Open House

We had SJBS's first open house today and I think overall it was a success.  Open houses are not customary in Honduras so the concept was hard for some parents to understand - they wanted a formal meeting with the teacher and all parents at the same time.  I think in the end they enjoyed talking one on one with the teachers.  My role was to welcome the parents as they came in and to see what parents are interested in taking English classes themselves.  Four of the teachers have agreed to give classes two times a week to parents who want to learn English.

I spent a lot of time talking to parents and am humbled by a lot of the stories I hear.  Some of the Beca families (families who receive scholarships from the organization I work for) amaze me.  They are so giving and often are the ones who have the least to give.  They work very hard for the school to give back so that their kids can have a bilingual education. Many moms come in the afternoons to help clean the classrooms.  One father is the school handyman (and our go to guy to fix things in our apartments as well) - he often doesn't get paid for this work at the school but does it for his daughter's education.  Fourteen people will come tomorrow to cut grass.  All so their kids can receive a good education.  I have many invites to houses for dinner - next weekend is looking booked for meals :) Which is good because we are on our own for meals on weekends!

After the Open House, the first grade parents had a carne asada fundraiser.  Carne asada is really good meat (as you know we don't get a lot of meat so it was really good!).  Fifty lempiras ($2.65) for a plate of grilled steak, beans, salad and tortillas.  Can you beat that?  I did break down today in San Pedro Sula today though and buy a box of macaroni and cheese (for when I need a comfort food).  Today's lunch was also really good (beans, mantequilla (crema), one of the best avacados I've ever had and bread).  Yummy and the best part was the 3 lempira avacado!

Off to bed as I'm on grass cutting duty at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning.  Below are a few photos of the carne asada fundraiser, summer academy, our trip to Triunfo de la Cruz, the school and my apartment.  Will try and take more photos soon.