Today was one of the greatest teaching moments I have had in my life (as well as when I teach at Alison Bixby Stone School). Today, we all went to a different school in the rural part of Honduras. It doesn't have a name. Obviously, going into it I thought that the poverty level would be lower than the school I've been working at, but boy was I in for even more of a surprise. We got to this rural school with an amazing amount of supplies that we gathered and raised money for before coming to Honduras, and the kids sprinted up to the bus just yelling "Mas! Mas!" (meaning, "More! More!). They were just so excited for us to come, let alone bring them supplies like beans and rice. After unpacking the bus, we got off it and all the little kids just swarmed us and ran up to hug us. I have never received that much love from somebody in my life. They were just so happy to see us. They pulled us into a vacant "room" and made us sit on chairs. Music started playing and all of a sudden, they started putting on a fashion show for us. Some kids were super shy, but the other kids killed it! They then pulled all 7 of us Purdue students up and made us walk in the fashion show. After, all of them did a dance for us and at the end pulled us up one by one to dance with them. I learned a dance called "Punta," which is basically wiggling your feet everywhere. The energy and the excitement was just everywhere.
The reason we came to the rural school was so that we could do some crafts with the kids. All in all, the school has about 40 students from preschool till 6th grade. Because I teach the older kids at the other school, I went with another girl from Purdue and taught the preschool kids. The thing to remember with the rural schools is they don't speak English because they have never been taught. Therefore, the whole day, I had to use my Spanish and if I couldn't say something, then I had to motion it. It was definitely one of the most challenging things from today that I did because it was just so difficult to communicate with them. However, it made me be put into a situation where I am not the majority. That's what I've been wanting to experience all along; being the minority. It was a lot more difficult then I thought. Communication is key and when you can't do it, you tend to get really frustrated. I can see why some students just give up. It's extremely frustrating.
The first thing we did with the kids was make tie dye t'shirts. We let all the kids color with sharpies wherever they wanted on the shirt. It took a good 45 minutes for them to finish and then I took each one, individually, outside to spray the alcohol on them (that's what makes the sharpie run to make tie dye). The kids loved seeing the shirts run and make the shirt pretty. I think it was a really good idea to do this because not only did they have fun, but they have something that they can wear for awhile since they were big t-shirts. The second activity we did were sock puppets. We had all sorts of stick on's, glue, glitter, feathers, sharpies, etc. Anything you could think of. We basically just let the kids go free range on this one unless they wanted us to put glitter on it for them. Man, the kids were just so excited that we were there. All of them just kept tugging at us to show us there piece of art. That's the confidence I love to see. They know they are proud of there work and of themselves and they want to show it to you. The last thing we did at the school was just hang out for an hour or so. We paid a snow cone and popcorn cart to come to the school and give the kids it for free. Even though you knew that some of the kids were starving, they were polite and only had one helping (even though they could have gotten more). Honestly, I was sad to leave that school. The energy was so high that I could barley even think about the poverty level of this school because they were all so helpful and the energy was something I'd never experienced at a school before. The only thing I could notice was the smell was a little bad because the school is right buy a pig barn and flies were flying around everywhere. Even getting into the kids eyes. Reflecting back on the pictures as well, I could tell that there clothes hadn't been washed for awhile and seemed to have stains on them. However, as we were at the school, you didn't even have time to think of anything but the love you were giving and receiving.
We left the rural school at about 12 and went back to Alison Bixby to eat lunch. MY heat rash was really bad today, so I ended up going back instead of teaching for the 2 hours left for that school. Tonight we had our student home visits. I got a girl that I've been teaching in the 7th grade class. I went over to her house at around 4:30. Her house is actually beautiful. It is small, like most houses, but they lived on a huge mountain so the view was amazing from her house. She lives with her mom and her abuela (grandma) who are both super sweet, but only speak Spanish so the little girl had to translate a lot with them. Her mom sells flowers and plants as a living, so they have tons of plants and flowers on the left and right hand side of her house. I loved it. It was dinner time at about 5 and the mom made tortillas topped with beans and goat cheese with a side of an apple. We also had a pink juice that was made from a fruit, but I have no idea what it is. I was scared to drink it because many houses don't have purified water in Honduras, but they said it was boiled. Something that is different here is that the kids always eat before the elders. Therefore, me and my little girl ate and cleaned the dishes. Then the mom and the abuela went and ate. It was really cool to see the living arrangements compared to Americans. Honestly, it wasn't too different. They had a place to sleep and a roof above there head. We then went to her cousins house (that another Purdue student just happened to be going to tonight to eat dinner). At the house, the mom there gave us bananas from her banana tree and also wanted to do my hair. Both families were just so sweet and it amazes me everyday the attitude that Honduras have. 
We left at about 6:30 to go pick up the other girls. Everyone seemed to have a really good time and almost all the parents didn't speak English. It was a really great experience to have and I am so blessed to have gotten the chance. It was a long day today, so I'm pretty exhausted. I have 2 chapters left to write and 3 lesson plans to do still for tonight, so I should probably start that....
"The first was burning out, my mind was filled with doubt,
I long to feel alive, don't know if i'll survive,
But my hope was running low, you appeared out of nowhere,
It was more than an illusion, more than I could ever know."
"House Of Cards" By Tyler Shaw
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