Hopefully this entry is a little less awkward than the last. This week was a little sad because it may have been the last time I will see some of my kids until next year. I leave tomorrow morning to help my fellow Washingtonians with a baseball camp. Since their site is about 10 hours from Tegus by bus, I´m going to make the trip worth it and stay a few days. The camp is 3 days anyway so I will get to spend Halloweed with them, even though it will likely be uneventful. It will be great to have friends for a few days.

On that note, I met the Catholic (Passionists) missionaries who live in Talanga. Thursday night, after a short church service, we watched fútbolito and I stayed out until 10:30 pm! I know, I'm crazy. Although I liked being able to tell the Hondurans when they ask if I am with the "other gringos" that I didn´t know any others in town, I did like feeling like I had friends and it is nice to know that if I need anything, they aren´t far away. It was also nice to speak at a normal pace for a change and not have to think so much about each sentence. Although my Spanish has improved dramatically, it isn´t quite natural yet. It´s funny because as my Spanish becomes more natural, random English words slip in more. Usually, other people don't seem to notice, or I catch it in time to translate for myself and switch back to Spanish but sometimes I can't help but laugh. Usually they are transition words like "but" or "and" and I find myself making the same mistakes in the opposite direction. When I am trying to speak Spanish, I throw in English words without realizing it. I guess that is a good sign and most of the time the other person doesn´t realize it because they probably do the same thing.

Lately I have been spending just about every afternoon in the parque central. Since I don't have much to do in the afternoons, I sit in the park and write in my journal. I've written so much lately, that it is becoming difficult to write more than a page or two each day. I try to spend as much time as I can in the park. Usually I meet at least a few new people and the same kid asks me for money every day. At first I felt a little guilty saying no but yesterday changed that. "Dime pisto," he mumbles. "Give me money." (In the command form, of course.) I always tell him no. Yesterday, about 6 other kids appeared out of nowhere and started asking me for money as well. As they sat there begging, with suckers in their mouths, it supported my hypothesis. I never gave the other boy money because I assumed he would likely spend it on candy and chips. I took the opportunity to ask the kids if they were going to brush their teeth after they ate their suckers. They said yes, which I take as a good sign. At least they know the should brush their teeth. Whether they do is another story. I ended up chatting with the kids for about half an hour. Most of them ran to another part of the park but one girl stayed a few more minutes. I was most intrigued by her. She was wearing a jacket with a clear pocket on the front. I bet you can't guess what was in the pouch... yep, money. I could see Lempiras in her pouch and a sucker in her mouth as she begged for more money. I ventured to ask her what she wanted to buy. "Pan" she told me, bread. "You had money, but you bought a sucker." "I want pan. Dime pisto." "You have money. And you had money but you spent it on a sucker." She didn't deny it. Maybe I will come up with a way that they can earn food or sandals for their bare feet but I refuse to give them money for junk food and to contribute to the deterioration of their teeth. Dental bills are a lot more expensive than bread.

Todays was a very exciting day. Yes, I am as easily amussed as always. I went to the colegio to help a few girls with their English. Year end exams are next week. The lack of effective teaching methods was quite apparent in their questions. In schools here, kids are told things, and they memorize and regurgitate it. They know that sometimes, when you add "ing" to the end of words in English, you either leave off a letter or add an extra one. They have no idea when, or why. They didn't even know the meaning of the "ing" ending (which translates almost directly to the "ando/iendo" ending in Spanish. I felt so bad for them trying to memorize each word and whether they had to drop the "e" or add an extra consonant. I tried to explain the rules but it's difficult for me to explain clearly in Spanish and for them to understand. Especially when it is related to pronunciation which they learn very little of. They learn to write English fairly well (eventually) but most of the teachers can barely pronounce most of the words. I worry that I am putting myself in a position in which I don't want to be by teaching English so much this early in my service. Granted, with the school year ending, I can't start much else but I really don't want to teach English for the next 2 years. There are so many other issues that are more important and I feel I could use my time more wisely on other subjects. I don't think I'm even very good at teaching English. There is definitely a reason I have never aspired to be a teacher. I kind of suck at it. hahaha!

Helping the girls was interesting and I enjoy that group of girls, but what I was really excited about today was completely selfish. I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! All the cookies here are hard and the chocolate generally sucks. I had to go to Tegus to buy brown sugar and chocolate chips. My family seemed to like them and even though they weren't the best cookies I have made in my life, they did the trick and of course I ate more dough than I should have. I think Emily and Kyler (check out their blog http://emilyandkyler.blogspot.com/ I haven't actually had a chance to read it but I know some of the stuff that is in there and it's pretty funny. Yes, the thing about the dogs is true.) will be excited for cookies that aren't hard. (If you happen to read this before I get there, sorry I spoiled the surprise!)

After several tries (still having trouble the network keeps failing my uploads), here are a few pics of my baseball team in Rio Dulce.

Love and miss you all! If you want to see other blogs from PC Honduras, here's the link http://www.peacecorpsjournals.com/ho.html