...2 days of futballin...

Girls Team 2011

Last year, the bilingual Montessori school in town started a bilingual soccer tournament - which is great for the kids because they don't get to play as a school ever, really. Being the phys ed. teacher makes me automatic coach, which I am fine with. Last year our girls were wayyyy rough because we didn't practice and it was their first year ever playing, but this year we had some practices and pulled togther a pretty good team! In Honduras, its not common or popular for women to play sports, so I love that the girls have the same opp. as the boys to participate and play in this soccer tourny. 

The kids got to miss 2 days of school, which they hated I'm sure, and play against 3 other bilingual schools here in town. The girls ended up with 2 ties and 1 loss and the boys with 3 ties. The only down side of this tournament was ... rules. Evidently, here in Honduras - rules are made to be broken, and when they are broken, there are no consequences. I actually had a dream the night before the tournament that the other teams were cheating really bad (playing older kids, etc) and I got really upset! There was some bad cheating last year, so I kinda saw it coming I guess. 

We were only suppose to have one 14 year old playing on the field at the same time, the rest had to be 13 and under. (Because the other schools don't go all the way up to grade 11 like we do, so they don't want us to benefit from having older kids). So to me, that meant - if you break that rule, the team is disqualified. So the 14 year olds, (3 of them) were begging me all day - MISSSSS please let us all play together, we will win easy if we do that! And me, being the honest coach I am said absolutely not - I don't care if the other teams are playing all their 14 year olds - we aren't. So here we were with all these little tiny guys (mostly 11/12) going up against other teams that are cheating and playing the older kids. So our director shows up for our last game and sees the other teams are "maybe" playing their older boys so she tells me - tomorrow you are playing all of the older boys as well. 

GOOOOOAAAALLLLL

 

So I hate it here that even in a school setting - they are telling their kids/students that cheating/lying to win is more important than following rules. So I hate that my guys had to suffer because we followed the rules - but the next day we played all the older ones and I explained to them why we follow rules and how its unacceptable for the directors of the tournament to even make rules if they are going to be broken. A terrible lesson for the kids - but I hated for them to miss out on the tournament. I hope next year our director shares with them our concerns about the lesson they are teaching and hopefully make changes. Despite all that though the kids had a BLAST and I had a lot of fun getting to know them better and just seeing them play and have fun - def. one of my favorite days of this school year! 

 

...an unexpected beach trip...

On Sunday, all the girls- except Lindsay (who was hanging out with her fiance), went to the beach. Robin met some people from an English school at a student's birthday party. They seemed pretty nice & invited her to the beach, so in turn, she invited all of us. She said we were going to hand out food/clothes to some poorer villages by Tela (the beach) then go to the beach for a bit. So, we all get up to be ready for the bus to come get us at 5am- (awesome, right). When we get on the bus, there is already about 40-50 people on the school bus, so we head to the back & sit 3 a seat. The back of the bus was already rowdy, even at 5:30am! The kids in the back didn't stop talking! They were crazy.


About 9am we roll up to Tela- a new local beach that we haven't been to before. We parked right in front of a church, so we thought when we would be giving out food there. But, when we were getting of the bus, the director of the school said to meet back at the bus at 3:30pm. So finally we asked some one & it was really just a beach day! We paid 200 lempira to go on the trip & apparently that was the fundraiser to then buy food/clothes for the people who needed it. Things got lost in translation, even though it was in English :)


So, we hung out at the beach from 9:30 - 3:30 on Sunday & it was AMAZING! The water was clear and just cool enough to be refreshing. We laid out & hung out in the water all day. The only thing I don't really like about Tela, is that it is pretty much just for locals - so they aren't use to seeing americans. So all day we got cat called, stared through, and even some guys had the _____ to take pictures of us laying out!! (I was real close to getting the mase out a couple of times). However -- It was a much needed break & relaxation that everyone needed. 

little boys playing/dancing punta for money

pan de coco - good part about the coast!

riding close!!

self-made changing station b/c it cost 10L (.50 cents) to use one!

all the girls!

...counting down...

This is a pretty exciting time and there is a lot coming up soon that I am really looking forward to! Because our "spring break" was soooo late this year, we have all kinda  been dying for a break and taking advantage of doing some fun things on weekends and trying to stay sane! But here are some things coming up that I can't wait for....

Starting swimming class - I get to go here every day for nearly 2 hours!! Lucky!

Sunday: Going to Tela with a group of Honduran from a local school to feed the needy and give out food to them! Then we get a couple hours of beach time!

beach in Tela

Wednesday: 2nd Annual Spelling Bee - since I am the spelling teacher, I have picked 2 students from each class to participate! 

last year's winners with steph's mom

 Thursday/Friday: 2nd Annual Guys/girls Futbol Tournament at local bilingual school....

April 15th - My 2nd Annual Mini-Olympics Event (I have to plan an olympic day for the whole school with 8 different events and 8 different groups/ages! Lets just say I am a happy girl when its over!) 

April 16-22 - SPRING BREAK IN COSTA RICA!!!!!! Now this is what we have REALLY been waiting for! I get to go with Stephanie and her Momma since my family isn't coming to see me this year!! We have been talking about it so much and we really can't wait! I know they have planned LOTS of fun activities for us - surfing, volcanoes, beaches, horseback riding, and more! AHHHH I am really gonna need this vacation after Mini Olympics! Can't wait!! 2 Weeks!

April 22-24 - After we get back to Honduras from Costa Rica, we are taking a 2 day trip back to the Copan Ruins! I went on an educational trip last year, but am excited about going back on my own to see it again! 

SOOOOOOO LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!!