NATURAL Sports Performance Enhancer

Seeing students of all ages play soccer every day here reminds me of the way we kids in the south used to play football as often. It never got old.  (And we were pretty good, if I do say so myself!)

In Honduras, even the girls play soccer against each other sometimes. Other times, they may be on the sidelines watching two teams of boys.

Today, their presence around the soccer field was a reminder for me of another sports-related phenomenon:
as serious as boys are about soccer or football 24/7, athletic performance is somehow elevated when girls are watching!

My Student Can Teach You

Below, please find a wall art message from one of my 8th graders.

She handed it to me and asked if I would hang it on the wall in the classroom. As soon as I read it, I appreciated what it was intended to communicate...and I also noticed some problems with her English grammar (remember - her native language is Spanish). But even though I explained the issues to her, she wanted it hung on the wall just the way it was.

I guess in her mind, she was saying, "You understood the meaning, right? Well then, hang my work on the wall already!"

The Neighbor Girls

The neighbor girls decided to invite me over for a dinner of fish, rice, and tajadas (sliced, fried plantains -- think homemade, tasty french fries but with a Central American twist). When I asked what I could bring, chocolate ice cream was the answer.

These neighbors have been really great, looking out for me and reaching out to me.

I tell you -- anytime I'm in a new town, if there are amazing people in the town, I seem to somehow find them and end up becoming friends with them.

So grateful.

The Spanish word for fish is "pescado".

(Pronounced peh-SCAH-doh)

It is definitely different than the fabulous fried catfish in Alabama, but please believe it's tasty nonetheless!

"By the way, you owe me..."

I stood up from the chair and slid my left hand in my pocket. Just then, my barber said an interesting thing.

I didn't understand some of the words, but I was able to make out the part that suggested I failed to pay for the previous haircut two weeks ago! This caught me totally off guard and caused me to spend the next few minutes racking my brain to remember the circumstances of my prior visit.

The barber was able to remind me of something I had said that day. I had mentioned to him that I had to get to an appointment right after the haircut. Those words put me right back in the scene.

It was a Sunday, and I had agreed to teach a lesson at the Bible study I attend. Before Bible Study that afternoon, I had plenty of time for a quick haircut. But wouldn't you know it, the barber was in a particularly chatty mood that day. After I told him I was pressed for time (and heard him confirm that he understood), I was amazed that he proceeded to chat me up more than he ever had before. While I was captive there in his chair, he even talked to me for the first time about his daughter AND took out his cell phone to navigate to a photo for me.

By that point, I had about fifteen minutes to get to the meeting and was practically sweating under the strain of the thought of arriving late to Bible study and not having time to set up my lesson tools in advance.

Maybe that strain caused me to blackout for a minute, because what I have no recollection of is jumping up at the end of the haircut, bolting for the door, and finding the good fortunate of a taxi waiting nearby.

Someone call a taxi?

For the price of what amounts to fifty cents USD, you can receive a bumpy taxi ride on the cobblestone streets of Copan in one of these vehicles. Here, the word people use is "taxi" or "tuk-tuk" (Pronounced "tuck-tuck").

Make sure you're ready to tell the driver your destination in Spanish!

But I figured the barber's story was probably more trustworthy than my memory of the incident, so I forked over the money for two haircuts.

When I asked why he hadn't stopped me as I headed for the door without paying the other week, he named a simple reason - I was fast!