Room 118

Today was a very very long long day. Lots of information to soak up. I got to get started working in my classroom. It is quite overwhelming to start off with a blank slate and try to figure out how to fill up all the white walls. But it's exciting and everything is feeling more and more REAL each day. Here are some pictures of my classroom:

My door

I have quite a bit of work to do, but it's been fun, exhausting but fun.

In other news, Roatan has done something to me. I have now willingly gone on 2 runs. For those of you who know me, know what a big deal this is, haha. It's kind of a challenge because there are no sidewalks but all of us teachers have been doing it and it's kind of a peace time in a odd way. I'm trying to work on my self-discipline and to keep at it even though I'm already pretty over it. I made the mistake of sharing that with the other teachers so now they're keeping me accountable to keep at it, which is good, but ya know kind of a pain.

I really am losing track of all the days, it's hard to believe that we're just now ending our first week. Today was quite exhausting and I felt a bit defeated today, but I'm learning to pick myself up and stay in a place of joy. It really has been an incredible time. I have really fallen in love with this place and these people. Yesterday was the first time all the teachers (foreign and local) teachers got together. We had a sweet time of worship and a devotion led by a local pastor. All the teacher then gave a short testimony of what brought them to CPBS. It was fun to hear everyone's story and to get to know each other better. Everyone has such beautiful servant hearts, it's pretty amazing. I really do feel like they are my family here and it's a sweet feeling. I have also grown a love for the Spanish language and I'm dying to know more so I can communicate better with the teachers that don't speak English. It's so fun to sing worship songs in Spanish and during our meetings Ms. Nina (the school administrator) is always saying everything is Spanish and English, it's pretty cool.

Well, I think that's all for now, PLEASE feel free to pass on any suggestions or ideas for my classroom, I'd love to hear them!!

Today has been a day and then some (what that means I'm not sure but it sounds good). We had an eventful morning with Ernesto and the adventures just continued.

After our morning rain adventures, we all just hung out and did whatever. During this down time I somehow managed to get a welt on my forehead. The welt is now nearly gone but it was quite a hilarious moment. I was just sitting in my living room on my laptop when I heard my roommate moving things around in her room, I thought I should help so I got up and went to her doorway and asked her if she needed any help. As I was asking her I noted that I felt sort of light-headed (I frequently get head rushes when I stand up too quickly). Well light-headed maybe was an understatement, because soon my head was spinning, and things were going black, and wHACK my head hit the door, while my body made its way to the floor. It was such a weird moment. I didn't lose consciousness or anything but I guess I fainted? My roommate came over and jokingly asked if I fainted, but alas it was no joke I did! haha. I was confused and disoriented for a few seconds but once I realized what had happened I couldn't stop laughing. My roommate and I basically laid on the floor laughing for a couple minutes. We discovered the welt on my forehead and laughed some more. I'm completely fine now and everything is A-Okay. But of course such things would happen to me, I seem to have a knack for getting myself hurt, just the beginning of this year's adventures I suppose.

Later in the afternoon, we decided we should go exploring, we didn't let the rain stop us. We all put on our best rain gear and hit the road. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked and probably walked some more. It was supposed to be a short walk but we went pretty far. We ended up at a nice resort a couple miles away and the sign for the resort is quite misleading because the actual resort is tucked away pretty far back behind it. But we had fun seeing more of the island and being together. Here are some pictures:

View Point #1

A zoom of that last picture, and also where we ending up walking to!! CRAZY, although we went around, not through the valley.

Our final destination: Parrot Tree Resort 

They have a man-made beach, pretty gloomy because of Ernesto

We got a little feel of the water

Group shot 

I have seriously been in a world of bliss with all these people. I kept saying how I couldn't get over the fact that we've all only known each other for less than 3 days, it feels like we've known each other forever. I'm so incredibly thankful for everyone here and we've all been enjoying each other so much.

Tonight we all had dinner together and got to worship together afterwards. There's a lot of love and Holy Spirit among us, so it's pretty sweet. I feel very blessed.

Tomorrow we'll be back at the school and diving into orientation and into our classrooms! I'm so excited to get started putting my room together, pretty surreal!

A couple random notes:
1. Bugs LOVE me, I have been bitten so many times it's a joke. Not to mention somehow all the bugs follow me, twice tonight huge bugs have come and attacked me and no one else.

2. geckos make the most insane loud noises. I'm listening to them right now, outside my window just going crazy. I guess it's their communication? but they have not stopped for the last 15 mins, it's pretty wild. Never knew they were so loud.
**EDIT** apparently it wasn't the geckos making the loud noises, although geckos do make a funny sound, it was frogs!

3. The power went out tonight for the first time, got to use my sweet headlamp, but it came back pretty quick.


I think that's all for now. Adios, hasta luego amigos y familia!

Rain adventures!

So tropical storm Ernesto is here and bringing rain galore. We got the day off today because of the storm so we've all just been hanging out at the apartments. Our water stopped working this morning so we decided to collect rain water!

After eating breakfast and drinking coffee we thought we'd use the rain water to do our dishes.  

Ingrid went a step further and washed her hair with the rain water. 

Then we decided to brush our teeth too! 

We had a blast! Rachele and Sarah the last 2 teachers arrived yesterday. Lucky for them we have the day off today so they've been able to rest and hang out. We've all just been lounging together, going from apartment to apartment just hanging out.

Life is good.

Now we're all updating our blogs and facebook to inform all of you of our adventures! We might do a Spanish lesson later today too, since a lot of us American teachers are lacking in the Spanish department. But just you wait folk, we'll be fluent in no time! haha.

Life is good indeed.

Ernesto bringing the rain

Rain has arrived! Apparently tropical storm Ernesto is on its way over here, which means lots of rain for the island. I couldn't help myself, I had to go run around in it at least for a little bit. It's still pretty warm and humid but it's brining a bit of a cooler air. 

The storm will most likely trap us in our apartment for a couple days, but otherwise we should be safe and A-Okay. 

New Apartments

So I moved into my new apartment yesterday. Spent my first night in here last night. My roommate doesn't arrive until tomorrow so it's been a bit lonely but it's nice and I just realized that it will be the first time in my life that I have my own room! 

3 more teachers arrived today! 1 is an older woman (in her 60s) who's taught at CPBS before but has been in the states the past two years, she's back now to teach at CPBS again. 2 teachers just a year older than me, one from Florida (Krystal) and one from Texas (Ingrid). 1 teacher came yesterday (Anny), she's Honduran but has been in Texas for a while. They're all super great. And 2 more teachers (Sarah and Rachele) will come tomorrow, both from the states!

I had a lot of fun hanging out with all the new teachers today, we just got back from the store and eating dinner. We're all so excited to be here and excited to see God do some incredible things! We got to sit and talk tonight about what brought us here and it was so fun to hear how God just lead each of us here. So excited to see what God has in store for us!

We start orientation tomorrow and will be preparing for the start of school in two weeks. Please pray as we begin to prepare our classrooms and adjust to life on the island.

Here are some pictures of my apartments!

Driveway/dirt road leading to our apartment

Our apartments! 3 units upstairs and 3 downstairs. 

stairs

My apartment is the one on top! 

Our balcony/porch, so nice (Ingrid in her blogging zone).

The living room. 

Other half of the living room/dining room/kitchen. (left door is a bedroom, right door is the bathroom)

The bathroom. 

My room, still pretty plain, please feel free to suggest some decorating tips! 

So there's two rooms in the apartment and I'm sharing this apartment with one other teacher!

Also check out my fellow teacher Ingrid's blog! (She's pretty great.)

Fun, Fun, Fun!

I arrived in Roatan on Monday and I've been here 5 days now. I came a week before orientation for my school started because my Mom wanted to come and check out the island where she would be leaving her daughter. Since she was coming all this way we figured we'd make a mini-vacation out of it and my Aunt came out for the ride. We've spent the last couple days living it up and being ultimate tourists. 

Day 1: Got in, settled into our hotel.

We've been staying at a beautiful beach-side resort in the West Bay area. The area is mainly a tourist area with lots of resorts. It boasts one of the most beautiful beaches with crystal clear, warm waters.

View from the pool at our hotel. 

clear waters, right outside our hotel, not too bad!

Day 2: We went on an island tour. We drove through the various parts of the island including a stop at the Iguana Farm, a boat ride through some Mangrove trees, and a stop to eat at the Hole in the Wall. We learned a little bit more about the island and got to see parts that aren't so touristy.

SO many iguanas!

They're pretty huge.

Mangroves. 

Hole In Wall

Viewpoint

Day 3: We went on a glassbottom boat ride. It's basically a boat that has a half-submarine like bottom. The inside has glass windows and it feels like a moving aquarium. After that we went ziplining.

Day 4: We went on a boat ride in the morning. In the afternoon we went to a "Dolphin encounter" where we were able to pet a dolphin and watch it do some cool tricks. 

Day 5: Today we took it easy. We went to go see the school I would be working at and check out the apartments I would be living in. 

Today is the last day of my mini-vacation. My Mom and Aunt will be heading back to the states tomorrow and I will be officially moving into my apartment. It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy the island before all the madness starts, but I'm ready to be done being a tourist and get started!! I'll keep you all posted on moving in and orientation getting started! Love to you all out there reading!! 

And so it begins...

Here we are, the day has come. In 2 hours I will board my first flight to Houston, after 4 hours in Houston I will board my next flight to Roatan, ready to enter what will become my new home.

I'm trying to take it all in, remember what got me here in the first place, and just sit for a moment in awe and gratitude that the world is bigger than myself. I'm here, this is all really happening and to be honest I'm quite overwhelmed. Here I am, learning to follow the voice of God, trusting that He's led me here, learning to be obedient and live a life of faith. It's harder than I expected.

So, let's start from the beginning.
One night, in late April I was sitting in a prayer and worship session, in the prayer shed in the back of my house seeking direction for my future. It was late April and I was still unsure what the next year had in store for me, it felt late in the game to have no direction, but for some reason there was a peace, a strange confidence that knew plans were set, I just wasn't aware of them yet. So, I waited, I waited on God and let Him lead.

Back to the night in late April, during a prayer and worship session. As I'm sitting in this room of college students crying out to God,  I hear His ever slight voice, "Honduras". I don't really know exactly how to explain it, it wasn't an audible voice, but it was steady and deep, it just pulsed inside of me and I knew it was something. So later that night I go back into my apartment and I do the only thing I could think to do: search the internet. I used the power of google and I searched first for "Christian in Honduras" which led me to nowhere, so I tried "teaching in Honduras". And there it was, one of the first listings: "Christian Bilingual School in Roatan, Honduras". The description emphasized the desire for strong Christians to apply, not just anyone looking for a vacation. It sounded right, so I did the next logical thing, I applied!

A resume/cover letter, application, 2 references, 1 month, and a phone interview later I committed to teaching 2nd grade in Roatan Honduras.

It's all pretty crazy, maybe even silly to some, but here I am, preparing to board an airplane to take me to Roatan. I have no idea what the next year has in store for me, but I'm excited and I'm learning in a real way to walk by faith and not by sight.