August 2006

Here are some pictures from Griselda’s Quinceñera. She had her princess dress and all the trimmings. She looked beautiful. The cool thing about Gris is that her heart is as beautiful as her face. She loves others and the Lord with such sincerity and humility. It was a fun, honoring, and exhausting event. Here she is pictured with her damas Erika, Dayana and Martha and Beto, her escort. 2nd Picture: This is Opal (Gator and Deanna’s daughter) with her kids Roberto and Dayana. She is our hilarious and amazing cook and has become a good friend.

This is Came and her daughter Abril. To the right is Mundo her husband. Mundo is a fellow teacher, and they are my soon to be neighbors. They are both crazy, God-loving, and musical. We are so excited to get moved in and be neighbors. With Mundo in the picture is Andrew, the boys dorm supervisor.


Now what you’ve all been waiting to see….and what we’ve been so vigorously working toward….THE CLASSROOM!
We postponed school for a week to finish the construction and worked right up until the last minute to finish up. I began setting it up at 2:00 pm the day before school started and worked until 11:00! As I dig through my boxes, I have slowly been adding onto it and adjusting my materials to work for my classroom.

The kids love it. To be honest, so do I. I loved how the kids complained of freezing to death and getting sick with the thermostat set on 80. hehe.
The blue shelves hold the “library.” The kids think that’s pretty cool, except most of the books are in English. Soon they will be reading them, Lord willing.

Mundo took this of me after doing construction. I do not dress like this for school. As a matter of fact we have to wear dresses, below the knee.


This is the first day opening ceremony. Friends and family came to bless the school and celebrate its opening.
Right: Students in pledging formation. The director Rodolfo is to the right.

First days...cont.

This is the road from the school to the orphanage. It’s about a 3-minute walk. The brown wall all the way at the end of the road is the corner of the children’s home. The tall guy is Andrew who takes care of the boys, and the other two boys are brothers, Beto and Edgar. The little guy is Raul, the youngest kiddo we have; he’s three, cute, and spoiled.

Also in route from the school to the casa hogar…yes, that’s how we dry our clothes around here. Raul and Gilberto...the youngest...cute, but trouble. :)

First Days.

My room upon arrival. It looks much better now. My friend, fellow teacher, and soon to be neighbor, Mundo Cruz and I have painted non-stop for the last 2 weeks to make it all come together. He is awesome and I am so excited to work with him and the other teachers!

Here are the classrooms. My apt. is on the floor above them and across from them is the kitchen. A guy named Pipi (apparently the named originated from his name Pedro and a problem he had as a child) who lived in another Casa Hogar (children’s home) where Gator and Deanna used to work is doing the tile floors. It’s so cool to see one of the kids all grown up with children. These are coming along…hopefully to be ready by the time school starts, August 28th!

Here is the delectable view from my porch. I love it! See that bright orange? Yes our WHOLE building is that color. It continues to illuminate the neighborhood for up to 2 hours past sunset.

This is the awesome gym that sits at the back of the school property. We play some mean fútbol here. Ok…THEY play some mean fútbol here.