Fiestas!

Jenny guarding the cookie table at our Christmas Party
Tristan and some of his students (they all call him "guapo" and how he is the most handsome teacher.... guess I need to spend more time in the High School so they remember he's taken :).
Me and Allison - I know I'm not supposed to have favorites but...

These last two weeks has been full of going to people's houses, parties, and Christmas preparations. We are learning that Hondurans love to party! A couple weeks ago we went to Joel's two year old son's birthday. It was very fun! Everyone (adults and kids) took a swing at the Pinata and wore birthday hats. At first we thought they were only serving appetizers so Tristan loaded up on 3 plates of those. After the games, they served us a full plate of food, then a cup of ice cream, then cake! Since they saw how much Tristan and Johnny were eating, they served them a fourth of the cake. :) Oh - and we all got to take home party bags with toys and candies :). It was great and now I think that North American's need to spice up the parties a bit.

Celia's birthday was last week and she had us over for her birthday party. There was only a few of us and after dinner some of us stayed late into the night for some Spanish lessons :) . Also last week we went to one of our students houses for dinner - Tristan has their son in 8th grade, and I have their daughter in 4th. It was fun - Tristan did all the talking - his Spanish has gotten so good! I'm always impressed by it!

On Monday night we (the North American teachers) had our Christmas cookie party. All of us baked for the 4 days before the party and we had well over 1,200 cookies! Yes we went a little overboard but didn't know how many people to expect. So, about 50 people showed up and we loaded them up with cookies and hot chocolate. We had a cookie decorating table, Christmas music going, and a hot game of charades in the carport. It was a really great time and we heard rave reviews! :). It was fun because the sweets that Hondurans eat are so different than U.S. sweets that all the cookies and candies were new to them (some asked Tristan for his Rice Krispie Bars recipe :). It was really nice to be able to show our hospitality to them because they are always doing things for us - showing us around, bringing us traditional food to eat, etc. Honduras is very much a caste system and the different classes of people do not mix. So, we got some strange looks when we invited everyone from the school - the bus drivers, cleaning ladies, teachers and administration. It was nice to break the system - even if only for 2 hours.

Today was the last day of school! Yipppeeee! Tristan and I are so happy to have a break from our 'angels' and hopefully we'll be able to appreciate them again in a couple of weeks. So, Tristan had a pizza party with his 8th graders, and I had a Beleada and Catrachitas party (it's really because I love that food and wanted it). My kids did a Secret Santa and it went well and after I loaded them up on cake, ice cream, chips, candy, marshmellows, etc - I sent them home!!!!

Let me share some joys of having one of my "Angels" in class... well, I'll just share two days of him. Besides the normal for him of taking kids stuff, running, crawling on the floor, etc, yesterday he set his pencil on fire by putting it in the class microwave - I didn't notice until the room was starting to smell. Today, he started giving away stuff that was in my desk AND he knocked the cake for the party onto the floor! His goal is to make my life exciting and to teach me patience! :) But the funny thing is, as much as I want to ring his neck, I have a lot of compassion for the kid - and side with him when he gets in fights.

Yesterday was our 2nd wedding anniversary! We celebrated by going out to Big Beleada's and having a Wendy's frosty. :) It was nice. Two great years together!

Well, next time you hear from us, we'll be in Costa Rica! We leave tomorrow morning for San Jose, Costa Rica. Wish us luck! I hope that you're not stressed with Christmas planning etc. :) Don't forget the reason behind Christmas!