Swing Batter Batter, Swing!

Brother Sprout is such a boy. Well, of course he's a boy but he loves all things boyish. I wasn't raised with brothers so I haven't seen it first hand. It tickles me to see this little man running around the house. He loves big trucks, motorcycles, sports and all kinds of shooting and gun play, running, finding bugs, digging in dirt, mud, sand, rocks or whatever as long as he can dig it, scoop it, scrape or hit it. Preferably with tools. Papa's tools are his favorite.

Lately he is loving baseball. The kids all play soccer in the neighborhood and Papa is a soccer player too and loves to get out there and play with the kids. But for some reason Brother has found he just loves his bat and ball. I cannot tell you how many pitches I've thrown lately. He is always got his bat in hand and begs with those big brown eyes, "Pay wih me, Mommy. Pitch it, Mommy. Pease."

Here he is playing with Papa and you can tell he is like every other boy. Hates to miss. But he keeps on trying and sometimes he sends one sailing. Pretty good for a 2 1/2 year old, I think.

Calabaza ~ Calabeza

I hope everyone had a festive Thanksgiving with all the yummy trimmings. The holiday crept up on me and before I knew it I was scrambling in my head on how we were going to celebrate the day. Sister's school had a half day on Thursday and they celebrated with a few parent volunteers who came in with a Thanksgiving meal cooked for all the kids. No stuffing, sweat potatoes or green bean casserole; but turkey, corn on the cob and some mashed potatoes, which I guess were so goopey and runny Sister didn't even know what they were. She said they were really yellow too. Maybe it was yellow gravy? Or butter? Sister brought some leftover turkey home and it was good, but dry. I'm guessing the women who cooked it hadn't cooked a turkey before, though it is easy to dry a turkey out roasting. It was a cute attempt at an American tradition.

I, on the other hand decided I would cook chicken, tzimmes (which are a Jewish carrot/sweet potato dish), a can of green beans (creative -huh?) and mashed potatoes. Sister was begging for pumpkin pie and I thought she would enjoy this little idea I had (see below). I stopped at the grocery store on the way home thinking I'd be able to find a can of pumpkin.

I searched the canned goods aisle with no luck. It's not uncommon for them to put holiday items someplace other than the obvious, so at the checkout I asked if they had any "calabeza". Okay...let me stop here for a moment. I would say that my Spanish is equivalent to a two year old. I often say things wrong or put words in the wrong order and definitely have horrible conjugation of verbs. All this might be cute for a two year old. So what did I ask for??? Well, I guess that would maybe translate as "pumpkin head"? Ha ha ha!

Calabaza = pumpkin. (cal-ah-bah-sa)
Cabeza = head (ca-bay-sa).
So you put the two together and what have you got? A pumpkin head!! I told Papa when I got home and he had a good laugh on me. Doh! See? I told you I needed Spanish lessons.

On with the post. We never got our can of pumpkin that night and Sister ended up having a school program in the evening so we never even got to eat the Thanksgiving meal I made (that night anyway, though we had leftovers for a few days). By the time we left the school event we were starving so just stopped at KFC for kids meals. KFC popcorn chicken is pretty yummy here, by the way.

On Saturday, I needed to make a run for another grocery store here in San Pedro Sula that sells whole wheat flour. Guess what they had? Pumpkin! Yep, we bought a can and here is what we made. It is soo good! And lowfat! We used fat free vanilla yogurt and Cool Whip light. I also used fresh ginger instead of dried and used just a pinch of nutmeg instead of the 3/4 tsp. It didn't freeze completely by the time we ate it, but was stiff and a little icy. The next day it was frozen through and perfect! Maybe you'd like to try it? So here is the recipe I used.

Frozen Yogurt Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1/4 Cup Margarine, melted

Or store bought crust!

Pie Filling
16 Ounces Pumpkin
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
3/4 Teaspoon Ginger
3/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
2 Cups Yogurt, Skim Milk
1 Cup Cool Whip Lite, thawed

Directions:
Heat oven to 350~. Mix ingredients for pie crust. Press firmly and evenly against bottom and sides of 9" pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes; cool. Mix pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in medium bowl. Stir in yogurt. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into prepared crust. Freeze 4-5 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer 45 minutes before serving. Freeze any remaining pie.

Pricemart & My Christmas Wish List

Well, it's been kind of a slow week. I've been you know...doing the usual things like cooking and cleaning and cooking and cleaning some more with some toddler entertaining and tweener raising too. Oh boy. Exciting days here.

I did go to Pricemart this last week, which is always a little fun. I like to see what they have in. We just got a membership not that long ago, so it's still new to me and I like to have an excuse to go there. This week, it was to look for a new cordless phone. A lot of the stuff they have is from the US. It's fun to see all the American brand stuff, but some of it, I still pass up because it's priced so dang high. For example, honey. You can buy a big bottle of Honduran honey for 1/2 what the American brand honey costs in the same size bottle. What's the diff? No complaints here on Honduran honey. They have fresh produce, meats, bakery and cheeses. But the prices are comparable if not more than at a regular, no membership needed grocery store. Where they have the best prices is buying in bulk such as boxed/canned/bottled foods, garbage bags, paper goods, etc. If you shop Sam's or Cosco you know what I'm talking about. They have good prices on toys too. Especially now.

We are coming up on the Christmas season, and Papa and I...well I have been trying to talk to Papa about what we are going to do for the kids. As you know we have our Christmas tree up. Oh! Did I not tell you all that yet? Here's a little photo spread:


Setting up the fake 9 ft tree. Why we got a 9 foot tree I have no idea. A tad tall for our bare little living room.







Here is the Christmas tree decorated and lit. Yes, it's blurry. Oh well. I need to review the picture taking manual that came with my camera. The tree looks really nice. It's only missing those icicle things I usually put on the tree. I couldn't find any at the stores.

I was thinking if I had a Christmas wish list - what would be on it? I already have gifts stashed away that my parents wrapped and left for us to put under the tree. But other than those, I don't think I will be getting anything else. But that's okay. I'm sure one day when Papa's business has become well established he will probably knock my socks off with some kind of gift. He's such a romantic and loves to give gifts. But...as it is, money is tight and I can live without silly Christmas presents. I mostly like to see the kids open their presents. I am so excited this year to be all together and have a hay day Christmas morning...or eve, whichever we decide to do. They usually celebrate on Christmas eve here in Honduras.

So here it goes anyway. I'll do a top 10 most wished for things this Christmas. Not in any specific order. I'm just coming up with this off the top of my head.

1. Snow - it doesn't even feel like Christmas and often feels silly to have the house decked out.
   
2. Berry Spicey/Apple-Cinnamon-y/Evergreen-ish scented candles- I bought some "Christmas" scented oil for L30 ($1.75) at the mall that smells like pine trees thinking maybe it would make me feel more in the mood. It's okay, but there is something about candles that I like. Sadly they didn't have anything else even close to those cozy baked goods smellin' oils. I'm sure I might be able to find some candles at another store. But then it wouldn't be on my wish list.
   
3. New cute shirts- I'm feeling like a bum in my tank tops and tee-shirts.
   
4. Hot Hot Hot heals - I need like 3 or 4 pairs. My 2 pairs are not doing it for me.
   
5. A new printer- I got a free Dell printer with my computer and wouldn't you know...you can only buy replacement ink cartridges from Dell and they don't ship to Latin America. Would it even be worth shipping in the first place? So I just want a new printer.
6. Spanish Lessons- I cannot even begin to tell you how hard and restricting it is not being able to communicate. We just can't afford lessons right now. Yes, I've been trying on my own, but it's very slow.
   
7. Good books to read- I need an escape. Computers can only bring you so far, but curling up with a good book with a great story...now that will transport you.
   
8. Curtains- It just gets old with no curtains and the sun blasting in. I feel so exposed.
9. Storage cupboards/shelves- I don't know about too many other homes around Honduras, but the homes here are not built for people that want to store anything. We have bins stacked in Brother's room and in the bathroom. Trying to find what you are looking for is very frustrating. The kitchen is less than adequate for storage space too.
   
10. Robo vacuum & cleaner- This one vacuums and this one cleans. Oh please Santa!!
    

Chair Project

The top photo is of the table and chairs the first week the kids and I first got to Honduras in June. Bright, sparkling new they look - eh? I knew immediately upon seeing the chair seats they wouldn't last. I probably had the chair turned upside down within two hours to see how the seats were connected so that I could be sure I would be able to reupholster. There were three screws holding the seats in place. Easy.

I mentioned to my mother that I needed some upholstery that could wash easily but also needed to be cheap. Looking out for her daughter, my mom brought a bunch of this beige colored upholstery vinyl from the states last month when my parents came to visit.

You can see how desperately it was needed. It took a matter of days until the original seat coverings were wrecked and disgusting looking. The new upholstery has been on for a few weeks now and things are holding up great and cleaning beautifully. At least until my two year old may take a tool or permanent marker to it. But so far so good.

Happy Birthday Sister Sprout!

Tomorrow is Sister's 10th birthday. It's hard to believe I have a 10 year old. What a blessing to me she has been in so many ways. She is a beautiful girl inside and out.

On Friday we brought cake to share with the class. A box cake that I made into cupcakes. I didn't want to mess around with cutting and making a mess. I forgot how sweet those cakes can be. Toothache city. Especially with the frosting from the tub. The photos were taken in groups. One with girls and the other with the boys. I also took a video of them singing Happy Birthday to her. I think the way the kids sing the song is so cute! With their little accents and whoops or what ever it is that they do. Here's the video


We celebrated last night with two girlfriends at Applebee's (Sister's favorite restaurant from the states) at the City Mall. After dinner the girls burned off energy running around. It was so wonderful to see Sister laughing and playing. I worry, you know, about her adjusting and being a happy little girl.

Unfortunately, I can't share photos from dinner because I forgot the card reader for my camera in the computer because I was downloading the video I took in her class. One of her friends spent the night and stayed all day today too. When we went to drop her off, we talked with her mother for a while and she was such a nice lady. We basically said that our girls are welcome at each others homes anytime. What a blessing that they can be friends.

Mixed Green Salad

This green find made this mama very happy. There are pros to living in the city. There are big grocery stores with a lot more variety. I must have looked like someone that just found lost treasure when I saw this sitting on the shelves at the grocery store. My eyes bugged out & my mouth turned a smile. The office that I used to work in had a cafeteria and a really good salad bar to get all the greens and veggies I wanted. I have been missing those salads. Spinach grows in Honduras too, but it's a little different than what you find in the states. Still pretty good, except I think it would be better for cooking than in salads. Anyway, I picked up these greens and a bag of spinach and we had very good salads for a few days.

Although Honduras has a lot of good soil and the right climate to grow a greater variety of good foods to distribute, because of lack of resource and infrastructure to properly package and distribute there are a lot of missed opportunities, I think. But there is a growing amount of smaller "green" farms that I've heard about and Greenhouse Harvest was on of them that helped give me my yummy salad.

The Sprouts Celebrate Halloween

I admit it. I've been homesick the past month. Maybe it's that the "holidays" are here and it just doesn't feel like the holiday spirit yet? At least not the way I know it. I need it to get very chilly, turn the heat on in the house and cuddle up under heavy blankets at night.

The stores have all been decked out with Christmas gear already. There were only a few Halloweeny things out at stores. I did get a bit nostalgic driving by a Hallmark store though that was spookerific. Fake cobwebs and big black spiders and ghosts in the front windows. It was awesome. We drove by and I thought to myself that I wanted to go back to drive by again. I don't know why? To feel nostalgic again? he he he

I find myself wanting to pretend I'm in the US. For example, I try to look at something and put a frame around the image. Mostly when at stores or restaurants that remind me of someplace in the US, but I have done it even driving past green fields and rivers. I place myself in the US for a moment to feel what it would feel like there. Lately I try to imagine cold air and the smell of the house with the heat on. Especially the smell of leaves drying on the ground once the trees have given them up for their long winter sleep. MN has great smells. The seasons are clear as a bell and each has it's own unique scent. It's awesome.

I used to think Halloween was silly and evil. I tried to not celebrate it. But then I had kids. And gosh, it's just good fun. I also realize now that without it, a time marker is missing. I feel disorientated. Like I just woke up from an afternoon nap and I'm not sure what time it is.

It was a little discouraging to try to celebrate Halloween for the Sprouts. Sister was getting a lot of flack at school about it. Her friends don't "believe" in Halloween and think witches will come to get us if we do celebrate. I said *boo* and decided that since Sister wouldn't be able to go out trick or treating we would bring Halloween to Honduras. Well, at least to Sister's classroom. I made a trip to the big City Mall to the K-andy Land store and bought some candy corns and chocolate foil wrapped eyeballs. We also picked up some caramels from the grocery. Placed some of each candy in little plastic bags to keep them fresh and then into paper Halloween treat bags that I found at the grocery store. It was a big hit with the kids and I guess some decided they like Halloween "a little".

Pumpkins grow in Honduras, but I don't think many farmers plant and harvest them only for Halloween. We heard about stores having some in, but they proved to be elusive. No luck with pumpkins. But! If you get lemons, you have to make lemonade - right? So we carved watermelons! It worked out great! I'd do it again. And we don't mind eating the insides.

We went out for pizza for dinner to celebrate and had a very happy time. Came home and played around the candlelit watermelon jack-o-laterns for a few minutes and called it a night. Here is a slideshow:

Con Quien Hablo???

Getting ready for bed last night I get one of those irritating one ring phone calls. For those who may not know this, in Honduras there are no 2 year contracts where you have an allotted number of minutes per month. Here, there is just prepaid minutes. You only use minutes if the person you call answers. Since everyone has a cell phone but is a minute scrooge at the same time, people call, let it ring once and hang up before you can answer as a signal that they want you to call them back on your minutes ~ not theirs. So anyway, cell phone etiquette is not what this post is about.

Pretty soon I'm getting a bunch of these one ring calls from a lot of different numbers. I ask Papa what he thinks is going on and he suggests that someone is playing a prank. Okay? Then I start getting text messages in Spanish saying things like "how old are you little Alejandro?" and "Why do you live by yourself?" and "I would like to be your friend" and worse, but I'll leave it G rated. Some from men even. Okay, okay...Who the heck is Alejandro? And why are all these people suddenly calling and texting me (him) on a Tuesday night? After laughing at all the messages coming in and the one ring calls I decided to turn off the phone for the night. I really only have two people call me anyway. My husband and my daughter and they were both with me safe at home.

I got some texts this morning and I wrote back to ask how they got the number? They mentioned something about "seeing my message". Hmm?? What message and where did they see it??? Later in the morning a few more calls came in and finally we got someone on the phone. A guy actually. I quickly hand the phone over to Papa who gives the guy some not nice words and hangs up. I tell Papa that we have to find out what is going on! That somehow my cell phone number has gotten out to a LOT of people. About an hour later I get another call. Papa answers the phone and this time it's a woman. He plays it a little cool like he could be Alejandro and asks how she got the number. She tells him from an ad on the local TV station. You've got to be kidding me.

I ask Papa if the message was like a 900 number ad where some hunky guy is saying he lives by himself and to call him for a good time? He said he didn't think so. That it was probably just some ticker type scrolling want ads at the bottom of the screen.

Who's responsibility is it to make sure those personal ads on local Honduran TV are publishing the correct phone number? Should a TV station check phone numbers before they hit the airwaves? You know...just to make sure that it wasn't a number to some English only speaking gringa ~ME!

Naptime for Brother

I know I have been a bit behind on updates from the Sprouts in Honduras. But October is proving to be a busy month with both my parents and Papa's mother visiting! I will try to catch up soon.

But until I get some good posts written, here is a cute video I took of Brother a few weeks ago while he was eating lunch. He thinks I am taking his picture and is trying to keep a smile on his face and his eyes open! You can tell it is somebody's naptime.

Residential Security Fees

This image is at the entrance of our colonia. We have armed guards and other security personal that ride bikes around the neighborhood 24/7. We should be very glad they are here. Our security monthly fee is L400 ($21 US). I'm told that the security salary is L4000/month ($212 US). I'm also told that this amount is a point of contention between the guards and the neighborhood committee (or whatever they are called). The guards are saying they are underpaid and the committee just tells them to put a sock in it. There are just over 300 homes in this colonia and 16 guards. Total security fees collected each month are about L120,000 ($6,349 US). Total salaries are L64,000 ($3,386 US). The excess after salaries are paid are said to cover costs for bikes, guns & misc for the guards. Does it really cost L56,000/month ($2,063 US) for bikes, guns & misc? That is the big question.

A while back I wrote a post about the colonia staging a little protest and the news crews coming here. A new guarded residential like ours is being built next to ours and they are going to be tapping into our well. Who knows what will happen with that, but it wasn't enough to stop it so far.

Last week we got a notice at our door saying that we needed to pay an additional L500 ($26 US) for attorney's fees to stop our well hijacking or they would not accept our security fee. I have heard now that only about 20 residents have paid this L500 fee. The residents that are trying to pay just the security fee are being rejected and told they won't accept anything without the extra fee. So what does this mean? The guards are paid out of the security fees. If the committee won't accept payments, how are our guards going to work with no pay? I certainly wouldn't work without pay.

A woman that was on the neighborhood committee was recently kicked off because she started to ask too many questions and wanted to see documentations of expenses, etc. She was personally insulted by some guy on the committee who when he first moved here drove a crap car, but recently has been seen driving a nice new SUV. He handles all the finances. Oh, he must have got a promotion at his job - right? mmm hmmm.

It doesn't make sense to me. Another woman Papa talked to says that the case is already lost and there is nothing left to fight so the attorney fee that they want to charge is bogus. Maybe it will really suck to have the new residential tap into the well here. Maybe we'll lose water pressure. Maybe we will have to ration water. Who knows what will happen, but if collectively the community doesn't want to do anything about it, they shouldn't be strong armed into paying a bogus attorney fee that they don't want to pay. At least that's what I think.

Oh, and I asked Papa what will happen if someone doesn't pay the security fee. He said that the guards just don't lift the gate to let them in so they have to get out of their car and lift it themselves. Ha! I guess there is a problem with some people not paying the security fee. Ever.

Hopefully we'll still have guards by the end of the month.

Festival Con Sabor Catracho ~ Festival With Honduran Flavor

A few weeks ago the Sprout family had a night out to enjoy a festival concert of music and dance typical of Honduras. A few weeks prior, I saw in the local newspaper, La Prensa, a small article about the event with the picture of Angel Rios you see at the left. Angel is from Honduras and also plays outside of Honduras now too. Gosh is he talented. There has always been something about the violin that gives me shivers when I hear it played well. So I was very excited when Sister came home from school one day last year telling me that her class was selected to take violin lessons for a month or so in their weekly music class. Sister loved it. She would tell me about what she was learning and that she really wanted a violin. I bought her one even though I knew we were moving out of the country to an unknown city, and not sure if she would actually be able to take lessons. I had hope that someone in the industrial capital of Honduras would play the violin. And here I found one. A really good one.

Angel was the feature artist, but we enjoyed a night of different types of music and dance from the various cultures here in Honduras. The concert took place at the local museum called el Museo de Antropología e Historia in downtown San Pedro Sula. I recommend a visit if you like museums. They have a beautiful garden and performance auditorium too.


Surprisingly, Brother was all ears throughout. Papa and I were both shocked at how well he was listening, sitting and watching. I had fears of having to walk out with him in arms to entertain his curiosity for something else. He was content to snack on crackers and raisins with eyes and ears on stage pretty much the whole time. He didn't leave Papa's lap. Brother has always like music though and would dance as an infant in his bouncing chair. He also likes to sing, but he's a bit shy. If I can catch him singing, I'll try and get a video, but the times I've tried he clams up and turns away.

Sister was all ears too and also enjoyed the folk dancing. The only trouble she had was during some of the strong drum jams when the garífuna group, Black Men Soul were playing. She has always been sensitive to loud noises, but after the concert she begged to go meet Angel. She was so impressed with him and wanted to meet a "famous person", especially a violinist. Angel was very gracious and Papa told him how Sister really likes the violin and wants to take lessons. He gave us his personal number and said we could call him so he could give us a name and number of a person who gives lessons. We will be calling, but the timing is not good right now with all the extra tutoring Sister is requiring for Spanish and math. Hopefully soon though.

It was a wonderful night out with the family and even Papa said it made him feel very proud of his Honduran heritage. Teaching and reflecting pride in the mother land is something that may be done less and less here. I hope this changes.

I took some videos from the concert. They really mixed things up a lot. I did take more video of the garífuna group, but the drumming is too loud so the sound comes through bad. Everyone got a kick out of a little old grandma who jumped up on stage a few times to dance. There were lots of whoops and hollers for sure. Especially when she was dancing the Punta. This is just a little sample, of course not nearly as beautiful in video as it is in person.

A Run For the Border...And Then Another

Brother's, Sister's and my passports 90 day tourist visa came up this week. What that meant for us, was that we needed to renew our visa so we can stay another 90 days or if (cross your fingers) our residency forms are in order we won't have to leave the country again. It's a long story about why our residency is hung up, but I think we have a handle on it now.

Renewing your visa is done by leaving the country. It would be much too easy-peasy to drive an hour or so into Guatemala, have some lunch and then drive back home to Honduras. But noooo....instead, because of a free trade agreement between some of the Central American countries, the closest place for us to renew our visa is Belize. Some people drive or bus to Costa Rica or Mexico.

Our adventure went something like this:

1. 10am get in car and drive 1.5 hours to Guatemalan border.
   
2. Stop for gas and lunch.
   
3. Drive into Guatemala about 30 minutes to a port town called Puerto Barrios arriving at 12:30.
4. Stop at immigration for our stamps to leave Guatemala.
   
5. Catch the 1pm water taxi to Punta Gorda, Belize. $22 each way per person.
   
6. 45 minutes later we arrive in Belize, cross through immigration. Get our stamps (US$50 each if you are only there for visa renewal)
7. Go eat a late lunch.
   
8. 4pm we get back on the boat and head back to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala.
9. 5pm get back in our car. Stop at immigration for the stamps to enter Guatemala again and hit the road and rush for the Honduran border because they close at 6pm.
10. Make a 10 minute pit stop at border gas station for snacks and use the restrooms.
11. Stop at Guatemalan border immigration for our stamps out of the country. $3 per person.
    
12. 5:55 Made it through to Honduras in the nick of time before the border closes.
13. Arrive home at 7:30

There you have it. We got to see two new countries in one day.

Guatemala seemed nice, but the little that we saw, there were only slight differences from Honduras. Puerto Barrios seemed like a decent port town with lots of options for day excursions to secluded resorts and places to see. Punta Gorda in Belize on the other hand was a hole. It really was. It was hot and the town seems...well, it was pretty much a run down crappy little town that has hopes of being a tourist destination one day. The place we went for lunch was ironically owned by a Honduran. The food was greasy and salty (no surprise) and nothing special. The one good thing was they had this tasty ketchup made in Belize and before we left I picked up a bottle at the grocery store next door to the restaurant.

I was surprised to learn that Belize uses English as their country language. I couldn't tell you how many people I actually heard speaking English though. Maybe 3 or 4 and a few people that I heard spoke it completely broken. The border folks did NOT want to speak Spanish even though Papa spoke it to them at first. They just responded in English. I did hear some Rastafarian English accents going on too.

It was a long and expensive day, but it had to be done. If we didn't leave the country and let our visa expire, it could make it very difficult to get residency since we would have broke the law. Hopefully now, with our new super got it together lawyer (pray!) our residency forms should be filed soon and then we won't have to leave the country again in 90 days. (Pray!)

Here's some photos from the trip:

School Days in Honduras

Sister Sprout started school on August 15th. What a big change not only for her, but for me too. I didn't want to post about the new school in a new country until I felt like I had a handle on things.

Sister's old school in America was very nice, clean with high tech AV systems and phones in every room, etc. It also was an accredited International Baccalaureate school and drew students from all over the metro area of Minneapolis. They had Spanish taught once a week. This has proved to be helpful for Sister giving her a jump on the language because she already has a basic foundation of how to read and write Spanish. Her teachers here tell us that based on her current level along with her tutoring 1 hour 6 days/week that she could be speaking Spanish by the end of the year. Let's hope! But I digress a little.

We chose Sister's school by a recommendation from a family member who sends their kids to the same school. It is a private bi-lingual school. They have a current and informational website, and all the staff I've had to talk with has had awesome English. There were a few schools we visited where the staff we were talking to didn't seem to have a strong command of the language. I got the feeling that they didn't understand me when I asked questions, or maybe didn't know how to answer properly in English.

Back in June, Sister was tested and enrolled. She had to take a test on the basics. Reading, writing and math. She didn't do so good. Maybe she was feeling insecure? I don't know, but Papa and I had to write a letter saying we would work with her as needed if she was falling behind. The good thing was that the school also said they would work with her as needed as long as we re-enforced things at home with extra help or tutoring. Okay, fine. I wasn't jumping up and down, but a parent has to do what they have to do for their kids- right? Of course.

It took a while for us to find a Spanish tutor as that seemed to be the first order of things. It took us almost the whole summer. We found a tutor the last 3 weeks of the summer before school started. She gets 1 hour of tutoring 6 days a week. It costs us L100 per hour. That is about US $5/hour. This is a very reasonable price for a professional to teach Spanish privately. We talked to a few who wanted L200/hour.

By the end of the first week I was a bit overwhelmed by how much work it was going to be to keep Sister on task. I don't like to compare things too much between the states and Honduras. But if I do, it would probably be something about how the states have this or that and how Honduras is lacking. Not here on this subject. All I was thinking about was how miserably easy Sister had it in the states. Maybe it was just her school? Maybe it's the American school system with the "no child left behind" agenda pushing all the flunking and behind students along forcing the curriculum and the teaching methods to have to accommodate? There were a lot of immigrant students in Sister's old school and often these kids are behind in reading and writing especially because English was not their home language and their parents didn't/couldn't work with them. The school was 33% white, 39% black and the rest made up of Asians, Hispanics, and "other". We lived in a lower middle class neighborhood close to two main highways and with open enrollment with the IB program there seemed to be a lot of inner city kids at the school. I'll leave it there, but I think you get what I'm saying. Honestly, the amount of work and organization that the kids are required at Sister's school here in Honduras blows her old school in the states out of the water in comparison.

**And the kids are good! I sat in Sister's class in the states a few times and there were always a few that were so disruptive to the class. Not sitting still, talking out of turn, not paying attention. I was exhausted sitting in the class, watching for an hour, I didn't know how the teacher could possibly handle it all day long. Here, if the kids are bad, they are kept after school to sit in their seats with their heads down. They also have "warnings" where I guess if you get a certain amount (3?) you can be suspended for a day. It seems they expect a high level of responsibility from the kids too. They have a "no excuses" for missed homework.

The kids earn points and can lose them by not completing their homework, being late for school, missing school with no excuse, or even if a parent misses a scheduled meeting at the school! Both Papa and I couldn't make it to a meeting they set up at the school for parents to listen to hired speakers about how to help your kids succeed. Papa couldn't get out of work and we were down to one vehicle due to a stupid HUGE pothole that blew the tire and rim of Papa's motorcycle. So neither of us could make it to the meeting and Sister lost school points and this was on a Saturday!

And if the student is not doing well they will hold them back or if it's really apparent that the child is flunking by their own accord with no support from the family, well...they get to leave. Maybe seeing on a daily basis what real poverty is for those with no education is motivation to actually want to succeed? Here, if the child doesn't succeed, well, they will be "left behind".

The kids are required to carry all their own text books, notebooks and various supplies to and from school every day. I was shocked at first. We went out and bought a normal backpack thinking they would at least get a locker for their books. Nope. Luckily Sister has her own travel carry-on suitcase that she brought with from the states. This is now her school bag. There are school buses (vans) to take kids to and from school for a price. They put all the luggage...er...school bags on the top and it looks like they are off to the airport. She still uses the backpack you can see in the photo, but only for various extra items and things she needs for tutoring.

One thing that is different here than in the states is the grade levels. I still don't think I understand this exactly, but at this school, it only goes through grade 11. The kids start some type of formal education around age 3 if it can be afforded. I think they call this "kinder" even at the younger ages and that goes until you start 1st grade at age 6. Since formal schooling only goes to 11th grade and in the states schooling goes until 12th grade, there is a little bit of an overlap. They have to learn things faster here. In the states, Sister was in the highest math section, but here she is in the lower. The teachers asked if we could hire a tutor for her math so that she gets caught up. Ugh! We just started that tutoring and I'm not sure if it's completely necessary. I'm going to have a chat with the tutor next week. Sister is a bright girl and when I sit down and work with her on her math, she seems to be getting it and asks questions that show me she can learn quickly. Maybe she isn't as behind as they think?

We also had a meeting with some teachers and the principle of the school about two of the classes that are taught in Spanish. Espanol (think English class just in Spanish) and Social Studies. They seemed to be quite concerned about he ability to succeed in 4th grade with all of the extra tutoring she was requiring. My heart sank when they suggested possibly putting her back into 3rd grade. But after further discussion, it was decided that she just be monitored and start out by visiting the 1st grade Spanish classes and as she progresses with the language then she will move up quickly and be able to effectively participate in her grade level Spanish classes.

One cool thing is that Sister gets swimming classes two times a week. She also has a regular PE class once a week. They have a different uniform the kids wear on PE days, which is just a knit top tucked into some navy blue sweats and all white tennis shoes. Fridays are regular clothes day. So Sister wears her button down shirt/skirt uniform twice a week and her PE uniform twice a week and her regular clothes on Fridays. They can wear pretty much anything they want on those days except mini skirts and spaghetti strap tank tops. Sister doesn't seem to mind the uniforms at all.

The school day starts at 7:15am and ends at 1:30pm. We are up usually by 5:45am and in the car driving to school by 6:40 at the latest. Yes, the kids finally go to bed around 8pm and me and Papa aren't too long after that. 10pm feels really late now. At school they get a snack time and lunch. The lunches they serve are typical Honduran foods for L30 ($1.60). They also have ala cart items like pizza, spaghetti and sandwich's. Sister brings her own lunch a lot, but also likes to have her pizza days. They don't have the best food choices, but what can you do? Sister learned her lesson by buying a soda one day and the bees go nuts for sugar drinks. She now prefers to drink water so the bees leave her alone.

So far everything about school seems to be going over pretty good, except homework. But who likes homework? Honestly I dread the homework too because that means I have to be the homework police and keep her on task or help her along if needed. I'm learning too how to be that stay at home mom who is there for the kids. It's a hard job but is also very gratifying. I'm happy that she is making friends and seems to enjoy school.

I purposely left out the name of the schools mentioned here. If anyone reads this and wants to know about the schools, you can contact me via the email listed on my profile.

** UPDATE Sister tells me last night that the kids are acting bad these days now that everyone is used to school. Interesting that she says they only act bad in the English speaking classes, but act perfect in the Spanish speaking classes.

Slushies

Click on link to see the slideshow.

Blackout In Honduras

Honduras had a nationwide blackout the other night. We had just got done with dinner, sister was over at her Spanish tutor's house and suddenly , blackness. From 6:30 - 9:30pm the lights went out all over Honduras. I asked my neighbor why the power went out a few days later. Turns out Honduras gets it's electricity from dams. Well, there was a problem and some repairs were needed. In order to fix the problem they had to shut everything off. Thanks for the notice, Honduras! I suppose if they had given notice it could have given too much time for the criminals to plan something.

We made it through playing cards by candlelight. Candles, by the way, I had bought for hurricane Felix. Glad I had them.

A Little Soaking

Well, Mr. Felix, you were a lot of talk.

Last night as we were getting into bed the power went out for a few minutes. It would go off and on throughout the night and the rain was coming down for pretty much the entire night. Sometimes light and sometimes heavy. Morning was overcast with moments of light drizzle or rain. Around noon the sun started coming out. Things are wet, but nothing here to report.

I didn't know that school was canceled again today so we packed up and took off to school as usual. I guess the president made another call to cancel schools all over Honduras. We made it almost to the school and I realized that there were no cars going down the road to the school when it usually is very busy. I turned around. We stopped on the way back and I caught this video of the river. It has risen, but not high enough to cause problems for the people living close by.

Preparations For Felix

I don't know what I am doing as far as preparing for hurricane Felix. I have been checking the National Hurricane Center
about once an hour. Looking to see if things have changed. Papa and I went to the grocery store this afternoon to stock up on some things. I don't know if we are under preparing because everyone looked like they had their shopping carts full and some overflowing! I was peering into other carts to see what kind of things people were buying. We have an electric stove and no microwave so I was trying to buy foods that we could eat without cooking and avoid foods that would spoil in the fridge. People seemed for the most part to be buying their regular groceries. Just everyone at the same time in large quantities. We filled up the car with gas tonight. I did a load of laundry and now I'm baking some bars to have as treats if we are stuck in the house for a day or two.

We went to buy water from one of the stores in our colonia. That store was sold out already. We did find some at another. We only bought 2 jugs which is our normal amount we go through in a few days...now I'm thinking I might buy a few more. Papa thought maybe we should fill the pila with water if needed for flushing or washing and those kinds of things. We have well water and it doesn't seem to be connected to electricity that I can tell. We've lost power and still had water and also lost water, but still had power. I'll be happy if we don't lose either.

Sister was at her tutor's house tonight. Her house is on lower ground. She said she was really nervous but hoping for the best. We live close to each other, but on two sides of the river. We are on higher ground, while her home is lower. All along the river are people that live in shacks. There is potential that the river will rise and then who knows what will happen to those people.

As it is right now the storm has went from a Cat 5 to a Cat 4 since this morning. That's good that Felix is losing strength. Hopefully it will not gain again before it hits land. It is a little frustrating because I can't understand the local news and weather stations since they are all in spanish. I found out from Sister's tutor that all the schools in Honduras have been canceled for tomorrow. Papa didn't turn on the news to verify so we'll just have to hope she was right.

Tomorrow Papa's job is to go out and buy caulk for the windows and batteries. (dang it, we forgot the batteries while we were out). The windows leak if the rains are heavy with strong winds. I'm also going to go around outside to collect things that could blow away and bring the plants inside for a little protection since they are still babies in pots.

Papa is from Honduras but has never been in a hurricane. He missed Hurricane Mitch because he had moved to the US. We are pretty much two hurricane clueless people living in Honduras and about to get hit with a pretty good size one. I don't think Honduras will get out of this one the way it did with Dean. But then again...you never know.

I'll see if I can post tomorrow and maybe catch a few photos.

A little prayer:

Father in heaven, Your will be done. Be with us. Amen.

Little Boy Mocking Bird

Brother this morning starting saying a word he's been hearing a lot lately.

"Hola!"

Melinda, a girl we have come clean was at the house this morning. Brother walked into the room where she was and clear as a bell said "Hola". At first we thought it was so cute, but then he didn't stop. It was like listening to a talking bird who wouldn't shut-up. I realized he thought Melinda's name was "hola" so I tried to tell him her name and he even repeated back to me as a question in 2 year old speak, "ey-inda?". I assured him her name was indeed Melinda and then he said, "no - hola".

I tried to get a good video, but it was when I walked out of the room that he would start to squawk loudly.

A Hard Lesson Learned

Sometimes bad news can really suck the good mood out of you like a punch in the stomach. As much as you wish you could get the happy mood back...it's gone for the day.

Today started out as a great Saturday. Papa has had a good business week and knowing we made it through another month paying our bills with maybe a little extra feels good. The bad news came sometime around lunch when Papa got a call from Rolando, a client of his who is also a friend. Brother Sprout loves it when he comes over and spends a lot of time hanging out with the boys talking business. I could tell the minute Papa got on the phone that something was not right. When he hung up, I asked what was up. Rolando was robbed at gunpoint outside a small store. Rule number one - don't keep all your money in one place. A lesson learned too late for Rolando.

Rolando came over to talk and him and Papa ran an errand together. Papa is really good at putting perspective on things and I'm sure he needed a little encouragement after that kind of blow. I can't talk to Rolando much due to the language barrier, but he seems like a good guy. Him and his wife just had a baby a few weeks ago. His wife needed a c-section and it got infected and needed a second surgery to treat the infection. He lost a few days of work and I'm sure they have some medical expenses with all that. Now this.

Anyway, I know the good mood will come back, but today I feel sad that this happened to a friend and there is nothing that can be done for him.

A Trip Back In Time - The Family Ranch - San Buenaventura

I've heard that life in Honduras is like going back in time. I've seen it in little ways, such as the way people run businesses (door to door vendors, etc). I will pass a horse and cart multiple times driving down one road. I have also been walking down a street and can hear people pecking away on typewriters and on that same street there are internet cafes and bootleg CD's and DVD's for sale. Life here seems to be a mix of new and old. There is quite a bit of technology here, but yet it's common to lose power and/or water on any given day for who knows what reason without warning. The mail system is pretty much non-existent. Our bills reach us by a delivery person who brings it right to our house. How'd you like life with no junk mail? Not much of that here.

The other weekend we took a trip to a smaller town called San Buenaventura. A town about an hour from us here in San Pedro Sula. I really like it there. It's at a higher elevation so the weather is a bit cooler and the flora is spectacular. Papa's grandma lives there along with some aunts and uncles. They own some land where they raise dairy cows. At 2pm it is the 2nd milking time of the day so we took a field trip and walked from the house to where they were milking the cows. My battery on my camera was dieing and I'm afraid I didn't get very good shots but I'll share with you what I got anyway. I'd turn on the camera and take a photo as fast as I could before it would shut off.

First we took off on foot. It's about a ten minute walk from the house down a road and through grazing pastures. Watch out for the cow poo! Brother road on the shoulders of another family friend, Victor who owns some land next to Papa's uncle's. He has a masters in finance but for now works the family ranch and one day all the land he works will be his.


Walking down the road it overlooks a tilapia fish farm. Tilapia is a favorite fish here and a large export too. There is a lake about a 1/2 hour away that is chock full of fish and lots and lots of tilapia. As far as I know, there is no fishing restrictions on the lake and it is year round fishing. One interesting thing is that here in Honduras they take the fish heads and guts and turn it into bio-fuel. You can run your car on fish heads!! Read an article about it here.

Here we came to where they milk the cows. Yes, there is lots and lots of cow dung all over and it has a very fragrant farm smell. We got used to it quickly but at first Sister wasn't sure how to walk in the dirt/poo all over. Soon she was in it like everyone else. They use a small wooden T shaped stool to sit on and draw the milk into a bucket then pour it through a strainer and into a holding container. You can see the filter and container on the far left hiding behind the blue bucket. They fill those containers up and bring them to a local holding place where all local dairy ranchers keep their milk stored then sold. I'm told the milk is mostly used for cheeses. Papa's uncle is the one who manages all this for the local ranchers in town. The family also brings their cows to the fair and recently 2 of Papa's uncle's cows won some prises. He is trying to increase his count of Jersey cows. They give the best and most abundant milk.
I felt like I was back on a farm from 50 years ago. At least by the way they did things. Sister loved it and can't wait to go back but she says she has to bring boots with next time. Not her nice white tennis shoes.


The way they do things here is the mother cows keep their calves with them for the better part of a year. When it's time to milk, they tie up the mama cow's hind legs, let the calf nurse for a minute or two to get the milk flow going and then they take the calf off and tie it up next to their mama to eat some yummy cow feed. With both happily eating they wipe the mama's teats off and begin to milk the cows. No machines, no rubber gloves, no disinfectant sprays or lotions. Just old fashioned hand milking.