382 days of service completed (plus 2 months of training)...348 days remaining.

September...el mes de la patria...Nation's Month.  Yup, a whole month of celebration for the country's independence.  The days include the national anthem on the radio either at 6am or noon.  In schools, the days start off with the daily acto civico (civic ceremony).  Independence week includes several parades starting with the kinder kids on the 13th, elementary on the 14th and high schools on the 15th.  This is a common practice in other Latin American countries too.  Many public schools opted out of the festivities in an attempt to recuperate some school hours lost in the prolonged strikes throughout the year.  (Note: The latest round of strikes ended early this month.)

September also marked a year of my service.  The H17 volunteer group swore in on September 10th, 2010.  Of the 19 YDV (Youth Development Volunteers) 16 remain in service.  It is hard to believe that I am more than half way through this experience.  It is true what they say, two years will feel like not enough time.  It is also true that the PC experience will not be what you expected.  This is definitely true in my case.

I saw myself serving in Africa or remote Latin America.  I'd live in a rural community, know all of the neighbors, and immerse completely in the culture.  I wanted to challenge myself in an unfamiliar experience and and learn a new language.  I am a believer in destiny and think I am in the exact assignment I was meant to be in....an Americanized Spanish-speaking historically cultural city.  This site has lead to new challenges, new understandings, and a wealth of meaningful moments that I hope to always carry with me to guide my continued work in development.

The city recently held the Feria de Turismo (Tourism Fair) last Friday.  This came after the city took 1st and 2nd place in a national contest for the 30 Top Wonders.  They had the local batucada banda and the traditional diablitos (little devils).

La alcaldia municipal....Mayor's Office

Diablito de Comayagua 

My little friend, Josue (a street kid), and I enjoying the batucada....he wouldn't dance with me ;) 

 I started observations this month.  I am working with close to 80 elementary teachers from various locations around the county.  Observations are one of my favorite elements of our work together.  I get to see them in action in their classrooms in front of their students.  For one, it is interesting to see the work environment and student population they work with.  For two, they always impress me and I learn a ton from watching them. (Have I mentioned that I am leaning toward developing my future work around education consulting? Exciting...I know!)

Daisy's student sharing what food she eats...check out the Rick Morris chart to the right :)

Kenia's student showing off her English notebook. 

I probably say it a ton of times...but the teachers are truly amazing...check out some of their work.

Hemi modeling her creative display of her Long Book on animals..yeah it's a working tv where she scrolls her story.

Vanessa displaying her Long Book on animals...the drawings are UNBELIEVABLE! 

Work at the school has slowly picked up again.  I am on campus twice a week.  It makes any work even harder.  Students are always bombarded with homework assignments as many teachers try to cover content through handouts and worksheets (because of all the time missed during the strikes).  However, I have picked up the conversation on the BECAS Semillas, a scholarship offered through USAID.  I hope to have more students fill out the application and get them to experience the entire process.  (Fingers crossed so one of them will be selected.)

The school is celebrating their 67th anniversary this week.  They held the Miss Anniversary pageant yesterday, organized a parade through town today, will host sporting activities with the neighboring schools tomorrow, and host a BBQ on Saturday...plus a night of dancing at a local nightclub Friday.  Yeah, they celebrate big.  (If only they would get this pumped to study, learn, and teach. Some habits are hard to break.)

The work with the tutors at the project continued in Sept. but will be left to rest till possibly November.  They will be audited this month and have workshops to participate in.  Our greatest challenge is refining their questioning techniques.  I have them design detailed lessons and have them think ahead of their questions to facilitate their questioning abilities.  Yet, once in action, most of them rely on the traditional way of teaching....a lot of lecturing.  I also tried modeling a demo lesson to give examples of how to incorporate questioning into the activities.  Note, the work will be continued some other time.... They held some games on the "dia del niño" (Day of the Child) celebrated on September 10th.  The children had received tokens for their attendance and were given a gift in exchange.  

Kids walking out to the field for some games. 

Three legged race. 

Mary is enjoying the Biblioteca Movil (Mobil Library) program.  She visits the kinder class daily to lead the hora de lectura (reading hour).  We had been planning out the week's lessons together but I am happy to share that she is leading the entire program with the classroom teacher.  I'm very excited for them.  The children are responding very well too.  (No pictures. Boo.) 


On the lighter side of things, Mary and I took a trip together to celebrate our dia del maestro (Teacher's Day) celebrated on September 17th.  We had fun and shared many momentos de confianza (moments of trust).  I'd been antsy to take some time off and we'd mentioned taking a trip together...so we sprung to it and planned everything out.  The entire weekend turned out amazing...hotel, city, new friends, meals, side trips, road trip, and pics...can you tell we were lovin' it  ;P

Disfrutando un cafecito y una buena platica....enjoying a coffee and a great chat. 

All smiles in the sun...toda sonrisas en el sol. 

At a personal level, I've been going back and forth about getting a puppy.  I tried weighing out the pros/cons...but I always come back to years ago when I decided to join the Peace Corps.... and I saw myself walking along my puppy around the village I was assigned to.  Now that I'm living in a city....in a studio-sized apartment....with a busy schedule...I'd almost ruled it out....but I can't seem to drop the issue.  If you know me, you know I like to check off the items on my lists...y por lo tanto el cuento no va terminar aqui (and therefore this story won't end here).