Christmas Program and saying goodbye

Hello all, there is so much excitement and surreal-ness as I type this post because in less than 24 hours I will be in the U.S. of A!! It is Christmas time and we are all going home for Christmas break. It is a crazy, surreal, bittersweet feeling. I am so pumped to finally be on Christmas break and to be able to take some much needed time off and to go home and visit friends and family. All of us teachers are on the same flight to Houston, which we're all really excited about. We are all feeling the Christmas spirit and are extremely excited to go home, although we will all miss each other a whole lot. We have spent the last 5 months spending almost every waking minute with one another, so it's going to feel quite strange being apart, but we're looking forward to time with our families and friends and taking a break from island life.

Our last week here has been a bit of a joke, but in a glorious sort of way. Last Friday, our school put on their big Christmas program, so the whole week was a bit thrown off, but it was all so worth it. It was a pretty big production with the whole school participating. It was a play mixed in with some dances and songs by different people/grades. My second grade kiddies teamed up with the third grade and we did a sweet little dance to Joy to the World. They did an awesome job. I felt like a proud mom watching them perform, they were so stinking CUTE. Here's a really small little clip of them performing, so stinking adorable with their uncoordinated-ness and all.

Here are some pictures from the night.

CPBS teachers

Me and one of my crazy students

Second and Third Grade!

Overall, I would say it was a successful night! Our last day of school was yesterday, which was basically a free day of games and fun. I am going to miss all my kiddies so much during the break. They were all so precious saying goodbye. Love them so much. Here are some pics of them from Tuesday:

some of the boys.

so precious.

I gave each student a little gift bag and a card. Here's one of the twins showing it off. 

just hanging out. 

We've also been super blessed the past two days with incredible weather. It's like rainy season left and we're back to our summer days. We've been at the beach soaking in the West Bay glory. It's hard to believe that some of us are going back to snow! Luckily, for me CA weather won't be too much of a change, although anything colder than 70 degrees here is basically freezing, so I'm sure it'll be a bit strange. Regardless I am SO EXCITED!!!!! I probably won't be posting while I'm home, so until the New Year my friends! MERRY CHRISTMAS all!! 

Monkey Business and Quinceanera Fun

Oh man, this past week has been adventuresome. We just never know what will happen next here in our sweet little home and last Thursday we had one of our biggest surprises yet, a special friend snuck into our apartments and caused quite the frenzy. Somehow, a MONKEY ended up in not 1 but 2 of our rooms int the same night. Now, you would think, oh so you guys have a friend who has a monkey and they brought it over, still kind of weird but kind of makes sense, but no, not the case.  This random monkey just showed up on our porch and then found its way into our rooms. I first spotted the monkey when I came home from school. It was on our balcony and was climbing its way down when we got home. I didn't think much of it at the time, I mean I thought the monkey was cool, but just thought no big deal. Well, later that night, Sarah got home and was chatting with me in my room. I wasn't feeling so great that night so I asked her to bring me some medicine. Well, on her way over to me, she left her apartment door cracked open, which is totally normal. Upon returning, though, she got quite the surprise to see a new little friend:

We had a fiasco of an adventure trying to get him out of the room. We called in reinforcements and our landlady sent someone to help us. It was madness, but the monkey finally left the room/apartment. Well, later that night somehow we managed a monkey fiasco number 2 in my roomie's room. As she was getting read to go to bed she spotted the little monkey in her room. He snuck under her bed and we had to look real hard to find him after she first spotted him.

Round 2 was hilarious because we had all somehow formed a bond with the little guy. This time instead of chasing him around like round 1 we kind of just sat around as the monkey sat on her bed frame. We tried to figure out where he came from and tried to come up with a story of what his life was like. It was pretty hilarious. Eventually, Anny, on of the other teachers with her monkey whispering skills grabbed the little guy and took him outside.

It was quite the little adventure, definitely one of our best yet. Just another day in the life haha.

Also, another big thing we did was go to our very first Honduran quinceanera! One of our students, the daughter of the mom who teaches our fitness class, turned 15 and they had an all out quince fiesta for her. It was at the mall in Roa one of the nightclubs on the island. It was an all out fiesta. Everything was real fancy and elaborate. Here's a little picture journey to give you a taste of the night.

Starting with our fancy red carpet entrance. 

Really cool trees, perfect picture opt. 

The inside of the club all done up. 

Another part of the club

She had a group of about 20ish people in her "party" and they performed an awesome dance. 

The theme was masquerade, hence all the masks. We had a ton of fun. I especially loved seeing all our students all decked out looking all fly. We also got to see their super sweet dance moves, which made me jealous, because they've got some serious moves! Overall, super fun night. Here's one last shot of us teachers with our cool masks.

love! 

Happy birthday DECEMBER!

Hello everyone, hope all is well. It's been a while since I've posted so I thought I would throw out a random post. It is officially DECEMBER and us teachers have been so excited about CHRISTMAS for so many reasons. We are all so excited to go back to the states and recharge with friends and family. We celebrated December this past weekend by having a cookie/baking party and watching Elf. Our cookie/baking party was HILARIOUS because well we are just really lacking in appliances. Only one of our ovens is currently working and it's about the size of a shoe box (okay maybe a slight exaggeration, but seriously it's tiny) and we had some grand plans to bake up the wazoo. So we decided to improvise and make do with what we have by trying to cook some cookies on the stove. It was hilarious and almost worked but basically turned into warmed up cookie dough, delicious nonetheless. HAPPY BIRTHdAY DECEMBER!

In other news we have found a new taxi driver. His name is Jaxel and he is hilarious. We always feel super blessed because God seems to always provide us with new taxi drivers right when we need them.  Our original taxi driver Nino, up and left to go work on a fishing boat near mainland a month or so ago and it's been rough without him. Taxi drivers can be sketch and hit or miss here so Nino was a blessing and we were sad to see him go. Luckily one of the teachers picked Jaxel out at the mall one day and we've been using him the last few days and so far he's been great. Today, Ingrid and I had him pick us up from the coffee shop to take us home. He's been telling us that we need to go eat carne with him in the street in Las Fuertes and today as we were on our way home, he asked us when we were going to go eat and living out our YOLOness we said AHORITA! and so he busted a quick U-y and off we were to Las Fueretes for some carne en la calle. It was awesome. We were laughing at how with Nino we went to his house to make baleadas and now here we were going to go eat carne with Jaxel, seems to be a trend for our taxi drivers to want to make us gorda (fat)! Regardless we had a blast feeling like locals in Fuertes and eating delicious grub in the street.

Also, we just found out that next week we basically only have classes for half the week because the school puts on a huge Christmas program and the preparations for it cuts into class time (it's crazy). So we have no school next Friday (the day of the program) and Thursday is basically going to be spent shuttling kids back and forth from the school and the mall (where the Christmas program is going to take place this year) to practice for the Christmas program. That means that I really only have 1 more week of teaching for this quarter, which is just WILD! I don't know where it all went. We are almost half-way done with the school year, so crazy when I put it like that.

It has been an up and down adventure here and I've been learning a whole lot everyday. Lately, I've been dealing with a lot of insecurities and feeling super weak here. It's felt like every weakness of mine has been magnified here and it's hard not to just dwell on those weaknesses and feel like a sucky human being. Thankfully, God is good and has been walking me through this whole process of refinement and seeing His perfection through my weakness. It's a bittersweet process, but I truly am thankful, and I feel like each day I'm stepping more and more into who God has created me to be. It's hard but oh so good. Thankful, thankful, THANKFUL!

Anyways that's enough of my ramblings, here are some pictures of my precious, little babies. (click "read more" to see more pictures!)
Thanks y'all for reading, means a lot. And hey maybe think about leaving a comment :)

My kids the day before Thanksgiving Break

crazy gemelo.

Thanksgiving Break

Hello folks, so last week was Thankgiving, HAPPY belated THANKSGIVING, which meant we had a four day weekend. It was quite glorious. Wednesday was a half-day that consisted of a special Thanksgiving Chapel and playing games. It ended up raining which changed our plans. Instead of putting on one big chapel and playing games all day, we had to do two separate chapels and watch a movie/have free time in our room. The American teachers were responsible for chapel so we decided to create a rap. We all worked hard together and created a rap that goes to the beat of "Gangsta's Paradise" our rendition being "Grateful Paradise". It was actually pretty rockin. We also made awesome pilgrim hats to wear. See picture below. We had a blast.

We had Thursday and Friday off and to our great surprise we had a SUNNY weekend! All of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and even Sunday had lots of sunshine, which is a huge blessing and abnormality at this time because it has basically rained everyday of October and November. We spent our whole break in West Bay enjoying the beautiful beaches. Sarah's dad was visiting and staying in West Bay so we took full advantage of hot showers and living the good life in West Bay. It was awesome. We also got to go to a huge Thanksgiving Dinner with a bunch of families from our school. Lots of delicious good and company.


On Sunday Sarah, Ingrid and I ventured over to Punta Gorda, a small little town on the East Side of the island. It was the first time for all of us and we fell in love. It's where the Garifuna people live. Garifuna people are people from the island with African descent, they have their own language and culture. It's such a cute little town right next to the water filled with lots of simple homes. It's basically what you would picture living on the island to be like. Here are some pictures from our time.

Epic.

Overall it was a fun and restful weekend. It was a much needed break. And now we only have 3 more weeks until Christmas break!!! I CAN NOT WAITTTT.

P.S. if you want to read our awesome rap click "read more".

Suba diving, tie-dying, weekend galore

Hello folks, I hope all is well with everyone out there in the world. Life here has been pretty sweet. Things in my class are still up and down, alternating between really good days and really bad days, but overall I think we're making progress and my kids are learning, a poco a poco. I'm learning and trying my best to love them more and better. It's a process and it's growing me in a lot of ways. We have Thanksgiving break this week so only 2 days of classes, which I must say I am so excited about. I'm looking forward to having a break and can hopefully get ahead on my planning for once. 

Last week we went to a baby shower for one of our new friends. She works/her husband owns a coffee shop that we've been going to. We made friends with two of the girls there and one of the girls hosted the baby shower for the other girl. It was super cute. Evie, the host is super crafty and creative and just went all out. Everything from the favors to the food to the decorations were awesome. 

the set up, supes cute.   

party favors Evie made out of foam paper!! CRAZY!!

delicious fruit platter, that she ALSO MADE!!

 We had a ton of fun. We got to eat good food, play baby shower games, dance, and just enjoy each other's company. Overall, super fun time.

This weekend, Sarah, Ingrid and I went on our FIRST DIVE! We're still chugging away at our Open Water certification course, it's been hard getting all the way out to West End so it's taking us quite some time. But we made our way out there on Saturday and got to go out on our first real dive! It was incredible. We even got to fall backward out of the boat into the water with all our gear on. We felt real B.A. I had a slight panic moment when we were first descending. It had been a while since we had been in the water and not to mention we've only really used the equipment one other time so I kind of freaked out. But after a pep talk with Jonathan (our friend and instructor) and some long deep breaths and a pep talk to myself I made it down. It was so much fun. We just got to swim around and enjoy under water exploration. The reef is just RIGHT THERE so it's just really cool to be swimming all around it and with the fishes. We had a blast. SO GREAT.

Today, all us teachers got together and we had a tie-dye party. We got all our white shirts and got dying. It was so fun and everyone came out with a lot of really cool creations!

our proud work. 

tie-dyed shirts errwhere.

the two shirts I did on the right. 

We're pretty obsessed now and basically want to tie-dye everything we own. Tomorrow we are having a Thanksgiving potluck with all the teachers at school. Excited to eat some good food.

ALSO, I made a last minute decision to go home for Christmas break, so I just bought my plane ticket today to go home for Christmas! I will be home from December 20th - January 5th. I'm so excited to see everyone and get to spend time with so many people I've been missing! I'm also ESPECIALLY excited to go to Target, Trader Joes, the Farmer's Market, and the IV Co-op, oh how I've missed those places. Well, I think that's all for now. Until next time!

Meet Roatan: Banana Donut Man

Okay, so a long while ago, I said that I wanted to start doing a series I would refer to as "Meet Roatan".  It was going to feature the CPBS staff/teachers as well as the many friends/characters we meet on the island, and well I completely failed in doing that. But after an encounter with the Banana Donut Man the other day, I'm re-inspired to actually start this series up, so thank you Banana Donut Man. Without further adieu:

Meet Banana Donut man, also known as Milton. He lives in Sandy Bay. He is a sweet man originally from mainland, he's been on the island for 3 years now and from what I can tell, he spends his days walking up and down West Bay beach selling his famous Banana Donuts. His wife home makes them and he carries them around in a cardboard box and walks around singing "ba-naaaa-naaa do-nuuutt, ba-naaaa-naaa do-nuuuut". I was suckered into buying them one time and they are quite delicious. One of the other teachers here also bought them and basically fell in love with them. The other day while we were in West Bay all she could think about was Banana Donuts and she waited all day for him to come walking by singing his Banana Donut song, but he never came. It was quite sad. UNTIL, on our way home we caught a bus, and no other than Banana Donut Man was sitting in the bus! We got to chat with him (hence how I know so much information about him) and we kept asking him if we could make the donuts with his wife. Not sure he understood what we said, but we did buy a donut and Ingrid captured this epic picture. Also, as he was getting off the bus and saying goodbye he ended with saying, "I love you" in his precious accent and waving gracefully, so I think we're friends now. It was awesome.

Hello blog world out there. My apologies for the long delay in posting, life has been BUSY to say the least. We have started going to fitness classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, put on by one of the Moms from our school. On Tuesday we do weight/strength training and dance/zumba on Thursdays. It's been a lot of fun, although I got my butt kicked last Tuesday, I felt like I could barely walk the rest of the week, but I'm excited to get back into shape! The only downside is now with tutoring on Mondays & Wednesday and our fitness classes Tues&Thurs,  Monday - Thursday I leave the house at 6:45am and don't get home till approx. 7pm which makes for really LONG days. I get home and I'm pooped and then I have to get up and do it all over again the next day. It's been rough, but I think I'll learn to adjust and it's forcing me to plan ahead which is a really good thing.

Aside from really long days during the week, three of us teachers have started taking an Open Water Scuba certification class on the weekends!!! We've been taking it really slow and have only gotten in the water once but it was so much fun! It's pretty unreal and crazy, and a part of me is still a bit uneasy about the whole thing, but I'm stoked to get in the water more and get more comfortable with the whole thing. Everyone keeps saying how it's one of the best spots in the world to dive, so I'm pumped that (1) we're actually doing it and (2) that we're doing it so early on. One of our good friends Jonathan is our instructor so that's also a fun plus side.

I also had my first parent-teacher conferences this past weekend. It's basically a day for parents to pick up the report cards from last quarter and talk with me about any concerns they or I may have about their child. I was a bit nervous about it because (A) most of my parents only speak Spanish and (B) well I just never know how to be serious teacher lady. But to my relief they went really well. I managed to communicate through my broken Spanish, charades, and sometimes the 2nd grader translating on our behalf. It was swell. I was really thankful for how supportive the parents were in really understanding the things I had to say and usually agreeing with the faults/difficulties I've noticed with their children. Overall it was a lot better than I was expecting.

Anyways, sorry for the lack of pictures, it's just been raining constantly here and we just haven't really been taking many pictures. I guess the newness of capturing each moment has faded. But I will try to be better. Love to you all.