So it's been awhile since we've written, I guess we've been busy! Shannon has been busy with a prevention program for sixth graders that focuses on self-esteem, plans for their futures, and learning about the harms of drugs and alcohol. She has been enjoying meeting lots of kids, but disappointed with the school system in general and the teachers. So far, all of the teachers have left when she and her counterpart arrive and they do not help out at all, and sometimes cannot be found at the end of the talk to come back to their classes. The kids also seem to spend more time at snack and recess than they do in the classroom. They wander in and out of the classroom as they like, generally not asking permission. Sometimes kids from other classes wander in. The classes are also huge, some as big as 50 kids! Last week she went to a class and during their snack, a group led by this girl in the shortest skirt ever, started practicing a dance routine that they were going to perform the following day at their father's day celebration. The dance involved lots of gyrating and grinding and was very scandalous, but just a normal dance here! Shannon is also busy with a dental hygiene program. Colgate donated the toothbrushes and toothpaste and she is working with three schools in first through third grade. She does the program in very poor areas and the children were so excited to receive their toothbrushes! It was almost like Christmas. She gives a talk about dental hygiene with the teacher each week and the kids have to brush their teeth everyday after their snack in school. This goes on for six months and they then receive another toothbrush to take home to continue their tooth brushing. It is a really great program and so important since many of the children do not have tooth brushes nor do they know anything about dental hygiene. Shannon also started her English classes. She has two classes of fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers. There was almost a riot on her first day of class because 40 teachers showed up and she told them that she could only have 30 in the class. It turned out that there was a group from Juticalpa which is a half an hour away and she told them that they were not allowed to be in the class since they live too far away for her to do the two required observations of them teaching English. They were not too happy but after a call to her boss and a promise that they can request a youth volunteer for their town, they calmed down and class resumed. Shannon has also been doing self-esteem talks in two classes at a private school. These are Fridays during the last two periods of the day so it is a bit tricky since the kids have pretty much checked out...she has been doing learning activities since they respond better to these, but that can still be hard in a class of 50 high school kids! She also started helping our site-mate with a pregnant teenager class that she will be taking over when Kendra leaves. It is basically a group for women under the age of 20 who are pregnant. It meets once a month and a nurse talks about a health-related topic and we she talks about a topic such as self esteem or drugs. Kevin has been busy too! He and a group of university students went to the mountain community in which he works and taught the community members how to plant a family garden. This was quite a process organizing the community and making the garden. While he was there he held a baby monkey, most likely captured out of the jungle, and Shannon was very jealous! Kevin was also on a safety and security panel for the group of new Peace Corps trainees. He talked about our robbery and how to stay safe in Honduras. He also went to a town about 3 hours away called Nueva Palestina because a church from North Carolina is helping them to make sand water filters and other environmentally friendly things and the university is thinking about becoming involved as well. He met a lot of people including a blind man who is an incredible guitar player. Last week three of the new trainees came to visit our site-mates to see what volunteers actually do in their sites. It was interesting to talk to the new trainees and be able to offer some advice to ease their worries. We (well everyone but Shannon since she had to work), went to the nearby caves and walked around in the park, nice and relaxing. This weekend we had some more visitors and ate a lot of good food and relaxed...it will be nice to be visitor-free for a little while!