we will have to make the trip again, and hopefully will have my passport ready at that time.
Life is good!
Puppy is growing and eating and doing great! I had to get a babysitter for him those two days that I was going to Tegucigalpa. He stayed at Scott & Cyndi´s house, and their kids loved feeding him and playing with him. Katherine was very excited on Monday when I told them that I had to go back again the following day, that meant she got to puppy sit again!
I am here at the internet cafe tonight. When I went home at lunch time to feed the puppy the power at the house was out...then I got home at about 4:00 after school today and the power is still out. I am praying that it will be back on when I get home... otherwise it will be very dark in the barrio and at the house! I put my flashlight on the kitchen table before I left so I can find it if I need it when I get home.
Today in our 6th grade conversation class we read a story about Temptation and some of the kids began talking about the things that they are tempted by and how God can help us with temptation. These kids used to just sit and stare at me when I would ask questions, but some are really starting to talk. Talk is the point since it is called "English Conversation Class"! But getting 6th graders to talk in the class, in front of their peers is not cool. So today was a good day with these kids.
Thank you for your prayers and your emails. I love hearing from everyone!
Upon entering the country you are given permission to be here for 90 days. I arrived on July 29, and my return flight is on December 3. So I needed to go to immigration to request a 30 day extension on my permission to be in the country.
Doing the math, that is still not enough permission to get me to December 3, so I also needed to find out what to do about these extra days, or if I would have to change my flight.
So Porter picked me up Monday morning and we headed to Tegucigalpa, which is a drive which takes approximately one and one-half hours through the mountains. So we head out Monday morning and arrive at the immigration to find that Monday was a holiday and the office was closed!
So we ran a few other errands that Porter needed to do, at lunch at the mall, and headed back to Comayagua.
So we decided to make the trip again on Tuesday, which we did, left in the morning for the drive through the mountains again. We got to immigration and here is where the fun starts....
First the lady told us that we had come too soon. I arrived on July 29, had 90 days so that is 3 months so I did not need to ask for an extension until October 29. (Now to me the first problem with that is 90 days and 3 months are not the same - I am used to counting deadlines and when something says "days" it means days - but this was not the case). Well she thought I had come too soon, she didn´t understand the concept of planning ahead. So first she said that she could only do the 30-day extension from the date we were there (October 16) rather than from the day my 90 days expired (October 29). We went back and forth... well actually Porter and the lady went back and forth because it was all in Spanish and I just stood there not really knowing what was going on. Finally the worker in the next booth said that they could give me the extension from the date that my current extension expired. So they would fill out the paperwork for me to have an extension on my permission to be in the country until November 29.
Porter explained that I had a return plane ticket for December 3 and could we get an additional extension for those days.
Nope, that could not happen.
What would be possible is that I would pay a fine when I leave the country. She said that if I am here for one day more, up to thirty days more, the fine was the same - 1450 limperas (which is approx. $75 U.S. dollars). So hopefully that will be the case when I go through customs at the Honduran airport and I won´t have more problems than that.
But it still isn´t over. So I filled out the paperwork to request the 30-day extension, paid for the extension and then I had to leave my passport and the paperwork there at immigration in Tegucigalpa. And I have to return in 7 days to pick up the passport and document indicating I have permission to be in the country through November 29.
So next Tuesday we will have to make the trip again, and hopefully will have my passport ready at that time.
Life is good!
Puppy is growing and eating and doing great! I had to get a babysitter for him those two days that I was going to Tegucigalpa. He stayed at Scott & Cyndi´s house, and their kids loved feeding him and playing with him. Katherine was very excited on Monday when I told them that I had to go back again the following day, that meant she got to puppy sit again!
I am here at the internet cafe tonight. When I went home at lunch time to feed the puppy the power at the house was out...then I got home at about 4:00 after school today and the power is still out. I am praying that it will be back on when I get home... otherwise it will be very dark in the barrio and at the house! I put my flashlight on the kitchen table before I left so I can find it if I need it when I get home.
Today in our 6th grade conversation class we read a story about Temptation and some of the kids began talking about the things that they are tempted by and how God can help us with temptation. These kids used to just sit and stare at me when I would ask questions, but some are really starting to talk. Talk is the point since it is called "English Conversation Class"! But getting 6th graders to talk in the class, in front of their peers is not cool. So today was a good day with these kids.
Thank you for your prayers and your emails. I love hearing from everyone!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
So much has happened here since I last posted!
Let me start with my kids at school! My last post I told you about the boy who every day tells me he will do his homework, but he never does... until now!!!! Last week he did his homework every day, except for Thursday night, but he had 3 tests to study for, and he passed all three of those tests!!!! There were even some days last week that he did more than the homework I had given him! I gave him a note on Friday morning telling him he was a start for doing homework. He proudly hung his note in his office (the work stations each child has for a desk).
The young boy I talked about in my last post who continually lies and cheats... well last week he was at it again, telling me outlandish stories. And I stopped him and told him that I didn´t care what he had done in the past, and I didn´t care if the stories he had told before were true or not true or half true, all I was concerned with was from this point forward. I asked him to look me in the eye and tell me that he would from that day forward tell me the truth, even if the truth was I didn´t do my homework because I wanted to play with my friends or watch a movie. It took him several times because he would not look me in the eye, but he finally did it. Throughout the week when he would start to tell me something I would look at him and say remember what is our deal. And sometimes he just wouldn´t say anything... I guess no explanation is better than a lie. Then Friday I couldn´t believe it. I was looking at his English pace and questioning him about how he had pages where everything on them was wrong, and he said oh miss I just went through and marked anything so that my father would think my homework was done and then you would look and it would be that my homework was done, but really I had not done any of it correct.
I about fell over and my heart was jumping for joy! I know that this is what he does with his homework, and sometimes during the day to try and reach his goals, but I am trying to get him to understand that the goal is not just to complete a page, but to learn in the process.
Please contnue to pray for my special students... Krissia, Nicole, Mauro and Keene.
Well Gracie had puppies. The short version is... the birth started during the night of Thursday October 4-early morning of Friday October 5. The first puppy had been born by 1:30 am Friday October 5. I was gone all day at the teacher training in Tegucigalpa, and when I returned that evening there were now 3 puppies. I later found out from Angel, the man who does the yard work, he had come by to check on the dogs and he had found that one was dead, and had taken it away for me. Then there was one that would not eat and he died during the night of Saturday night. I had two that were healthy and eating.. but Gracie was becoming more and more nervous and agitated with the puppies. One of the puppies died on Monday and Gracie just isn´t cut out to be a mom. So I am now momma dog. I have one little chocolate colored puppy, that I have begun calling Samson. He was the first puppy born and he has survived Gracie and losing his sibling puppies. I set my alarm for every 3 hours during the night to wake up and feed him his homemade puppy formula in a bottle, and I come home from school at lunch time to feed him... right now I am at the internet in between feedings.
He and I are becoming very attached. He is the sweetest, tiniest, cutest little thing I have ever seen!
Thank you to Dr. Austin for helping me with what to do with him, and for proving the puppy recipe. And thanks to Annette for all the research she did on what to feed the puppy and how to care for the puppy.
He has grown, and continues to get pudgier, so I pray that he is healthy!
Things are good at the house, I have had to do more things on my own and it has been good for me. Having to ask people for help, getting help from the teachers and from other missionaries here. And even speaking Spanish with Angel and with Maria (maid). Being forced out of my comfort zone has been good for me. I will be happy with Annette is back though, it is nice having a friend to do all these things with, but I am making it on my own. Helping me to see that I can make it on my own when I come back next year and rent a house or an apt. in town.
So adios...I better start thinking about heading home... it is pouring down rain right now... and it is almost time for Samson to having another feeding.
Happy in Honduras!
Steph
Let me start with my kids at school! My last post I told you about the boy who every day tells me he will do his homework, but he never does... until now!!!! Last week he did his homework every day, except for Thursday night, but he had 3 tests to study for, and he passed all three of those tests!!!! There were even some days last week that he did more than the homework I had given him! I gave him a note on Friday morning telling him he was a start for doing homework. He proudly hung his note in his office (the work stations each child has for a desk).
The young boy I talked about in my last post who continually lies and cheats... well last week he was at it again, telling me outlandish stories. And I stopped him and told him that I didn´t care what he had done in the past, and I didn´t care if the stories he had told before were true or not true or half true, all I was concerned with was from this point forward. I asked him to look me in the eye and tell me that he would from that day forward tell me the truth, even if the truth was I didn´t do my homework because I wanted to play with my friends or watch a movie. It took him several times because he would not look me in the eye, but he finally did it. Throughout the week when he would start to tell me something I would look at him and say remember what is our deal. And sometimes he just wouldn´t say anything... I guess no explanation is better than a lie. Then Friday I couldn´t believe it. I was looking at his English pace and questioning him about how he had pages where everything on them was wrong, and he said oh miss I just went through and marked anything so that my father would think my homework was done and then you would look and it would be that my homework was done, but really I had not done any of it correct.
I about fell over and my heart was jumping for joy! I know that this is what he does with his homework, and sometimes during the day to try and reach his goals, but I am trying to get him to understand that the goal is not just to complete a page, but to learn in the process.
Please contnue to pray for my special students... Krissia, Nicole, Mauro and Keene.
Well Gracie had puppies. The short version is... the birth started during the night of Thursday October 4-early morning of Friday October 5. The first puppy had been born by 1:30 am Friday October 5. I was gone all day at the teacher training in Tegucigalpa, and when I returned that evening there were now 3 puppies. I later found out from Angel, the man who does the yard work, he had come by to check on the dogs and he had found that one was dead, and had taken it away for me. Then there was one that would not eat and he died during the night of Saturday night. I had two that were healthy and eating.. but Gracie was becoming more and more nervous and agitated with the puppies. One of the puppies died on Monday and Gracie just isn´t cut out to be a mom. So I am now momma dog. I have one little chocolate colored puppy, that I have begun calling Samson. He was the first puppy born and he has survived Gracie and losing his sibling puppies. I set my alarm for every 3 hours during the night to wake up and feed him his homemade puppy formula in a bottle, and I come home from school at lunch time to feed him... right now I am at the internet in between feedings.
He and I are becoming very attached. He is the sweetest, tiniest, cutest little thing I have ever seen!
Thank you to Dr. Austin for helping me with what to do with him, and for proving the puppy recipe. And thanks to Annette for all the research she did on what to feed the puppy and how to care for the puppy.
He has grown, and continues to get pudgier, so I pray that he is healthy!
Things are good at the house, I have had to do more things on my own and it has been good for me. Having to ask people for help, getting help from the teachers and from other missionaries here. And even speaking Spanish with Angel and with Maria (maid). Being forced out of my comfort zone has been good for me. I will be happy with Annette is back though, it is nice having a friend to do all these things with, but I am making it on my own. Helping me to see that I can make it on my own when I come back next year and rent a house or an apt. in town.
So adios...I better start thinking about heading home... it is pouring down rain right now... and it is almost time for Samson to having another feeding.
Happy in Honduras!
Steph
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