Monday, March 30th

Hola todos!

Hoy fue un buen dia - un dia buenisima! Que grupo de Minnesota!

We're having a fantastic time. I suppose I should really speak for myself, but I feel fairly confident to speak for the entire group in this regard.

In a nutshell, we shopped in the morning for food in La Paz at a grocery store and an outdoor market, we worked at the Tierra Santa school helping many of the students write letters back to students in Eden Prairie, some of us got started on building tables for the new computer lab, we played soccer, we constructed kites, we played with balloons, and we began a weeklong art project.

When I say "we", of course I cannot include myself in all those experiences. At any given moment we have two or three various things going on simutaneously. And if you asked the group, they'd probably tell you that I wasn't really doing any of them. Ha Ha. Actually I love to bop between activities and give my support wherever it's needed.

I pitched in this morning at the school helping with the letter writing. Thankfully, so did Debbie. She was a big help in talking with the teachers and making sure we all knew what we were doing. The first class was a bit difficult considering we were working with 1st and 2nd graders. Think about writing letters with 1st graders back home, and you'll know how difficult it is writing letters with students in Honduras who have not had nearly the quality of education that most Minnesota kids have had. In most cases, we read the letters from the EP students to the Tierra Santa students out loud. And in many cases, we also wrote the letters back taking dictation from the kids here. They told us what to write and we wrote it. The second class was much easier. This class was made up of 5th and 6th graders. They seemed to love the project and love the fact that they were corresponding with real live kids an ocean away.

One of my highlights outside of Tierra Santa today was the open air market in La Paz. I just love that place. I started out my stroll by buying a plateful of fresh fruit. Later on when that ran out I bought a donut from the local bakery. I was tempted to later buy some fresh french fries cooking in grease before my eyes, but I held off. Regretting that decision just a bit. I reunited with some old friends in the market. Not really - but I did deliver pictures to some of the vendors I had met last time. They thought it was quite a kick that I had a picture of them in my pocket. One of the guys even stared me down as I was walking up to him. He actually remembered me, and I remembered him. He's my new friend now, Luis.

At Tierra Santa I had a lot of time to hang out with the kids today. I spent a lot of time with Ricky. I am his padrino, or in English, god father. He just stayed at my side most of the afternoon. Earlier in the day, I delivered to him a gift I had brought with me. It was a Twins shirt, Twins shorts, and a Justin Morneau cap. He loved it all. He's a great kid, nine years old just like my daughter Sammie.

One of the best things for me, and I've mentioned this before, is just strolling around the Tierra Santa courtyard and having children yelling out "Christopher" as I pass by. I love the fact that I'm getting to know these kids on a more personal level.

We ended the night with a dinner at La Fonda. We were joined by Jeff and four Tierra Santa kids - Jesus, Henry, Karolina and Yani. After dinner we all strolled down to the central square and enjoyed some ice cream. My favorite moment of the night was watching all the kids, Tierra Santa kids included, playing catch with three juggling balls at the foot of the cathedral. I think that image with stay with me for a very long time. Thanks to all the EPers for a great journey so far!!!

Allison's First Blog!

So far we have had a wonderful time here in Honduras! The first day was really long, but it was worth all the traveling to be able to meet all these kids. Today Chris, Debbie, Kate, my mom, and I went to the elementary school to give the kids letters that Ausitn and my Spanish class wrote. They then wrote some letters back to the kids! The first and second graders had a harder time with it, but we helped them write and they drew a lot of pictures. The fifth and sixth graders were wonderful and wrote suprising long letters back. It was a neat experience to see their school, and how different it is from anything that I have ever attended. The kids get done with school and noon so when they came back we just hung around with them and talked. I am really surpised at how much spanish I actually know. I am able to communicate really well which really surprised me!

Kali, Kim, and I found out really fast today that the girls LOVE temporary tatoos. They basically ripped them out of our hands! That was really fun too. They are also very good photographers and i-touch users! It is kind of amazing.
so
The food here is SO good! We had the best chinese food I have ever had on Saturday. Sounds weird right? Well there is actually a fairly large Chinese population in Honduras.

I am bloging from the new building at the Hogar which has a preschool, some computer rooms, and of course the water treatment plant. We got a tour of that yestarday and it sounds really cool. They are really excited for it to be up and running!

Well I have to get back to the kids!
Saludos,
Allison

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

Wonderful Sunday in Honduras.

I’ve learned after three trips that the Sunday routine is very much the same. But, that hardly means it’s routine or that I’ve grown tired of the experience on the first day at the Hogar. In fact, after my experience on my last trip here back in December, I’ve learned that this first day, as routine as it is, is one of the best days.

I enjoy it so much largely for the fact that when I walk through those front gates of Tierra Santa I am greeted by name by so many of the wonderful children that I have gotten to know this year. The kids remember me. The kids know me. What a joy that is to have made these connections with so many awesome kids. It just warms my heart to know that I have over 100 friends living thousands of miles away from my home.

Berto was one of the first kids to come running up to me. Berto is probably about seven or eight years old and is the twin brother of Keekay. He ran up to me, called out my name, and opened up his arms for a big hug. Then the rest of the day I was hard pressed to not find his hand intertwined with mine. He didn’t want to lose me during the day. He also kept asking me if I was coming back tomorrow.

As I said, we did all the typical Sunday things including a tour of the home, a banquet of Honduran food at Santiago’s house, then a welcome reception put on by the kids back at the Hogar. In between all that we unpacked donated items and spent tons of time kicking back with the kids, shooting hoops, reading books, looking at pictures and more.

Books were again a bit hit. After unloading some of our stuff, I grabbed an armload of some books written and created by students from Mrs. Holtan’s class back at Oak Point and brought them out in the courtyard. Within seconds, students were swarming around the books, grabbing them and sitting down to read them. It’s terribly rewarding to spend time looking at books with the Tierra Santa kids. They just eat it up. They love to read and they love to be read to. And you can tell that they think it’s really cool to hold in their hands a book created for them by a child back in America. They loved looking at the “about the author” section at the end of the book to see just who it was who wrote the book. Spending time with the kids and seeing how much books mean to them makes me feel like we, as an organization, really need to keep fostering this love of reading with these kids. They just soak up these good books. And, of course, what a great way for them to learn, to become more literate and to be able to continue to be successful in their education.

Primer Dia y Segundo Dia

Ronny and Austin (3/28 and 3/29):
We started the trip by waking up at 3:00 am, which was terrible. Our plane left at 6:00 am and it was a three and a half hour flight to Miami. We had a two hour layover at Miami where we ate some Chinese and walked around. Our flight to Honduras was a two hour flight and the airport in Honduras was smaller compared to the ones in the US.
We soon found out what the weather in Honduras is like when we stepped out of the airport: hot and sticky. Fifteen kids from the Hogar joined us one the three bus ride to Comayagua from San Pedro Sula. An hour into the bus ride, we stopped at an open air market and bought bananas, pineapples, and a papaya we named Larry.
We arrived at the Hotel Quan in Comayagua and then went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was delicious. We packed up the extra food and brought it with us to the Hogar the next day. We went back to the Hotel to swim and watch TV.
Today (Sunday) we woke up and ate a delicious pancake breakfast. We then took a bus to the Hogar where we proceeded to make many friends as soon as we stepped off the bus. All the kids were very excited to see us and were all over us for the rest of the day. We got a formal tour of the Hogar and we could see how the Hogar has been improving over the last twenty years. After the tour, we ate a delicious lunch at Santiago’s (director at the Hogar) that included tortillas, beans, beef, fried platanos, quesadillas, fresh fruit juice, and taquitos. After lunch, we continued playing with the kids and unloading all the supplies we brought for the Hogar. Before we left, they gave a wonderful welcoming program that included dancing and a fashion show. The kids were so energetic and made the day great.
We walked to dinner at a local barbeque joint and enjoyed the great Honduran food. On our way home, we had our first Honduran riding experience. We had sixteen people jammed into a five person pickup. Six people were in the cab while the other ten rode in the back and got some fresh air.

Saturday, March 28th

Our first day of Honduras Spring Break 2009 was a good one. With no flight delays we made it to San Pedro Sula on time at about 1:30 in the afternoon. This was appreciated most by me, due to our malfunctioning bathroom experience from the last trip that delayed our arrival in Honduras by many hours.

We were greeted at the airport by about 15 kids from Tierra Santa, along with Bob and some of the Tierra Santa workers. We had a great bus ride. Of course it was a long trip, but that didn’t really matter since we were all having so much fun talking with the kids. Among the kids who met us there were Leonardo, Christian, Jessica, Alba, Sindy, Sisi, Carolina, and more. What kept the kids the busiest, besides talking and eating snacks, was playing with some of the iPods that people had brought with. They were totally taken by the iPod touch.

On the way to Comayagua we stopped at a fruit stand along the road and enjoyed some coconut milk, fresh pineapple, and mini bananas. We all stood around passing the various fruits from person to person, then spent the next several minutes on the bus passing the big banana stalk from seat to seat until they were gone.

As we neared Comayagua the weather got cooler. Some people were even seen putting on a light jacket. Once in Comayagua we said farewell to our new Tierra Santa friends, settled in, then went to Meng Ying for a traditional Chinese-Honduran dinner. J Bedtime followed soon thereafter as we all had full stomachs and were all very tired after a full day of travel.

Hello all!

The Parker family is getting very excited to travel to Honduras this Saturday. We feel fortunate to be able to take this opportunity to travel together and with others from EP Schools. We look forward to updating you about what we are doing, learning, experiencing, feeling. Thanks for reading.

The Parkers
Jeff, Holly, Allison and Jack

Preparing for Spring Break 2009

Global Connect's group from Eden Prairie, MN is just a week away from embarking on another journey to Hogar Tierra Santa in Honduras. Needless to say, we're all very excited and can hardly wait to board that airplane. Take a look at the handsome faces of all the trip goers. The trip is a great blend of generations. We have experienced trip members and several young people including Kali who is only nine-years-old. It should be a great mix and should make for a very entertaining trip.

At Oak Point Intermediate School in Eden Prairie, students have worked the past few weeks to help the children of Tierra Santa. Students from Mrs. Holtan's class, and other classes, have designed and created their own bilingual children's books that will be delivered to Tierra Santa and placed on the shelves of their library. These students did an awesome job, and the books will be wonderfully appreciated by the children who are awaiting our visit.

Please stay tuned to our blog as we will begin posting daily updates beginning March 29th through April 5th. Wish us well and chime in with your thoughts!

Eden Prairie Schools Service

Why do we do what we do as teaching staff? Why do we seek to help others around the globe as part of Eden Prairie Schools Global Connect? We all choose to make this commitment for a variety of different reasons. But a common link between us all, I assume, is our desire to give back and our desire to make the lives of others better.

As our nation begins a new chapter in its history, I was struck by a line from the inauguration address of our new leader, President Obama. This is what he said today...

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.

This is the work we, as members of Eden Prairie Schools and Global Connect, have taken on. We stand together in support of our friends from Honduras in hopes to do just what President Obama said. His words couldn't be more appropriate.

Tierra Santa is striving to make its farm productive and flourishing. Global Connect hopes to help. Tierra Santa and its supporters are erecting a water treatment facility to provide clean water to its children. Global Connect hopes to help. Tierra Santa struggles every day to fill the hungry bodies of its children. Global Connect hopes to help. And Tierra Santa seeks to meet the educational needs of all its children. Global Connect hopes to help.

Thank you, President Obama, for reminding us of the importance of reaching out beyond our borders to help others. Global Connect hopes that with the continued support of Eden Prairie staff, students and families that we can follow his advice and continue to make the lives of our Honduran friends better.

Video Hellos

During my recent trip to Honduras, many of the kids of Tierra Santa asked me about their friends from Eden Prairie who had traveled to Honduras last spring. Take a look at the following video messages from the kids to these friends. And please forgive my horrible Spanish! :)

Damaris Hello to Jeanne and Sarah

Norma, Norma and Maria Hello to Sam and Jeanine

Leonardo Hello to Nick, Shelly, Ben and Holly

Videos of the Tierra Santa fresh water process

Take a look at the following videos to learn about how Tierra Santa has taken control of its drinking water problems.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Final Days

Since the time flew way too fast during our week in Honduras, I wanted to touch base on a few things we did later in the week that didn’t get written about. On Thursday, our last day at the Hogar, Lisa and I enjoyed baking over 250 sugar cookies with about six teenage girls. We all had a great time. The girls stirred, mixed, rolled and decorated. They loved putting all types of sprinkles on each cookie. Kenia was a huge help with the ovens and swapping pans in and out. I was surprised that none of them asked for or tried to take cookies that had just come out of the oven – definitely not the way it is at home. When we were all done, they each enjoyed a cookie. Tita said they would all eat the cookies after supper that night and I was thrilled that we had made enough so each child could have two. I wish I could have seen their faces that night.

Thursday afternoon was very very hard for me to say goodbye to the kids. Abby and Drew quickly found out how sensitive I am and how quickly the tears come. The week had flown by so fast and it is amazing how quickly relationships formed. On Friday, as we made our way through the Honduras countryside on our way to Tela, I couldn’t stop seeing the kids’ faces in my head and not knowing when I would see them again.

On a much lighter note, we arrived in Tela on Friday afternoon to an incredible view of the Caribbean. Four of the older girls from the Hogar and Jeff, the administrative director at the Hogar, were able to join us in Tela for the last two nights of our trip. It was such a treat to have them along on this portion of our trip and to see the girls experience Tela. On Saturday morning, about eight of us took a boat ride to Punta Sal, a national park, and hiked through the jungle, snorkled, swam and ate a wonderful shore lunch. It was a perfect day!

Over this past week, I have constantly been thinking about the kids at the Hogar, and wonderful what would they be doing now. I look forward to continuing the relationships and seeing the kids again. This trip was an incredible experience that I will be grateful for always.

Some reflections

Reflecting on another trip is a bit of a difficult thing, as I sit here at the J&B Internet Café on Thursday evening. Just like the trip last spring, so much happened on this trip that it’s difficult to condense those experiences into a few paragraphs.

The group was a true band of dynamos, accomplishing an incredible amount of work in what amounted to about four days. Most impressive in terms of overall accomplishments would have to be the new Susan Seitz Memorial Preschool Room that is located in the new water treatment facility at Tierra Santa.

When we arrived, the room was there, empty and ready to be designed and readied for children. To see the before pictures alongside the after pictures is a pretty amazing thing. From the paint crew to John and Geovani constructing the shelves to the crew that found perfect preschool furniture at a store in Comayagua, everything turned out fantastically.

Today we needed to finish and paint the shelving, then organize the toys and teaching materials prior to welcoming the kids to their new school room. Santiago and Bob said a few words about the importance of the room and dedicated it to Bob’s wife, Susan. Following that, all the Tierra Santa kids packed into the room to see Bob and Santiago hang a ceremonial photo of Susan on the wall. Both Santiago and Tahire said several words of thanks to our group from Minnesota, as well. It was a very moving experience, and a fine tribute to a wonderful woman.

The rest of the day including Tricia and Lisa baking over 200 sugar cookies with a group of eager girls, Rose doing haircuts in the courtyard, and the distribution of ball caps, soccer socks and hand-created pillow cases to all the kids. There were big smiles all around, including, of course, on the faces of all of us from Minnesota.

Saying goodbye at the end of the day was difficult, but I must say, not as difficult as the last time I was here. I think I now see the reality of myself returning to Tierra Santa often, and the fact that I know I’ll be coming back in March probably doesn’t hurt. The children are so awesome, though, that spending just a couple months away from them will be tremendously difficult. Part of me wishes I could just pack up my entire family and live in the Villa. But service trips from time to time will probably have to do for now.

This trip was a great one. On the list of unexpected things, were the new relationships I formed with a few of the children at HTS. On my previous trip, I spent a lot of time talking with kids, but much of it was laughing and joking around, nothing real serious. But on this trip, I spent quality time with two children in particular, both of which I barely spoke with last time. Those two kids were Kenia and Nancy. Kenia is 21 and is the child Tricia and I sponsor, and I only really met her late into the trip last spring. This time around I talked with her a great deal and really got to know her on a personal level.

Nancy is a girl who I just connected with on this trip, I’m not sure exactly why. She is such a sweetheart. She is 14 years old and in her second year at the secondary school in the Villa. For the first couple of days here, I kept wondering why she constantly looked at me in a confused way whenever I spoke to her. But eventually I figured out that she is slightly hearing impaired. She and I just clicked for some reason and seemed to always have something to talk about.

Last night gave us even more time to interact. Last night we stayed at HTS until about 12:30 p.m. so that we could take in the New Year’s celebration with the kids. Let me tell you, it was really a highlight for me, dancing with the kids, eating with the kids, lighting a stuffed artificial man on fire with the kids (that’s another story). But the best part of the night for me was just sitting and talking with Nancy for a very long time.

For a long stretch, Nancy, Kenia and Argentina sat in the courtyard. The girls practiced their English. Tricia and I practiced our Spanish. We counted, we sang songs, we practiced the alphabet – we did it all.

I guess to wrap up, this experience matched or even exceeded my first experience at Tierra Santa for the simple fact that I got to know the kids of HTS that much better. They remembered me, I remembered them, and we built on the foundation that was created last spring. I can’t wait to continue building on that foundation even more in the years ahead.

More videos - this time from Wednesday

Wednesday at Hogar Tierra Santa - Take a look!


We're prepping the preschool and writing letters.


You've gotta like John's bottle rocket lighting technique! The burning men on the chairs in this video? We still really don't understand!

Video from Tuesday

Take a look at some video shots from Tuesday at Tierra Santa

The 2nd Best Blog Ever

Today we (Abby and Drew) went to farm in the morning. We were expecting a ton of dirty jobs - feeding pigs, cleaning the tilapia pond, etc - but instead found very little to do. The kids said they were going to start work at about one in the afternoon and didn't need much help. We did, however, clean out the old toolshed. There were a ton of huge cockroaches living in there so it was pretty intense/disgusting. That took about 20 minutes so then we just talked to some of the kids. They taught us some games and we struggled along to play them. I (Drew) was excited to be there because I got to hang out a little more with Geovanni because I hadn't seen much of him this week. So then we left and returned to the Hogar. We took a little Facebook break in the sala because Abby needed to feed her addiction - three whole days is a dang long time. Drew was impressed by his parents immediate response to his nice email (oh wait, it took them over a day to respond - and they don't answer my phone calls). Next, we headed into the preschool room to help out. We got there just in time to help the kids put their handprints on the wall. It was so cute to see their exited faces as they got to play in the paint and help decorate their room. Drew was the best at getting perfect looking handprints on the walls. Then we ate lunch.

After lunch, I (Drew) helped John make the shelves for the preschool. It was really fun and cool to see because Geovanni basically made them himself. He was all over the measuring, drilling, hammering and everything else. It was fun to just chill out and make the shelves rather than run around with kids.

I, (Abby) wrote letters in the school with Rosa and a few other girls. They wrote letters to kids from Oak Point. After that I just talked with Sofia and Sarahi. They showed me pictures and Sofia told me about her family.

After that we went as a group for a tour of the Villa. We saw a huge valley and some of the volunteer's houses for the Hogar. We bought some weird frozen coconut vanilla things and ate them. They were so good! Abby even liked them. Now, we're writing this blog and getting ready for the celebration tonight!

Rose Leapaldt

December 31 New Years Eve. Today we began our day at 7:15 and visited a tortilla factory in Via San Antonio. They made 16,000 tortillas today rather than the average 8,000 due to the holiday. Next, we visited an outdoor market where various goods and foods were sold. We arruved at the Hogar about 9:30 and began our jobs. I helped complete the Pre-K room by applying a second coat of chalk board paint to the lower part of two walls. We all did hand prints along the boarders along with all the nursery school children. The room looks fantastic, bright and cheery. John B. began building 6 large shelving units and the girls plus some volunteer kids painted each a different color. This room will provide the kids with a wonderful learning enviornment inwhich to attend school.

In the afternoon, I taught a class in stamping. I had two helpers but the kids were very busy and it was a crazy class to say the least! At one point, I saw a little boy paint a girl's hair, another
4 year old grab the roller and take off, two little girls arguing and throwing things, and on and I think I would rethink this painting activity before ever attempting it with such young kids.

Tonight, we will have a wonderful meal and celebrate New Year's Eve. at the Hogar with all the children. They have a program planned for us and have been setting up a stage with flowers and
other fun things.

Videos from Monday

Enjoy some scenes from our first full day (Monday) at Tierra Santa.

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.

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!

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)

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.

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!

Sunday in Honduras was a good day! Of course, due to our late night the day before we rose a bit late in the morning. We had a breakfast of French toast at the hotel before embarking for Tierra Santa.

Once at the home, we were greeted by shining, smiling faces. Everyone had a chance to just hang out a bit and get to know some of the kids. And yes, this is easier for some then others. Heather and Tricia reported feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the kids and the fast Spanish-speaking going on. Early feelings of “too much” are quickly replaced with feelings of being right at home, however.

At lunch time, we were treated to a full meal at the home of Iris and Santiago, complete with tamales, beans, tortillas, plantains, pico de gallo and more. It was wonderful and we all pigged out.

Following lunch the kids of Tierra Santa performed a program for us. They sang, they danced – it was a good time. Some of the dances were traditional to Honduras while others clearly had more of an MTV influence. In one dance, some of the women from our group were even pulled up to join in. Erin, I must say, did a nice rendition of the Electric Slide.

In the evening, we stopped at the wood shop to order some hand-carved souvenirs then had a wonderful meal in Comayagua. Sunday was a great day, but Monday will be even better, no doubt!

Best Blog Ever!

Hola! So, here it is Lois and Kimps… This counts for both Abby and Drew because we are both writing this right now.

Yesterday was basically the longest day of our lives. We spent a total of 22 hours in airports, on planes, or on buses. It was exhausting – and Drew ate a pistachio we’re pretty sure. Whoops, but nothing happened so it’s all good. When we finally arrived in Honduras, we quickly found the kids. Sarahi and Geovanni (sp?) were both there and we were excited to see them again! They both asked about our parents and siblings and we struggled through our first conversations en espanol. Then, we traveled by bus under the impression that we would soon arrive at our hotel. We would arrive at our hotel, but not soon. It took four hours to get to Hotel Quan and we wanted to sleep but there were these kids that sort of wanted to play/talk with us. So, we dealt with it. But really, the bus ride was fun. We talked to Geovanni, Sarahi, Kensy, Dulce, and Jacoba and sang some songs as well. When we arrived at the hotel, we just went right to bed.

The next morning everyone was up and ready to go. We all showered (“we all” does not include Drew or Abby) and then had breakfast. Don’t worry, I (Drew) made sure Abby ate something. We had French toast and it was good. Then we headed out to the Hogar right after Drew dropped his water bottle and it broke, so thanks for the Christmas present mom! We got to the Hogar safely and the kids immediately grabbed us by the fingers and took us away. We got a full tour of the grounds and then just had time to chill with the kids. Pretty much Rey is Drew’s favorite right now and Keekay is Abby’s favorite (not that we have favorites). The kids are awesome and will tolerate our poor Spanish most of the time. They like piggy backs and holding your hand. Later, we went to Santiago’s casa for lunch. The food was so good! Even Abby had two platefuls! Quite the accomplishment right there. Drew also had two platefuls, but his probably had way more food on them (Don’t worry, once again Drew supervised Abby’s diet). Then we got to go back to the kids! We’ve met lots of kids that we can’t quite remember their names because when we learned them we didn’t actually understand what they were saying but we get by (one example: Spider-Man). Now, we’re unpacking the suitcases and writing this amazing blog. Don’t worry, we’ve actually interacted with the adults and they are really sweet! So, one down – six to go. Hopefully tomorrow, we’ll have showered! Love you parental units!

Chris - Our First Day Winter 2008

I’m not going to go into too much detail about our travel day on Saturday, but as it was, our day was a very long one. We started at the airport in Minneapolis at 4:00 a.m. and were greeted with a four-hour delay due to a toilet part that needed repair. From there we hopped to Miami and from there to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Much waiting, some card playing and reading occurred in the many hours we were forced to spend in the airports. The silver lining in the day was our bump to first class on our flight from Miami to San Pedro Sula due to our earlier flight delay. We all felt like celebrities getting our hot towels, our complimentary beverages, and our fancy meals. It was a treat! It’s amazing how differently the flight attendants take care of you in first class!

Speaking of treats, upon arrival in Honduras at 8:30 p.m. we had our best surprise of the day. Santiago and about 15 Tierra Santa children were waiting for us at the airport. I was immediately greeted by my young friends Alba, Jacoba and Miriam. Also there were Geovani and Sarahi, the two young people who came to Eden Prairie in the fall. My eyes got watery as we all exchanged hugs and big huge smiles.

The bus ride to Comayagua was a joy. Everyone was interacting with the kids and getting their first chance to flex their Spanish-speaking muscle. It was particularly fun to see Drew and Abby be the center of attention with a group of the teenage girls. The two EP kids dove right in and began speaking Spanish immediately. Way to go EP Spanish teachers!

As we were serenaded by singing from the kids, including a rollicking rendition of “Feliz Navidad,” many of us drifted off to sleep. A few hours later our bus arrived in Comayagua at the Hotal Quan. By the time we hit the mattresses it was 1:00 a.m. What a first day!