GGOOOAAAALLL!!!

I never thought I'd get to the place in this country where things start to seem mundane and normal, but I have. My days are filled with school, meetings, and sometimes church. Things have calmed down since the political crisis to "talking" and trying to come to a conclusion in a "civilized" manner.

Yes, things had calmed down quite a bit, until.....

We were at home last night, minding our own business, when we heard a ton of cheering, honking, and fireworks. We knew there was a Honduras soccer game on, so we figured they must have won. When it didn't stop after about 10 minutes, we got on the internet to see what had happened. Well, as it turned out, they ended up getting into the World Cup. If you know Honduras, you know that is all this little country has ever dreamed of. Our friends, the Aplicanos', in San Pedro were crying and couldn't stop because they were so happy. In fact, its such a big deal, that the government declared the next day (today) a government holiday, and closed all government buildings and offices! WOW.

Needless to say, all the kids were in a great mood today.

I don't really have too many pictures to share, but lately I have really enjoyed the bus ride home because I always sit with Stefany, one of my students. She speaks English pretty well, and between her English and my Spanish, we tend to have pretty good Spanglish conversations. Here is a picture of us on the bus.



Nathaniel has been traveling a bit with John DuBose, the pastor of the local bilingual church here. A couple of weeks ago, they went to a remote mountain village to attend a service. This is one of the places that the November team might visit. Here are a couple of shots from that trip.

John DuBose is on the left, NAthaniel is on the right. The man in the middle is the pastor of the church they visited.


And a shot of the congregation:



I should have some more pictures soon, as the American teachers and I are planning a trip to a nearby lake called Lake Yojoa next weekend. Travel is so inexpensive here, and the lake is less than an hour away. It'll be a good way to spend our 3 day weekend.

We love you all, and thanks for your prayers!

Banana, Banana, Banana

So, I just got back from an amazing weekend in the Jungle rain forest on the north-eastern coast of Honduras! I went with 2 other English teachers at Destino, Amanda and Amanda Marie. It was such a beautiful place, with all kinds of neat outdoors activities. The best part is, it was really cheap!

So,I mustered up all my courage and headed out on a 5 hour bus ride. We arrived in La Ceiba at dinner time and ate at a yummy pizza hut, then headed into the jungle for some quality time with mother nature. The plan was to stay the night in the dormitory of the place (called Jungle River Lodge), then do some White Water Rafting and Zip lining on saturday, then head back on sunday.

As it turns out, the river was very low due to very little rain in September, so we couldn't do as much rafting as we wanted to. Therefore, to fill the time, our tour guides took us on a hike up the river to jump off some tall rocks that are normally submerged. Then, we floated back down the rapids to our rafts. Here is a picture of me getting ready to go rafting.



And me with all my gear.



There were tons of really tall rocks to jump off of. Most of them were at least 5 meters above the water. I really thought about jumping off this one. Here's me thinking. I'm the one squatting down.



almost...



But no. In the end, I chickened out. Maybe its because when my friend jumped, she got bloody gums.

Here are some action shots of us rafting.








Jungle River had a resident Macaw. If you know me at all, you know I'd be in heaven with a bird like that. And I was, even though you couldn't hold it. It did talk though. It said "Hola" and "Hello".



I also very much enjoyed the hammocks they had. We had lots of good conversation in these.



Now, on to the Zip lining. What a blast! I was really nervous about this because I was afraid of a free-falling feeling. It wasn't scary at all, though, and our guides gave us a tour through the Jungle and showed us lots of really neat plants. Here is me practicing with the guide.



and a real one.



And the three of us.



It was probably one of the most fun times Ive had in a long time. Maybe next time Nathaniel will be able to go with me. More to come soon! Feel free to leave comments! Love you all.