well well well...

hey guys. my BAD. i want to keep writing this blog and im so sorry i've not been doing such a good job of it.

what's happened lately...

a) school ended
b) went to jungle river lodge
c) got mugged for 15p
d) Laura left
e) went to belize
f) souvenir shopping
g) my family came to visit
h) kevin left
i) looking out on the next month...the last month

so yeah, the school year finished...and with it, came exams!!
i prepared exams in almost all subjects for my kids: english writing, listening, speaking and writing, mathematics, art, pe...

they did them over the course of a week. there were students that i KNEW wouldn't put their all in...naughty little munchkins like Cesar, Raymundo etc. Cheeky wee boys, but so adorable. the life of the class (i feel like i have some type of relatino to these kids...anyone reminded of my school years??)

they did all of their exams...a LOT of marking for me, and a lot of filing too...getting to know how the system worked in CBS...it was an experience! nothing in comparison to the 5 months prior to my being here...

had an awesome time with the kids, doing football and sports on the last day, dancing, eating icecream and having a great time. i got a couple of videos of them, they'll go on facebook as soon as i have a good enough internet connection :)

so that was the end of the year...it was great! all the kids were so relieved! as were some of the teachers of course :)

we smooshed past the few days during the summer that we didnt have anything planned just hanging out at the rocks, the swimming pool and going through to san pedro every so often. the rocks was like our second home :) other times we would go through and visit our friend Laura, or Terry...sometimes we'd just sit with ben and william and talk nonsense. ian became a closer friend over these few weeks.

[incase we dont know... Laura (aka the smuggler) was an ex volunteer from New Jersey, part Honduran also, and she lived just near the park. i used to tutor her nephew and that was held at her house every 2nd day, so we spent a lot of time together (the boy was always late. everyone on honduran time...typical!) listening to music, talking nonsense, joking about, talking about our problems. it was amazing. i'd not really had the chance to make a real friend in Honduras since i arrived as my old towns didnt really have much in the way of english speakers, and i never thought i would have the time or ability to make a good friend in the short time i had in the country... so i really got close to Laura and i know we'll see each other again in the future. THANK YOU! :)
Terry is the man who built the rocks, and is currently building his own place just near by. he's married to Dunia who is a really lovely honduran woman. she makes awesome bread! terry used to be in the vietnam war and has a lot of stories to tell.
Ben is the owner of the rocks, and william is his 15 year old son.
Ian is a volunteer from canada, the Science teacher. he was a great friend and a really entertaining character, he always managed to make me laugh. BWEN ASSSSSS!!! (his accent while articulating Buenas...)]

one weekend we planned to do some white water rafting up in La Ceiba - The Jungle River Lodge. the party consisted of JEN KEV WILLIAM and IAN. we took the bus early morning to La Ceiba where we took a cab to Banana Republic (linked to JRL) and booked ourselves in for hostel stay at JRL and some white water rafting :)
the water rafting was amazing :) i had to dress up like a complete tube of course, but it was a good look. red is so my colour.

the course instructors were super cool too, good english, good banter! it was a good experience :) we got a couple of drinks in in the evening, and we jumped off the cliff into the water (not in that order...) so many times, it was so awesome, pure exhilarating in the dark :)

the following day we trekked all the way up a mountain to a waterfall... it was SO BEAUTIFUL. amazing, cool water (which i drank, my bad? i wasnt ill though!) but it was a pure great work out, it was amazing to see and it was such relaxation! amazing...the trek back could have been done without, i was seriously lacking agua...
but yeah, v good times!

will write more soon i promise, LOVE XXX