An overdue update…

Kid's Day

After my last post, quite a lot has happened. In Honduras, they celebrate Children’s Day on the 10th of September, but as this was a Sunday our school celebrated Dia del Niño’s (kids day) on the Friday. The celebrations consisted of many piñatas, games, singing, dancing, and of course some fried chicken and Pepsi (could you really go a day without it??? We wish lol). Kat & I really enjoyed the day as it was a chance to enjoy with the kids and relax a little. We also got to wear jeans and trainers which was sweet, even though it was probably 35 degrees :/. We were told the day before that we weren’t going to have any lunch as there was someone else coming in to do the food for the kids, so obviously being constantly hungry vols, Kat & I planned ahead by having pancakes for breakfast and come lunchtime for the kids we ended up finishing all the children’s left-over chicken & chips, then we were given some banana split (one of Kat’s students didn’t want hers – lol winning). Then the children handed us endless amounts of sweets they got from the piñata. So, as you can imagine, we were abso stuffed at this point. When it got to actual lunch time (1pm) turns out that apparently lunch was being prepared for us, obviously we ate it – how could you say no to food when you’re living on a budget eh?! Safe to say that was the most we’ve ever eaten in a day lol – stay healthy x

The afternoon was a definite contrast to our day of celebrations all morning in school. We travelled maybe 10 mins out of town to a nearby town to visit a much poorer school to have some Kid’s Day celebrations with them as they weren’t able to in school. The conditions of the school came as a bit of a shock to Kat & I, the school consisted of two classes with few wooden tables and stools, a chalk board and no windows or doors. The school we work at is actually a very nice school compared to most, so in reality we have been sheltered of the real poverty in some of the schools here in Honduras. We went to the school with the family of a student at the school, we fed and gave items of clothing to all the kids. We played some games and had a piñata full of sweets – of which they loved so much that there was a massive pile-on of kids fighting over the sweets. Even comparing the piñatas both schools had showed evident contrast, out school having a huge piñata for each class (20 kids max), and this school having to share a tiny piñata for the whole school. One thing that struck me was one of the young girls at the school, who had managed to grab two small sweets in the brawl to grab as many possible, handed her only sweets to me and tried to give them to Kat & I – even after the very little that she had, she still wanted to give to us. She was a very sweet and beautiful girl, she carried so much grace. We hope to visit the school again soon and also plan to visit other schools to help out any way we can.

Angie’s Quinceanera

A quinceanera is a celebration of a girls 15th birthday, this is known as her ‘coming of age’ that marks her step from girl to woman. We went to one of our students, Angie’s, quinceanera. Safe to say we weren’t disappointed, let’s just say when they go all out here they go ALL OUT. To think of my 15th birthday, a sleepover and a film with a few pals, compared to this… it was like a mini wedding! The evening started with Angie (and her dancers, of course) walking (whilst singing) down some stairs into the main dancing area where many pre-prepared dances and waltz’ were performed. After the first dance Angie then made her way to the stage where she sat on a swing decorated in rose petals as her dad changed her flat shoes to heels, which symbolised the step to womanhood – an original symbol of womanhood… but all the same it was a cute father-daughter moment. I won’t ramble too much as the pictures show more than any of my endless blabber, but safe to say it was a fab night <3 <3

Independence Day.

On the 15th of September, every year Honduras celebrates independence day, independence from Spain in 1823. The celebrations mostly consist of marches and parades all across the country… Hondy babe you celebrate in styleeee. Our school marched the main road in San Juan for about four hours under the blazing sun, where I burnt my feet and got the most awful tan line beacause of it :):) cheers for that x The day its self was actually really enjoyable (minus the fact we had to be in school by 6:30). It started off rather hectic with loaaads of little kids dressed in fancy clothing being ushered to different places, but as we got to the road we got into the swing of things and (surprisingly) things ran smoothly. I enjoyed the day even more as it was a faaaab opportunity to take some pics, not just of the kids on the march but also the spectators. So many people that live here in San Juan have such striking and interesting faces – definitely inspired me to start taking more pictures of the people around the town. The same deal as the quinceanera, ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’… so enjoy my pretty pics from the day.

Until my next post,

Ffi xx