My Birthday

Here's a summary of my Birthday! Heidi stayed up late the night before to write a message on my bathroom mirror - unfortunately the markers she used made squeaking sounds that made me curious (weird squeaky noises in the middle of the night need to be investigated!), when I opened my door there was Heidi whispering furiously "GO to BED!"...I put two and two together rather quickly! It was a very beautiful message that I obediently waited until morning to see :)

I slept in without realizing so when Heidi and Melodee came into my room at 6:30 to say good morning - instead of smiling at them or saying thank you, I made a little scream and ran around my room! (I got ready in 15 minutes flat...it was a small miracle)...I had to play piano at devotions (that's why I was frantic), after I ran up to the piano, Jerry Birky put out a sign letting everyone else know it was my birthday - so they were all smirking the whole time! It was a cute trick ;) I received two lunches from different teachers, chocolates and letters in my mail box...my students made a banner that they all signed and made a cake for me...which one of them forgot to bring in! They got me another Honduran treat instead with a candle in it...and sang happy birthday in every class. After school a bunch of teachers and I went to a fancy restaurant owned by a student's family. It was really nice! Then we went bowling and ended the night off with all-around-the-world ping-pong...just to be random :) Apparently I'll be receiving a nice bonfire next week and we're going camping in La Tigra sometime soon...below are a few pictures from yesterday (mostly at El Portico).


Here's Heidi's artwork on my mirror!









My special birthday friends! Aben, Heidi, Kevin, Melodee, Kyle and Joseph










We couldn't believe it, there were more single guys than girls! That never happens! So we needed to get a picture!








Once you start with pictures like that it's hard to stop...here's the monkey face...that I think I failed at!










We had chocolate fondue for dessert, so of course we needed to lose teeth (that's such an obvious reaction!) :) Seriously though, the food was amazing!

La Tigra

As a final attempt to see a waterfall (and just because hiking is fun and good for you!)...we took Day and Leslie to La Tigra to see Las Cascadas (the waterfall)...it was a great time, it didn't rain - it was really cold (which helped us not overheat while hiking) and a great time! When we got to the falls we had a bit of a photo session...here is the result of that!



The Waterfall - not as big as Pulhapansak, but definitely taller!









Kyle and I protecting the falls (apparently)










Our CD cover pose











Chillin' on a rock (literally)










One of my favourite pics from the trip, Day being a gangsta









On the way back Leslie fell...she is showing her sadness

Picacho

Our trip to Picacho - a cute little park halfway down the mountain that includes a great view of the city, some fun monuments and castle-like structures and it's claim to fame, the Jesus Statue, which we use to locate our mountain whenever we're in the city (we also use the coca-cola sign, the only time we put them together!).


Day enjoying the view









Day & Leslie role-playing Romeo and Juliet...can you see the guard? I took the picture with him in it just to see what would happen, camouflage is amazing!

The Jesus Statue

Day & Leslie with the view of the city

Our little group shot (of course)!

Sweet times watching the city...

25 Dollar Blog!

Yesterday was special! As a regular Saturday we went down for worship team practice...however, this day I was told I was the only piano player - which is a huge responsibility...I'm wondering how this will play out. Funny, this is the second time I've had this happen...go figure!

After worship practice a large group of us headed to Valle de Angeles to go souvenir shopping. Heidi and I saw a few things we liked to take home with us at the end of the year. Leslie and Day came back with a few exciting things as well.

And the reason for the name of this blog? Clinton and Tara invited us down to their house for a bonfire that night. Kyle and I were the only ones with a bit of energy to go down...on the way there we were stopped by a routine police check. Unfortunately Kyle didn't have his carnette stating that he is a resident of Honduras and the only license he had was his Hawaiian one. So after 10 brutal minutes of trying to explain that his carnette was being changed over and the police officer threatening to take his license to 'el transito' we finally realized he was probably looking for money...after giving him 500 lemps (approx. $25) it was amazing how quickly he let us go!!!

It was a great story for a laugh when we got to Clinton & Tara's...but it was well worth it, the night was great! I loved the bonfire it reminded me of home! And spending quality time with Clinton & Tara is definitely worth $25 ;)

Photos of the day: Our Valle trip

I love the dancing shadows...









Leslie, Day & Heidi at the centre of Valle









The girls of our group

Business & Buildings

My grade 9 students have just finished presenting their East/Southeast Asia Entrepreneur projects. I have to say they are very impressive! Many of them decided to enter the real estate vein of things, which made for grandiose models, schematics and videos! Here are a few of the project samples they made for the class.


Daniel & Juan with their Children's Cultural Museum







Ana & Isabella with their homemade jewellry








Silvia & Daniela with their Kimono styles











And many others that were beautifully made. Tomorrow they will use the presentations to guide them on how much they should invest in each other's businesses (as they all have received a specified amount of Yen). Each group hopes they will get enough to float their business. It should be fun!

In the past month or so we've been informed that a science building would be made beside the 400 building. I was amazed when I walked to school this week to see the beginnings of a foundation started - for some reason I didn't expect it to be put up so fast! It doesn't look that impressive right now (sorry, I tried to upload a picture - it didn't work), but the end result of a two story building with a balcony and complete biology and chemistry labs is looking more solid! I'm sure Jen, Holly, Cathy and Lee are very excited!

Coral Snake!

Here's a post for my principal! Recently a coral snake was found underneath a dog dish in a teacher's yard! It was caught and brought to the highschool in a bucket. Mr. Priest placed it in a glass jar and we were all able to see it (no touching though). We knew it was a coral snake because of this rhyme:
"Red to black, friendly Jack"
"Red to yellow, deadly fellow"

It was very pretty but Mr. Priest decided it was better that it was dead. So he put it in fermaldehyde. Apparently this snake can kill within 8-24 hours!

Photo of the day: My time with the coral snake!