Catching up

Tuesday was my day off. We didn't do much because it started pouring in the morning. There was a short break around dinner time, and then it rained all night. Some friends had come over for dinner and were waiting for the rain to let up a little so they could leave. Meanwhile on tv, the news showed the streets of Tegucigalpa completely flooded. They stayed until late, but the rain never let up. They ended up having to leave in the rain. I was worried about them getting home safely.

It is so dangerous to drive when it rains like that. When the rain is coming down the streets are like rivers with waterfalls entering the streets from water pouring down the mountains between the houses and cascading into the street. Last night when my cab took me home from church some of the streets were still flooded with water or rocks and sand that had flowed down from the mountainside. It's hard to explain unless you see it - kind of like a landslide that lands in the middle of the road.

Karla came home with a whole bunch of sticky notes and announced that every day we are going to pick 5 new words and post them on the wall. When I learn them, we move them to the other side. When I wake up in the morning I practice the words in my bed. Throughout the day Karla asks me the words, and when I go to sleep those darn words are almost the last thing I think about. But it's working. I thought 2 months here would be enough to enable me to get a bilingual social work job when I return to the states. However, like with so many other things in life, I am realizing that the more I learn the more I realize that I don't know. I am not feeling confident at all about a bilingual job in two months.

Once again I am trying to do laundry. Lack of water and lack of sun continues to make laundry and arduous task. But at least I do not have to wash everything by hand as I have seen others doing.

Yesterday some people passed through and gave out toys to the kids at the breakfast program. I took some photos.

Also, Don Juan pointed out a boy who really needed some new clothes and shoes. We found a spiderman shirt, which did not appear very new (or clean) but he loved it and gave him a pair of shoes. He showed up wearing his shirt and his shoes today. Usually he eats and leaves immediately. But today he brought his little sister who was about 3. When he was done eating he played with a dog. The dog chased him around and around the church. After watching him outrun that dog for at least a half an hour I now understand why his nickname is "conejo" (rabbit). He is so darn cute! I am hoping that soon he will socialize with other boys, but sticking around and playing with the dog is a step in the right direction.

Today I ran the breakfast program alone. About 40 kids came. Tony has been doing work on his house this week so he asked me to help out. Things went really smoothly today. I am working to try to balance the fun with making sure that the kids clean up and leave when they are supposed to. They are doing better at playing together so that is no longer a problem. But we are attracting tons of bees and bugs because they try to escape without cleaning. Today I only had to say "Hasta manana!" (until tomorrow) and they all left! This has never happened before.

Jairo just came in and I need to talk to him. More later...