The first weekend in May we had no school on a Thursday, Friday was an activity in the school, so I requested 2 days of vacation and took a long 4 day weekend to the Northern Coast of Honduras (a 9-hour bus ride) to the beaches of Trujillo, supposedly the nicest beaches in Honduras. We spent 4 very relaxing and beautiful days there, not doing much but swimming in the ocean. Here are some pictures. [View Full Entry]

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Proyecto The past couple months havent really been eventful, other than Easter and Holy Week. One of the things I have taken pictures of is the proyectos we do with the kids. If you don’t remember, that is when we are assigned to a family (we do it once a month), usually with a kid from our hogar (my hogar is really small and I have already done all 7 kids in my hogar, so now I am being assigned kids from other hogars), and one evening instead of having dinner with the hogar, they come to the Volunteer House, along [View Full Entry]

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The whole “spring break” that we have at home is here called Holy Week. We started it off the weekend before with a camping trip. Then, the whole following week was filled with religious activities, mass, and things like that. Good Friday and Easter Sunday were the two main days. On Good Friday, the kids at the ranch acted out the Crucifixion, which was really interesting and the first time I have seen it. It started with Jesus being “convicted” and ended with him dying on the cross, where they literally tied someone to a huge cross and leaned it against [View Full Entry]

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Camping Trip with the Boys The week before Easter- called La Semana Santa, or Holy Week here, is a week where almost noone works and its dedicated to remember Jesus and everything that led up to his death and resurrection. Obviously the kids are off school, and during the whole week, we have alot of masses or group gatherings in the church. One thing they also do is all go camping, boys and girls seperate. I went with the boys because I work with the boys. We got out of school at 12 on the Friday before Palm Sunday, the 14th [View Full Entry]

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Every year in January/February, kids get moved around in Hogares, because they are based on maturity level/grade in school. San Andres is a little different and kids who may have had more trouble in their Hogar could get moved to San Andres for more individualized attention and a smaller group. Well, we only got 1 new boy (so far), and his name is Marcos. He is Eliezer's younger brother. He is 12 or 13 and was one of my top 5 most difficult students last year. I will have him again in English class this year, and am hoping that having [View Full Entry]

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The School year here runs from February through November, so vacation time is december and january. During this time, they have "Vacation Courses" at the ranch to take up the time. It is kinda like summer camp or summer school, depending if the kid needed more reinforcement in school or were failing a class. Courses were anything from Math or Spanish to Karate, Soccer, Dance or Music. All the kids attend 3 courses, each is an hour and a half. They have courses from 8am-1pm, lunch, then they all work for 2 hours (chopping the grass with a machete), rest/chores/shower, dinner [View Full Entry]

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Christmas I cannot express enough Thanks to everyone who helped give my boys a very special Christmas. It was a beautiful thing, and like I mentioned in the other blog, at one point, while opening presents, one of my boys even said, "These are the best presents because they are gifts of Love." I think that was my favorite part of the morning. They said thank you multiple times and talked about how lucky they are. I am posting a video, and you can hear the boys saying things like "Que Bien!!!" and "Que Fresa" which roughly translates to "how cool!" [View Full Entry]

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Spent a weekend in Copan, visiting the Ruins and spending time in the cute little town of Copan Ruins. The town was amazing, the people so friendly, a very safe atmosphere. The Ruins were beautiful. We also were able to visit a bird park while there, which was beautiful too. Also, every restaraunt we ate at was delicious. [View Full Entry]

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As most probably know, Quinceneros are the celebration of the 15th birthday. Traditionally, it is just done for girls, but here we celebrate both boys and girls. Just like with graduation at the school and in talleres, each kid who is celebrating their Quincineros asks someone to be their "Godparent." The girls have to pick a male, and the guys have to ask a female. Ever, a boy in my hogar, asked me to be his Godmother. It was a really special day and as with being a godmother in graduations, I was honored to be his. We dressed formally, and [View Full Entry]

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Graduation of the school and Talleres. Each kid picks a "madrina" or "padrino" which literally translates to Godparent, to "sponser" them for their graduation. It can be anyone- volunteers, tios, tias, teachers, family outside the ranch, etc. This person is special because they kind of serve as the parental figure in their graduation, its the person the kid chooses to walk them down the aisle and be there for them, during the ceremony and for a special dinner afterwards. The Godparents also generally buy them a graduation gift. For graduation in Talleres, the school part for kids with more lea [View Full Entry]

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