Tyra Banks and Paula Abdul

I've been feeling even more integrated into the community lately, and also feeling more respected and welcomed in my counterpart organizations.  Last week, I successfully gave 3 "charlas" (training sessions/presentations) to the teachers at the colegio.  They wanted charlas on teaching techniques and motivation.  I was nervous going into it because I don't feel at all like an expert on the topic and it's way more difficult to give a presentation in Spanish in front of a group of adults than a group of kids.  Despite my nerves, the charlas went great.  I filled them with "dinamicas" (icebreakers and games), and the teachers loved it.  Hondurans love to play, even adults.  I was surprised by this because I think that if I gave the same training in the states the teachers would be moaning and groaning about having to do lots of silly games, but these teachers were very enthusiastic.

On Tuesday, I introduced them to a bunch of icebreakers and teambuilding activities that they can use in their classes with their students.  We played human bingo, speed-dating, and the big wind blows ("el viento lo mueve").  For teambuilding activities we did the human knot, some line-ups without talking, and an activity where they had to write something working as a team using a contraption with ropes, a plastic plate, and a marker.  Wednesday was about motivation, and I introduced some teaching techniques like KWL (SQA en espanol).  Thursday I taught them a bunch of games that they can use with their students to review before a quiz or test.  The attendance dwindled as the week went on, but the teachers seemed to appreciate the charlas, and they were enthusiastic and participative.  They asked if we could organize the same type of thing at the beginning of the next school year with all of the teachers, so hopefully I'll be able to present to a bigger group.  The goal is to give the teachers some more tools to make their classes more interesting and enjoyable to the students.

I didn't really do anything on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving, but I hope all of you ate plenty of turkey and pumpkin pie.  (My mom already promised that she'll make me Thanksgiving dinner when I come home to visit.)  On Friday, I woke up nice and early and headed into Tegucigalpa, the capital city.  The bus ride was a little rough, because it was really crowded and I ended up standing in the aisle for the first 2 hours.  In Teguz, I met up with my friend Emily at the Intercontinental Hotel, which was super fancy.  We headed out to the Peace Corps office in a cab so that we could pick up some more books.  The office has a great library, and we're allowed to take as many books as we want.  So, I now have like 15 new books to keep me busy for the next couple months.  Then, Emily and I headed back to the hotel and went to the mall which, conveniently, was located right next door to the hotel.  We split a pizza in the food court and hung out for a little bit with a couple of other volunteers.  Then we met up with Deandra and went to the movies to see Happy Feet 2 (in Spanish, and very cute!), did some shopping, and went for a swim in the hotel pool.  Our "Thanksgiving dinner" was at TGI Fridays, and I had a hamburger and french fries.  Not the same as a home-cooked turkey dinner, but it sure was delicious.  Saturday morning I had to wake up super early to catch the 6 a.m. bus back to Sulaco because I had an event to go to at 3.

Saturday at 3 (well, it was supposed to start at 3 and didn't actually start until 5:30- that's Honduras for you), was the selection of the "Madrina Agasul," which is like the beauty queen of the agricultural organization in town.  Norma, the librarian from the colegio, organized the event and asked me to be a judge.  This was the third of this type of event to happen in the past couple weeks.  The first was the reina (queen) of the feria and the second was the "reina infantil" (young queen).  I was able to go to the selection of the reina infantil, and it was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time.

The "Madrina Agasul" competition consisted of a bunch of high school girls parading around the stage in different outfits.  They started with a dance, and the other rounds included sportswear (excercise clothes), dresses, and cowgirl style clothes.  Then they had to answer questions, which all had to do with the organization Agasul (Associacion de ganadores y agricultores de Sulaco).  I didn't love having to judge the girls on things like their modeling walk and "elegance," but it was an honor to be asked to be part of the event.

Hondurans don't like to smile for pictures.  But gringas do!

I was also asked by someone from the church to be a judge for the "Festival de la Cancion- Maria: Musica de Dios."  Each town in Honduras chooses a saint and during the "feria patronal" they celebrate their town's saint.  Sulaco's feria is for the virgin Mary, and the music festival was a competition with children and youth who were all singing songs about the virgin Mary.  I liked this event better because I wasn't judging people on the way they looked or walked, but by their singing.  All of the kids were great, and the top 3 from each age group are going to compete in a regional festival on December 8th, and I'll be a judge for that too!  So, I've felt a little like a reality TV show judge the past few days.  It's really been an honor that the people in my community have been inviting me to be a part of these events.  I'm looking forward to the feria next week.  Should be filled with lots of exciting events, and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and tell you all about it!

The winning group from the older kids division...I have a video of them, but it would take forever to upload :-(

In other news, I bought a modem when I was in Teguz, so please skype me! sarah.stockmann1