Teacher Retreat and Nathan...
Well, tomorrow morning at 6 we leave for the teacher's retreat- two days at a hotel on a big lake in Central Honduras. I'm not exactly sure what we are going to be doing, but there is a pool and we get paid for it, so I can't really complain. I think it will be part motivational, part instructional and part spiritual retreat- but I'm just excited that we don't have to teach for two days! :)
We are supposedly getting back Friday afternoon, and then Nathan (my twin brother) is flying in at five that night! He decided to come down here over his spring break, and so we are going to hang out for about ten days. I think that he is going to substitute teach a little bit at our school during the week, and then we are going on a field trip with the 10th grade that next weekend. Brian, Nathan and I along with 3 other teachers are going to be the chaperones for 50 sixteen and seventeen year olds for the entire weekend, which includes two nights at hotels and many long bus rides. It should be interesting to say the least. Our goal is to not have anyone get pregnant or drunk... so with these kids, we might not be getting much sleep. We are going to Western Honduras to see Mayan ruins and several of the older colonial towns, plus some hot springs and other cool stuff. I think Nathan will enjoy seeing all of that stuff, so I'm glad he gets to come along.
Recently, I have been pretty busy. School hasn't been too bad, but all of my time has been eaten up by church stuff. I've been playing at church for the last couple of weeks, and that takes up most of Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I have really enjoyed it recently, but it still is a big time commitment. I've been playing a lot more electric guitar (instead of acoustic), which is really fun. And I got asked last night to go "on tour" with the worship team up to the north coast for a weekend (something that they do about once a year). So it has been fun to be a part of that and to make some good relationships with Hondurans- plus good practice for my Spanish.
There is more stuff coming up on the horizon, but I don't have time to write about it now, so I will save it for another day. Continue to pray for me as I decide what to do next year. Thanks so much.
Roatan!
Spring break was great! On Saturday we drove up to the port city of La Ceiba, which turned out to be kind of interesting- it was pouring down rain and the windshield wipers on our car would randomly stop working, but we got there okay anyway. We were planning on taking the ferry that afternoon, but all the boats were shut down because of the weather. So we ended up staying the night in Ceiba, but then the ferry still wasn't running the next day and it was questionable for the following day too (because of the rough seas). After spending some time with a shady American named "Tom" who was on the run from the law, we all decided that it would be best to fly (although it was more expensive). However, the only flights that day were to the island of Roatan so we decided to take one. We had originally planned on going to the neighboring island of Utila, which is smaller and a little more boring (and cheaper), but we decided Roatan was the best option.
So we took a really short flight over to the island and found a great hotel overlooking the ocean (for only $10 per person). We ended up staying on part of the island called West End where most of the "traveler" type people stay because the only other places to stay are resorts. And right after settling in to our room we headed out to find a place to go SCUBA diving- the main focus of our trip. There were about ten different shops that all cost about the same, but some did the course in 3 days and others in 4. We ended up choosing the 4 day option and started the following morning. There were a total of six people in our class and we had a cute Austrailian chick as our instructor, and in the end we were fairly pleased with the dive shop we chose.
We spent most of the days divided between watching instructional videos and doing stuff in the water (like clearing your mask, switching regulators and becoming neutrally buoyant). The third and fourth day we did a total of 4 open water dives at different spots along the reef. We saw tons of amazing stuff! There were all sorts of tropical fish, barracudas, turtles, squid, shrimp, and we even saw a seahorse. I really loved it. It was like being in a fantasy world. The water was so clear that you felt like you were flying around a new world. It is an amazing experience. And now I am lifetime certified to dive to 60 feet!
The last day on the island we rented a jeep and drove to the opposite side of the island where it is completely undeveloped. We heard that the island had been used by pirates and English privateers, so we wanted to check it out. We went to the spot where Port Royal used to be (yes, the Port Royal in "Pirates of the Caribbean") and searched for buried treasure... but we didn't find any. There was only an abandoned house on an empty bay. It is the perfect island for pirates though- it is pretty small, there are lots of bays, mountains, exotic plants and a mangrove swamp (which the pirates cut a canal through and it is still there!). And even though we didn't find anything, we still had a really exciting time exploring.
On the way back to Tegucigalpa we stopped at a cathedral to see the oldest clock in the New World- it is 800 years old and was built by the Moors in Spain before it was brought over to the capital of the colony, Comyagua. All in all, it was a great trip. Phil got a little sick and there was some bad weather in the beginning, but things couldn't have been much better.
I posted pictures on another site, so check them out: http://wheatonil.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013619&l=4ad51&id=187702610
