Busy September!

We have been so busy here at JEC! After our "Walk for the Way" last week, (which by the way- I heard through the grapevine raised about $22,000 - WHICH IS AMAZING) we wasted no time preparing for our next big event - DIA DEL NINO. This literally translates as "kid's day", and pretty much means tons of pinatas, candy, cake, and games.

Of course last minute my coworkers drop the news on me that they will not be present for Saturday's actual events- which was planned to basically be like a huge field day here at JEC. I was told around 4PM on Friday that I would be in charge on Saturday. This includes the morning games, prizes/ceremony for winners, and the afternoon activities that included all the staff and their families. Naturally my first thought was I NEED A MEGAPHONE. Or a whistle. Or maybe at least another 24 hours to plan.

I immediately tried to get organized, assigning one adult/staff member to be in charge of a certain game. The problem here is describing how the game works in Spanish. That is the issue people. While a normal field day would be a lot to take on, remember I took this task on in a foreign language. I mean we're talking a whole new level. Needless to say, the morning games and getting the day started was difficult. Once the sack race, spoon & egg race were through, we could move on to the more fun games - such as "el borracho". This translates as "the drunk" game. This is what they called it here - but we know it better as putting your head on the bat, spinning in circles, and falling down while running. It was hilarious. Especially with some of the younger boys who literally couldn't stand up.

The rest of the morning was more about joking around and having fun, but we do have some extremely competitive boys here at JEC. After all, they are adolescent and teenage boys. Competition is a given, really.

The day finished and prizes were awarded to each house. We worked it out where every boy got at least a small toy and candy from the pinatas. The prizes were suck as tonka trucks, board games, candy, small happy-meal-like toys, and more candy. By around 4PM everyone was exhausted and sunburnt, including yours truly.

This week has been just as busy. Tomorrow Honduras celebrates the 190th year of Independence from the Spaniards (are you proud of me, Dad?), and so we've had celebrations, pinatas, and desfiles, or parades/marches, every single day this week. I didn't had the chance to visit the high school or elementary school boys' parades (did I mention we almost went 24 hours without power and then once it came back, the water tank bursted?), but today I got to briefly visit the Alison School's desfile before heading to Tegucigalpa for a day of errands. I unfortunately did not have my camera, but of course it was cute. All the boys were dressed as "old-fashioned" cowboys, and the girls were wearing typical, Honduran dresses (probably what we would refer to as aztec).

That's all for now - but one more thing. I almost forgot.

Did I mention we frequently have rainbows here?