December

Our December...

Only one more day until we leave for Illinois. We are excited that we're going to see all our friends and family but not so excited to be back in the Midwest weather!

-Ken

Tuk-Tuk Ride in Copan

Here is the video of us in the Tuk-Tuk when we stayed in Copan over Thanksgiving. We weren't able to upload it before for some reason.

We are heading to the Mayan Ruins. Its a great way for you to see how it felt going there down all of the cobble-stone streets. Be careful...you might get car sick!!

Mazapan Christmas Show

Last night, Mazapan School had their annual Christmas Show for parents. Pre-K-12 grade performed on stage to various Christmas songs through skits, dances, and tv game shows! It was a very, very cool show indeed.

For the past 7 weeks, my 4th grade students have been working very hard to learn the dance that I choreographed for them to the song "All I Want for Christmas"(I guess I'm the first teacher to choreograph their own show too!! Thanks 8th grade poms and 5 years of ballet when I was 8!). After being inspired by the movie Love Actually, I thought this song would be a great way to show off my "skills" as the new 4th grade teacher to all of the parents of my school.

I couldn't have expected my students to perform any better! They did absolutely amazing and I was so proud of them and all of their dedication. Their parents were floored last night too and they couldn't stop giving congratulations to them and to me last night :)

Here is the video that I recorded of my students performing to "All I Want for Christmas". I hope that you enjoy it!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas?

Erika and I are sitting around under blankets, drinking hot chocolate. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in Honduras. The sky is overcast, rain has been falling all day and into the night, and it has been very chilly indeed. I even had to wear my coat all day so that I didn't catch a cold. It's too late for Erika. What is this, cold number 9 for her this year?!?

It's been a bleak day with a low of 66 degrees. That's right 66! And we are cold! I don't know what's going to happen to us when we get off that airplane at O'Hare!

Man, I love Marshmallows in my hot chocolate.

Ceiba has been decorating the city with all sorts of things; stars, christmas trees, lights, figurines of Santa and Jesus. It is like any city in America would decorate their city - But no snow! I can't get over that. It just looks wrong to have a light-up Santa in full regalia, hat, coat, boots and all, but with no snow! Why would Santa wear all that when he comes to Honduras? I want my Honduran Santa to wear beach shorts, shades, and let his big belly hang out with a nice coating of sunscreen covering his nose. Before I leave for home I have to remember to leave out a baleada and some rum for him.

I'm excited to go back home for the break. But I'm glad I get to come back to this paradise afterward. I have to admit, a large part of me is actually looking forward to singing "Silent Night" as we light candles at the Christmas Eve church service.

Christmas time in La Ceiba

Central Park is decorated for Christmas with candy canes, lights, and Christmas trees. My classroom has a string of lights hanging over my whiteboard. The main office has a nativity scene and large Christmas tree. Our house has outside lights that go along our arches and lights that are strung in our dining room. Santa was even spotted (in a blue suit!) parading around downtown and wishing everyone Feliz Navidad!

Does it feel like Christmas?

Not so much! Ken and I still can't believe that it is December 3 and that Christmas is just around the corner. With the warm weather and rain it feels like its spring and summer all year round and that Christmas would never come. I guess its a good feeling when you are trying not to be too anxious about only have 2 weeks over work left before Christmas vacation, but it is definitely a strange feeling. I think what is really missing too is having our very own Christmas tree in our house with our ornaments and all. That always makes it feel more like the holidays! Or maybe we just have to wait to be bombarded by snow and cold at the airport to get our fix :) Who knows? What we do know is that we will be home in 18 days. See you all soon!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends! Although Honduras does not celebrate this holiday, Ken and I both got the 4 day weekend since we are on American school schedules. Cha-ching!!! We both needed the long weekend to get ready for the last leg of the race. We only have 3 weeks to go!!!!

Anyways, we decided that since we weren't really going to celebrate Thanksgiving here in La Ceiba that we would take a trip somewhere and enjoy ourselves. Plus, the weekend before, my school had thrown a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner for all faculty and staff. It was a potluck event where everyone brought a dish and shared. What do you think I brought? If you know me, dessert of course. I made my Grandma's Apple Nut Cake and Iowa Chocolate Cake. The Apple Nut Cake was a hit too :) The food was delicious and it really felt like Thanksgiving. Ken and I got our turkey, ham, and mashed potatoes fixing and felt much better going away for the weekend because of it. Since we arrived in Honduras, we have wanted to go to a city called Copan and that is exactly where we went.

Copan is about an 8 hour bus ride from La Ceiba. We took a bus company called Hedman Alas that is pretty well known all throughout Honduras. There were 2 buses that we had to take as well because there is no direct bus line. Technically you could get there in 6 hours by car but we had to take a 3 hour bus ride to San Pedro Sula and then wait for 2 hours in the bus terminal before taking another 3 hour bus ride to Copan. Because of the long travel day, Ken and I decided to treat ourselves to Ejecutivo Plus...aka FIRST CLASS! We also figured that it was worth the $4 extra to have reclinable seats that were basically like Lazy Boys. I must say looking back on it that it was well worth the extra money.

The day of travel on Thanksgiving was not that bad at all except for the second bus driver who liked to take speed bumps at full speed before slamming on his breaks just before hitting them. It didn't bode well for me, especially with all of the winding roads. The last hour was spent thinking "happy thoughts" so I wouldn't get sick.

For Thanksgiving dinner we went to an authentic honduran restaurant. I had a plate with avocados, eggs, refried beans, and cream. Ken had a meat plate with onions, beans, and cheese. It was very delicious, although nothing like a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

The next day Ken and I headed to the Mayan Ruins. It was just outside of town. Only a short tuck-tuck ride away.

The ruins were absolutely beautiful. We spent about 3 hours there just walking around and exploring on our own. We decided against the tour guide since it was pretty expensive as it was to get into the park. Plus Ken wanted to go into the tunnels as well which sounded really cool when buying our tickets. They were completely not worth it though! There really wasn't that much to see under there and we found out that archeologists had built them to excavate things which they hadn't put very much on display. We still understood the gist of what was going on and we were able to read the few signs intermittently dispersed throughout the park. Ken was fascinated with the Macao Parrots that were loitering at the entrance as well. I think he took about 20 pictures of these birds alone! I'll only put up 2 though.

There were some breathtaking views as well from the top of some of the Mayan ruins. The whole town is surrounded by mountains and it was a clear, sunny day which made it all the better.








For the rest of the weekend we just walked the cobble stone streets, bartered and shopped, watched people in central park while enjoying some ice cream, enjoyed great food, drank coffee at a cafe (well Ken did!), and sipped wine at sunset. I think the pictures can speak for us:

It was a great trip and we are excited to go back to Copan with all who come to visit us.