A Typical Day at Emmanuel?

One of the biggest things that I've learned so far during my time at Emmanuel is that I'm not entirely in control of my day. Most often when I try to make plans, something comes up to alter them entirely. It's taken a little bit of getting used to since I like to make my To Do List for the day and stick to it. I see now why a former volunteer told me that the biggest thing I can do to prepare is just to be flexible.

There is a big team of 100 people (including the director of the board, who happens to be a dentist) coming on Friday. They have been preparing for them here for months, fixing things up and so on. We've also been doing quite a bit of prepping since I've been here too. This week, Katie (from Tennessee), Gitte (my Danish roommate), and I were asked to drop everything and paint a wooden playground train that someone from the team donated. The sun has been scorching hot for the past week so this was not really our choice of projects, but we finished it, thank goodness! We've also been putting together some photo directories of the kids for the clinic and volunteers, preparing the dental clinic, and cutting hair (I'm going to become quite the beautician). There's no telling what project we'll undertake next ;)

If there is such a thing as a typical day here, it usually begins around 6:45 AM (6:15 AM on Fridays) with Circle Time where the kids gather in several small (or one big on Friday) circles to sing praise songs and have a devotion. Afterwards, I eat breakfast at the volunteer house and then go to the clinic where I clean and bandage cuts and give out medicine with the nurse, Karelia. After that, it's time to take the toddlers on a walk, usually to the farm where we pet horses and cows. They're so cute, but they're definitely a handful! 

Next it's time to play! My favorite kids to play with are the middle and small boys (5-12, but they all look extremely small for their ages because they didn't receive proper nutrition as babies) and the middle and small girls. The boys are much more chill than the girls and fight less (surprisingly). One of my favorite boys is Ronald. He's actually 13, but so young in looks and actions.

Around 11:45 AM I eat lunch (usually with the middle boys or the small girls... the toddler house supposedly has the best food, but I'm taking a break from it after the last time when they kept putting their beans and who knows what else into my bowl). Lunch is usually ramen noodles with vegetables (corn, green beans, and carrots) or rice and veggies, especially cabbage and corn. Sometimes we get lucky and find a piece of chicken ;)

After lunch, if we don't have any projects, I play some more. Sometimes I join the older girls in the kitchen to help make tortillas, which is a fun (and delicious) job! Dinner is around 3:30 PM (because the kids go to sleep around 6 or 7) and is usually some combination of beans and either rice or tortillas. After that, it's clinic time again, and then off to the volunteer house to play games, watch movies, read, etc. With the early mornings and all of the activity, I find myself going to sleep earlier and earlier :)

Tomorrow me and my roomies will be taking a short trip to Tegucigalpa (the capital) for a little sightseeing because Gitte has to buy an extra month on her visa. We're going with a staff family here and will be riding in the back of their pick-up truck, which is totally illegal and also totally done everywhere anyway... you've got to love Honduran laws ;)

P.S. The water problem is solved and we have plenty of water once again. Thank you for your prayers :)