It's been a while since I've written, but for good reason.  I have been swamped this week with writing final exams and study guides.  Everything was due today, 4 final exams (3 versions of each) and 4 study guides.  I can't believe how much time it took to make those tests! Shew...its good to have a large chunk done.  Now for revising and correcting all of my mistakes on the tests.

Anyways, so now I have a little time to write. We just got home from school, and are waiting to leave to go on the Teachers Spiritual Retreat.  It's just an overnight thing, but I think it should be fun. I hear (suggested) that there may be some kickball in the schedule!

Last weekend was my birthday weekend, and I wasn't sure exactly how I would handle it.  I figured I'd get pretty homesick but I had such a great birthday here in Honduras.  Saturday was the Fiesta Cantracha (Honduran Party) at school, so all of the North American teachers went and enjoyed a big Honduran Celebration! There were beautiful outfits, delicious food and informative booths of all of the major cities of Honduras.  I had a really good time watching all of the students perform and experiencing some of the Honduran culture.  After that, I went to a big mall to go grocery shopping with several other girls.  This mall is not what you would think a mall would be like in Honduras.  Just picture this, Lacoste, Apple Store, Nine West and so many more expensive stores.  It's weird how there are such extremes here.  As we walked in the mall, we strolled past TGI Friday's and one of the other girls remembered that you get a free meal on your birthday, so we definitely hit that up.  I felt like I was back in the States as we sat in Friday's and enjoyed free refills of soda, and watched the, get this, Clemson football game on ESPN.  It was really fun (even though the food took 45 minutes to come out and the waiter brought me the wrong food, and he didn't actually take my meal off of the bill) and I had a great time.  When we got home, my roomates had planned a dinner at a new Chinese Restaurant that just opened, so we went there and had dinner with most of the North American teachers.  Then we all came back to our house and had brownies and icecream and played my favorite game, Catch Phrase! 

It was such a great birthday! One I won't soon forget!

The weekend only got better, when I got to go to church with the Martinez family and then play frisbee on Sunday. For dinner, the girls at La Vista (one of the other houses) had us over.  We had such a good homemade meal; Lasagna, bread and peaches. Yummy! I think my favorite part though was that Paula used to be a barista at a coffee shop and is AMAZING at making delicious coffee.  She made us peppermint mocha's and Cinnamon-vanilla drinks. Quite wonderful! We had a great time and enjoyed telling stories and spending some time together. It's amazing how enjoyable Sunday can be when you don't have to go to school on Monday.

That's right, we had Monday off from school, so we planned a trip to Valle de Angleles. (Valley of Angels) It's a little town about an hour away that is a complete tourist trap.  We caught a taxi and then a busito to get all the way there.  The little town was so pleasant and I actually felt safe walking around and taking pictures.  If anyone ever comes to visit, I'll take you there.  They had so many little Honduran knick-knacks, and I got most of my Christmas shopping done!

4 day work weeks are great, especially when I got another break on Thursday.  I was able to go on the 10th grade Spiritual Retreat yesterday, which was during the school day.  We went up to a place in the mountain where camps are held.  We had a great time with all the students.  I got to know some of my students even better and really start to build relationships. 

I feel like I am leaving so much out, but this would be 10 pages long if I told every detail.  So much has happened over the past week and now its Friday again. 

Good times in Honduras!