Fun with "Felix" and Other Honduras Happenings

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THANKFULLY our friend Felix turned into just a tropical storm, and my home in Copán wasn't in its path! Still, we got a solid 24 hours of STEADY RAIN which was nearly too much. Gravity was at work as the rivers overflowed and the landslides began. If the rain had kept up for another day we would have had some major problems, but thankfully it stopped in the middle of the night. No loss of life or major property damage here, although some people lost corn and tomato crops. (In other parts of Central America there has been major flooding, damage, etc. We can pray for these people!)

Behind my host family's house is a 15 foot bank/cliff of dirt that began to slide yesterday morning. Nothing serious, but to be on the safe side we all went to spend the night with the Bullocks (the missionary family) that live about a half hour away. All was in one piece this morning, and it looks like yesterday was the worst of it.

Yesterday students were sent home early from school and today there were no classes for the public schools or for Mayatan. The plan is to resume tomorrow...though things can change just that quickly!

In other news, we're in the midst of our first week of classes at Mayatan. Always a few bumps and adjustments to be made, especially with 11 new teachers! But it looks like everyone's getting into the swing of things and I'm expecting a GREAT year. I haven't started my tutorial pull-out classes yet (most teachers still want to get to know their students, etc.), but several have already talked to me about students that desperately need some individual attention in English to catch up to their classmates. I have my own classroom to work in and so have spent these first few days finishing getting that ready. I don't have much in it, but using my creativity (and stealing good ideas from others) the room really looks nice. I like it at least. 😊 Sometime I'll snap some pictures to put up.

FUNNY STORY!! (This post is just a conglomeration of tidbits...)
One of my new favorite places in Copán is the Biblioteca Publica (Public Library). The Librarian is my 20 year old neighbor and I love stopping by the library to chat when no one else is there. Well, last week I was hanging out and decided I wanted to learn the names of European countries in Spanish. So we pulled out a Spanish atlas and were working away when a couple muchachos came in. After they browsed for a bit the younger guy began asking some questions about the library and then asked if she was teaching me Italian! This is how it went:
(Muchacho) "So, you're teacher her Italian?"
(Librarian, laughing) "No, she's learning Spanish!"
(Muchacho) "What does she speak?"
(Librarian) "English."
I just thought it was the funniest thing! Either my Spanish is so bad that he mistook it for Italian, or it was good enough that he thought I must be practicing words in another language.

It would be absolutely amazing to have someone mistake me for a native speaker, but it would have to be over the phone or something. As soon as someone sees a 5 foot 10 inch, blond haired, bluish eyed girl they KNOW I'm anything but a national!

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