Enjoy some scenes from our first full day (Monday) at Tierra Santa.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Rose Blogging from Tierra Santa
Hello from Rose -
Monday, we had breakfast at 7:00 at the hotel and then loaded onto the bus for the Hogar at 8:00. My job today was to prep the Pre-K room for painting. It’s a very nice room on the second floor with lots of windows and ceramic floors. I was able to tape and clean up with Heather before we ended our a.m. work shift. At 1:00 we broke for lunch and then headed out to find Pre-K classroom furniture and storage bins.
We went into Comayagua to a place called Plastic Anna. It was considered to be their Target but it was no bigger than a small hardware store. We purchased bins and storage boxes but could not find tables and chairs. We found a place called Gordon’s and they had the cutest primary colored wooden table and chairs that had pencil shaped legs with actual erasers on the bottom. Downtown is a very bustling place with narrow streets and loads of people traveling about on the narrow uneven sidewalks, too unusual to describe. Shopping here was a cultural experience unlike any other I have witnessed.
Tuesday we began our day by having a cultural experience. We visited a brick yard where each brick was made by hand with wet mud, placed in wooden molds and eventually baked in kilns to dry. No automation here or fancy tools…only hard labor with bare hands and homemade molds. The children around the neighborhood came running, hoping for candy or other goodies. I bet 30 kids arrived in less than 5 minutes. Luckily, Heather had a bag of candy on the bus and each child was given a treat. We commented that we wished we had had a few boxes of clothing to leave behind for these children.
We arrived at the Hogar about 9:00 and began our projects for the day. I continued with painting the Pre-K room. We decided to paint two lower walls with chalk board paint so that the children could use chalk on the walls. We were amazed that the paint store had this product. Nothing is easy to come by here so this was a real accomplishment. The room is really shaping up. Later today, another crew will paint the walls with a second coat of light blue and begin our clean up before beginning the construction of the wooden shelves which will be installed all along one wall. I have jump rope classes this afternoon so I will continue painting tomorrow. Tomorrow, the fun stuff: placing our cute tables and chairs, storage items and all the wonderful posters and education materials into the educational room. We’ll be sure to take pictures before and after so that everyone can see the progress we made to successfully complete this amazing project.
Monday, we had breakfast at 7:00 at the hotel and then loaded onto the bus for the Hogar at 8:00. My job today was to prep the Pre-K room for painting. It’s a very nice room on the second floor with lots of windows and ceramic floors. I was able to tape and clean up with Heather before we ended our a.m. work shift. At 1:00 we broke for lunch and then headed out to find Pre-K classroom furniture and storage bins.
We went into Comayagua to a place called Plastic Anna. It was considered to be their Target but it was no bigger than a small hardware store. We purchased bins and storage boxes but could not find tables and chairs. We found a place called Gordon’s and they had the cutest primary colored wooden table and chairs that had pencil shaped legs with actual erasers on the bottom. Downtown is a very bustling place with narrow streets and loads of people traveling about on the narrow uneven sidewalks, too unusual to describe. Shopping here was a cultural experience unlike any other I have witnessed.
Tuesday we began our day by having a cultural experience. We visited a brick yard where each brick was made by hand with wet mud, placed in wooden molds and eventually baked in kilns to dry. No automation here or fancy tools…only hard labor with bare hands and homemade molds. The children around the neighborhood came running, hoping for candy or other goodies. I bet 30 kids arrived in less than 5 minutes. Luckily, Heather had a bag of candy on the bus and each child was given a treat. We commented that we wished we had had a few boxes of clothing to leave behind for these children.
We arrived at the Hogar about 9:00 and began our projects for the day. I continued with painting the Pre-K room. We decided to paint two lower walls with chalk board paint so that the children could use chalk on the walls. We were amazed that the paint store had this product. Nothing is easy to come by here so this was a real accomplishment. The room is really shaping up. Later today, another crew will paint the walls with a second coat of light blue and begin our clean up before beginning the construction of the wooden shelves which will be installed all along one wall. I have jump rope classes this afternoon so I will continue painting tomorrow. Tomorrow, the fun stuff: placing our cute tables and chairs, storage items and all the wonderful posters and education materials into the educational room. We’ll be sure to take pictures before and after so that everyone can see the progress we made to successfully complete this amazing project.
Abby's blog
Last night we had traditional Honduran food for dinner, it was really good! That’s exciting that I really liked it, I even ate it all! That’s a big step! We also went to the grocery store yesterday and got some crunchy peanut butter, cookies, chips and salsa, and Fanta! Today we made bracelet’s again. It was better today, not quite as messy which was definitely nice! But I have lots of bracelets that my new friends made me and a necklace, too! I played with Cici this morning, and…another girl, not sure what her name is, but she loves my camera! Yesterday, all of my pictures got deleted by one of the little girls, so today I’m starting fresh, but I have lots of help with that! This morning Keekay saw me and ran up to yelling “Mi amiga, mi amiga!” Later on today we’re going to jump rope a, dance, play soccer, etc. Tomorrow is New Years Eve! I am getting excited! We are spending all day at the Hogar which will be sweet I’m sure!
I love it here and I love these kids!
I love it here and I love these kids!
Dancing, food, and enthusiasm
After a long day of travel and adventure in Miami airport it was nice to arrive in Honduras and be greeted by children from the Hogar. They rode back in the bus with us to our hotel, although most of us were a bit tired and fell asleep on the bumpy mountainous road.
The first day was all about introductions and hanging out with the kids. Not knowing much Spanish was a challange, but I did figure out that some things don't need words (hand games). We ate lunch at Santiago's house too, who runs the Hogar...it was delicious. His wife prepared an authentic Honduran meal, and since I'm all about eating I was happy!
Yesterday morning I prepared the preschool walls for painting, listening to some music at times and watching the man selling oranges out of his truck. We also grocery shopped for the group which was an adventure with Bob. Bob seemed quite content to watch us silly Americans pick out "safe" food for the week.
In the afternoon I danced with a small group of girls and Abby. We attempted to do some 50's dances to Grease, but the girls actually knew the dances from the movie and showed us a thing or two. Then, Sophia (one of the girls) taught us a dance to a Christina Aguilera song. Fun times.
Abby and I also played jumprope with them and I played hopscotch with some of the little girls.
In the evening we ate another Honduran meal for dinner. My new favorite food items here include the sour cream...yum, and the beans. We were able to walk around the town a bit last night too. While in one of the squares, a young man named Michael (I think) walked out of a side door and took us on a tour of the bell tower. We climbed up and up and were told not to talk as he wasn't supposed to be giving tours. It was neat to get such a good view of Honduras at night, and see how the clock worked. Then, off to search for ice cream for Bob. We found one place with internet access and had a chance to check email and eat ice cream. Thanks Bob!
Some of my favorite things so far this trip include...
1. The food.
2. Hanging out with people at night.
3. Working with the kids and seeing them smile and laugh.
4. Seeing groups of cows run down the street.
5. Donkeys.
6. The chicken, except when I scared it and made it fall.
7. The wood "factory" which wasn't really a factory afterall, just some woodmakers in some guy's backyard. :)
8. The food.
9. Preparing things for the preschool.
10. The view (from my shower I can see mountains...nice!).
I'm excited to go on more "cultural adventures" too. We went to a brick factory today and I gave out candy to the neighborhood kids. That was nice. Bob has some more planned, but he is so mysterious I'm not sure what they are right now.
Well, I'm off to paint some chalkboard paint on the walls of the preschool.
Later.
(Heather Adams)
The first day was all about introductions and hanging out with the kids. Not knowing much Spanish was a challange, but I did figure out that some things don't need words (hand games). We ate lunch at Santiago's house too, who runs the Hogar...it was delicious. His wife prepared an authentic Honduran meal, and since I'm all about eating I was happy!
Yesterday morning I prepared the preschool walls for painting, listening to some music at times and watching the man selling oranges out of his truck. We also grocery shopped for the group which was an adventure with Bob. Bob seemed quite content to watch us silly Americans pick out "safe" food for the week.
In the afternoon I danced with a small group of girls and Abby. We attempted to do some 50's dances to Grease, but the girls actually knew the dances from the movie and showed us a thing or two. Then, Sophia (one of the girls) taught us a dance to a Christina Aguilera song. Fun times.
Abby and I also played jumprope with them and I played hopscotch with some of the little girls.
In the evening we ate another Honduran meal for dinner. My new favorite food items here include the sour cream...yum, and the beans. We were able to walk around the town a bit last night too. While in one of the squares, a young man named Michael (I think) walked out of a side door and took us on a tour of the bell tower. We climbed up and up and were told not to talk as he wasn't supposed to be giving tours. It was neat to get such a good view of Honduras at night, and see how the clock worked. Then, off to search for ice cream for Bob. We found one place with internet access and had a chance to check email and eat ice cream. Thanks Bob!
Some of my favorite things so far this trip include...
1. The food.
2. Hanging out with people at night.
3. Working with the kids and seeing them smile and laugh.
4. Seeing groups of cows run down the street.
5. Donkeys.
6. The chicken, except when I scared it and made it fall.
7. The wood "factory" which wasn't really a factory afterall, just some woodmakers in some guy's backyard. :)
8. The food.
9. Preparing things for the preschool.
10. The view (from my shower I can see mountains...nice!).
I'm excited to go on more "cultural adventures" too. We went to a brick factory today and I gave out candy to the neighborhood kids. That was nice. Bob has some more planned, but he is so mysterious I'm not sure what they are right now.
Well, I'm off to paint some chalkboard paint on the walls of the preschool.
Later.
(Heather Adams)
Tierra Santa - My second trip
Experiencing Honduras and Tierra Santa a second time around is definitely a different experience from the first time. Walking around the home and having many of the kids remember me from my previous trip is such a cool thing. And what’s really fun is that I’m interacting with both the kids I spent a lot of time with last trip and a bunch of kids who I hardly talked to on my previous trip. So I feel like I’m building a whole new bunch of relationships.
One of the kids who latched on to me this trip who didn’t before is Umberto.
Umberto is about four years old and is the twin of Keekay. When he sees me across the grounds of the Hogar, he’ll come running up to me and wrap his arms around me. Yesterday he grabbed me by the arm and said, “Vamos. (let’s go). Then he proceeded to take me back to the courtyard adjacent to his bedroom and hop on the swing. I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to push him or take his picture on the swing, so I did both.
We had an amazingly productive day on Monday with multiple classes being taught and a good amount of work being accomplished in the preschool room. Heather and Rose prepped the preschool room in the morning, then a bunch of us, including three Tierra Santa girls, started the painting process in the afternoon.
One of the kids who latched on to me this trip who didn’t before is Umberto.
Umberto is about four years old and is the twin of Keekay. When he sees me across the grounds of the Hogar, he’ll come running up to me and wrap his arms around me. Yesterday he grabbed me by the arm and said, “Vamos. (let’s go). Then he proceeded to take me back to the courtyard adjacent to his bedroom and hop on the swing. I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to push him or take his picture on the swing, so I did both.
We had an amazingly productive day on Monday with multiple classes being taught and a good amount of work being accomplished in the preschool room. Heather and Rose prepped the preschool room in the morning, then a bunch of us, including three Tierra Santa girls, started the painting process in the afternoon. 
John and Geovanni went after a dead tree hard core in the courtyard. Not only did they cut it down with a circular saw, but they even removed the stump with an array of tools including an axe, a shovel, and a machete. John has assumed the role of Doug Duchon on this trip. He’s the Honduran Bob Villa, attending to all sorts of miscellaneous projects. In the afternoon it was his assignment to repair a bunch of strands of Christmas lights. He later was proud to report that he managed to fix one strand. John’s other hidden talent in the afternoon was his ability to paint the tops of the walls in the preschool room without a ladder. This may not seem like a big deal, but if you got a glimpse of the Tierra Santa ladder, you’d understand why a 250 pound plus guy wouldn’t want to get up on it.
Of course I was once again impressed by our Eden Prairie teachers and how easily they shifted into “teaching” mode with these kids. Jill, Tricia, Christy and Erin led a craft class in which kids used all sorts of materials to decorated the Christmas boxes that are sent to them by their sponsors. Jill blew us all away with her ability to hand cut each child’s name out of craft foam while keeping all the letters connected. We’re finding out that Jill is a woman of many talents!
And the EP teens really impressed us by how well they could maintain crowd control during their beading class. They must have had twenty or so kids coming and going throughout the morning – kids of all ages and with varying degrees of need. Abby and Drew did an awesome job jumping right in talking, teaching, showing, and interacting with the kids. Lots of bracelets and necklaces were produced. So…that’s all I’ll say for now, but I missed a whole bunch of other things that happened Monday. Hopefully some of the others will blog about their experiences as well so you can get a view of the day through their eyes. It was just a classic great day in the Villa!
Top Ten
Top Ten things Drew and Lisa learned while playing soccer with the children of the Hogar Tierra Santa:
10. Jersey color means nothing.
9. Playing with one shoe is better than two...playing with no shoes is the best.
8. They are better at English than we are at Spanish.
7. Tires help to keep the ball from going all the way down the street.
6. All you need to play a game of soccer is a ball and a dirt patch.
5. These kids are scrappy.
4. Say the word futbol and all the boys come running.
3. Dirt…even dry dirt…can be very slippery if you swing too hard.
2. Water breaks are not a necessity.
1. Whoever is ahead when the cow comes on the field wins the game.
What a fun experience we had taking the younger boys who we had not spent much time with to play soccer. As soon as we walked into their house and said the word futbol their faces lit up and we had to run to keep up with them on the way to the park. They showed us a few things about how to play the game of soccer…Drew is implementing a few of the pointers into his game back home. Overall, it was a blast and we can’t wait to get out there and play again today!
10. Jersey color means nothing.
9. Playing with one shoe is better than two...playing with no shoes is the best.
8. They are better at English than we are at Spanish.
7. Tires help to keep the ball from going all the way down the street.
6. All you need to play a game of soccer is a ball and a dirt patch.
5. These kids are scrappy.
4. Say the word futbol and all the boys come running.
3. Dirt…even dry dirt…can be very slippery if you swing too hard.
2. Water breaks are not a necessity.
1. Whoever is ahead when the cow comes on the field wins the game.
What a fun experience we had taking the younger boys who we had not spent much time with to play soccer. As soon as we walked into their house and said the word futbol their faces lit up and we had to run to keep up with them on the way to the park. They showed us a few things about how to play the game of soccer…Drew is implementing a few of the pointers into his game back home. Overall, it was a blast and we can’t wait to get out there and play again today!
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