Go tell it on the mountains...

...that the Christmas show is over!!! Yesterday was exhausting, frustrating, and rewarding all at the same time, and right now my overwhelming emotions are ones of relief and excitement for what's to come. Our day was just about as long as we expected it to be. First, let me explain a little more about this Christmas show. The "show" is actually songs and dances that come between scenes of acting. It was just a huge joke to me- the scenes weren't spoken by actors, they were played on a CD and the actors would lip-sync the lines. Furthermore, the actors weren't students from our school. They were students from the Vida Abundante school in Tegucigalpa. Weird? Very. But furthermore, FURTHERMORE, the scenes had nothing to do with Christmas! There was one scene of Jesus healing a blind man, another of Jesus healing a man who couldn't walk, and Lazarus made an appearance also. As we were walking out, Jacki commented, "I missed the part where Jesus was born in this Christmas show." Very unfortunate that in the story of Jesus' birth, baby Jesus didn't make an appearance. But whatever. It wasn't like the songs were all that Christmas-y either. (My song, "He was born in a barn," was one of the better ones. For anyone familiar with Pink... think of the Pink song, "I'm coming out so you better get this party started," and imagine the lyrics, "Time's running out so we better get the season started.-- yeah... that was one of the songs.)

So, the actors had never been to the church in Gracias before, and the children had never practiced with actors before yesterday. It was very, very frustrating to do all of that on the same day as the actual show. My children also received their hats for the first time yesterday, which is a pretty major prop in their dance.

However, although we had many frustrations with the organizational aspects of the program, the show itself was really, really cute. How could it not be? It was a bunch of little children bopping around in cute costumes on stage. I have my share of complaints about the show, but at the end of the day, the parents were just really happy to see their children on stage. A mom of one of my students came up to me after the show and grabbed my face and said to me, "Dios le bendiga, Dios le bendiga! Muchas, muchas gracias por todo!" (God bless you, God bless you, thank you so much for everything) and then she gave me a huge hug and kissed my cheek and ran away. My students were so excited and proud of themselves. It was really cute. As soon as I get home (this weekend!!!) and have fast internet, I'll post the video of my students dancing.

Unfortunately, the students were also really exhausted... they had such a late night last night. One of my little boys actually fell asleep on my shoulder before the show ended, and today in school they were so tired. I had trouble trying to get them to focus enough to learn anything. They are done, and ready for their vacations.

And so am I. I have expressed my love for Honduras, for my job, and for my life here before... but I am so ready to see my family and get a little dose of America. The next time I update this blog, I will probably be home! So, culture shock here I come. I couldn't be more excited.