September!

It's been a while since this has been updated - and so much has happened! September is a crazy month in Honduras. The country celebrates it's Independence from Spain on 15th Sept and so the whole month is a celebration. On the first of September, the children all lined up outside as we raised the National Flag, sang the anthem, prayed the National Prayer! Then, at the end of the day we had to go outside and sing the National Anthem again as the flag is taken down!! A good start to the month....except this then happens every day in September, every morning we line up outside by the flag poles and sing the Anthem, say the prayer and then every afternoon we go back outside and do it all again!! Makes for a long month!!

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On the 10th Sept we had Dia del niño - Day of the Child. We kept it simple at school this year and just had a party for the school children, and the children from the orphan homes, in school. The usual games, pinatas, food etc.

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Then, the major event of the month - the Independence Day Parades! This was our first official pre-school parade and as every school we went a bit to town with it! It took us a long time to arrange and to make (and get made) costumes, banners etc. But it was worth it and they did great.

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What made it better was that we got the rest of the week off as a celebration - at times I really do love this country!!! So on the 15th I headed to town with friends to watch the high schools parade - always amazing! They have the big marching bands - latino style - which I love! Great community atmosphere in town. Then back to lunch at Lorena's for a big family meal. Then in the afternoon I went to watch the guys play volleyball - in the rain, but gave me something to do! The evening brought with it a concert in town but it wa high jacked by the Resistencia (the group opposed to the government, Mel Zalaya fans!) and so we clearly didn't hang around for that! All in all it was a great day.

The week was relaxing and a well needed break. I didn't get to go away anywhere, but this was a good thing as David (Lorena and Jaime's younger brother) became v ill with Rotavirus and Dengue and so I spent the week driving him to hospital, then when he was admitted visiting him with J and L. Dengue is spreading really quickly here. I have 3 friends who all have it - something I never wish to have.