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.

Walking by the Airport

On Thursday we took a walk from our house to the airport area. Here is a photo from along the way.

Strike Days

Tuesday afternoon as we were cleaning up our classroom after our students left, we realized that not all of our students had gone home. Some of their buses had been blocked from getting to their neighborhoods because the taxi and bus drivers went on strike to protest the high gas prices. Many major intersections (including one a block from our house) were blocked by semi trucks, taxis, buses, rocks, and burning tires. School was cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday. The bus and taxi drivers wanted to charge more because of higher gas prices, but the government wouldn't let them. As far as we can figure out, gas prices have gone down a little bit, but it's still around $4.00 a gallon. We don't know if buses and taxis are more expensive. Today (Thursday) the buses and taxis are back to normal, but we still don't have school. Hopefully we will be back tomorrow. We have taken many walks to watch the protests going on. Bascially, it's just trucks and cars blocking the road and everyone walking. It has been very peaceful in our neighborhood and we have always felt safe.

SPB

First Week of Teaching

Our first week of teaching is done. Eventhough they were all half-days it's good to get started and it is also good to be FRIDAY. There are many differences to get used to here at IST (International School Tegucigalpa) but we will manage. When you are used to teaching one way it is difficult to switch to a differnet method. We are looking forward to this weekend and doing a little shopping for our house. We also are going to the house of a CRWM missionary for lunch on Sunday. They envited a few of the CRC/CRWM people for a get together in the afternoon. We are looking forward to that. Also, there is a HUGE soccer game on Sunday at 4 between the two national teams in Honduras. We might go, but it could be too extreem of a spectator time for us. We'll let you know if we went or not.

Keep in touch.

Jared