Visitors

 Yesterday I remembered why Piano isn't my favorite activity to engage in. David owns a keyboard that stays at the Hogar, so I decided to pull it out and play a little. My first discovery was that I couldn't remember any of the songs I once knew. Bummer. So after doing some scales (yes, I could still do those) I went online and printed out some music. To my relief I did remember how to read the music, albeit slowly. I got through some extremely basic songs but I was content with that. Of course, once the kids saw the piano every one of them was clamoring over me saying 'I want to learn! I want to learn!'. So I thought- why not? I can teach some basics. The problem arose when they didn't understand the concept of one person at a time. 3 people sitting at a keyboard with more crowded in behind, while on a couch without a proper stand is claustrophobic. You have so many different sounds and the kids prefer to press random keys instead of listening. Definitely not ideal. I actually think those three words describe just about everything in Honduras. Especially learning conditions. Anyways, I put the piano away but then Paola asked me is I could teach her that night. Those lessons went better, but I still don't think piano is my thing, especially on a keyboard where every note is the same and you hear it over and over again. It was the first time I felt myself loosing patience with the kids and I felt bad. Tia Yolanda asked me if I could teach them a song to sing while I accompanied them on the piano for Church on Christmas. I'm still thinking about that. That I think I could handle. It might be fun :)

Today Nelson, Denia, Geny, and their Aunt and little Carlitos came over. I had invited the older two to study English with me and the rest kind of followed. We made a pancake breakfast and then got to work. The problem is that it is difficult to have them practice speaking with the English they know. They know a lot, but never use it. I don't know how to teach it so that they use it. I think I will just have them learn the vocabulary and keep practicing, practicing, practicing.

Those were the welcome visitors. We also had a not so welcome visitor. As I was finishing up working on some stuff on the computer on Wednesday at about 12 at night, I saw something zip past me out of the corner of my eye. I turned and then I was sure that it was a huge rat that had just run in from outside. I froze and spent some time considering what to do. I decided to ignore it for the time being and pretend that I had just seen something and was mistaken. When I went into our room (Natalie and Ethan were sleeping in the other with air conditioning) I flipped the light on and I saw it sitting on my bed for a brief second before it ran underneath. At that point I had a difficult time not letting out a tiny squeal. I ran out, grabbed mypillow and blanket and flew into the 'sleeping room' where Natalie and Ethan were. I closed the door behind me and spent some time calming my beating heart. In the morning I told everyone of our visitor and we all crept around searching beds and clothes without any luck. The next night was Dan Collins last night, so Luz Mila and her mother were sleeping over because Luz had to go early in the morning. She was so excited but you could also tell she was nervous and sad because she had already said goodbye to her family. Such an enormous thing to go through! Saying goodbye to everyone you know and going away for the first time in your life. She was handling it so well though. They slept in Dan's room so Dan and his dad were on the outside couches. I decided to chance it and sleep in our room, hoping that the rat escaped or was in a different part of the house. At five o'clock in the morning, after dreaming all night about rats crawling around and biting me, I discovered that I had made a poor decision. I woke up to the sound of knawing on wood, in the corner of my room. The crunching was so loud and there was no question of what it was. I jumped up on my bed so fast so that as little of me was exposed as possible. Then I took a few minutes to gather the courage to jump down and run outside. Luz and Dan were just getting up so they could catch their bus, so I had a chance to say goodbye. I am so excited and nervous for her. Her story hits me right in the heart. I think it is amazing. But the rat story is not yet at an end. While I was teaching piano last night, Natalie and Ethan came home early, and they recounted their story to me. They went into our room with the intention of searching for the rat, and sure enough- zoom! it runs right past them into my and Ethan's closet area. Natalie was the brave one and she began to pat down all of our clothes. She couldn't find it and then she hit Ethan's one jacket which was hanging up. The rat flies out, hits her and jumps past into the bathroom area. They run to shut the door to lock it in. Natalie then suits up in tennis shoes and gloves, grabs the bottom of the trash can to catch it in, enters the bathroom and closes the door behind her. Screaming, yelling and banging emanate from the bathroom as she tries to trap it under the trashcan. "AHHHHHH!" "Holy Sh*t! It's a jumping rat" "Oh my god!"  "EEEEEK!!" -BANG-. The rat was jumping everywhere, off the walls, off the toilet, in the sink and finally she trapped it vertically on the door. This entire time Ethan was rolling in laughter outside, because all he could hear was her screams sprinkled with some creative cursing. Once the rat was under the trashcan, she moved it down the wall, did a quick flip to the floor, and escorted it outside. I can not believe I missed it.