Strange Creatures, Work, the Pier, Graduations, and more...

More Strange Creatures
*Cockroach - The other night, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something crawl across the wall. Sure enough, it was the biggest cockroach I have ever seen. It must have been left over from the dinosaur days or eaten some nuclear waste. As I sprayed it with the crappy Honduran version of Raid, it started flapping it's wings and chasing me (luckily it didn't fly). As I continued spraying, the chase continued from room to room. Finally it keeled over and I scooted it outside with the broom.

*Termite Nest - Just above our gate we have a huge termite nest. It is bigger than my head but I never see any termites around it. Everything in our house that is wood always has little piles of termite leftovers around them. Pretty soon we will have no doors or furniture left. *Bee Hive - Above our gate to the left of the termite nest is a bee hive. The bees are skinny and small and unlike any bees I have ever seen before. They haven't bothered us at all but just knowing I am walking right next to it any time I come or go from the house is a bit creepy. *Weird Worm Cocoon Thing - On the walls of our bathroom we often find these tiny brownish-gray cocoons. The are dormant during the day but at night a teeny, tiny, little worm will poke it's head out of one end and drag the cocoon to a new spot. We have asked around but nobody seems to have any information about them for us. Are they metamorphosing in those cocoons or what? We have many vacant cocoons so something obviously happened to the worm thing that was inside. Well, maybe you can figure it out. Here is video of one worm poking around in it's cocoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRk5m1UDJYw*Strange Flying Insects - I often see many very strange flying insects of all different sizes and colors. *Goats - On the way home from the beach on Wednesday, I spotted a whole goat family munching away and carelessly roaming the streets. Busy Work
Friday, Monday, and Tuesday we were still required to go in to work even though there was nothing to do. Friday I read a book for an hour and then chatted with Vanessa and Christina for the next 2 and we were finally allowed to go home 2 hours early since there was nothing for us to do.

Monday was much the same. We put some finishing touches on the library, read awhile, then were recruited to do some mind-numbing repetitive arts and crafts making some table decorations for the 6th grade graduation. We were finally given permission to go home an hour early when we finished the task.

Tuesday we helped decorate the upstairs "auditorium" for the K-5th grade graduation, helped make some certificates on the computer, and finally we just left 2 hours early because nobody else needed our help.

I mean, we were still getting paid for that week so I could see their point but it just felt like a big waste of time with busy work. The weather had been very gloomy, although still warm (70F-90F), those three days so at least it wasn't like I was missing a gorgeous beach day or anything. If I wasn't at work, I probably wouldn't have done much anyway. Before work all I did was my last hand-washing loads of clothes and towels and started to pack my suitcases a little. One night went to dinner with Marlon to Paseo Junior's in town for a last evening of pupusas.

The Pier
The blue sky finally came out on Wednesday so Christina and I headed to the beach. We walked down to the pier and with the intention of jumping off the end. Some local fishermen helped us pick the best spot to jump but none of them would try it first. I stood out on the ledge and, although my brain was prepared for the jump, it couldn't convince my body to take that final step. This turned out to be lucky because Christina jumped off and then got into trouble.There are some hanging stairs from the water to the pier but she couldn't pull herself up onto them. She decided she would just swim into shore since it is not very far. Well, she swam about 1/3 of the way and couldn't make it any farther. She started to panic and finally some fishermen threw her an inner tube so she could swim back to the stairs where they proceeded to pull her out of the water. Poor girl. Somehow the whole thing was quite hilarious and really not as life threatening as it sounds. Afterwards we walked back to the shore and relaxed, read, and swam for a few hours before heading home to get ready for the K-5th grade graduation.

K-5th Grade Graduation
The graduation began at 3:00pm and surprisingly not that many students came. We gave certificates out to each student who earned honors (90% average or higher) and certificates to parents that were especially helpful over the year. Then each student got printed report card (the students that didn't pass received a letter listing which subjects they need to repeat recuperations for in August). The ceremony was short and sweet. 6th Grade Graduation

Thursday was the 6th grade graduation held in a hall at the fancy Telamar Hotel in town. All the teachers had to meet there at 8:00am that morning to help decorate. It was more busy work. We literally filled balloons (with a hand pump, only one) and tied them together for 5 hours. We finally finished at 1:00pm and I went for quick swim at the beach before going home to get ready for the graduation.

The graduation was from 4:00pm until about 6:30pm. There were only eleven students in the 6th grade class (and all but two came) so it was fairly short and sweet: each child donned a burgundy cap and gown and was escorted down the aisle with their parents (or a stand-in chaperon), each was given a kind introduction and received their certificates, there was an adorable mother/son, father/daughter dance, and then we ate. Carnival
So basically all carnival is is a bunch of small neighborhood street parties with stages for bands and dancing, food and drink stands, some game booths, and lots of people carousing (picture the PB Block Party, or OB Street Fair, etc. but smaller). A different neighborhood has one each night of the week and some a bigger than others. They usually begin around 8:00pm and can carry on until the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes ending in those spontaneous, raucous, midnight parades around town. All the schools give the students the week off and Friday is a holiday with many businesses closed. The week culminates on Saturday with a large parade through down town like the one we witnessed in La Ceiba.

Our Last Week on Utila
We leave Friday morning for a taxi, a bus, another taxi, and a ferry to Utila, an island off the Caribbean coast. Our plan is to check out the town, go to the beach, and snorkel on Friday. Saturday we hope take a day trip to a teeny tiny, uninhabited cay for relaxing, swimming, and snorkeling. Sunday to Wednesday we will complete the Open Water scuba diving course which includes course work in the mornings and practice dives in the afternoons. Thursday we will catch the ferry, taxi, bus, and another taxi back to Tela.

Friday we will finish packing and say goodbye (and maybe sneak in a little final beach time) and on Saturday morning we take off back to California. If it all works out, and even if it doesn't, it should be a very memorable last week. I will write about it as soon as I can and I will see you all very soon.