Author of Today’s Post is Karie

There were so many firsts for most of us today, and while we went into the day with the right supplies and our “teams” set for each grade (Pre-K through 11th), our flexibility as a team was tested in more ways than one! Fun was had by all during our first class when we practiced introductions in English – saying our names, our favorite foods, our hobbies, and what we wanted to be when we grow up, amid the controlled chaos that is school in Honduras. For several of us, this was our first experience teaching native Spanish speakers how to pronounce words and phrases in English along with some new vocabulary.

Then, it was recess…soccer (futbol), with the teachers versus the students. Without going into too much detail, we finished the soccer session, leaving with our tails between our legs and in utter amazement for the skills on display by the boys we were up against. We knew we were in trouble when the ball first came into the court and one boy stopped it mid-air with a header followed by a body block and the ball came to an abrupt stop exactly in the middle of the court underneath the confident foot of our opponent. I think our jaws were still scraping the floor when play began (which is of course why they were able to score on us in the first 10 seconds). We really expected to do better than that…Although Ken had some pretty impressive stops as goalie!

All in all, the day was perfect in so many very unexpected ways, and we are excited to begin Day 3 in Ciudad Espana at the Juan Wesley School.