Candy canes, pine trees, lights everywhere—all the usual trappings of the holiday season which (oddly enough) can still be found in Honduras in December. Of course, the lights are strung around coconut trees and there’s no snow (but maybe a chilly 75 degree day if you’re lucky), but when you’ve been living in tropical Central America for six months, you take what you can get.
In order to celebrate the past holiday season, the BECA volunteers began early by playing Christmas music, making snowflakes, and having a holiday office party where we made mulled cider (warm, spiced Jamaica juice that turned out better than expected). However, BECA’s biggest event in December was Cena Navideña, a Christmas dinner and show held at both San Jerónimo and Santa Mónica schools. Every grade practiced at least one song for the night and their performances were much applauded as everyone in the audience feasted on chicken, rice, and salad. The night was a great culmination of all our efforts this first half of the year and a perfect representation of what it’s like to teach English in Honduras: a few weeks of trying to get even a few English words out of your students’ mouths, teaching the same thing over and over until they get it (and being extremely proud when they do), bonding with your teaching team, chuckling at how much hair gel a Honduran child can use, doing your best to converse with parents in Spanish, and eating plenty of chicken.
