Dia del Nino (Kids Day) and the weekend

Dia del Nino
It is a holiday taken very seriously in Honduras.  It is a day to celebrate kids.  There were several disussions amongst the parents of each grade and plans made to celebrate the day.  The school day was from 9-12 and all of it dedicated to celebrating kids.  At 9:00 we started with some fun skits/dances by the teachers.  The Honduran teachers went first, then all the teachers together did a skit (ending with some of us getting punished by the students and having to dance alone in front of the whole school - yes I had to do this!), and finally a dance performance by the US teachers.  Students and parents laughed a lot.  Then each class went back to its classroom where the rooms were decorated with balloons, pinatas, games and tons of food (pizza, chicken, garlic bread, cake, ice cream, candy, etc.).  We only had one pinata accident (they scare me with blindfolded kids swinging sticks and everyone clammering to the ground when candy starts to fly).  Overall, the day was a success and several sugar high kids went home happy at noon.

In terms of the start of the school year, families take a financial hit.  They are required to buy uniforms (for everyday and one for PE), pay their matriculation and monthly payment (this amount varies from kinder/prepa, primary school an secondary school), 50 lempiras for drinking water, school supplies (each student isgiven a list of items to bring to school for the school year (notebooks, poster paper, toilet paper, hand soap, markers, crayons, etc.) torches (if they want their student to participate in the torch parade) and each class buys all the treats for Dia del Nino (some parents were required to pay 100 lempiras or more per student for the festivities).  I know for our scholarship families that this can be quite a burden.  I hope costs go down in the coming weeks.

I left for Teguc after the festivities ended to visit friends for the weekend.  On Saturday, there was a free concert "Orgullo Catracho or Honduran Pride" in the central park.  I went with my friend Ana (a single mom who works a lot but she took the day off to hang out with me - she's my hair stylist :))  The concert had all of Hondurans most famous musicians (our friends from Montuca Sound System played first), there was a bachata band, regueton, Guillermo Anderson and Paloche.  Ana and I had a great time.  I got really sunburnt and we also got soaked as it poured for about 15 minutes.  The concert was free and it was so great to see Ana out and enjoying herself.  It was a well deserved break for her.  I spent the rest of the weekend introducing my friend Mando to the world of facebook.  I think we will soon need to do an intervention to get him off the computer but it was great to see him connect virtually with friends from years past.

Our soccer team lost its first game by one goal in penalties on Thursday.  I went on a home visit on Thursday to a very pleasant family and had a wonderful chat with the mother.  It is great that families are so open and kind inviting us into their homes and sharing their food and ideas with us.  It is great to get so many families perspectives on the school and what they want to see happen with the school.  In my busyness of the week I did not get to skype with my dad before he left for Minnesota.  I hope he catches tons of fish and hope he knows that I love him (love you too mom - we'll talk this week).  Mom informed me today that her Aunt Karen died last week.  Heaven has received another good one.

Off to bed, but will post some Dia del Nino pictures first.  And a final shout out to Katie Saur and Mary Russell - thanks for the awesome care package - you guys are the best!