Last day of classes

Today was our last day of classes before Christmas Break. We will be heading home for three weeks on Sunday.

Jared carrying our drinking water from the gas station. 

Jared and I were in charge of the pop bottle game at the Christmas dinner. 

Jared with some of his students at the Christmas program. 

First Graders 

Christmas Program

The International School elementary school has been taken over by Christmas program preparations! We have been practicing the songs in our classrooms for weeks and we have spend half of 5 days practicing at the church where the performance will be. Although it is a lot of work, it is an important part of the school year because it allows the students and their parents to hear the Christmas story.

It is strange to be here during Christmas season because it is so warm. It just seems sort of wrong to see Christmas lights on houses without snow, but we will soon be able to experience the Michigan winter! Just 10 more days!

-SB

We had three days off of school for Thanksgiving, so we went to Copan with a group of teachers from our school. We saw three different Mayan ruin sights, went horseback riding into the mountains to see a rural village, and visited some hot springs. 

Jared rests on top of one of the pyramids. 

Some of the girls at the ruins. 

 

We watched some of the women do their weaving. 

Some of the girls learned how to make tortillas with the local women. 

Jared named his horse White Lightening. 

We walked up a trail next to the stream of hot water. 

Enjoying the hot springs. 

 

Exploring the river. 

Our school's theme this month was giving thanks to God for everything. Celebrating Thanksgiving was a great end to the month. 

My class and another first grade class learned about Thanksgiving in the US by dressing up as Pilgrims and Native Americans.  

I can't believe you're 26! 

Celebrating Jared's birthday at King Palace. Notice the gigantic plate of fried rice. We had more food than we could ever eat! 

Jared's Birthday

On Tuesday Jared's class surprised him with a birthday party complete with cake, ice cream, a pinata, sandwiches, chips, and pop. They even invited me! They were so excited that they basically gave it all away to Jared, but he did a good job pretending to be surprised.

On Wednesday, his actual birthday, we celebrated by going out for Chinese with some friends. They we came back to our house for cake and ice cream.

-SB

Happy Birthday To Me!!!!

Happy Birthday to Jared!!!

Thanksgiving

On Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with the staff (Honduran and North American) at our school. We all brought a dish to share and the superintendent provided the turkeys. It was delicious and a lot of fun, but it made us miss Thanksgiving at home. Afterwards we played some intense volleyball with some of the other teachers.

The Countdown Begins

Only one month from today and we will be getting on a plane for Christmas Break. Can't wait to see our friends and family back home.

-JB

Lago de Yajoa

This is us infront of the waterfall.



This weekend we went on the teacher retreat to the Lago de Yojoa, a lake about three hours from Tegucigalpa. We had a great time relaxing and enjoying the cool weather. Despite the cold temperatures, we still went to Pulapansak, a waterfall close to the lake. We went swimming in the river, went behind the waterfall into a small cave, and jumped off rocks into the river. It was all very exciting, especially going behind the waterfall. It involved wading through rushing water while water was constantly spraying in our faces. We could hardly see or breathe! Somehow we made it out alive.

-SPB

Waiting for the Bus

This is where we wait for the school's teacher bus to pick us up every morning.

Picacho

On Sunday afternoon we went with some other teachers from our school to El Picacho. It is a giant statue of Jesus that overlooks Tegucigalpa to the north. The area by the statue also has a huge park where we relaxed and enjoyed the cool air.

CRWM Meeting In Tegus

Two weeks ago we had a meeting with the other Christian Reformed teachers and missionaries in Tegucigalpa. We discussed how things are going for everyone and just enjoyed hanging out. This picture shows Jared with a teacher from Academia Los Pinares.

-SPB

Dia de la Biblia

Our school celebrated Dia de la Bibla (Bible Day) by marching around the school, singing Bible songs, and playing drums. Here I am with my class and my assistant Michael.

Fiesta Catracha

On Friday our school had a Fiesta Catracha. Catracha is the word Hondurans use when talking about themselves as a country. There was Honduran dancing, food, and booths set up about the different departments of Honduras. Even though it rained the whole time, it was fun to see our students dressed up in their traditional Honduran clothing.


Some of the kindergarten students performed a dance.


Here I am with one of my students.

Independence Day Break

Tomorrow starts our Independence Day Break. We have Thursday and Friday both off for the holiday. Susan and I are planning on going to the North Coast with another couple from school to enjoy our time off. This will be our first trip out of Tegus, and we are looking forward to seeing some more of the Honduran country side. Hopefully we will have some pictures to share with you on Monday. Please pray that we have a safe vacation and that our travels are successful.

-JB

View From Susan's Room

Here are two pictures taken from Susan's classroom window. The top picture is of the parking lot and the mountain, the other is down the street that runs right past her room. She loves hearing the trucks and buses going by all day long.