So, So, even though I get to spend my days hanging out with kids and playing football, and my weekends climbing mountains and swimming in rivers, this does not in fact mean that life is all cupcakes and roses here in Honduras. So I'll take this moment to squash any little ideas of jealously about my life that you may in fact be having. So, here's the little list that I like to call
The Suffering of Summer (or, How God is Making Me Grow.)
1. I do not even remember what hot water feels like. Every nerve in my body is being constantly desensitized by cold showers. A cold shower every now and then does everyone a little good... but everyday? And it's not just kind-of-cold water. This is ice cold. The kind of cold that literally takes your breath away when it hits you.
2. Food. Oh, how I miss food. Everyday I have some kind of tortilla at a meal, along with some refried beans, rice and Honduran Cheese. The Cheese is the worst part of all. Hondurans make their own cheese, and they do not realize it from prolonged exposure and desensitized taste buds, but it does in fact smell like waste and taste absolutely rotten. And they put it on everything and eat it with every meal. Even though my stomach may be growling at me, the minutes it smells that cheese any trace of hunger is gone. I have a secret little list of all the foods I'm going to eat when I get home like Papa Johns Pizza, cookie dough, and sour patch kids)
3. We have no good cooking utensils. The handle on our frying pan is broken, so you can't pick it up, or when you do and it has hot oil in it, it spills and splashes and burns you. We have one good spoon and fork, the rest are falling apart. We do not have a spatula, so if we want to flip pancakes, or anything like that, we have to do it with a big plastic spoon.
4. I have to hand wash my own clothes. We have a little basin outside with a washboard and a bar of soap and that's where I wash my clothes. Not so fun. Also, they have to dry on a line outside. This I'm used to, because I enjoy being eco-friendly and trying to save the environment, but line-drying clothes is impossible when it rains for a week straight. It's not hot enough for clothes to dry so they just stay wet hanging outside. Taunting us with their clean-ness.
5. I walk or take a bus everywhere. This isn't so bad, but it's weird not being able to have a car and go anywhere I want whenever I want.
6. The trash. Oh, my the trash. We don't have outdoor trash cans, so we put it out on the porch and hope that we're home when the trash man comes. Usually, by the time that happens there are maggots everywhere and it smells utterly repulsive and we cry when we have to take it out. Also, the trash man comes whenever he wants. There is no designated time or day, it's just kind of whenever he feels like picking it up.
7. There is no air conditioning, anywhere in anyplace at any given moment that I am.
Wednesday
Day 26: Typically...
So, typically my day begins at 6 am when Celeste and I try our best to ignore our alarm clocks and the crowing roosters and curl underneath the covers for just a few more moments to precious sleep. When we finally roll out of bed, we all eat breakfast together, iron our clothes and wash our faces to try and be out the door by 6:45.
We walk about 10 minutes to school and spend the next 30 minutes doing any last-minute lesson preparation and welcoming the students to school.
On Mondays and Fridays we have special chapels for 30 minute where some of our girls do dance routine to praise and worship music, and we learn about a new Bible story. (The Bible story is always told in spanish, so it's always fun to try and guess which one it is by the way Sully has the kids act it out.)
Then we move on to classes, we have a different one at a different time everyday, so the first class varies day to day, before we break for breakfast at 8:50. Most of the kids have already eaten breakfast at home, so they play football out on the field instead, but some (like me!) prefer to eat about 6 times a day instead of 3. The school provides the breakfasts, but they invariably involve cheese, beans or tortillas in some form or fashion.
After breakfast we have a couple more classes until we break again at lunch, this time for almost an hour because most of the kids parents will cook food for them at home and bring it to them at lunch time so they can have a hot meal. I've grown to love this part of the day the most because I get to see and attempt to talk to the parents, and the kids usually fight fofr who gets to sit next to Meez Sahmer. Somedays it can be a little overwhelming, but I love it because I sneak the kids whichever food I don't want to eat. (Boiled bananas? No thank you.)
Since lunch is so long we invariably wind up playing football once more, or playing on the playground. I prefer the playground because sometimes running around in the heat gets to be too much for me. (That, and I tend to forget that these are children I'm playing with and they only weigh about 40 pounds and will easily fall over when you push them out of the way to get to the ball... whoops.) Plus... I have ALREADY been hit in the head by a flying soccer ball.
After lunch we have two more classes and then school ends. This is the real fun... After school we spend about thirty minutes preparing lesson plans and materials for the next day and then we have after-school activities. The boys come back adn play soccer on the field (yes... for the third time that day... they are insanely good.) And the girls come back for dance practice (yay!) on tuesdays and thursdays and cooking class on friday! Finally I get to use my talents! I am a natural born-baker and a natural born-dancer, so the kids looooooove these after school activities almost as much as I do.
Finally around 4 or so, we walk back home, watch Friends, wash our clothes and cook dinner. I've lived in a house with four girls before, but I have never lived like this. We truly live in constant community. We eat all of our meals together, we work together, we see each other 24/7.... there are absolutely no surprises, but I love living in a "whats yours is mine and whats mine is yours" kind of state.
I might be bringing this back to the States with me... so get prepared.
We walk about 10 minutes to school and spend the next 30 minutes doing any last-minute lesson preparation and welcoming the students to school.
On Mondays and Fridays we have special chapels for 30 minute where some of our girls do dance routine to praise and worship music, and we learn about a new Bible story. (The Bible story is always told in spanish, so it's always fun to try and guess which one it is by the way Sully has the kids act it out.)
Then we move on to classes, we have a different one at a different time everyday, so the first class varies day to day, before we break for breakfast at 8:50. Most of the kids have already eaten breakfast at home, so they play football out on the field instead, but some (like me!) prefer to eat about 6 times a day instead of 3. The school provides the breakfasts, but they invariably involve cheese, beans or tortillas in some form or fashion.
After breakfast we have a couple more classes until we break again at lunch, this time for almost an hour because most of the kids parents will cook food for them at home and bring it to them at lunch time so they can have a hot meal. I've grown to love this part of the day the most because I get to see and attempt to talk to the parents, and the kids usually fight fofr who gets to sit next to Meez Sahmer. Somedays it can be a little overwhelming, but I love it because I sneak the kids whichever food I don't want to eat. (Boiled bananas? No thank you.)
Since lunch is so long we invariably wind up playing football once more, or playing on the playground. I prefer the playground because sometimes running around in the heat gets to be too much for me. (That, and I tend to forget that these are children I'm playing with and they only weigh about 40 pounds and will easily fall over when you push them out of the way to get to the ball... whoops.) Plus... I have ALREADY been hit in the head by a flying soccer ball.
After lunch we have two more classes and then school ends. This is the real fun... After school we spend about thirty minutes preparing lesson plans and materials for the next day and then we have after-school activities. The boys come back adn play soccer on the field (yes... for the third time that day... they are insanely good.) And the girls come back for dance practice (yay!) on tuesdays and thursdays and cooking class on friday! Finally I get to use my talents! I am a natural born-baker and a natural born-dancer, so the kids looooooove these after school activities almost as much as I do.
Finally around 4 or so, we walk back home, watch Friends, wash our clothes and cook dinner. I've lived in a house with four girls before, but I have never lived like this. We truly live in constant community. We eat all of our meals together, we work together, we see each other 24/7.... there are absolutely no surprises, but I love living in a "whats yours is mine and whats mine is yours" kind of state.
I might be bringing this back to the States with me... so get prepared.
Monday
Day 25: In which I am given hope
We all question our life sometimes.
Are we doing the right thing? Are we being the right person? Are we in the right place?
These questions are mulled in my mind on more than one occasion each week, and today, while questioning my place and purpose I was given a little ray of hope, a little piece of God smiling down at me saying " This is where and how it is supposed to be."
This was on the side of one of my kids desks. I thought of you Lindsay.
Are we doing the right thing? Are we being the right person? Are we in the right place?
These questions are mulled in my mind on more than one occasion each week, and today, while questioning my place and purpose I was given a little ray of hope, a little piece of God smiling down at me saying " This is where and how it is supposed to be."
This was on the side of one of my kids desks. I thought of you Lindsay.
Day 24: Ash Wednesday
So, I've been thinking what, and if, I'll sacrifice anything for Lent while I'm here in Honduras.
Part of me, the selfish part, says I am already sacrificing enough, like hot water, good food, my friends, communication, air conditioning, chocolate, sour patch kids, etc. by being here, but then there's another part of me that says I should sacrifice something that's actually within my control.
So, I've decided to sacrifice spending money. I don't have anything to buy here, other than souvenirs, since all of my living expenses are being taken care of, but the one luxury I can afford myself is running to the pulperia whenever I'm feeling a need for home comfort and buying a soda or maybe a snack, or little useless things that I can quite honestly live without.
So begins my Lent.
Part of me, the selfish part, says I am already sacrificing enough, like hot water, good food, my friends, communication, air conditioning, chocolate, sour patch kids, etc. by being here, but then there's another part of me that says I should sacrifice something that's actually within my control.
So, I've decided to sacrifice spending money. I don't have anything to buy here, other than souvenirs, since all of my living expenses are being taken care of, but the one luxury I can afford myself is running to the pulperia whenever I'm feeling a need for home comfort and buying a soda or maybe a snack, or little useless things that I can quite honestly live without.
So begins my Lent.
Day 23: Hello Localism
So, tonight Celeste, Ivan (pronounced Yvonne, not Ivan) and I went to a little local restaurant.
It was dark and we walked about 10 blocks away, with virtually no street lights to this cute little restaurant that you would never know existed if you weren't a local. It has a cute shabby-chic cabana style with a palm fronds roof, chairs made out of string, and a little tv in the corner for watching football (and ONLY for watching football.)
We sat next to this cute little family that had adorable twin girls that were about two years old who laughed and danced around saying such simple spanish that even I could understand what they were singing about.
While we were sitting amidst the aroma of fried tamates and the swirl of spanish in the air I got the overwhelming feeling of "I live here." Something about the way the spanish families acknoledged and welcome me, the way I could order my own food and not have to tell Celeste what I wanted I just realized that this is a community which I am now a part of.
I mean... I live here.
That is just so weird.
It was dark and we walked about 10 blocks away, with virtually no street lights to this cute little restaurant that you would never know existed if you weren't a local. It has a cute shabby-chic cabana style with a palm fronds roof, chairs made out of string, and a little tv in the corner for watching football (and ONLY for watching football.)
We sat next to this cute little family that had adorable twin girls that were about two years old who laughed and danced around saying such simple spanish that even I could understand what they were singing about.
While we were sitting amidst the aroma of fried tamates and the swirl of spanish in the air I got the overwhelming feeling of "I live here." Something about the way the spanish families acknoledged and welcome me, the way I could order my own food and not have to tell Celeste what I wanted I just realized that this is a community which I am now a part of.
I mean... I live here.
That is just so weird.
Sunday
Day 21: Raining Fish
So, we have been without water for three days now. We have drinking water, but we have no water to bathe in, to flush the toilet with, to wash dishes with... life in Honduras isn't all sunshine and happiness.
We have a little basin outside on our porch where we wash our clothes and that typically is always full of water, however, we've been dipping into our reserve for toilet flushing purposes. Lucky for us, while we haven't had running water we have had rain water, so I stuck a couple of buckets outside to catch water in so we could have just a little bit extra. After a couple of hours, I walk back outside to pour the water in our basin, and I see something's floating. This isn't unsual. Sometimes there will be leaves or other little particles floating, so I thought maybe this was just a small piece of rope. Then, I notice that it isn't in fact floating, but swimming... it's a BETA fish!
We had a couple of these fish when i was growing up, so i knew what they were, but I have never heard of them just appearing in water. So, of course, my first conclusion is that it has rained fish. Rational? No. Logical? No. But hey, when a fish just appears in a bucket, your mind goes to extremes. I run inside and tell the other girls and they all freak out with me and we go outside to see it. So, we're thinking of where we're going to keep it, what we might name it, when the boys next door come out laughing.
They put their fish in our bucket.
I consistently have pranking neighbors.
We have a little basin outside on our porch where we wash our clothes and that typically is always full of water, however, we've been dipping into our reserve for toilet flushing purposes. Lucky for us, while we haven't had running water we have had rain water, so I stuck a couple of buckets outside to catch water in so we could have just a little bit extra. After a couple of hours, I walk back outside to pour the water in our basin, and I see something's floating. This isn't unsual. Sometimes there will be leaves or other little particles floating, so I thought maybe this was just a small piece of rope. Then, I notice that it isn't in fact floating, but swimming... it's a BETA fish!
We had a couple of these fish when i was growing up, so i knew what they were, but I have never heard of them just appearing in water. So, of course, my first conclusion is that it has rained fish. Rational? No. Logical? No. But hey, when a fish just appears in a bucket, your mind goes to extremes. I run inside and tell the other girls and they all freak out with me and we go outside to see it. So, we're thinking of where we're going to keep it, what we might name it, when the boys next door come out laughing.
They put their fish in our bucket.
I consistently have pranking neighbors.
Day 20: Luis' Birthday
So today, Valentine's Day, was one of my little 2nd graders 8th birthday. We got all dolled up to go outside on our patio and party it up with a bunch of our students. (Luis lives next door to us)
The party started about 2 o'clock and went until 6. It was probably one of the most fun birthdays I have been to in awhile. They had three clowns, which are nothing like American clowns, so it was much less traumatizing. They sang and danced, and basically deejayed the whole party, which was fun because it was a very parent-involved party.
A lot of the games involved parents and their kids, so they told the kids to run and grab and adult... naturally, I was a very popular choice. The only problem in this is that I did not ever know what the rules were or how to play because everything was said in spanish. Everyone at the party (a good 100+) could tell I had no idea what was going on, so they would all laugh and smile at the silly gringa who was completely clueless.
I played a game, where I had to run and grab clothespins and run back to pin them on my kid. I definitely plowed head-to-chest into some of the other moms, and we screamed and laugh the entire time. I am most grateful that smiles and laughter are things that are not bound by language.
The only adult-only game that was played involved everyone standing in a circle and passing a hat. We played it to celebrate the other Luis' birthday, who had just turned 21. So, the game gets down to two players, Luis and one of the moms. The game can't play with only two people, so they had a dance contest to determine the winner... guess who got chosen as Luis' partner? yep, me. Everyone gasped when the clown chose me and whispered "la gringa." And to eb perfectly honest, I think they all thought I was going to do terrible and fail. but let's face it... there are about 7 things in this world that I am naturally good at, and dancing is one of them.
So, the music starts up and it's merengue. Lucky for me, the motley crew and I back home had just been intensely studying and perfecting the art of merengue, so I knew how to lead while looking like I was following. Also, it just so happens to be a merengue song that we had practiced to "Suavement Besame" Michael's favorite, so I knew what was coming in the song and what moves would look best.
The music comes on and Luis is just standing there, laughing and refusing the look at me, while the other couple starts dancing. So... it looks like he will fail his latino people by not knowing how to dance. I grab his hands, determined to not look like a fool, so I throw a couple of the moves I know and the crowd goes wild! It was so awesome. The other couple was just kind of dirty dancing, without actually touching each other, so naturally, we won. Did you expect anything less though?
I won a sweet little High School Musical Notebook, which I desperately needed, along with the respect of the parents.
The party started about 2 o'clock and went until 6. It was probably one of the most fun birthdays I have been to in awhile. They had three clowns, which are nothing like American clowns, so it was much less traumatizing. They sang and danced, and basically deejayed the whole party, which was fun because it was a very parent-involved party.
A lot of the games involved parents and their kids, so they told the kids to run and grab and adult... naturally, I was a very popular choice. The only problem in this is that I did not ever know what the rules were or how to play because everything was said in spanish. Everyone at the party (a good 100+) could tell I had no idea what was going on, so they would all laugh and smile at the silly gringa who was completely clueless.
I played a game, where I had to run and grab clothespins and run back to pin them on my kid. I definitely plowed head-to-chest into some of the other moms, and we screamed and laugh the entire time. I am most grateful that smiles and laughter are things that are not bound by language.
The only adult-only game that was played involved everyone standing in a circle and passing a hat. We played it to celebrate the other Luis' birthday, who had just turned 21. So, the game gets down to two players, Luis and one of the moms. The game can't play with only two people, so they had a dance contest to determine the winner... guess who got chosen as Luis' partner? yep, me. Everyone gasped when the clown chose me and whispered "la gringa." And to eb perfectly honest, I think they all thought I was going to do terrible and fail. but let's face it... there are about 7 things in this world that I am naturally good at, and dancing is one of them.
So, the music starts up and it's merengue. Lucky for me, the motley crew and I back home had just been intensely studying and perfecting the art of merengue, so I knew how to lead while looking like I was following. Also, it just so happens to be a merengue song that we had practiced to "Suavement Besame" Michael's favorite, so I knew what was coming in the song and what moves would look best.
The music comes on and Luis is just standing there, laughing and refusing the look at me, while the other couple starts dancing. So... it looks like he will fail his latino people by not knowing how to dance. I grab his hands, determined to not look like a fool, so I throw a couple of the moves I know and the crowd goes wild! It was so awesome. The other couple was just kind of dirty dancing, without actually touching each other, so naturally, we won. Did you expect anything less though?
I won a sweet little High School Musical Notebook, which I desperately needed, along with the respect of the parents.
Day 18: Pico Bonito
So, today was one of those goal-accomplishing days that just makes me light up with joy. Cynthia (another sister of Sol's) came in to visit us this weekend. She is absolutely amazing, just like the rest of her sisters, except she's my age and loves to do all of the adventure kind of things (like going to ruins, hiking mountains, jumping off bridges) that I like to do.
She came in and immediately decided that we had to hike Pico Bonito this weekend. Pico Bonito is this little mountain near La Ceiba that is protected by the government and houses some of the best waterfalls, river rafting, flora and fauns that Honduras has to offer.
So, we got up about 7, drove out there with Fito and Sol, and began our journey. I saw parrots, the largest blue butterflies I have ever seen, and the longest falling waterfall I have ever seen in my life. It was about a two hour hike in and about an hour out. We had to cross a long cable bridge over the hugest rocks I have ever seen, that makes the Ocoee River look like chump change. Since, rainy season just ended, all of the waterfalls were at their streaming peak. We hiked down the base and were drenched from the spray and we were a good 40 feet away from it still. From the waterfall you can see through the trees to the shore, out to the key islands, which was a positively breathtaking view. Jungle, waterfall, beach AND island all in one... This is seriously my kind of paradise.
After hiking down the mountain. (Let's recap: This is officially the third mountain in the third country I have climbed in the past year alone. YAY!) We crossed back over the cable bridge (this time in a rickety little cable car that Cynthia and I found that Celeste and Paulette refused to join us in) and asked the guy standing there when the bus would be coming along. The buses run funny in the mountains and he said it could be anywhere form an hour to two hours. So, we started walking down the 10 mile long road to try and get to La Ceiba, thinking we would just eventually catch a bus that was passing by.... didn't happen. We walked about two miles before a couple of men in a car that I can only describe as the adventurer's dream car happened by and offered us four lovely ladies a lift.
We hopped up in the back next to a Irish scuba diving teacher and a German professional traveler and had lots of laughs and good conversation on the way back to La Ceiba, and will hopefully soon, be going to visit said scuba instructor for lessons and free dives. :)
The drove us all the way back to La Ceiba (kind gents!) where we hopped on a bus to go home. This was my first Latin American bus ride, so I was immensely excited! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, not really crowded, no one tried to take my bag and it cost us just a little more than a dollar to ride. It was a perfect kind of day.
She came in and immediately decided that we had to hike Pico Bonito this weekend. Pico Bonito is this little mountain near La Ceiba that is protected by the government and houses some of the best waterfalls, river rafting, flora and fauns that Honduras has to offer.
So, we got up about 7, drove out there with Fito and Sol, and began our journey. I saw parrots, the largest blue butterflies I have ever seen, and the longest falling waterfall I have ever seen in my life. It was about a two hour hike in and about an hour out. We had to cross a long cable bridge over the hugest rocks I have ever seen, that makes the Ocoee River look like chump change. Since, rainy season just ended, all of the waterfalls were at their streaming peak. We hiked down the base and were drenched from the spray and we were a good 40 feet away from it still. From the waterfall you can see through the trees to the shore, out to the key islands, which was a positively breathtaking view. Jungle, waterfall, beach AND island all in one... This is seriously my kind of paradise.
After hiking down the mountain. (Let's recap: This is officially the third mountain in the third country I have climbed in the past year alone. YAY!) We crossed back over the cable bridge (this time in a rickety little cable car that Cynthia and I found that Celeste and Paulette refused to join us in) and asked the guy standing there when the bus would be coming along. The buses run funny in the mountains and he said it could be anywhere form an hour to two hours. So, we started walking down the 10 mile long road to try and get to La Ceiba, thinking we would just eventually catch a bus that was passing by.... didn't happen. We walked about two miles before a couple of men in a car that I can only describe as the adventurer's dream car happened by and offered us four lovely ladies a lift.
We hopped up in the back next to a Irish scuba diving teacher and a German professional traveler and had lots of laughs and good conversation on the way back to La Ceiba, and will hopefully soon, be going to visit said scuba instructor for lessons and free dives. :)
The drove us all the way back to La Ceiba (kind gents!) where we hopped on a bus to go home. This was my first Latin American bus ride, so I was immensely excited! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, not really crowded, no one tried to take my bag and it cost us just a little more than a dollar to ride. It was a perfect kind of day.
Day 17: Dia de Amistad
Today our school had a HUGE Valentines Day celebration! This is great because Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. Something about love and the massive amounts of candies and flowers just makes my heart swoon. In Honduras, today is considered more of a day of love and friendship instead of just romantic love. So, we invited all of the childrens parents to come and celebrate with us at the school.
We started out the day with a special chapel, all about the love of Christ and how He died for us. Then, we had parents come up and sit in chairs, while their kids stood behind them and fed them jello and watermelon. Most of the food ended up on clothes rather than in mouths. It was so funny to watch all the parents scream and giggle while competing with their kids.
Afterwards, we had this precious little bike race, where the boys raced across the schoolyard and grabbed little ribbons from the post that had certain girls names on them. Whichever girl they picked gave them a hug and some chocolate. It was absolutely the cutest things to watch them shyly hug and handover the boys rewards.
We also had little handmade valentines that the kids could buy and send to one another or to their parents, so it was great practice for me to sit and write little messages in Spanish like "Te queiro mucho" and such.
Day 15: Rio
In my 3rd grade science class we've been learning about pollution. We talked about polluting the air, the land and of course, the water. IN our book it talks all about why humans need water (for drinking, bathing, and of course... cooling off.) This last one I had never really thought about before. Sure, during the summer time in Florida, we all flock to the pools for cooling off.... but the reality of it is, we have air conditioning to keep us cool, we don't necessarily need water for that.
In Honduras however, there is no air conditioning. If you really want to cool off, the river is the best place to do that. So, on extraordinarily hot days, like today, that is exactly what we do.
We have about 5 rivers within a 5 mile radius of our little pueblo, but we like going to one that's a little more private and on protected grounds. There are a few people who live around here, and they have been living here for generations, which is the only reason the government lets them stay.
Rio Cummen is a beautiful little river nestled between a couple of the mountains. This place is literally the most gorgeous place I have ever swam. The water was clear and he fish swam right up to you.
In Honduras however, there is no air conditioning. If you really want to cool off, the river is the best place to do that. So, on extraordinarily hot days, like today, that is exactly what we do.
We have about 5 rivers within a 5 mile radius of our little pueblo, but we like going to one that's a little more private and on protected grounds. There are a few people who live around here, and they have been living here for generations, which is the only reason the government lets them stay.
Rio Cummen is a beautiful little river nestled between a couple of the mountains. This place is literally the most gorgeous place I have ever swam. The water was clear and he fish swam right up to you.
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