The Inner workings of it all

Brian & Regan

2009-12-21T06:46:00.000-08:00

I had this crazy dream (I don't know what it is that I only remember ridiculous ones). So I'm at school, I think down in Honduras, but I'm a student, not a teacher. And since I'm part of the group that gives tours of our town to people when they come in I had the opportunity to give a tour to a group that was coming in. Apparently our director Megan had some friends coming in named Brian and Regan (Could this be related to Brian Regan? Maybe...) and so she asked if anybody wanted to give a tour. Of course I didn't want to but it turned out that everybody else just stood up and left. So I decided sure, I guess I can do it. Things were going fine on our tour until I realized that instead of a pair of lame people it was actually the comedian Brian Regan, only in this dream he was split into two people, and they were both females, around 24, single, and flirting with me. So naturally when they wanted to stop at the jewelery store I said yes. I was helping one of them pick out a ring for her mom when she asked, "Can I put whipped cream on your neck?" Well of course! So I go down on my knees, head down and leaning forward so that she could put whipped cream on my neck. Then the other one came over and poured hair dye into my hair. It was a bright orange throw up type color, and permanent. I forget the reason why, I think because I wouldn't take her sky diving. They were both laughing cause this was their plan all along apparently. Then there's a fire alarm so I go outside with my friends David and Cody who are suddenly there. We get into the field with everybody else, but there is some confusion where we are supposed to go. Then we get on the bus and sit right behind Megan who seems to be staring at my hair. Come to find out that her friends aren't Brian and Regan, their actual name is the Hair Stripers...go figure. So since the fire alarm is going off we decide to all head out to the hot springs for the evening. But the alarm stops before we can leave. So back inside we go for a conference that's suddenly planned. We're switching rooms all the time but when I switch rooms I can't find my shoe! And this happens in each room over and over and over. I get to the new room and can't find my shoe. Decide that I'll track it down later, then magically am wearing my shoes when I leave. Get to the next room and I don't have my shoes, blah blah blah. Why am I so bizarre?

Repairman for a Day...or Two

2009-08-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

I recently acquired my car from my cousin who had been taking care of her for the past year I was gone. She told me, “there are just a few problems...” One being that the drivers side window kind of goes down and kind of goes up. This was a problem when I turned the car over to her, yet the motor had managed to almost officially die. The motor, if you will, went onto hospice.
I asked my brother, “how do you fix a window motor?” “Oh simple, just pop off the door panel, take out the old one, and put in the new one!” If only it were so simple....yet I didn’t know this until many hours into the project! So early Thursday morning I embarked on a mission that would take me two trips to Shucks, countless efforts of looking for help online, and a lot of guessing/hoping/praying.
What was supposed to be a quick morning fix on Thursday was finally completed in time for lunch on Friday. I tried, I guessed, and I conquered....mostly. The monetary cost was significantly cheaper than taking it to a mechanic, but the non-monetary cost may turn out to be quite high. I busted one place intended once upon a time for a screw. So there are now two screws, not three, holding my door together. I busted a small panel on the door, but that was easily fixed with a few extra screws. And the kicker on the home repair....I tried the window when we were all done....I took a deep breath....waited....and pushed....nothing....I tried again....I pushed down on the power window button....nothing....I took another deep breath....looked at my dad....and pushed up....IT WORKED! When I pushed up on the window button it went down, and when I pushed down it went up. So in a sense, yes, the window works perfectly!

Most Terrifying Moment

2009-08-12T04:12:00.000-07:00

So these dumb dogs have this habit of waking me up at 3 or 4 in the morning in order to go outside. Other than annoyed I haven't thought much of it until tonight. Now, let me take this back just one or two days for a second....there was a news story about a dog that was attacked by a raccoon. The dog lost it's leg and was only saved when it's owner detached the raccoon. I said something jokingly like, "Maybe I'll find a raccoon in the backyard one night." Why did I have to open my mouth like that?
Ok, back to these dogs and tonight. I take them outside and immediately they go running outside barking, including Fetch dog. And the more curious part is that they don't go to the back corner, they go running to one of the bushes barking and then, suddenly, yelping. All the dogs are barking bloody murder and my mind immediately starts racing! Luckily there is a small light that I figured out how to turn on just last night so I could see a little bit of what was happening. Diaper dog comes running out of the bushes followed by a gigantic cat! That's funny, the cat is huge! Way bigger than the pug! And it has black and white stripes on it...hmmmm. I immediately freak out and start yelling at the raccoon (not about to chase after a raccoon twice the size of a pug when it's angry!). I'm clapping and yelling at it while Sausage and Diaper dog come back to me I shove them inside (without his diaper but who cares). Then I hear the dogs move towards the back corner, it's down to Water dog and Fetch dog....Water dog looks pitiful and is now just standing under a tree (what do you expect from him?), so I run over, pick him up, and shove him back inside. Fetch dog (probably the most aggressive of the four) is still in the bushes barking at something. I don't want to go back in the bushes and grab him cause who knows if the raccoon is still there or not! But then, maybe I should go back and get him for that very same reason, I might stand a better chance against a raccoon than a 20 pound (on a good day) dog. I run inside looking for a flashlight (luckily I had explored the kitchen from day one), find a small one that works and sprint back out the door. It's just powerful enough to make out something gigantic moving across the fence and now I hear Fetch dog barking (a good sign that he's still alive) but on the other side of the small fence! He's jumped a 3+ft fence in search of this guy! I quick run next door to the neighbor's house and without regard for privacy sprint around their house and through their backyard to the side Fetch dog is still barking on. I see him running up and down the fence chasing the raccoon that is running back and forth on top of the fence. I run up, grab Fetch dog, and sprint back to the house, breathing a sigh of relief as I'm safely inside with all four dogs. I examine all dogs a quick run-over and amazingly enough the only blood that I spot on any of them is on Fetch dog and without any cuts or bits on him I'm assuming it's from the raccoon...serious?* These are some bad-ass dogs! Who knew?
*Scratch that comment, I spoke too soon. Fetch dog was not putting any weight on his right leg this morning and I examined more closely. He did have a small bite, so he's at the vet now getting it cleaned and taken care of.

Potty Break

2009-08-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

Every time I take these dogs outside it's the same thing:
1) They all go running outside barking into the back corner of the fence (minus fetch dog that drops the ball at the door and waits).
2) Sausage dog grabs her stuffed animal and shakes it for a while in her mouth, then pees on it.
3) Diaper dog goes running around the whole time barking at birds in the trees, the fence, fetch dog, airplanes, helicopters, the barbecue, and the gate.
4) Water dog (now named that way for the amount of water he drinks then spits up on the floor) just stands at my feet once he's done barking at the back corner and he does nothing.
5) Fetch dog continues to play fetch despite the barking and standing going on around him.
6) Sausage is now done with her stuffed animal and tries to have a poop but is usually constipated so she just squats for a half minute. Then drags her bottom across the grass.
7) Diaper dog is now barking at a bush.
8) Fetch dog is still bringing the ball back to me.
9) Sausage is all done now and just sits in the grass awkwardly.
10) Fetch dog gets the ball, stops by the water dish for a drink, and brings it back to me to keep playing.
11) Water dog is still standing.
12) I get bored and bring the dogs in (not before putting diaper dog's diaper back on him).

Diaper Dog

2009-08-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

This is maybe not the most appropriate posting....but it's probably the most hilarious thing that has ever happened to me....stupid diaper dog.
So this afternoon I bring the dogs in from outside (going to the bathroom and playing fetch), give them their treats, and then go to the bathroom myself. It's weird enough that I look at the dor and there's two dogs staring at me while I pee. But then as soon as I finish the diaper dog (pug named Brutus) walks up to the toilet and LIFTS HIS LEG! I immediately kicked him and he ran out of the room....but can you believe this?! He's dumber than a brick.

Dog Sitting

2009-08-04T15:27:00.001-07:00

I got a call from the neighbor of a friend who wanted me to dog sit and I agreed to help out. Now I'm about half way through day one of about nine and these dogs are crazy! There's three terriers of some kind and one pug who thinks he's a terrier. Terrier one likes to play fetch non-stop! The family suggested to play just for 20 minutes three times per day (but we've already played four times). Then terrier two and three have yet to leave their cage. They just stay in there all day because they're depressed I suppose. One of them has kidney problems and so the owner left me the vets number "just in case" he goes into kidney failure. He drinks a lot and has to go to the bathroom a lot "but that's good for him." Oh, and he sleeps with me....yay. Then there's the pug who apparently has bladder issues. So there are some "diapers" that they put on him....they are actually maxi-pads stuck to a cloth and strung around his backside. I get to change that....woo.
And how could I forget about the cat! There's a cat who comes and goes apparently. I haven't seen him all day but his food is sitting here in case he ever comes home. It's no skin off my back if he doesn't, I hate cats. But the owners might see this as a bad thing (who knows why). Well, I suppose it's time to take the dogs out once again...maybe those two mutts will come out of their cage this time...or not. And the pug keeps making growling noises randomly all day, do all pugs do this?

Striking Realization

2009-07-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

I just had a terrible realization...I'm lonely. I've been back in the States now for almost four weeks and I'm lonely. In Copan I was surrounded by friends day and night and interacted with hundreds of people every day (albeit the majority under age 12).:) Since coming back to my parents place my life has seemed fairly flat and lacking something and I couldn't place a finger on it...Then sitting here in bed tonight it struck me like an epiphany (learned that word in church...), I'm lonely!
There's no real blame to go around on this issue, I haven't sought out friendships around here as I view the Seattle are as a very temporary place to be...so who needs close friends here? Now, no offense in the least bit to my parents (sorry to say this mom), but when I spend the majority of my time alone at home or with my parents at home my social life feels like a vacuum...only I'm the only one hanging out inside the vacuum bag. I need to get out there and make friends my age around here...that's scary...how do you even do that? I don't even remember what it's like here in the States to try and make friends outside of school. Don't all the people my age just go dancing and get drunk? I don't even know what people do around here for fun? Do lots of people in their twenties think cards are one of the greatest inventions ever or is it just me? Do lots of people my age prefer to just stay home and chill with a few friends on the weekend instead of "hit the town?" Do lots of people enjoy sitting and people watching? What if I'm hanging out with somebody and I have nothing to say? Are people ok with that around here? I don't know if I've ever had a bigger feeling of seclusion...I guess I do take after my dad on the extrovert scale more than I thought.

They Have a Word for that already...

2009-06-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

I took a break from a medical brigade in town this afternoon to hit up a free lunch offer. Who could ever turn one of those down?:) While I was hanging out with a handful of other foreign teachers at Marisol's house (Honduran director-type) we started talking about all sorts of different Copan things. We got onto the topic of drug lords and drug trafficking in the area. One of the ironic things that we got to talking about is how they refer to their trading of drugs. You see....they don't "sell" drugs. What they do is that they exchange the drugs for money. I started thinking....I think that there's a name for exchanging an object for money. It's called selling. Does it make it sound any better to say that you exchange drugs for money instead of saying that you sell them? I'm not really too sure about this one...maybe it's like a public image sort of thing. Don't want people to think that you're doing anything shady, right?

¡Me Va a Sacar los Frijoles!

2009-06-21T16:27:00.001-07:00

He's so excited!
Originally uploaded by zassink

Yesterday was one of those days of extremely mixed emotions. My neighbor, Carlos José, had his sixth grade graduation, which is a really big deal here. It’s kind of like a high school graduation in the States, just cheesier (at least here in Copán). We went to one of the nicest hotels in Copán, Hotel Posada Real, in order to have the ceremony and dinner. Apparently the hotel is famous for not good food....and I’d say that it lived up to that. We had a super expensive dinner that I probably could have made better, and that’s saying something!:) The ceremony was alright, I really don’t see the big deal about graduating from sixth grade, because you’re only about half way through school in my opinion...never-the-less I played along and enjoyed the ceremony.
When we got home around 9:30 I was hanging out with my neighbors realizing that I might not see some of them for a really long time. They were planning on leaving early this morning (5:15am) for Tegucigalpa and the graduation of the oldest of the kids from high school. They don’t get back until after I leave for the States on the 27th. Only about half of them were planning on going, but they were all considering going (still last night they weren’t sure!). So as I said my “see you laters” last night I started to get really nostalgic thinking about all the things that we’ve done together. They have all been like brothers, sisters, and of course a mom to me. We’ve taken trips together, eaten dinner together on a regular basis, I’ve studied with Carlos José constantly, had our Sunday morning coffee hang outs, watched Caso Cerrado (it’s like a good version of Judge Judy), sat outside the house commenting on all the tourists passing by, they’ve even tried to get me a girlfriend here in Copán (unsuccessfully).:) So I’m saying goodbye at the time to María Beatris and her four year old son right before I go to bed. María and I are talking about all sorts of different memories and thanking each other for putting up with each other. Then I bend down to give Norman Roman (the four year old) a hug; I lift him up and give him a strong hug. As I set him back down he says (giggling), “Mister.... ¡me va a sacar los frijoles!” In other words, “Mister...You’re going to squeeze the beans out of me!” I got up this morning and found a note on my kitchen stove....all my neighbors left this morning! I’m left to fend for myself here in my house for the last week. I no longer have anybody to joke around with, to make fun of each other with, to comment about tourists with...nothing! This will be kind of a boring week I think...the good news is that there is a medical brigade that should keep me busy. I’m going to miss my neighbors though, beans and all.

My New Che

2009-06-20T09:59:00.001-07:00

I used to think that Che Guevara was my favorite Latin American revolutionary but with the conclusion of the Confessions book and now looking into Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa things have changed. I've come to see Correa as one of the most unique revolutionaries in Latin America in the modern era. I ran across an interview with him shortly after he won the preliminary elections in April with over 50% of the vote (meaning that for the first time in 30 years there was no run-off election) in which he talks about his vision for Ecuador and South America in general. Here's my favorite quote from the interview. The whole interview can be found at:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1915/68/

"Competition is a concept that is already very debatable at the level of economic agents, but at the level of countries – fraternal countries – are you going to compete? It’s a complete absurdity. And how have they competed? Whoever mistreats the labor force most, whoever puts it in the most precarious position, because that is the only way to gain competitiveness. And we deteriorate the standard of living of our population and, above all, our working class. And the ones that most benefit from the cheapest products are the First World."

Confessions of an EHM

2009-06-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

I just got finished reading one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read. It’s called Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and presents a very different look upon the world. I highly recommend it for anybody interested in globalization, world politics, corporations, economics, etc. Now...time for a little background:
When I came to Honduras two years ago I started to get a little different twist on all the news articles that I was reading here in Honduras. I started to form a truly unique perspective on world leaders hailed by the US press or shamed by them. Latin America has a recent upswing of leftist leaders throughout the region including Chávez in Venezuela, Morales in Bolivia, Correa in Ecuador, Noriega in Nicaragua, Zelaya in Honduras, Funes in El Salvador, etc. I started to ask myself over the past two years, is it possible that in the US we are missing something? Why is there a sudden swing to the left here and is it a bad thing? All these figures are certainly painted in a bad light in the US. True, Chávez might be slightly crazy, and Morales has made some bizarre moves. None-the-less, there must be something to these leaders who keep getting elected (maybe it’s just corruption and I’m outta line here). Then I read in a Spanish paper several months back that Correa decided to stop paying back the national debt. About half the national income was put towards paying off past debts incurred through the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, etc. and he decided that they were mostly illegal and refused to pay them back. Correa was a man educated in Belgium and the US, fluent in Spanish, English, French, and Quechua (indigenous language in Ecuador), he has his PHD in economics from University of Illinois! This man is not crazy or dumb or even out of touch with reality a little bit. So why does he make this claim? Well, recent articles I read said that the country was forced into default on their loans in 2000 and large corporations and oil companies quickly swooped in buying bonds and taking control of the country. So Correa said that since they were forced into default the move was illegal and he’s paying back 35 cents on the dollar for all bonds bought after they went default. What is going on?!
So this is my state of mind when my friend Ty (who has been here 2 years with me) tells me that I should read Confessions of an EHM as it ties into a lot of Latin America, especially Ecuador. I was itching to read the book and as soon as he gave it to me I began to eat it up. The author, John Perkins, talks about his work as an EHM. In short he would go into a country and proclaim that with the economic growth that they will experience on a certain project they will be able to pay back the debt incurred from the loan to build it. They would help with the expectation that they would use US corporations to build the projects. His statistics would all be inflated. For example, instead of a consistent 6-8 percent increase in electrical use he might predict a 17-20 percent increase per year because the economy is prime for a boom! Of course this wasn’t true, but the country would buy into it and take the loan, use US corporations to complete the project, and then be in debt to the World Bank, IMF, etc. Since the growth would not be what was predicted (surprise) the country would not be able to pay back it’s loans. Thus the country would be in debt still, but would now owe more than just money to the corporations...they’d owe loyalty to the US. Granted, this is 250 pages summarized in a paragraph, so it’s ok if you don’t follow all this.
I got to thinking about Ecuador in all this. Is it possible that Correa is not so off his rocker? Is it possible that the government was taken advantage of and used in order for monetary value but also for a personal interest? A simple look at statistics can help take a look at this. From 1970 to 2000 Ecuador experienced some dramatic shifts. The “official” poverty level grew from 50 to 70 percent. The under or unemployed grew from 15 to 70 percent. Public debt increased from $240 million to $16 billion. National resources devoted to the poorest declined from 20 percent to 6 percent. So think about it, is Ecuador in a better position today than it was 30 years ago? Oh sure, the country has some vast oil reserves and is becoming an exporter of oil, but at what cost? Most of the oil is located under the Amazon and is only harvested at the expense of local tribes who are either exploited or ousted.
So as I sit here in my last two weeks in Honduras I ask myself what this all means. Is what I just read really true? Is this really happening? I can’t fully grasp my mind around all that is running through my head. There is so much corruption in the world and I don’t exclude the US in any of this. I wish that there were some way to wave a magical wand and just make socialism work across the globe. Instill in all of us a greater sense of altruism and selflessness that would lead to the elimination of poverty and hunger. For now I just sit here thinking....where do we even begin?

Pulhapanzak and Yojoa

2009-06-15T19:55:00.001-07:00

Pulhapanzak
Originally uploaded by zassink

This weekend David, Cody, and myself decided to get out for one last weekend adventure. We had heard all sorts of good things about a local Honduran lake and waterfall. On Saturday we left for Lake Yojoa with plans to check out all the spots around the lake (caves, national park, cloud forest, waterfall, etc.). We spent the morning on Saturday traveling to Parque Nacional Cerro Azul (Blue Mountain National Park). We got there late afternoon and decided to take a little walk to a viewpoint that looks out over the lake. When we got to the viewpoint (hiking from about 750 meters up to 1100 meters) we decided to just go ahead and finish the loop of 7 or so kilometers instead of going back the way we came cause that would just be boring. So we hiked up another 100 meters or so before reaching a bend that went around the mountain and we went down the other side past another waterfall and hiked all over the place. We were hungry, tired, and exhausted by the time we got to the end and were all severely disillusioned to find out dinner would not be ready for another 45 minutes. We survived though....then we spent the better part of Sunday just working on changing hotels, looking for a new one, and then getting settled in. Sunday was basically a wasted day in which we ended up at the D & D Brewery/Bed and Breakfast, which we’d heard lots of good things about. It turned out to be a big dud. Apparently the wife (Honduran) ran off the husband (American/owner) and now the hotel doesn’t really have a good owner. The owner is known for his homemade beer and soda, neither of which they had of course. The food was marginal and expensive, and to top it all off the beds were the most uncomfortable ones in all of Honduras I think.
Then today we decided to hit up Pulhapanzak (Poo-lah-pawn-sock) on our way back to San Pedro and then Copan. The waterfall was a smash hit! It’s 44 meters tall and is extremely impressive. We paid for a guide to take us down behind the waterfall and do some cliff jumping as well off to the side. I had a lot of fun at the waterfall and would highly recommend it to anybody in the area...if you ever come to Honduras.:) The only down side of today was when we hiked behind the waterfall they told us to wear shoes for the safety of our feet. Of course I only took one pair of shoes, which means that I made the whole bus ride back to Copan in soaking wet shoes. Not the most exciting part of the trip (being on the bus for four hours with wet shoes), but well worth it.

Three Things I Learned Today

2009-06-06T13:57:00.001-07:00

Hi-Yah!
Originally uploaded by zassink

We took a bus this morning to El Sapote, a place about 13 kilometers from Copan. We got off the bus in the middle of nowhere, hiked across a valley, over a stream, and up a mountain. Soon we were looking out over the whole valley. It was a great exploration...not so much a hike. We went about 3 miles on our hike, but the majority of that was finding a way into the jungle. Once inside the going was so slow we covered about a mile or 2 at the most in a couple hours of hacking, climbing, and slipping. I learned a lot of things today while on the hike....Here are three of the things that I learned:
1) Tall grass makes the going tough....but not impossible. With a little bit of ingenuity you can get through any grassy situation. I just took out the machete and sliced a path through the tall grass.
2) Rainforests have no paths....we were exploring and exploring and kept thinking, "follow that path up the hill!" Then as David so astutely would point out..."I don't think that's a path, I think it's a runoff for rain water." He was always right about that as we tried following a stream but found no path in the jungle.
3) Few things dry in the rainforest...the bottom of my pant legs got wet at the start of the hike when trying to get into the jungle through the grass...and they never dried out. I think that the majority of uncovered forest floor was just mud. I don't think that very many things ever dry out fully in the rainforest.

Hiking in Copan

2009-05-30T17:04:00.001-07:00

The Stela Group
Originally uploaded by zassink

I recently realized that with less than a month left in Copan I really need to take advantage of the time that I have here on the weekends without school. Last weekend some teachers were hiking up to a waterfall and invited me along. We first went to the waterfall, then to the ancient Mayan stela "nearby." I heard it was nearby, it was another hour or so of strenuous hiking. Never-the-less...we made it! Then we read the sign and one part jumped out at us quickly, "nearby caves." So we made a plan (as we were all out of water almost), come back next week with lots of water and food to find the caves.
This morning we left the central park at 7am in search of the caves and a far away peak to conquer. We quickly got passed the stela on a short cut we had discovered and then plotted on towards where we thought the caves might be....the side of a big cliff. We ran into one person that pointed us up the hill so up we went. After scrambling up the loose rocks and dirt to the top we were still no closer to the caves. We asked some more farmers we ran into and they pointed us in a direction even further away from Copan. We'd now been hiking almost 3 hours and had climbed more than 1400 feet of elevation! We were tired but saw the village of Cabañas on the far side (which has bus service to Copan). It was never our intention to hike there, but we started talking about it in a semi-serious manner. After running into a third person that "pointed us" in the direction of the caves we set out confidently. Soon we were staring at the side of a cliff where obviously a cave should be but there was no cave in sight. We searched all over and eventually realized the caves were a mystery to us. We kept walking on our way to Cabañas and looking for the caves but never ended up finding them. In total it was a five hour hike covering over 6 miles climbing from 2000 ft up to 3400 ft then back down to 2200ft. We were disappointed to not conquer the caves, but we did conquer a big rock hill and many barbed wire fences that we hopped over. All in all...this was a successful day.:)

The Earth Shake

2009-05-30T16:52:00.001-07:00

I woke up at 2:24am on Wednesday night/Thursday morning and noticed that my bathroom door was swinging funny. Having lived in LA for 10 years (although it was a long time ago) I remember a lot about earthquakes. I quickly realized that I was in an earthquake so I rolled out of bed and then....I just sat there on my hands and knees thinking, “I’m in Honduras. If this is a strong earthquake there are no building codes here and I’m sure I’m in deep trouble. If this isn’t strong, then why am I jumping out of my bed?” About the time that it took for this to go through my head the quake had settled a little then gotten a second wind and was now winding down when I decided to sit on the floor a bit longer cause it was hot that night and the tile was nice and cool.:) The power lines outside my window were going crazy the whole time and I was thinking, “I’m glad my house isn’t made of rubber.” By far the worst part of the whole experience were my neighbors. They all went outside and starting yelling and shouting. “The ground was shaking!” “I was thrown out of my bed!” “I went this way! Then I went that way! What was that?!” And there they sat for another 30 minutes or so just talking in loud voices as if the earthquake happened while nobody was sleeping. The next day they were all asking me if I had been too scared to come outside? Had I freaked out about the quake? Had I felt one before? I just kinda laughed and told them...”I’ve felt a couple...”

Through Painted Deserts

2009-05-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

I remember my brother, Jonathan, read the book Blue Like Jazz a couple years back and had an immediate author crush on Donald Miller. Can you blame him? I equally had a major crush on him after reading that book. My brother went on to read Through Painted Deserts, also by Donald Miller. At the time he read it he would tell me constantly, “This book is amazing! It is so fitting to my life. I wish our parents could read this to know what I’m going through, etc.” At the time I chalked it up to transitional stress as he was a recent tenant of California...perhaps it’s my outlook of my less than six weeks I have of being a resident of Copan....but I started reading the book this afternoon on my free time while subbing in second grade and fell in love all over again. It’s like finding a cd of a long lost musician while cleaning out a closet and deciding to give it a listen. The whole premise is about leaving what we know, going somewhere and changing. I hope that my changing in life is not complete but as I come to a close of this “two year evolution” in my life I am struck by this passage of the book:
“I could not have known then that everybody, every person, has to leave, has to change like seasons...Everybody has to change, or they expire. Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons...I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently. Only the good stories have characters different at the end than they were at the beginning. And the closest thing I can liken life to is a book, the way it stretches out on paper, page after page, as if to trick the mind into thinking it isn’t all happening at once...Everything we were is no more, and what we will become, will become what was.” – Donald Miller

My Grandpa

2009-05-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

There’s an amazing story that I’ve held onto for the past 4 years since I’ve studied in Spain that I have read and reread a million times. I come back to it whenever I’m going through a transition in my life with the departure of a friend or when I up and move to a different country.:) My teachers in Spain gave me the story and therefore the story has been in Spanish. However, on my recent journey back to the States for my grandpa’s funeral I decided to translate the story into English and share it with all of you. Through the many agonies (as a recent friend put it) my grandpa truly had a beautiful heart...
Once upon a time there was a young man that went around the world saying that he had the most beautiful heart in the world. He went from town to town betting with the people that his heart was the most beautiful of all, and he demonstrated it. In fact, his heart was precious, young, and strong. But one day the young man found himself with an old man that insisted that his heart was much more beautiful than the young mans’. The young man laughed, thinking to himself that the old man was crazy but to give him the pleasure of competing agreed to bet with the old man. The two men took out their hearts in order to compare them. The heart of the old man was full of patches, holes, and scars. The young man asked, “How can you possibly say that your heart is more beautiful than mine? Look at it. It’s ugly, full of scars and holes. Mine is strong, perfect, and young.” The old man responded: “Every hole that you see is a piece of my heart that I have given to somebody. And each patch and scar is a piece that somebody has given to me. My heart is full of the marks of everyone who has passed through my life and meant anything significant to me. I have shared my heart with them and them with me.” The young man realized in this moment that the old man was right. He conceded to the old man the right to say he had the most beautiful heart in the world and he asked him to exchange a piece of his heart, so young and perfect. In this manner the young man began to make his heart more beautiful.

Proverbios/Proverbs

2009-05-10T18:48:00.001-07:00

I’ve been collecting some proverbs that I’ve enjoyed over the past however much time and thought that I should put them together for a little post here…

-El que hoy se cae, se levanta mañana.
-He who today falls down, rises up tomorrow.

-En boca cerrada no entran moscas.
-Flies don’t enter into a closed mouth.

-Es más rico el rico cuando empobrece que el pobre cuando enriquece.
-The rich man who becomes poor is richer than the poor man who becomes rich.

-Darle una pelota a un niño es suficiente para sellar relaciones internacionales.
-Giving a ball to a kid is enough to seal international relations.

-Díme con quien andas y te digo quien eres.
-Tell me who you hang out with and I’ll tell you who you are.

-La muerte se esconde en lo más cotidiano. Nunca hay ceremonias y discursos en el momento de la muerte.
-Death is hidden in the most daily things. There are never ceremonies and speeches in the moment of death.

- Más ondo el río, hace menos ruido.
-The deeper the river, the less noise it makes.

Woody-Whoppers

2009-05-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

I have had the joy of yet another batch of visitors here in Copan recently. This time my Spanish prof from college (Viki) and my communications prof (Clella) are both down here with a group of students from George Fox University. I haven’t really been hanging out with the group at all but I see them around town, talk to them a little, and I’ve gotten to hang out a bit with both professors. The other night we went to dinner at a local restaurant (Via Via) and got to talking about the local moto-taxis. Those that have come down here have seen them, they’re also called tuk-tuks or something like that. The whole group went up to La Pintada (a local village) the other day and my professors went up in a moto-taxi. As Clella is telling the story she says, “We went up there in one of those woody-whoppers.” I just kind of stared at her...”what?” I knew what she was talking about but I’d never heard it called a woody-whopper. I just started laughing as I recalled all the times in class that she made up words and talked about “wanging it out there” when talking about a new subject. Her rationale was something along the lines of, “I don’t really know where it came from. Just somewhere down in the depths, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything called that before.” Oh communications professors. What are we ever going to do with them?
In other news, I’m heading back to the US this weekend for a couple days. Those that haven’t heard from me yet, my grandpa passed away about 3 weeks ago. I’m going back to the funeral service which won’t be until Tuesday the 12th of this month. So if you feel so interested as to call my state-side phone Sunday through Tuesday I’ll be there.:) Oh wow....rain storm just started. I’ve heard thunder and seen lightening for the past half hour or so. I was starting to think that it wasn’t going to actually rain....but wow....it’s really raining like crazy...and with this rambling we’re now done....have a good rest of your day/night!

Mi Brigada Favorita

2009-04-17T15:43:00.001-07:00

The medical brigade that I have been waiting for nearly a year now has arrived! There's a group from New York University that came down here last year with about 30 dental students and faculty with a few community health/nurse people to tag along for research and record keeping purposes. This brigade is super well organized (at least compared to others) and has a great goal in mind. They are trying to target kids in first and second grade in order to save their permanent teeth that come in. Their vision is really to impact an entire generation of Hondurans and improve their oral health. They have people keeping track of how many children have cavities, decay, etc. on their teeth. They're training local teachers in the school system to apply fluoride to kids in kindergarten through 6th grade and promote tooth brushing, etc.
I got the privilege of being the token translator for them today and I will get another opportunity tomorrow and Sunday as well. Unfortunately I have to teach all of next week and will only get one chance to go to the brigade from Monday to Friday; so I have to take advantage of the opportunity now on the weekend.
In other words...no, I'm not going to become a dentist, a public health specialist person perhaps....or maybe an EMT....or maybe an interpreter...or maybe something different. I always thought when I was younger that by the time I was old and out of college I would have a permanent career path. Here I am two years out of college with very little clue still. I promise that by the time I retire I will have a concrete idea of where my life is headed.:)

La Pascua

2009-04-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

In light of today being Easter Sunday I thought that I should go to church for the first time in a couple weeks...don't let my dad know that.:) Instead of the usual service that is around here with a good amount of people it was packed inside the church! There was somewhere around 1,000 people there all crammed inside, standing in the aisles, in between the pews (in front of people), and even out the door because it was so crowded. The only real point of writing this is because the priest said something that I really liked. The exact quote was, "Este es el domingo mas importante de todos los domingos para nosotros. Los otros domingos son un eco de lo que pasa este dia." In more understandable terms for most of you..."This is the most important Sunday of all Sundays for us. The other Sundays are just an eco of what happens on this day." I really liked the thought of this being the end-all be-all of all days. It's really true, this day is what makes Christianity so amazing, Christ arisen, aleluya.:)

Abandoned Plaza = Dancing...

2009-04-08T20:30:00.001-07:00

Abandoned Plaza = Dancing...
Originally uploaded by zassink

With my recent travel to Tikal I was feeling liberated and free! It's Semana Santa (week before Easter), there's no school, and I haven't seen a student in almost a week! Does like get better for vacation? Well, I found out that it definitely does. I arrived to Flores, Guatemala on Monday afternoon along with my brother, David, and Cody and we found a great hotel right on the lake for just $5 each! So we explored the island for the night, got some great fried fish, and just relaxed for our full day at Tikal. While in Tikal I was in a constant state of shock about everything. It was all so massive, huge, and mind-blowing....You can check out some of the pictures on my flickr, I'll put some more up later too. The top of Temple IV (one of my favorite spots) was also where they shot the scene of the rebel base in Star Wars. Some of you might recognize it.:) Other than that....there was Temple I which I made a relief of in pottery class my senior year of high school. I've been dreaming of seeing that temple ever since then and finally, 6 years later, I got to see it! Or climbing to the top of Temple 5 which was about a 60 meter staircase going straight up like a ladder instead of stairs.
One of my favorite things about our trip was walking through the jungle and imagining the Mayans having the place cleared out for paths and temples. It's a super thick jungle (much more than anything with have in Copan) and I can't imagine the Mayans coming in and building this huge city without any river or lake even nearby! There was stucco plazas, temples, and statues all over the place. Our guide did a great job of separating speculation from history and painted amazing pictures for us of the era when the Mayans were ruling compared to the reality of the ruins now.
Anyways....my pictures are better descriptions on this one than my words....look away...:)

Belize

2009-04-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

I think that David said it best, "I always thought of Belize as this like American/British Central American paradise where they all speak English..." Well after having visited Belize I can definitely say that I'm not sure what they speak in Belize. I heard English, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin I assume....what do I know about the language?) and at least two other languages that I think were Garifuna and Creole English.
The point of going to Belize was to get our visa renewed for Honduras, and luckily that was accomplished. We have to leave the CA-4 (Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala) every 90 days or we get a fatty fine from the government for overstaying our welcome. The easy way to fix it is to leave the countries for a few days and we're welcomed right back in.:)
The most interesting part of the whole trip was trying to understand the locals speak English and decipher what they were saying to each other when they weren't even trying to speak "real" English. In conclusion, I was really happy to be back in a Spanish speaking country like Guatemala when we arrived there on Monday!

La Temperatura

2009-04-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

The temperature this morning was about 93 at 11:30am this morning....it's really hot here...

Remember that Office Episode....?

2009-03-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

So I don't know which of you happen to watch the Office, but imagine that 1 hour Super Bowl special from this year. At the start Dwight sets off the fire alarm and chaos breaks loose with people jumping through the ceiling, breaking vending machines, breaking the window and yelling for help, throwing cats into the ceiling, having a heart attack, etc. Well that was school today, the first Friday that was REALLY HOT!
Kids are naturally crazy on a Friday, and naturally crazy when it's hot....bad combination in and of itself. Well this Friday I take out my class (3rd grade) at 7:20 in the morning for a little walk around school looking for geometric shapes. I realize all of the sudden the 6th graders are playing soccer and not in class! One of the other teachers I walk by makes a comment to me but I don't really think anything of it yet. Then at 7:45 I find out the teacher didn't call ANYBODY and just didn't show up at school. Left no lesson plans or anything. So Megan (the director) is busy teaching first grade as that teacher is gone. Linda (another back-up sub) is busy cause she's teaching fourth grade. Norma (Honduran director) is busy cause two Honduran teachers are gone and she's covering for them. So what happens? We close the library and Diana (my counterpart) goes into the classroom with no lesson plans and little idea of what is happening. Now all this passes and life goes on as a normal Friday. Then all of the sudden I see one of my kids walking around at 10am....they have Spanish class from 9:20-10:40 so I ask her, "Maricruz what are you doing?" Her response was ridiculous! "It's...well....the teacher said we no have class now." And sure enough, right behind her come all the other kids in the class just walking around...for 40 minutes! Ok....now I think, this is ridiculous. In that very second all the secondary kids (7th-9th) are all out moving rocks for their final PE exam. Some are just making a pile in the middle of the school, some are raking dirt, some are shoveling gravel into wheel-barrows and taking it who knows where? So I just sit and stare as all these kids are doing nothing for their final exam, then my third graders are walking around aimlessly....then come the 6th graders! The ones without a teacher, they're coming to help move rocks under supervision of the kindergarten teacher while his kids do who knows what?! So we have 3rd and 6th-9th all out on this tiny field moving rocks and walking around aimlessly! What was going on!? Well the kids finally went back to class, we had library (with me), computers, and some art after that and made it through the day semi-normally. I couldn't believe how ridiculous the day was. At least it wasn't like yesterday where I had a kid stuck upside down on the little climbing net. A third grader that couldn't pick himself up from the net! He was stuck by his knees and hit his head on the ground, bawling as a first grade teacher picked him off the ground and a third grade teacher struggled to pull out his leg which was all twisted in the net. The kid cried for 10 or 15 minutes, but he walked back to class in mostly one piece.:)

Viaje a Paraíso (Part II)

2009-03-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

It’s now the start of my last full day in Utila and I feel like I’m starting to get back into real life mode and thinking about things like school once again. I’ve now spent 4 full days in Utila and I’ve spent about half the time not being sun burnt.:) So get this....I put sun block all over my back and everything before snorkeling. I go out for like an hour and a half on Wednesday and enjoy my time. When I get back that evening my back feels like it got burnt! When I look at it there are lines going across that aren’t sun burnt. I think, “man, that’s weird...” and start thinking back to after I put the sun block on. I sat like 5 minutes in a wood chair that had horizontal slats! The parts with the wood absorbed all my sun block and I got burnt there! Then yesterday we went snorkeling twice on a little boat excursion so I put sun block on in the morning....then again after our first snorkeling dive....and I still got sun burnt again on the back of my legs! So now being sun burnt on the back of my legs and on my back is making life at night interesting. I’m a definite back sleeper....
Anyways....I’ve decided that snorkeling is now my favorite beach activity next to sand castle building. We go out about 50 meters to the reef and get to see a ton of different sea life. The other day I got to see a “Spotted Eagle Ray” passing about 30 meters below me with a huge tail probably 15 feet long or so. I’m telling you, it’s totally like paying to enter an aquarium, except you get to swim in all the tanks! Yesterday I was swimming through a school of thousands of 6 inch long fish trying to catch one with my hands. Those buggers are fast in the water! It’s fun to extend my hands under water and chase after some of the fish trying to catch them. Of course there’s no way that I could actually reach one of the fish...but it’s still a fun game to play as long as you have the mindset that it’s ok to be defeated by an inferior species.:)

Viaje a Paraíso (Part I)

2009-03-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

Well thus far my vacation on Utila has been one of the most relaxing and enjoyable things that I have done in Honduras. I took a series of busses and a ferry on Sunday with David and Cody (we met up with Cody’s mom and brother along the way) and got into Utila late on Sunday evening. On Monday we spent the whole day exploring on bikes, walking around, and just getting our bearings on the island. The most confusing thing on the island is not direction, but what language to speak! I’ve heard that people speak English here, but I have yet to hear people speak real English to each other. I’ve heard Spanish and some crazy almost English but not quite language. Some people don’t speak any English, some people don’t speak any Spanish. I don’t know how people cope on this island! It’s so confusing. I try to stay in English, but then sometimes I have to break out Spanish. For example...
This gentleman is walking down the road while we are sitting in our rented golf cart (to explore the island) and he’s singing a famous Cuban song, “Guantanamera.” He asks us in English if we like the song and we all say yes. Cody and I both know the song quite well and were chuckling that he was singing it. The gentleman then turns to his friend and says in Spanish, “A ellos no les gusta esta canción como son gringos.” Or in other words, “These guys don’t like this song cause they’re gringos.” I got super defensive right away and switched into Spanish semi-yelling, “Bien! Me la sé y me gusta.” (Heck yes! I know it and I like it!) The gentleman was shocked, said something to his friend that I don’t remember and is friend laughed and said, “sí, habla español.”
My other adventure thus far has been snorkeling. I don’t know which of you out there were as blessed (as I was thinking) enough to never have to go snorkeling. I was apprehensive about it all day as everybody wanted to go snorkeling in our group. I’m not the greatest swimmer in the world and I’ve never been a big fan of swimming in oceans. The vastness of it astounds me and intimidates me like few other things. So we get snorkel equipment rented and start to make our way out from in front of our house. it’s a long wade out to the coral part of the ocean and we’re probably about 50 meters from the shore by the time we really hit anything that would be interesting for snorkeling. I’ve never been snorkeling before (and I’ve never even swam with flippers on) and my first reaction while I am in between “snorkels” is to tread water for a while to rest. I was so tired in a matter of minutes and felt like snorkeling was probably the biggest waste of time. All I could think about was how far from the shore I was and how I’ve never been that far out to sea without a boat or life-vest and I couldn’t tread water for more than a couple minutes in those dumb flippers. Well I started to head back to shore and call it quits. Then on my way back I had to put my head back down to figure out the path back through the coral in order to not scrape against it or run into it. Before I knew what was happening I’d gone like a minute straight with snorkeling and I was starting to enjoy seeing the things under the water. Instead of going all the way back I started to practice in the shallow parts to not be so intimidated by the drop off. It goes from about 8 or 10 feet deep to something like 20 or 30 feet deep in a matter of seconds. I started to see all sorts of fish, coral, plants, etc. under the ocean that I’d never seen before! I was one of the last people in our group to come back in as I was enjoying it so much. The whole time all I could think of was “Finding Nemo” as I was thinking about the anemones, algae, schools of fish, stingrays (which I didn’t see), the drop-off, touching the “butt,” and a variety of Nemo things. I’m probably going to have to watch that movie pretty soon....such a classic.:)

Bendito Segundo Grado

2009-03-05T16:08:00.000-08:00

This week is a special week for me as I get to spend time with a "one of a kind" class. This week has been spent with a rambunctious group of second graders who are sometimes lovely and sometimes drive me up a wall! We've had two good days and two bad days thus far. Today was a good day which makes writing this post void of any vulgarities. Had I started this post yesterday or Monday, however, it might be a different story. There is one student who drove me completely bonkers yesterday and would never stop talking. He got sent to the office at the end of the day so we could call home and talk to his mom about his behavior. He started bawling and promising to never do it again. Before you feel too touched, he does this frequently. Well we made a deal, we won't call his mom as long as he doesn't get in any trouble what-so-ever Thursday or Friday. Today we came into class and I gently reminded him that with one outburst and we call his mom and he goes home suspended. He just looked at me, smiled, and said, "oh mister!" Well, apparently it worked because today he was like an angel compared to the past couple days!
Then there's another rebel rouser (however that's spelled) who every morning has sat there for 20 minutes doing nothing until saying, "Mister, es que no tengo lapiz." (Mister, I don't have a pencil). I went off on him yesterday and raised my voice perhaps a little bit, "No trajo un lapiz?! Y que suponia ibamos a hacer hoy en la escuela?!" (You didn't bring a pencil?! What did you think we were going to do at school?!) Today he came in and I never once heard him say to me, "No tengo lapiz." So I suppose that's a minor victory right there, the boy has a pencil at school!:)
I could go on for hours about all sorts of stories this week. I just hope that I can have one more good day to finish out the week ahead 3-2 with good days defeating the bad ones. It's like game five of the ALDS in 1995 with Cora on third and Griffey at first....so exciting, who's going to come out on top? The kids or me?:)

El Año Santo

2009-03-01T16:19:00.001-08:00

I finally accomplished my goal of over a year in going to Esquipulas! It’s a town/city in Guatemala with a super rich history...let me paint some of the history before I tell my story.:) It’s believed that it was a pilgrimage site long ago, before the first conquistadors arrived in the Americas. Back in the 1500’s a Portuguese wood sculptor donated a sculpture of a black Jesus on the cross. It was put into the church and soon became a pilgrimage site for local Catholics. Time passed and it came to the mid-1700’s when a bishop in Guatemala made a pilgrimage to see the sculpture and went away miraculously healed of a chronic illness. Upon this news the Catholic church decided to build a huge Basilica in Esquipulas and put the statue inside. It quickly converted into a huge pilgrimage site and is often called the “center of Central American faith.”
So this weekend I went with four other friends and we checked out the whole city. There’s a small zoo there that randomly has lions, water buffalos, ostriches, raccoons, crocodiles, and a whole bunch of other random animals. Two highlights of the park were the fact that the ostrich cage had an opening that literally anybody could just walk into and enter the cage. Then over the island that the monkeys live on there’s a zip line that Matt took which is about 100 yards long and costs like $1.15. On Saturday night we went to the Basilica in order to see the statue of Jesus. It was a short line and we spent about a half hour in line. The line on Sundays takes up to several hours to get through. It was a pretty simple statue without knowing the history of it, but I was pretty impressed with it. On Saturday night we went to Pizza Burger Diner for some pizza, which turned out to be the best I’ve had since I was in the States! We went back to the place on Sunday morning for breakfast cause we figured that being such a good restaurant they probably have pancakes also. We got there and they didn’t have them on the menu! So we asked the waitress (which was the same one as the night before), “Hay panqueques?” To which she casually responded, “yeah, we just don’t put them on the menu.” They were amazing! It’s my new favorite restaurant in Central America. I would say that the city has renewed my faith in Guatemala as a decent country. I was under impressed with Lago Atitlán my last trip there, so now I am back “in like” with Guatemala.

Agua Caliente

2009-02-22T17:34:00.000-08:00

In celebration of our Director's birthday this coming week we all took a trip to the hot springs this weekend. It was a lot of the foreign staff along with one of the Hondurans, Ffarah (with her husband, uncle, and daughter). It's about an hour drive out to Agua Caliente from Copan on a dirt road and of course the best way to get there is in the back of a pick-up. So we all loaded up into two pick-ups and headed out there for the afternoon. It was sunny as we left Copan but on the road out there it started raining! It was cloudy almost the whole time at the hot spring, luckily the water is, well...hot.
There is a little statue of sorts that the waters comes out of (I'm not sure this is allowed...) and so we climbed up to the top of it to start jumping into the pool. Nelson (Ffarah's husband) did a back flip off of it and all I could muster to compete with that was a cannon ball. So he started to teach me by starting on the side of the pool and jumping backwards. A perfect back flop to start! Now with a red back I tried it again and landed upside down on my head...I had to practice it like 10 times but I finally did a back flip from the side of the pool. With enough confidence mustered up I climbed up on top of this statue about 6 feet tall and did a back flip! Woo! So next time you see me at a swimming pool and you want to see a back flip...just go ahead and ask.:)

Happiness in Seattle

2009-02-19T13:53:00.000-08:00

At last my view of baseball in Seattle is repaired. For nine years I have suffered without my favorite player of all time in Seattle...I've been checking every time I get online to see if Junior has signed with anybody yet. Then I see the title I've been waiting for in an e-mail from my parents, "Griffey's back." My heart goes soaring through my chest and suddenly it seems like the last day of school before the summer. This is proof that not all baseball players are complete idiots...that there are still a few decent players in the game. Ok, he's just returning to Seattle for a last tour of his home-team and not curing cancer or anything, but for a person who likes the Seattle Mariners because of one player, this is like life coming full circle. From seeing Griffey Sr. and Jr. hit back-to-back home runs, watching Griffey slide into home beating the freaking Yankees in '95, and watching the entire infield stand between first and second I'll never grow tired of my Griffey memories. So here's to one of the few players with class in the game...who's stayed clean through all the steroid accusations...who inspired me to enjoy playing center field...and who made me proud to bat left-handed.:)

What's wrong with Catholicism?

2009-02-19T12:38:00.000-08:00

I had another conversation today that drove me crazy about religion. I was at a medical brigade coordinated by Evangelical churches around here when I got into a conversation with a lady who was in line. She asked me if I went to La Iglesia Renovacion and I said no...she asked which one I went to and I said the Catholic Church. I got the usual treatment from people in this area...she asked me if my parents were both Christian and I said that my dad was actually a pastor, and my mom also is one...her next sentence made me want to punch her in the face! She proceeded to say, "Oh, so you're the only one in your family who doesn't love Jesus?" What am I supposed to say to that one? "Oh, you're right, that guy drives me crazy! Who did he think he was anyway?!" Or do I begin a circular conversation in which I say that I am Christian and do love Jesus (but because she is pre-dispositioned to my Hell-bound living as a "Catholic" she won't change her stance). So I just answered her with, "algo asi (something like that)." The rest of the conversation was short, awkward, and I left shortly there-after.
Now tell me something, is there something that I'm missing? I've grown up believing that the stance of one's Christianity is ultimately up to the individual and God...and we can't judge each other...especially when we just meet. There are of course standards to Christianity such as the early Church Creeds and Biblical standards...but that would be too much to think about for this lady, right?
Now I won't make this whole thing saying how great Catholicism is, of course there are problems that I have with the Church. What church have I ever gone to other than Bedside Baptist that I didn't have at least a small disagreement with? I'm still not too high on this whole asking Saints and the Virgin Mary to intercede for us, but I'm a big fan of the tradition and other things in the church. I don't say that I'm Catholic, but I do go to that church. No church is perfect, but what is the point? Do we go to church for the community? The preaching? The church creed? Personally I'd have to say that the point of church is to form a community of support for spiritual growth and encouragement. The church is a group of Christians that can have a shared experienced worshiping God...does God care if I worship Him in a Catholic, Baptist, Quaker, Reformed, Lutheran, etc. church? I submit that he does not!:) Disagree if you must...but please don't beat me down for it.:)

The Joys of First Grade

2009-02-10T16:49:00.000-08:00

I was reading a book to the first graders the other day when I had to use all of my willpower to not just completely bust a gut laughing, yet at the same time cry my eyes out (not from laughing). We're reading a book about this duck on a farm that has to do all the work while the farmer just sits in bed eating candy, reading the newspaper, and growing fatter every day. When we read that part and showed the picture one of the first graders jumps up and points to the picture, "Mi papi es asi!" (My dad is just like that!). Of course Diana (who I work with in the library) is just sitting behind all the kids chuckling to herself...I was stuck in front of all of them trying to keep reading while trying to give the kid this look like, "it's not appropriate to say things like that inside the library."
That was about a week ago, then just yesterday the same class was in the library and I was reading a book called "Abuela" about a grandma who takes her granddaughter to the park. From the park they start to fly and they fly all over the city. At the start I ask the kids, "Do you have any grandmas?" The kids all start shouting and yelling, "Yo tengo uno! (I have one!)" or "Yo tengo dos! (I have two!)" or "Yo tambien! (me too!)"...and then the same kid pipes right up, "Yo tengo doce! (I have twelve!)" I tell you, this kid cracks me up....when we get done reading the story he kicks another kid in the class so I pull him aside to talk with him. I tell him that here at school we don't hit other people, we have to use our words. If somebody is bothering you move away from them, etc...but here at school we never hit anybody. his immediate response was, "Y si estoy lejos de aqui? (and if I'm far away from here?)" Good question I suppose....I told him that even there it was not nice to hit people, but he should talk to his parents about their rules at home. Speaking of children who could be their own blog with their crazy stories and actions....this first grader might be top of the list!:)

Enjoying the Shrink

2009-02-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

Last week I had yet another privilege of working on a medical brigade. This one was a little bit different as they brought quite a few of their own translators. Also, there was a psychiatrist that didn't always want a middle schooler being the interpreter, so I got to work with him quite a bit. We got to talk with a lot of different people and cases and I realized for the first time....Copan really needs a psychiatrist!:) I thought that it was fascinating to work with somebody who knew a lot about interacting with people and getting them to open up and talk. It blew me away that this guy from the US was down here getting people to talk for a half hour or an hour about their various problems. I thought that being a psychiatrist would be a fun job....but I imagine that takes a special person to be able to do that. I know I know, we're all special...but I think I'm special for other things, not a psych.:)
I feel like I could start a whole separate blog to be about medical brigades. And guess what I was advised is coming next week and I need to go to at least one day to help out...a medical brigade!:)

The After Brigade Party

2009-01-31T10:16:00.000-08:00

The short three day medical brigade ended last night and in order to celebrate we had a big dinner at the house of one of the Rotary members. Everybody who had helped out with the brigade was at the dinner and we had a blast eating, watching parts of the Honduras vs. Panama game (which we lost), telling jokes, and listening/dancing to marimba music. At the party I grouped up with all the medical students who were here from San Pedro. They were almost all right around my age and wanted to “go out on the town” which is a little ironic when you’re in Copan. There’s not much to do...and I never do anything on the weekends but hang out at home. The med students convinced me to go to Las Piscinas with them, which is a club, bar, hang out spot that I had never gone to in the evening. Thank goodness they didn’t want to go into the club, so we just hung out in the bar which has karaoke! This medical brigade was a couple of firsts for me. I was getting in on tooth extractions earlier in the week and now I can add onto that singing karaoke and dancing salsa with a Latina.:) That’s right, I sang La Bamba! I had such a good time and when the night was all finished and I was dropping all of them off at their hotel they all told me to make sure and come visit them in San Pedro. I was already planning a trip there for visiting another friend...now I can visit my medical friends and sing karaoke in San Pedro as well.:)

Another Brigade Day

2009-01-31T09:49:00.000-08:00

I was sitting down for my enjoyable lunch on Tuesday at school when Profe Norma comes walking up to me and says, “Mr.....there’s a medical brigade tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday in El Jaral. Since the kids are in exams we can’t send them so we need you to go all three days.” Of course I had to put on the face of, “Oh well...I dunnno, I need to check with Diana. I’m not sure if I can miss school for three days.” But really what I was thinking inside was more like, “WOOOOOOOOO!”
As it worked out I got to take two sixth graders with me to help me out and they did a great job! I started out the day in oral surgery. I didn’t really seek it, it more just fell into my lap. If you know me well then you know how I feel about other people’s blood. My mom tells me, “Zach, you’re going to get married, your wife is going to have a baby, and you’re not going to enjoy it because you will be passed out on the floor.” Well mom, you would have eaten those words today as I was holding kids hands while they got teeth ripped out. It’s so brutal! I had some blood squirt onto my arm several times, had my right thumb almost squeezed off, and got to talk each patient that came in through the operation. The hardest was one girl who couldn’t have been older than 17 years old. She had teeth on both side to pull (and this is all with local anesthesia). The first tooth broke off and the doctor had to dig out a root. Then on the other side he had to pull and pry as well and it took about a half hour to take out two teeth. This girl shed one tear, just one! The doctors were sitting there working and scrapping saying, “This is amazing. I can’t believe that this girl isn’t screaming. I would be bawling at this point. I’m amazed at how much pain this girl can stand because this would be excruciating.” She made it through without any major complications though. We were all quite impressed with her.
The funny point of the day came when I was working with general medicine in the afternoon and a man came in complaining about his diabetes. Then he kind of back tracks and says, “well, I don’t know for sure cause I’ve never gone to a doctor for it. But I’m pretty sure.” Then after some more questioning he back tracks to say, “Well I don’t really know what diabetes is.” Honestly?! I thought you were supposed to have diabetes! Well to be sure the doctor ran a test on him with the little glucometer. This is the funny part, the man is a coffee farmer and works with his hands, and has for the past 50+ years. When I think of tough hands I like to think of my late Grandpa Gordon who had fairly tough hands from construction...well this guy put my grandpa to shame. The doctor made one poke in the finger....nothing....so he tried a poke on the side....a little tiny tiny bit but not enough for the test. Then he poked another finger, nothing....then a fourth time.....nothing. He finally just pulled out the needle from the machine thing and jammed it into the guys finger to draw a drop just barely big enough to run the test. And after all that the guy was completely normal with a 97 blood sugar. As it turned out, apparently somebody confused his back pain/pinched nerve that he had with diabetes. I’m not sure how that one works out, but the doctor got it all figured out in the end.
I think that thus far this has been my favorite medical brigade this year, good stuff.:)

Short/Long Term

2009-01-21T15:18:00.000-08:00

I was recently blessed to be part of a short term medical/missional brigade which came to the Copan area. They went to several aldeas (villages) in the area to work with local health and building projects. In one particular village is where they built a church. I was so thankful for the group to come and it was a nice break from school (although I only went one day of the 5 they were working).
I was reminded through this group of my constant belief that short-term trips over-seas...which I might consider anything with a time line (such as one week, one month, one year, etc)...are so much more self-gratifying. It's not a bad thing really. It gives a chance for the people on the team to see "how the rest of 'em live" and do some good in the process. I think that people can learn a lot from only serving for one week in a third world country. However, for a lasting impact I'm increasingly convinced of the need for permanent missionaries and just servants in general. I give mad props to missionaries who have been in one location for years and years at a time. Now, I don't mean servants like the one that spit-shines your floor...I just mean someone willing to help anyone and everyone that they can.:)
My grandma gave me a book on tape (cd actually) about Roberto Clemente a couple years ago that was amazing. Clemente was such a maverick (for lack of a better term) and was passionate about serving his "family" in Latin America. He died in a plane accident while attemping to take relief supplies to earthquake struck Nicaragua. Roberto Clemente said, "Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on Earth." I love that quote.
This is a little bit "distraido" (distracted), but I think that the point I'm trying to make is my same-old same-old. Be willing to serve those around you, far from you, and in between the two. Because whether you're in a location far from home or at home, for one week or one life...when you have the opportunity to make a difference and you waste it, you're wasting your time.

Los Momentos Buenos

2009-01-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

The first week back at school I had the “grand privilege” of teaching for a couple days before a teacher came back from Christmas break. It’s not necessarily the worst behaved class in the world but they have their moments of hellions. Anyways, I got through a couple of days in the class and was thankful for the regular teacher to be back (as I think most of the kids were too). On Friday last week I was sitting in the office with the directors going over some things when one of the students walked in just to say hi. I asked him how things were going and he said that he had missed me and just wanted to say hi. He came up and gave me a hug, looked at us for a little bit, there was a pause in the conversation and then he left. Later Diana told me that the same kid had gone by the library to look for me and she said to look in the office. It’s a new kid at the school this year and while his behavior is not always the best, he’s a pretty well behaved kid...and apparently a suck-up too.:) It was one of those good moments of teaching though. One of those times that I thought, “well I guess this isn’t the worst job in the world.” Now don’t interpret that last sentence as a hint that I’m staying here another year....ni invente (don’t even go there).
Los buenos momentos en la escuela vienen de vez en cuando. Vienen en la mirada de un alumno expectante, en la sonrisa de un niño en el recreo, en las indiadas de un catracho, y sobre todo vienen cuando los busco. En un día que me levanto y me digo – hoy sí voy a trabajar con ganas y lo voy a pasar bien con los cipotes – eso es lo que hago, lo paso bien con ellos siempre pensando en lo mejor de todo. En vez de ver aquel alumno atrás aparatando, veo los demás que prestan atención con ganas de satisfacer al maestro. Lo mismo me pasó el año pasado en la clase y empiezo a pensar.... ¿será que la vida es así? ¿Cuando nos levantamos y nos decimos que vamos a vivir con ganas que lo hacemos? En esto empiezo a creer...no es lo que la vida nos da, es lo que damos a la vida...que sea ganas...que sea penas...logramos lo que buscamos.

La Guerra es el Fracaso

2009-01-08T15:24:00.000-08:00

I love that line in Spanish, “fracaso.” It can be defined several different ways and they are all great in this sentence. “Was is the flop/fiasco/bust/debacle/dud/etc.” I’m reading a book by Jorge Ramos right now called El Regalo del Tiempo (The Gift of Time). In this book he talks about various experiences he’s had in life (he’s a famous news reporter for Univision. Anyways, here’s my translation of his little diddy on war that I really like. For those that want a challenge, I also put the original tid-bit down.:)

“War is the ultimate failure.
War is the absolute confirmation that we fail...that we are not as clever as we thought, that we haven’t learned from those who fought (and died) before us.
War is the ultimate non-sense.... I have been in five wars [as a journalist]...and I can assure you of one thing; there is no good war.” – Jorge Ramos

“La guerra es el fracaso.
La guerra es la absoluta confirmación de que fallamos...de que no somos tan listos como pensamos, de que no hemos aprendido de los que pelearon (y murieron) antes que nosotros.
La guerra es el sin sentido.... Me ha tocado cinco guerras...y les aseguro una cosa; no hay guerra buena.” – Jorge Ramos

'Twas the Noche Before Navidad

2008-12-24T11:32:00.001-08:00

This is a poem that I found online, revamped a little bit, and then submitted for our third graders at school in the Christmas program. This is a little less Spanish and more English than our program version, for your enjoyment.:)

‘Twas the night before Christmas y por toda la casa,
Not a creature was stirring – Caramba! Qué pasa?

The kids were tucked away en las camas,
Some in long underwear, algunos en pijamas

While hanging las medias con mucho cuidado,
Hoping Old Santa would feel obligado.

To bring all niños, los buenos y malos,
A nice batch of dulces y otros regalos.

Outside in the yard arose such un grito,
That I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.

I ran to the window y miré afuera,
And who in the world piensas que era?

Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero.

And pulling his sleigh en vez de venados
Were eight little burros approaching volados.

I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre
Was shouting and whistling and llamando por nombre:

“Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, ay Berto,
Ay Chato, ay Chopo, Macuco, y Nieto!”

Then standing erect con las manos en el pecho
He flew to the top de nuestro techo.

With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down nuestra chimenea.

Then huffing and puffing por fin en nuestra sala,
With soot smeared por todo su real vestido de gala,

He filled las medias with lovely regalos –
For none of the niños se portaron muy malos.

Then chuckling aloud, pareciendo muy contento,
He turned like a flash y se fue como el viento.

And I heard him exclaim, y eso es verdad,
Merry Christmas to all, y Feliz Navidad!

What a Dream!

2008-12-22T19:42:00.000-08:00

Ok first off, I’m supposedly living with Dwight and Michael from the office and we have adopted collectively one child who is about 12, on a soccer team, and a brat. At the start of the dream I’m sick while I find out that we’ve been awarded a Habitat for Humanity type house. It’s a different organization, but same idea. I go to the site when they start to work on it (I’m not sure where we live, but it’s somewhere tropical with lots of banana trees) but since I’m sick I decide to take a nap on the site. So I lay down on the ground and start to sleep. I wake up a couple hours later and part of the house is completed. I look up to see an awesome hallway with a sweet skylight finished. I go right back to sleep though and don’t wake up for what must be a long time later. I wake up and now I’m sitting on the front porch of a brand new house. Michael is standing next to me talking about our brand new house. Nobody else is there so we go in a check out the new house room by room. It’s prefect with 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and the best carpet in the world. There’s a room for Dwight, Michael, and myself. We then have to wake up the doctor who is sleeping on our couch so that I can get a check-up and he clears me that I’m ok.
Now here’s where I lose some of it...somehow Michael is working at a beverage distributor now and the perk is that he delivers himself a 2 liter of his favorite drink every morning and says that it was a “mistake” so that he doesn’t charge himself for it. Anyways, in order to get to work (cause we all work there together) we go in a trailer that is pulled by a tractor, naturally. How else would we get there? I decide to drive while Michael and Dwight climb into the trailer and then suddenly my wife climbs onto the tractor with me. I don’t remember her name but she comes to the beverage factory with us. On the way there we start to get followed by some cops who turn on their lights to pull us over. Since we’re in a tractor I apparently think that we can outrun the cops. I floor it and start to pull away from the cops when we get close to a crowded area where there is a soccer field. My wife bails (no pun intended) off the tractor to the left and I veer to the right slamming into the wall of the soccer field. There is a soccer game going on and the brat kid who lives with us is playing. He scores a goal because the other team was distracted by our tractor and then he celebrates by running around the tractor and laughing at us. Then I wake up....
Every once in a while I remember my dreams and just have to think to myself....really?

Hospitality 102

2008-12-21T22:15:00.000-08:00

I’ve now graduated from hospitality 101 here in Honduras and am moving upwards in my education. While on my way home from Copán I had to spend a night in San Pedro. I was looking at hotels when I ran into a friend of a friend who lives in San Pedro. She has two kids ages 21 and 18 and she invited me to spend the night with her. Her older daughter is married and lives in the United States and her younger son is still in school. Currently (while I’m at her house) he’s still in Copán hanging out with friends there during vacations. I show up to the bus terminal and she comes to pick me up there and take me back to her house in a taxi. We get out and walk around the two main malls of San Pedro and walk over to her aunt’s house. The two malls was alright, we just walked around and drank smoothies. My pineapple/banana smoothie was not as great as I would have hoped for. So anyways, we go over to her aunt’s house who gives me coffee and cookies. Then we come back to Thelma’s (that’s the friends name) place and she has me sit and watch tv while she makes dinner. She gives me a huge dinner with beans, rice, tortillas, plátanos, cheese, etc. and home-made orange juice. After dinner we sit down and watch some of the BYU-Arizona football game while we chat it up. This lady is so incredibly hospitable and check out these two traumatic events that have happened to her in the past year and a half:
1) Her husband was shot and killed over a land dispute with another gentleman (who wasn’t actually a gentleman). Thelma’s husband had brought out a lawyer to settle a land dispute over about 16 acres of land. When the lawyer concluded that it was rightfully her husband’s the other guy agreed to it, signed the papers, etc. Then as he walked away the guy pulled out a pistol and shot him twice in the back. Turns out the guy who shot her husband was later shot himself by a hired-hand of his. All that happened one month before the daughters wedding!
2) So now her husband is dead and they move to a new apartment. In the middle of the night the apartment gets broken into and this idiot steals everything from the kitchen, cell phones, etc. As he starts to take the sewing machine (which she now makes her living off of) some keys fell to the floor waking up her son. He went out and saw that a man was standing there and he started to yell at him. Thelma woke up and ran out but the guy split out the window with what he had taken so far.
At the end of all these stories that she’s telling me you know what she says to me? “God is good. This man could have stolen more from the house or even killed us.” Despite her husband being shot over an unjust dispute and a bunch of her belongings being stolen all she has to say to me is still, “God is good.” Now if that’s not a lady to model your attitude after who can find me a better one?

The BEST “Oops I Crapped My Pants” Story EVER

2008-12-13T10:55:00.000-08:00

I warn you ahead of time that this is not a pleasant story and is fairly inappropriate if you don’t like these kinds of stories…but it is worth reading.:) We’ll call the main character here Jose just for kicks.
Jose was in Santa Rita (about 8km away from Copán) with some friends at a conference. They all drove there together in a pick-up (most people in the back of course). All of the sudden he really had to go to the bathroom but there wasn’t one at the conference. Next door there was a house under construction and so he went over to the house and decided to do his business there. But there wasn’t any toilet paper of course so he took off his under shirt to wipe and then left his t-shirt there. He gets all done and ready to go back to the conference but he has to go to the bathroom again! So he went back to the construction site and once again did his thing, but then what was he going to wipe with!? He took off his boxers and wiped with that and left them there at the construction site.
This part of the story was sufficient enough for me but then Patti kept going on telling me about the story…
Now Jose was all finished and on his way back to the conference when this time there was no warning….he crapped his pants! He had no underwear on and it was not a pretty site apparently. Now completely embarrassed there was no way that he could accept a ride back with all of his friends with that humiliation and stinky odor. So he decided that he would have to walk all the way back to Copán at 9pm! He was so ashamed in fact that he couldn’t accept a ride from anybody who passed by. He had to go several times along the road back to Copán and each time he just had to go on the side of the road. At one point he was going to the bathroom again when a whole truckload of people passed by. Worried that some of them might be friends who would recognize him he threw himself face down (butt up) on the side of the road. He made it all the way back to Copán and when he got home he had to call his wife to open the front gate. As soon as she let him in she made him immediately go take a shower and throw his pants outside in the dumpster.
Concluding the whole story Patti says to me, “Do you have a similar story? Don’t be shy, we’re all friends here.” How can somebody possibly have a similar story?!

Queridas Clases

2008-12-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

I have been substituting for the past couple days in one of my favorite classes…fourth grade. They are all still very interested in school and learning and at an age that is great for motivating to learn. Yet they aren’t old enough yet to cop an attitude and talk back to the teacher (nor do they have that good of English yet). So I get to ask them for rhyming words and they continue to shout out, “Tear! Hear! Fear! Ear! Near! Dear!” My favorite part of subbing for the past couple days was when the kids kept walking around on the floor with their shoes off (down on their knees) singing, “Quiero mover el bote! Quiero mover el bote!” Which is the song from Madagascar that goes something like, “I want to move it move it! I want to move it move it!” I keep telling them, “What is that smell?! Oh sick! Francisco put your shoes back on!” Then he responds to me (still on his knees with his shoes under his knees), “Look Mister! I’m in Kindergarten!” I just turned back to the board to keep writing while I laughed to myself. I can’t encourage that kind of behavior…but I can’t keep a straight face either.:)
I notice the secret to teaching this age group….positive thinking and positive speak. The first day was exhausting with lots of, “Sit down!” “Don’t do that!” “Please don’t talk!” So I decided on day two to have a more positive attitude and point out the people doing the correct thing. I got an immediate response! In the morning they come in, get out their notebook for morning questions, and start answering questions on the board. It was a little hard to get them all to sit and start….but a couple people were. The second that I said, “Thank you Dulce for starting the morning questions. Delmer, you are also doing an excellent job!” the response from other kids was immediate (and fairly loud as well), “Look Mister! I’m working too!” They all started to work on their morning questions, no more reminders or commands…aren’t I the greatest? Wait, I take that back, aren’t fourth graders the best?:)

Feliz Cumpleaños!

2008-11-30T13:22:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I was planning to go visit a friend’s family as they are closing in on the final stages of building their first house! I was pretty excited to go visit with another friend of mine, Suly. But then Suly was delayed in the morning by this whole baby thing (she has a 2 month old) so we wouldn’t have left until 10am and it was already sunny and hot! Suly invited over to get ready for a birthday party instead so we did that (it was in a covered and cool space). I was planning on going for a little while to just hang out and chat then head back home for lunch as it was just after noon…
…then they invited me to have some chicken tortilla things that were great so I decided that I needed to keep working to make up for it…
…then they gave me a whole plate of chicken, salad, and tortillas that were also great so I had to keep working to make up for it…
…then people started showing up for the party and Doña Chus told me that I couldn’t leave at this point cause the party was starting! Since it was full of people that I didn’t know I was looking for some place to stick myself in a corner and hide. I found a place in the kitchen to help make canches (a hard shell tortilla with refried beans, cheese, and salsa on it) so I staid there with my new friend Thelma. Thelma is from San Pedro and has a couple kids about my age so we had a great time sharing stories about them and she actually invited me over to San Pedro and said that some weekend we can go to Lago Yajoa, out to the beach, etc. if I want to stop by with her family. It was great…
…then they gave me cake, coke, and awesome chicken taco/enchilada things that were amazing. So I decided that in order to make up for that I had to stay and help with clean-up…
…then it was just down to about 20 people left at the party (it was probably around 60 or 70 at it’s peak) so I decided that it was a good time to slip out.
What was going to be a short visit with Suly in Doña Chus’ restaurant turned out to be a whole day long celebration for Stacy (turning one) filled with food, piñata, candy, set-up, and everyone’s favorite part (clean-up). I’m continually blown away by the hospitality of people around here. Just the other day I was thinking about how I was starting to get good at hospitality but once again I was humiliated completely by Doña Chus and the whole gang at the party who welcomed me to the party despite at best only being acquaintances previously. Lesson: when you think you’re on top of life go visit somebody else’s birthday party and be humiliated.:)

Stand-By

2008-11-20T14:44:00.000-08:00

I’m not talking about the flight stand-by….I’m talking about the teaching stand-by. There are the normal stand-by days in which I show up and find out that I’m subbing for the day. That can be hard sometimes cause I don’t always know what it is that I’m supposed to do. It usually turns out not so bad though because I just have to survive the day. Then there are the stand-by days in which I’m advised ahead of time and have time to look over plans/create my own beforehand. Those are the really good days because I know what’s happening and I can sort of cut and paste to the plans as I see fit…most teachers don’t have a problem with that.:)
Then there are the other stand-by days...these are the tough ones. These are the days in which a teacher is feeling very frustrated and down on themselves about their lack of teaching ability. These are the days that I just wonder…am I going to be taking over for this teacher when/if they leave at Christmas? These are the hard days because it’s so difficult as a first year teacher! Kids don’t learn anything, you have no control, you spend all your time outside of school working, and despite all that nothing improves. At least that’s what it feels like a lot of the time. I want to tell them, “I promise that it gets better!”
At first I selfishly wanted all the teachers to stay so that I could stay in my dream job of the library/subbing. But now I’m beginning to think that I’m indifferent. For the kids it would be nice to have the same teacher all year long to at least have a year long consistency (as year to year consistency doesn’t exist); but for me I think that I would be alright taking over a classroom. I’m picking out what grades I would say yes to and which ones I would say no to…there are some classes that I favor.:) When some come to the library Diana and I say, “oh good! I’m so excited they’re coming!” And then there are the other classes…”How about I go eat lunch and you just stay here for the next class?”:)

Gana Honduras Otra Vez!

2008-11-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

Once again Honduras' National Soccer Team gave the country something to celebrate! In a must not lose game against Mexico in San Pedro Sula the team pulled out a 1-0 victory! The game was a great game in which Honduras almost scored a couple times the first half before finally scoring on an own-goal from Mexico. It was a sweet cross and instead of clearing it over the net he cleared it over the goalie, go Mexico defense!:)
As time was closing out and things were still tense Mexico managed to get TWO red cards in a manner of a couple minutes, all but sealing the game for Honduras.
The last round starts in February for the World Cup Qualifier with the U.S., Costa Rica, and Honduras finishing in first place in their respective groups with Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvador, and Mexico finishing second in their groups. Look for Honduras to come out swinging in February and for many more hopeful blogs on this subject.:)
In other news...parent conferences are tomorrow as first quarter grades will be handed over. I'm translating for the second graders and hopefully all will go well. I know how to say, "your students can't shut up," "He doesn't know where his seat is," and perhaps most importantly, "I think your child would be better off at another school." What else do you need to say? Maybe, "He's a pleasure in class." But that's too common of a thing to say, parents like specifics, right?:) I don't know if they want all the specifics though...

Everything I Really Need to Know...

2008-11-12T11:53:00.000-08:00

...I learned teaching kindergarten! That's right, I'm teaching kindergarten. Mr. Mario, the usual kindergarten teacher has gone to the States for a couple of days and so I will be filling in for him. It's not as bad as it sounds...I don't think. He's typically a very strict teacher and so the kids are well trained in what to do, I just simply have to be the director of the learning. It's a lot of me saying things and them repeating it. The first day (today) was alright. I lost them for about 45 minutes in the middle of the day but I recuperated and got control again in the end. My problem was that I tried to practice "What a Wonderful World" with them. Yes, the song, "I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom...etc." It's a little bit over kindergarteners heads and I lost them. Once I recuperated and got them back things got a lot better. I hope that the next three school days are similar. That's right...three more school days of me teaching kindergarten, whew!
In other news....I got some flowers at school today. I also got a few drawings from kids. Five of them were making a drawing for Mr. Mario and it turned out that most of them turned it into me instead. I guess that they just can't wait that long to turn it into him. I'll have to think of something fun to do with the kids on Monday in order to get ready for Mario to come back...any fun ideas?:)

One Year Ago…

2008-11-03T17:01:00.001-08:00

It was exactly one year ago today (Nov. 3) that Miriam, one of the first grade assistants at Mayatan, died of a stroke. It’s always a tradition to go out to the gravesite and leave flowers on three important days (perhaps more, I’m not sure). The three days for Miriam all fall very close together. There’s Nov. 2 where everybody goes to the graveyard and lays out flowers. Then there’s the date the person died, Nov. 3…and lastly you go on the persons birthday, Nov. 20! That’s all really close together, we should work on spreading out these dates a little bit better…
So if you remember my stories about Miriam last year you can also remember that today is the one year anniversary of her passing away. In memory of that, please keep both her daughters in your prayers. One is working at a local hotel (graduate of Mayatan) and one is in fifth grade at Mayatan.

Pobres Borrachos

2008-11-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

For Halloween the foreign staff decided to have a little celebration in which some people dressed up as crayons, some as an aquarium, and some as just an under-cover Halloween celebrator. Well, a couple of the Hondurans decided that it would be fun to also come, but to come with a whole bottle of whisky and already fairly sloshed. Then of course they drank more…and more…eventually one of them got so drunk that he really had no idea what he was saying (and to make matters even better he drove to the party). I swear that I have never received more compliments in one night from one person. Shoot, I got more compliments from him that night than I’ve gotten in the past 10 years of my life.
One point of the conversation we’re trying to ask him how to say mold in Spanish but instead the conversation lead into ants. David, Tyler, and I were the ones talking to him and trying to keep him occupied away from his drink and so David asks him, “where do ants come from?” Our friend responds, “you know that’s an interesting question…” And he keeps going on about it. Tyler and I are dieing of laughter and trying not to make David laugh cause our friend is very serious. But David keeps asking ridiculous questions like, “And how do you talk to these ants?” Can you honestly keep a straight face if a serious conversation about ants were taking place in front of you?
The end of the night approaches and my friend asks me to drive him home so I take David along with me as he can drive a manual (If you’re reading this Jared, it was started on a hill, I can’t do that yet…). We get out to our friends house to drop him off and by the time we get there the alcohol is setting in, he lives in the middle of nowhere, and he wouldn’t let us leave cause it was too dangerous. We finally get another friend of mine to drive all the way out there at 9:30 at night (which is really late here!) just to bring us back to the park. Oh drunk people…why are they so difficult?

El Probema con la Escuela

2008-10-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

The problem with school is simple...you have behavior problems. The problem is that these not being my own kids I can't spank them, take away dinner, make them finish homework before playing, take away tv, take away video games, etc. So a kid misbehaves, we tell the parents, and then it's out of our hands for the most part. What are you going to say, "I'm going to give you double the homework!" the kid doesn't do it anyways. "I'm going to take you out of the classroom!" He would prefer to run around outside.
The real problem with it though is that the vast majority of kids that I've seen problems with the parents have come in at some point and you realize, "that explains so much about your son!" You may tell the parent that the child is constantly picking on other kids and the response may be something like, "well it's cause other kids pick on him first." Or maybe, "your son never comes to school with his homework completed." And the quick response is, "Well he doesn't understand it." The response should be simple, "Your kid is in first grade! He's drawing squares! Help him with it!"
If only I could be the parent of all the children....I could spank them, take away their tv, and solve all the problems of the world...maybe not.:)

¿Por Qué Es Todo Mejor en Español?

2008-10-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

This week has been just another uneventful week down here. Things that seem out of the ordinary to folks back home happen all the time here and I think nothing of it. So when I schooled a couple first graders in soccer the other day, or chowed down on some baleadas, or drank my granita de café they all seemed like such normal things. I think that the reason I blog so much at the start of the year is because after being in the States I notice all the funny things and write about them. Now, just a couple months into this whole librarian thing and everything around here seems normal.
Speaking of librarian, I made it through a whole week with just working in the library and not substituting! I was super excited about that. I enjoy subbing, and I enjoy working in the library….it’s like two favorites, but library is slightly more favorite than subbing. I was thankful to get a little rest from subbing. Library work this week involved finally starting on cleaning up our “resource room.” It is a mess of books that are mostly junk, with some awesome keepers in their! I threw out about 9 huge garbage bags full of books as well as 4 or 5 boxes….and I’m only part way through. We’re talking about encyclopedia’s from 1974, science books from the 60’s, copies of half of a literature book, and many other useless things for our school. However, in the keeper pile I have more copies of books like, Number the Stars, Danny: Champion of the World, Before we were Free, etc. and Madlibs! What person doesn’t love Madlibs? Right now I’m feeling all in tip top “library shape” and I hope that this continues throughout the whole year.

Ojala Siga Lloviendo!

2008-10-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

I show back up at school today after a week of vacation and I'm thinking..."ugh, back to the grind." I show up and notice that there doesn't seem to be as many students as I previously remember. Turns out the highways around here are TERRIBLE! The highway between Copan and Santa Rita (where we have about 50 students) has always been terrible, but with a tropical depression passing over the past week or so it's now worse than ever. There are highways down by Tegucigalpa that are totally wiped out with rivers swollen more than Hurricane Felix last year. Some say it's worse than Hurricane Mitch in some parts....but I think that they've forgotten already how bad that was. Anyways, with all this rain and 50 students missing we only had classes until 9am! I was very sad....but after I mourned for a couple seconds I had an extra spark in my step.:)
Now here we are wondering if we're going to have school tomorrow. It hasn't rained much today but it hasn't heated up to clear out the old rain. I'm hoping that it rains tonight to have one extra day off. Some schools are canceled through Thursday due to bad weather. You can probably look up pictures and stories and stuff online...probably not CNN as this doesn't pertain with the US or a Leftist ruler...but other news sites might have it.:) We'll see what happens...

Gana Honduras!

2008-10-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to my second ever futbol game here in Honduras and my first of the National Team. It's the fourth game in the second round for the World Cup '10. This game was vs. Canada (which we beat 2-1 in Canada). I was one of some 35,000 happy fans at kickoff...do you say that in futbol or is that a football term? I think it's both. Maybe I should go back to the start. I went with Graham (teaches at Mayatan) and Teresa as well as 25 or so Honduran folks. We were going to meet with David and Cody (and David's sister) at the game but they came late, at halftime. We took a bus at 2pm, got to the game at 6pm, left at 10pm, and got home at 2am!
The first half was fairly uneventful. Honduras scored a goal 8 minutes into the game, I jumped up, screamed, yelled, clapped, and then sat back down. I wanted to sit in the middle of our Honduran group but got stuck on the outside without anybody near me that I knew. The second half I went and got David, Cody, and his sister and then got a seat in the middle of the Honduran crowd! Canada scored a goal quickly in the second half to quiet us all down and sit us down. But just about 8 minutes after that Honduras took the lead on a sweet goal! We all jumped up, clapped, yelled, gave high 5's, and cheered. One of the guys in the group, being completely smashed, told me "Fijate que pareces Catracho!" (look dude, you seem Honduran!). We stayed standing the rest of the first half singing, yelling, shouting, and of course shouting at the ref. Honduras added on one last goal at the end to make it 3-1 final. The same drunk buddy who told me that I seem Honduran then told me on the way out that I was Honduran...several times. Once again proving the theory, alcohol ruins your judgment.

Rainy Season

2008-10-05T10:39:00.001-07:00

Rainy Season
Originally uploaded by hoofter24

Remember a few blogs ago I said something about posting pictures of the rain...well I finally got around to it on flickr...this is one of the pictures outside my house with the pouring down rain. It's eased up now though and is more like a Seattle drizzle when it rains...

Brigada Medica Part II

2008-10-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday at the medical brigade was a long and relatively uneventful day as not many people passed through. One of the girls that passed through made a sad impact on me though. She’s pregnant and when I first saw her I thought, “wow, she’s really young!” But of course here in Latin America family takes care of family so I figured her parents would probably be helping. Turns out that she’s 14, boyfriend got her pregnant and then dropped her like yesterday’s newspaper, and now her parents are telling her, “If you keep that baby you are never to come back to us.” How’s that for a support system? This is not like the States or another developed country where she then runs to a support shelter, there has never been such a thing even heard of around here. So what will she do? Who in the world knows? The lady from the brigade who was helping her began to cry about the whole situation. I didn’t want to then tell her about Dr. Maritza’s story. She used to work at the same clinic we are at this week and one day a girl arrived of about that age and gave birth. She was going to keep the baby but her parents came and said, “If you walk out of this clinic with that baby you are never seeing us again.” Long story short, she turned the baby over to a family near the clinic and went back home to her parents. That kind of leads you to think that this isn’t the most uncommon of situations, eh? The lady in the brigade says, “I would never let that happen to me!” But there are several huge differences in culture here. The girl here will at best have gone through 6th grade (maybe a little higher), be working, be dating older men (20+ years old), and she lives in a society where men dominate every part of the relationship. I don’t mean that in a sense like we think about in the States, I mean it in a much more extreme sense. You could gather some big differences I think from that list compared with most cases in the States. There’s no real moral to my story here, I just wanted to share a sad case in our brigade…we have pretty good lives.
Just a slight add-on to the previous story: The same pregnant gal came back in on Friday with the complaint of a “worm in her leg.” She lifted up her pant-leg to show me and it looked like a mosquito bite, but I thought since I’m no nurse I’ll pass her on to the nurse. The nurse said, “You know, I’m no doctor, but this looks like a mosquito bite.” We pass her onto the doctor and he says, “Why did you send her to me for a mosquito bite?” Oh the worries of some people over simple things.:)

Otra Día, Otra Brigada

2008-09-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

For the fourth straight school day and the fifth time in the past week I was not in the library! However, this time I was not substituting like other days, I got the day off of school to go supervise our secondary students in action at a medical brigade (una brigada). It’s a group from Pennsylvania who is here this week. We are sending about eight students each day to help interpret. I thought that I was going to be a little bored and walking around mindlessly like the case usually is the first couple days of a brigade but they threw me right into the mix to interpret! It was great! As far as medical brigades go this is the best one that has come through with respect to the students. All of the students have a person they are assigned to and know what they are to be doing at all times. Therefore we don’t have any students wandering around, talking on their cell phones, flirting non-stop (there’s still flirting between students…just not at much as a high school summer camp), etc. The hardest case of today was a lady who came in with a tumor behind her eye. It had cut off vision to an eye and was pushing the eye straight out. They had to send her to a hospital cause they couldn’t attend to her. I get to go back to the brigade on Thursday and Friday so I’m pretty excited. I would also be excited if I were to show up at school tomorrow and be working in the library…☺

¡Que Día Más Maravilloso!

2008-09-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

This has been one of my favorite days in Copán this year and probably since coming here last year. In the morning we had our annual teacher excursion to the Finca Santa Isabel. It’s the coffee farm that the Welchez own (who also own the school) and since last Wednesday was Teacher’s Day we celebrated it at the Finca this weekend. We took a tractor to the top of a nature trail there and then hiked down through the forest and coffee plants to arrive at a restaurant. We had the most amazing lunch including tamales, tortillas, pork, and some amazing dessert thing (of which I don’t think my mom was a fan of last year).
We arrived back in Copán just in time for a short rain shower as David, Cody, and I headed over to Suly’s house to visit the new baby. Her name is Yaira Annet Mendez (or something along those lines) and was a healthy 7 pounds 11 ounces as of Wednesday night. After 30+ hours of labor Suly finally had a c-section done so she is still recovering in bed. There are plenty of visitors to see the new baby and keep her busy though. Last night I refused to “chinearla” because I was afraid of breaking a two-day-old baby but now that she’s a day older I held the baby. I know there’s something cool and special about new-borns but I’m still a big fan of kids when they are at least 2 and you can play with them…not just carry them around.
To top off my amazing day we all went up to a party at another teacher’s place. I wasn’t too excited about it cause I wanted to speak more Spanish, not more English. We show up to the party and walk in the door to see three of the Spanish teachers sitting there with some of the other teachers. Perfect! I hung out with them almost the whole night just shooting the breeze, telling jokes, and “contando pajas.” We had dinner and then played bananagrams! But not just any bananagrams, we played it in Spanish!!! It was so much fun and we had a fun time as I inserted all sorts of “indiadas” (Honduran words) into my words. The Spanish teachers got a kick out of it, although I never won. Those that haven’t played the game, it’s like Scrabble (Speed Scrabble to be exact).
Well, now that all is said and done…the day is coming to a close….I should get to sleeping. That’s the one thing that would make this night any better!:)

Fíjate Bien

2008-09-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Once a week I’ve gotten into the routine of helping a friend of mine with his English class that he takes on the weekend in high school. It started out with just him, then just a couple of friends, and now it’s usually about 7 or 8 of us as I help them work through translations and various English activities. Friday night was another night that I helped them through all of the activities. Unlike other nights I stayed after for a while since Nufo and I got to talking. He’s about 34, married, and has two kids. He works full time during the week and takes high school classes on the weekends to finish his degree. Just that alone earns a lot of respect in my book.
Anyways, I got back to my house and was feeling really good about life here in Copán. I’ve had a great sense of peace in the past month that I’ve been back here. I feel extremely content to be here and know that of all the places that I could have gone after college that this is the town God sent me to. Last year I went to church but wasn’t much into the habit of reading my Bible and really meditating on anything of remote importance in life. This year I’ve done much better about that so far and I think that from it stems my sense of knowing this is where God has sent me.
Like I always tend to do, I was listening to some music that same evening when the song “Alive,” by P.O.D. came on. I assume that you don’t know the song, thus I’ve put the lyrics at the end. I’m thankful for every day, every interaction, and every breath that I take while I’m here in Copán. I am trying not to take life for granted here. I am surrounded by constant reminders of God’s faithfulness which are so easily missed when not looking for them…así que fíjate bien (so pay attention)…

Alive – P.O.D.
Every day is a new day
I’m thankful for every breath I take
I won’t take it for granted
So I learn from my mistakes
It’s beyond my control so I’m about to let go
Whatever happens in this lifetime
So I trust in love
You have given me peace of mind
I feel so alive, for the very first time
…

La Antigua Guatemala (Beginning)

2008-09-19T15:38:00.001-07:00

Or I suppose that you could say Antigua, Guatemala. I think that more people are familiar with it in that manner. I do believe that the name comes from this: The capital for the Americas (yes, all of them) under Spain was Antigua for about 200 years until earthquakes destroyed the city. The capital was moved (although for a short while as revolt was on the horizon) to what is currently Guatemala City (I think). So for those of you out there not majoring in Spanish the word “antigua” means “old.” So the old Guatemala City is “Antigua Guatemala” or simply just Antigua.
Now that we are done with that history lesson, let’s move on to the point of this whole story. I went to Antigua this past weekend with a couple teacher friends. We left on Sunday afternoon after our parade on the 14th for the 15th (Independence day in just about all of Central America). We spent a couple days in Antigua before “apenas” (more on this later) returning to Copan. On Monday we toured a little around the city and set up what we were doing for the rest of our trip through some travel agencies but also just plans on our own. We took a bus up to the Pacaya Volcano and then hiked up to the top of it. When we arrived there was lava flowing from a couple different places. We walked out into the lava flow that was a couple days old to take a better look at it and you could feel the heat from the fresh lava! It was pretty cool, and no I did not burn myself.
On Tuesday we took a bus out to Panajachel (say that five times fast). It’s pronounced…well…let’s see how I can put this, pahn-ah-ha-che-el. Something like that, if pronunciation matters to you a lot I can say it for you at Christmas time.:) It’s a city right on Lago Atitlán, which is an amazingly beautiful lake with lots of annoying people. In Copan we have “tourist panhandlers” as I call them, but with a couple of negative answers or ignoring them I’m left alone. Oh no, not in Panajachel…we were followed and talked to in a mix of terrible English and accented Spanish. The people of Panajachel for the most part speak Spanish as their second language and I found it very difficult to communicate with some people. It was really cool to see a whole different world in Panajachel and another city on the lake named San Pedro. I’m glad to have gone so that I can say, “Been there. Done that.” But for enjoyment purposes I wouldn’t go back to the lake.
Last but not least is my ride home and this is where the “apenas” part gets explained. Apenas is a way of saying something that you did but “with pain.” Sort of explaining that you did it but with trouble or difficulty…

La Antigua Guatemala (Ending)

2008-09-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

We made reservations and paid for a bus on Monday afternoon that was set to leave at 1pm on Wednesday afternoon. We show up to the travel agency at quarter to one to check in for the bus and they tell us, “Fíjese que no hay bus hoy porque los caminos están cerrados por manifestaciones.” Now, the look on your face trying to understand that is about what mine was like at this point in time. “There must be a mistake,” I responded, “how are the roads closed for demonstrations?” Turns out (in my opinion) that we were the only 3 people on the bus and they thought we had “buen billete” to pay for a private shuttle bus that they wanted to put us on at 4pm for only another $96! We’d already paid $36 and I wasn’t about to give them another penny. We got a refund and made a break for a couple other travel agencies but there was never a bus at 1pm. We took a public bus from Antigua to Guatemala City, then a taxi from that bus station to another one in order to catch a bus closer to Honduras, took a bus from there to Chiquimula (about an hour from the border). Of course nothing comes simple in Honduras (or Guatemala in this case) as we were delayed by a landslide and a car accident for about an hour or so total. We arrived to Chiquimula at 8pm to find out, “No hay buses a la frontera hasta mañana a las 5.” Since I didn’t want to stay a night there and take a bus at 5 in the morning hoping to make it to school by 7am we decided to head to the park and find a taxi. I tried making some phone calls to friends along the way but things were complicated by me not having credit on my phone, and then when I did get it I had poor reception in Guatemala.
We decide that the best idea (cause we’ve heard it’s a dangerous town and dangerous to cross the border at night) is to stop in at a pharmacy and have them call us a secure taxi. A lady calls us her “friend” to pick us up. He charges us about $35, but agrees to take the three of us all the way to Copán! That’s about an hour and a half drive…and we’re leaving at 8:30pm! On the road we talk to him a little and “apenas” he talks to us. I ask him how he knows the lady that calls him and he tells us, “I met her at a party and she got my number to take her home that night.” “Perfect! So you are a person of real confidence?” That’s what I wanted to ask him, but resisted.
We finally arrived to the park in Copán a little before 10pm at night in the rain and without electricity…we were home.:)

Uncharted Territory

2008-09-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

Half way through week number two and Independence Day is quickly approaching us. Since almost all Central America gained it’s independence from Spain at the same time (more or less) they all get the same holiday. Thus September 15 is not just a national holiday for Honduras but rather more of a Central American holiday. This proves to be an eventful weekend as we will be marching on Sunday for school. There are parades all week long up until Monday for Independence Day. Since Monday’s the actual holiday we get that off school….then Tuesday is Día de la Mochila or something like that so we get that off school…then Wednesday is Día del Maestro (Teacher’s Day) so of course we get that off…then Thursday we go back to school for two days.
Now, my uncharted territory for this break is that I’m going to be traveling. I’m not too sure where I am going, or what I’m going to be doing; but every good thing begins with an idea, right?
As for school itself nothing has happened that is too uncharted, as I’ve been staying in the library for the most part. Outside of school once again, nothing too uncharted as it keeps raining most every day, stays humid all the time, with thunder and lightening to scare the *insert word here* out of you.:) I’m putting up some photos on Facebook of a rainstorm we had recently. I think that the storms are my favorite part of the weather around here….coming from Seattle it’s so novel to see rain that cools (doesn’t freeze)and actually pours instead of misting!
This has been one of my more scattered blogs so I think that on this note I should end it…if you ever see the book, “The Penguin who Hated the Cold” you should read it because it makes for great kids (and teacher/parent) entertainment.:)

Una Semana Pasada (Not Pesada)

2008-09-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

The first day of school this past Monday was eventful and interesting. I show up and relax with a cup of coffee in my new domain known as the library. I walk over to the office getting ready for the assembly when Megan hands me a schedule and says, "A teacher's not here today...can you cover her classes?" Well sure, why not? Marisol jokes that they just don't want me to forget that I'm also the substitute.:) Since it was a Spanish teacher I got to teach half the classes in Spanish and half the classes in English, it was awesome!
After an overwhelming day of substituting I spent the last four days in the library with Diana and things were great. We were reading with kids, helping with check-out, and organizing books. Mainly the little kids section right now with all the Clifford, Bearenstain Bear, Magic School Bus, etc. books. Last night we had the "entrega de libros" where all the parents came to get all the textbooks for their kids. There was mass chaos, a little cursing from parents, lots of stress, and when it was all said and done about 1/3 of the parents got books instead of all of them like we had planned. As I left school with Diana, her family, David, and Cody at 8pm last night I was thankful that while my job may be just as stressful as teaching at times....I enjoy it so much! I enjoyed everything about the book stuff last night, including helping a gentleman fill out his paper who couldn't read and write. His nephew is on scholarship at school and is a great student. Stories like that make me really enjoy my job at Mayatan and make me hopeful for things to come at school this year and possibly in the future.:)

Otro Comienzo

2008-08-27T16:19:00.001-07:00

Going through orientation as a returnee is interesting as I can notice what it’s like for the Hondurans every year that they have to meet new people most of whom do not speak Spanish very well. I remember last year feeling like the Hondurans were not trying to integrate themselves very much into the new teachers but I think that it’s completely natural now! I caught myself a couple times today hanging out with the Hondurans and not the new staff because that’s who I’m already friends with and know. I’m going to have to keep myself in check and not be too “fufurufa.” Before I tell you what that means, take a guess…ok? Taken a guess? If you guessed fluffy then you’re wrong, it means stuck-up (more or less).

La Gran Jugada Que No Fue

2008-08-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

Honduras had their big match Wednesday and I broke out all the stops to get a good spot to watch it! This is the first game for the preliminatory group phase of the 2010 World Cup. Honduras pulled a pretty good group, which includes Canada, Jamaica, and Wednesday's opponent….Mexico! This first game of the 6 game round was played in Mexico City at Azteca Stadium. It’s just a small little 110,000 seater or something like that. But it wasn’t too bad, cause 4,000 seats were reserved for Honduras fans (do the math on that ratio). I went to a church friend Nulfo’s house along with my two friends who had just arrived from Edmonds, David and Cody.
The game starts with big hopes for Honduras as about a half hour into the game it’s still 0-0 and Honduras has a decent free kick for Rambo. No joking, Rambo plays for Honduras, striking fear into the hearts of all enemies.:) Rambo takes the perfect free kick over the wall curving to the left off the crossbar and down into the goal! 1-0! Fireworks are going off outside, people yelling and shouting in their houses up and down the street. We start making comments about how great the ref is and into half time ahead, whew! Fireworks keep going off outside for the next 20 minutes or so. Then with about 20 minutes left in the game Mexico starts getting closer, and closer, and closer to scoring. There’s a couple shots off the post, a shot blocked, a cross tipped away. Honduras then ALMOST puts away it’s second goal….unfortunately for Honduras they missed the second goal and Mexico scored quickly after making it 1-1…no more fireworks…no more smiles…no more compliments for the ref…About 5 minutes later and Mexico gets awarded a free kick scoring their second goal. To make matters worse Honduras gets a red card and all we can say is, “que mierda este arbitro.” If you don’t know Spanish, just leave it as an insult for the ref…:) So the big game that almost was…wasn’t…there’s still lots of games and Mexico comes here in October or November for the final group game. We’ll take our revenge then…

Razón en Quedarme 2 Años

2008-08-20T14:36:00.001-07:00

As you can guess form my last post, in the few days that I’ve been here already I’m finding more and more reasons to support my decision in returning to Copan. There are the obvious reasons of returning to friends that I already know and have but I’ve also discovered something completely unexpected.
Thursday night last week a gentleman (Saúl) invited Megan, Kathy, and I to an art show in town at another gentleman’s house/art studio (Edgar). It ends up just me and Isnala (6th grade teacher) head out there to check it out. The art show is incredible as Edgar shows off all the artwork from his students, which are amazingly talented. I start talking to Edgar’s wife Nelly who runs a tiny little bar that they have their to help support the art studio which was built with money on a grant from the World Bank (side note). Nelly tells me that she remembers me because I helped at a medical brigade last year when she brought in their four year old daughter Luna. I immediately remembered her! For starters I think that the name Luna is freaking awesome, it means “moon” in Spanish, which sounds kinda like a hippy name, but good none-the-less. She had brought in her daughter in the morning and then left to return later. When she returned nobody could find her paperwork and so the mean nurse running the registration table turned them away. I heard it so I talked to them and tried to track down the papers but couldn’t. So I went behind mean nurse’s back to the director and got new papers for them to fill out so that she could be seen.
The story seems to be dragging on a little at this point, so I’ll wrap it up with a moral…There are things that I have done here in the past both good and bad that still come into play this year. As a small town people are used to remembering things people have done to hurt and help them. It was an immediate reminder that the little things we do today to help somebody will carry for a long time. On the flip side, the things you do to hurt people (sometimes inadvertent) can also carry on for a very long time. Therefore, let’s focus on the things that will benefit those around us, not just ourselves because people will never say when you are gone, “wow, Zach was so amazing! He did so much to help himself, he was really just a selfish person and that’s what I loved about him!”

Si Copán Fuera Una Mujer…

2008-08-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

Yo tendría una novia. Unfortunately that’s not so.
I arrived back in Copan today (Wednesday) and I must say that this is the most amazing place that I could be right now in my life. After a long 18+ hour trip back to Copan I arrived with only minor delays despite half the highway outside Copan being washed out in the rains. I only spent some time in the town but saw so many familiar faces and friends that I couldn’t take more than 25 or 30 steps without stopping to talk. It’s really amazing how blessed I have been in this little town of 8,000 or so people.
Of course the FIRST thing that I had to do…any guesses? Eat a baleada! For those that have not had the privilege of experiencing this life changing food here’s a short description: Take a flour tortilla and spread bean paste over one half of it. Then add some salty cheese they have here on top of it and top it off with some buttery creamy stuff. Fold the tortilla in half and poof! Baleada!
The funny thing is that I’ve had 4 people tell me that I’m fatter than two months ago! I found that interesting, they said my face is rounder and I look healthier. I guess that means in June when I left I looked like a starving poor little child. I told them it’s cause I didn’t have my 45 minutes every day of walking back and forth from school (20-25 each way).
So for an American who has “put on weight” over the vacations, I could not be more content…happy….lucky….blessed…any word that you choose.:)

Sera Que No Se

2008-08-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, another year in Honduras as the librarian is about to commence. Only this time I'm actually going to be in the library....right? So they tell me at least. I'm going to be in the library with Diana. She was the librarian last year and we're supposed to be sharing the job, organizing all the libros (books), and...does any of this sound familiar? Oh right, I said the same exact thing one year ago!
Sin embargo, I think that things are actually going to be different this year. Maybe I'm delirious and optimistic beyond all belief on this subject. I put in my year in secondary to earn this library job, now I want to work in the LIBRARY!:) Es decir that I'm pretty excited about this next year as of this point in time. I'm going to have the same housing that I left off with last year right next to three families that I get along with great despite the "colorful" words that they teach me sometimes. I've learned something important this past year: always check the new words you learn from somebody with a third party!
This is a story about that last part, if you don't want to read it, just be done reading...I have a list of "Honduran words" that a friend gave me so I put myself to learning some of them. One of the new phrases that I learn is "pelarse la tusa" which was translated as, "to leave." Literally it's like saying "to remove your own husk." I thought, "awesome! I'm gonna use this all the time." I go up to one of the cleaning ladies and I'm talking to her and tell her, "Bueno, me pelo la tusa." Her response was to laugh and tell me, "Pelesela al otro lado." Basically she told me to go away. Whatever, that's not the first time a friend has said that to me.
I then go into the directors office later that day with the academic director and when I'm leaving I say once again, "Voy a pelarme la tusa."
They look at me mouths gaping..."Where did you learn that?!" "Oh...(I realize this was not a good move)...um...a list of words that Nelly gave me...(like when my grandma was going to wash my mouth with soap)..."
Their response was firm but friendly, "Educated people don't talk like that."
Turns out that the phrase is something along the lines of "I'm removing the condom." Which I suppose, yes, it means that I am done...but does anybody else see why I turned bright red upon finding this out?

I dreamt that?!

2008-07-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

I just had the strangest dream...check this out:
I'm assisting in this youth activity in a pool where they have to go through a maze sort of gladiator type thing. At the end there's a volleyball that I don't remember the purpose of. I get the idea of playing dodgeball in the pool with a big group and so they drain the entire pool in order to play and set up a tennis net in the middle. Then all the kids are just standing around the outside. Then, while we're waiting Ichiro and I decide to play some baseball and suddenly it's a whole game. Ichiro takes ball one which is right down the middle and the manager from Kansas City comes running out to argue. He takes Ichiro's bat and smashes it against the brick pillar that suddenly appears in the right hand batters box. I quickly gather the pieces for him and run back inside to get a new bat. While inside the house (P.S. I ran through the pool of wallflower teenagers staring at the tennis net) I put the pieces of the bat somewhere, don't remember. I go back out there and on the other side of the pool is no longer a baseball game, it's Rudy Guiliani and a goal challenging me to penalty kicks. So I kick some against him and do alright, the last one goes way up and over the apartment building behind him on which all the wallflower teenagers are now gathered to watch. I go get the ball, come back, and challenge Guiliani to try scoring on me. I use a light pole and masking tape wrapped around a tall weed.
Since things aren't weird enough yet a pollen storm comes in and Guiliani points it out to me to be careful. It's coming straight towards me and fearing for my life I do a Matrix type dive backwards as the cloud of yellow pollen goes flying over my shoulder. "Wow," I tell him, "I've never seen pollen before!" Then again, another pollen strike from the right side! I dive and roll behind the light pole and...wake up. End of dream. Is that not the most bizarre dream?

Que Extraño Es El Extraño

2008-06-14T10:05:00.001-07:00

I’ve been so focused on Copan for the past 6 months that it’s hard for me to believe that I’m going back to the states now. Life here in Copan is hard to describe cause it’s not like anything that I have ever lived back in the states. It’s slow, tranquil, easy-going, and relaxed. There is nothing pressured about living here. An afternoon of no plans quickly flies by as I make the rounds to various houses saying hello. I feel like in the US an afternoon of no plans quickly goes as I sit and stare at the tv, then take a break to drive to Wendy’s for a burger and Frosty.
It’s hard to describe without insulting a lot of people, but in the states the things I miss are things like carpet, grilled cheese sandwiches, my mom’s lasagna, and a quality church. Everything that I’m going to miss in Copan revolves around the people. I’m going to miss my students, sitting in front of my house with the neighbors, learning funny Spanish phrases with friends, watching telenovelas (soap operas) with my neighbors, and joking with other teachers at school. I miss things about the US (people as well, just to clarify), but I won’t miss the things of Copan at all. I’m going to miss the people like none other! I guess it’s only another two months until I return…as I write this it’s June 13, and I come back August 13…two months exactly from today.

¡Gana Honduras!

2008-06-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

The first game for the world cup qualifiers was on Wednesday night in San Pedro and Honduras came out on top! Now granted that Honduras was playing against Puerto Rico, a nation renowned for baseball, not futbol. Then there’s the fact that the world cup is in 2010, another 2 years away. The game was almost canceled because of rain and the field was more of a small lagoon than a soccer field with water more visible than players. The final score was 4 – 0 with David Suazo providing two goals. Suazo is the “national hero” of soccer as he made it onto Inter (Italy). I think that he holds more power than the average politician in Honduras…☺

I Told Him So!

2008-05-30T15:27:00.001-07:00

I told him, “If you don’t get at least an 84% on the final exam this quarter, you will fail the whole year. So please, study your butt off now so that you can pass the year and not worry about failing.” I made the final exam for this quarter the exact same problems as the study guide and who came through? That student! He got a freaking 100%! Nobody else in the entire class got 100% on the test, and although the class average was low 90’s on the test, he was the only one with a flawless test. I couldn’t even take off half a point for little mistakes, it was perfect, like what every teacher dreams of.
Now that I’m done with classes and with final exams that means that I’m done with most of the secondary students until next year. There are still recuperation tests this coming week in which the kids who failed the year have a chance to take a test and make up the entire year. I’m making those tests freaking hard cause I feel that if somebody failed the entire year (especially with about half of the grade being homework) then they probably weren’t trying too hard. I notice that kids who do their homework also generally do better on the tests, surprise to everyone!
After recuperation tests next week then we have a much lower key last week and we’re done with the school year! Oh summer can not come soon enough….:)

Solo Faltan Examenes!

2008-05-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Es como salir de la esclavitud de siempre estar encargado de los cipotes. Ok, I’ve been in Spanish mode lately since classes semi-officially ended! I no longer have to teach, however, I do need to give three more final exams and at least 2 recuperation tests for some kids that failed the year in math. It is such a relief to be done with classes, yet at the same time, I already miss it a little bit. I’ve been so busy with classes and classes and classes that now I’m a little bit lost. For now it’s a good sense of loss and I’m feeling great about it! However, I feel like once next week is done I’m going to be a little bit bored and wanting to go back to school. Maybe I’m just making that up to try and keep down my enthusiasm right now.:)
I got to thinking also about the ninth graders leaving in just a couple months and going to far away places to study. Since there is no bilingual school within two hours of here a lot of the kids go to Santa Rosa (2 ½ hours), San Pedro (3 hours), or Tegucigalpa (6 hours). I probably won’t see any of them again, maybe once in a while if they come back on vacation or something, but that’s sad. I’m going to miss all of them, even the ones that get under my skin.:) But for now let’s not think about that, instead let’s think about how we are done with classes for the summer!

The Lights Went

2008-05-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

No really they left and went away. At least that’s how you say it in Spanish, “se fue la luz.” Where it went to I’m not sure, but it happens frequently around here, the luz decides there is a better place to be and leaves us alone with the oscuridad (darkness). For example, at school on Wednesday we are in the middle of class and the power goes out. It not really a huge deal. I can deal without the luz, but then the fan in my room doesn’t work. Also not a huge deal, unless it’s around 95 out and quite humid! I actually don’t think I’ve been in weather a whole lot hotter feeling than this here the past couple days. Then there’s the friend of luz, agua, they rarely hang out together because one of them is usually turned off. Today at school we had the pleasure of being without either one. Also not a huge deal for school, we can function as far as class goes. However, the lunches can’t be prepared by the caseta without luz and agua. My eighth graders started a roomer that we were going at 11am due to the lack of our two friends. I went to the office to ask and they had a perplexed look, “no, we’re not leaving early.” Dangit! I wanted to go early, I was hot and tired! Then I went later in the morning, around 9, to try and convince Norma that we should not have class. Once again, I failed…I think that due to pressure from multiple teachers (i.e. everybody) and reasoning the office decided to send us home at 11am! You should have seen the joy, the jubilation, this sense of little school children playing in the mud filling the lunchroom. And that was just amongst the teachers, you should have seen how happy the kids were!
In order to celebrate the canceling of Wednesday afternoon I played baseball with a bunch of kids at school, went home for two seconds, and went to the pool where I found a good place for not only myself, but just about every teacher at Mayatan. We get in for free, but normally you need to pay 50 lempiras. I really think that I need to go there more often, I don’t know why I haven’t. Oh right, it’s like a 5 minute walk from my house, just so far. After I walk a solid 25 minutes to school I just can’t make it those extra five minutes, whew…:) I love when the luz decides to go away…but more so when the agua also decides to leave with it on vacation and we leave school early.:)

Playing Ball

2008-05-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was eating my dinner at a neighbor’s house when the kid who’s about 11 turned to a baseball game. Red Sox vs. Detroit, if that matters to anybody. I was personally sad to see Detroit losing 2-0 in the 3rd, but not as sad as I am to be a Mariners fan.
Ok, all beside the point. I ask the kid if he likes to play baseball and he gives me the most enthusiastic yes I’ve seen from him. It progresses and he goes and gets his glove and a ball. We toss it in the house for a bit (I’m not completely grown up yet) before I suggest going out and playing in the street. I find another old glove lying around the house and take that with me to play catch with him.
At first things seem a little bit boring and then I start throwing him some pop-ups. He gets a little more energetic and starts telling me to throw it higher and higher. I throw it in front of him, behind him, to the side, the other side, and then it hits me…this kid doesn’t have a dad nor brothers to play ball with. He told me that he loves playing yet there’s nobody in his life that he can play with. This made me quite a bit more energetic to play, neighbors were watching us out on the cobblestone throwing back and forth as they ducked a few times for wild pop flies and errant return throws.:)
I remember that when I was a kid I loved playing catch with my dad and I’m sure he knew that cause I asked him to play every 5 seconds. At the end of playing this kid asked me, “so when are we going to play again?” I was so excited that he enjoyed playing ball! I hope that we get plenty of chances between now and the end of this next month and a half here to play. Maybe I’ll have to bring back some baseball stuff when I go home in the summer.
Now, my arm is of course not feeling as excited as my mind. I haven’t played real baseball in years and I don’t think that I’ve played catch for that long since I was in high school. So much fun…

North Coast

2008-05-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the first time I've ever visited the North Coast of Honduras and the first time that I've ever been in the Caribbean. First off, the water is a delightful temperature! Second off, I do suggest going with Hondurans to a Honduras beach if you get the chance.:)
We left Copan at 5:15am and arrived in Tela around 10:30am. It was a long trek to get there, but so worth it once we arrived. Heck, I took Dramamine and was awake for about an hour of the trip (most of that being our breakfast stop). I got to swim in the ocean for the first time in years! I don't even remember the last time that I fully immersed myself and swam in the ocean...wow, I just thought about how long it's been. Anyways, there's an old railroad bridge thing that goes into the middle of nowhere but serves as a good pier to walk out on and get a good view of the beach in both directions. For lunch we had an amazing amount of choices and I was forced to choose the Tilapia fish (I had to go with fish on the coast). It was the hugest plate I've seen in eons loaded with fish fried in Parmesan cheese, different...but good.
After lunch I didn't return to the water but instead played some soccer with the kids on the trip and read my book in the shade next to the ocean. It was such a relaxing time that we had! We left the beach at 5pm and arrived back in Copan around 10:30pm last night. All the other foreign staff stayed in Tela for the weekend so I got to ride back with a bunch of Hondurans. I sat near Eva and Lourdes and it was great. They're two of the cleaning ladies at school. They have a good understanding of my Spanish ability since I've talked with them both quite a bit and they know when to slow down and when they can talk normal speed. I think that they can read the expression on my face really well to know if I'm completely lost or not. Lourdes then decided that singing along with the Ranchero music would be a good idea and our bus driver Lino apparently agreed. Ranchero is the Mexican style accordion music with pistols shooting off and guys hooting loudly and out of control. Does that paint a good picture for the type of music? It was hilarious to hear them both singing along at times.:)
So there you have it...my first and probably not last trip to the north coast of Honduras. Oh, didn't even mention the best part, all of the trip... paid for by the school! They gave us a 100 lempira allowance of which I even saved 15 lempiras, so I got paid to go to the coast! Now, when you do the conversion, that's only 80 cents, but hey, that's a whole baleada or two depending where I go!:)

Reconciliacion y Perdon en la Familia

2008-04-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

That was the theme of last night's speaker, reconciliation and forgiveness in the family. It was a fundraiser dinner for the Catholic church with an amazing chicken, rice, beans, and tortillas dinner followed by the priest from Santa Rosa de Copan (about 2 hours away). I was very excited about the priest speaking from the second that I saw him because he probably has one of the coolest beards that I've seen in a long time. So I thought, "well, if this is boring I can stare at the movement of his beard." It's simple, but that's the life of Copan.:)
Anyways, beard aside, this guy was the best speaker that I have heard in a long time! He involved the crowd a lot in saying things such as, "I desire to desire to forgive." I think that was from Ignatius of Loyola. Or his own creations of phrases such as demonstrating how ridiculous it is to say who holds resentment so we all said, "I am resentful. You are resentful. He is resentful. She is resentful. We are resentful. They are resentful." To add to the demonstration we got to point at I, you, he/she, we, and they. Ok, that was not the most eventful part of the evening, but it did stand out in my mind cause it was fun to point at somebody and tell them, "you are resentful!"
He talked about all sorts of issues related to forgiveness and how much better it is to forgive than to resent with regards to the friendship, your physical being, your mental being, your friendship with others, your faith, everything. My favorite part was him telling the story of his family. Isn't that always the best part? The speaker gives an example from their life and you just assume he's not making it up for emotional heart strings purposes.:) He entered the priesthood after studying psychology in college and so on top of being a priest he's a psychologist. That's like getting a communications degree and then becoming a pastor.:) Ok, so the priest's dad never wanted him to go into ministry and made that very clear to the point of not talking to him once he began studying for it. It was a pretty hurtful thing for him, his dad had several various women and was just a fairly destructive sounding person in their family. Anyways, it comes around to him in the process of dieing from cancer one August. His family took care of him while he was only weeks away from passing away. The priest's father got to the point in his illness that he could no longer swallow and so he went over to his dad and said, "You're not doing so well dad. Would you like to have your last rites?" His dad accepted and he said that it was one of the most reconciling/forgiving things that he has done to be able to send his father off and have his father finally accept him. If that didn't sound good then there are three options for why it was an anti-climatic story. 1) It sounds better in Spanish. 2) I translated it poorly. 3) You had to be there. I thought it was a cool story though.:)
Anyways, I'm going to get back to painting my new apartment. Yes, once again, I've moved...three apartment in one year. I can't keep this up forever!

Un Cumpleaños a La Copan

2008-04-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was my birthday, it's true, I enjoy telling people after the fact cause then they feel guilty and get me cooler presents. Ok, that's not true. I don't like telling people because I don't like to be the center of attention. Really, I don't! Luckily I escaped with few center of attention moments. The only really bad one was going to a small group that I go to for church. I just went last week for the first time and they invited me back for my birthday (but they didn't know it was my birthday). Of course on my birthday one of the only Hondurans in the entire world that knows it's my birthday shows up and announces it to everyone there! They all start telling me, "felicidades!" The Doctor and a couple people slip out quietly and come back five minutes later with my "birthday ice-cream." Then they all start singing, congratulating me, saying how "joven" I am, only 23! Then there were the comments of, "when are you getting married?" "Wait, you don't even have a girlfriend?" "We'll find one for you, don't worry! What about Isabel?!" I don't know how my birthday evolved from a church small group to a dating show so quickly. In the middle of everything I dismissed myself to "go to the bathroom," which is code for "stop staring at me everybody!" Oh man, that was not my favorite birthday moment in the world, but hey, it's makes for a good blog entry, right?:)
The good birthday surprise came the day after, Wednesday. I get a call from my friend Suly at 5 telling me to get back to my house as soon as possible. I thought...alright...is this some bit of urgent gossip? There's not much else urgent in town other than gossip and me needing to get dinner when I get hungry and grouchy. I show up at my house and who should be at my doorstep but Suly (kinder assistant at Mayatan), Eva (cleaning lady at Mayatan), and Eva's kid Jose Adelid (second grader at Mayatan)! They are holding a cake and start singing in Spanish, "We want cake now!" We go inside, eat some cake, I buy some coca-cola (what Honduran doesn't drink it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?), and we have some cake and relax for a little bit. It was so nice of them to buy me cake and I know they don't necessarily have money to throw around on cakes.
Sometimes I get bummed out because I don't feel like I fit in that well with neither the Honduran nor the American staff but then something like this happens and I think, I totally fit in with the Honduran staff! I'm excited to be staying down here next year because I think that I will be able to have closer friendships with my Honduran friends. Oh life in Copan...:)

Cirque de Copan

2008-04-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

There was a circus in Copan several months ago that I meant to go to but never managed. Then I hear the other day that there’s another circus here in town. I jumped at the opportunity to check out a sweet Latin American traveling circus! It consisted mainly of clowns telling jokes making fun of each other, homosexuals, and gringos. It was all pretty well done though. The making fun of each other part was…whatever, at least it was just each other. Then the homosexuals part was when they did a lip sync impression of some Mexican singer who is apparently gay and they always impersonate him at circuses. The guy was so funny though! He was winking to guys in the crowd, going up to them and singing to them, tossing his handkerchief at them, etc. Luckily he never picked me out. Then came the dreaded line (in Spanish of course), “Are there any gringo’s here tonight out there?” I just about died because there was only about 200 people there so of course everybody could see the only person above 6 feet tall! There was an awkward pause in which I thought the whole world was staring at me until I saw one of the other clowns come out dressed as a gringo and carrying a suitcase. Whew! I was saved the pressure of being picked out from the crowd. I know I speak Spanish and all that, but even thinking about 200 Copanecos staring at me makes me want to turn tail and run. I hear that this circus was infinitely better than the last one… good thing I waited to see this one and not the last one.:)

Brigada Medica

2008-04-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

This past week a medical brigade came here to Copan from New York University in order to see as many patients from the area as they could to do some preventative treatment with them. I'm not sure the exact number of people, but I know that there were at least 240 children seen by the brigade, and I bet you upwards of over 1000 people total. I got to help out with translating and coordinating our students to help translate. It was so much fun! I have definitely decided that medical translating is the field for me, as long as I don't have to see the blood. A couple times I was called over to oral surgery where they were doing all the extractions and that was never my favorite part of the day. As long as I can stay with the screaming kids, the nervous adults, or the annoying patients trying to cut in line I'll be fine. But show me a little blood and I quit. Maybe medical translating is not for me...but I think it is...we'll see about that one...:)

Alfombras de Aserrín

2008-03-21T04:40:00.001-07:00

The long loved Latin American sawdust carpet tradition reached Copan Ruinas for the first time (and thankfully not the last time) last year! So here I am, it’s 5:30 in the morning, I just pulled an all nighter to help build the carpets. It’s the most amazing and awesome process. We started at 6pm. Actually, I started at 7pm or so cause I was finishing watching the Honduras Olympic qualifier soccer match with Guatemala (Honduras won on penalties 6-5 and is in the Olympics!). So from 7pm to 5am I worked with only about 5 breaks for coffee and 10 breaks for the bathroom… coffee runs through ya, am I right?:)
Ok, so we first make a layer of sawdust over the cobblestone street, flatten it with 2x4’s, stomp it down on top of cardboard. Then lay down the cardboard molds over the top of the first layer…put colored sawdust on top of the original layer to make the picture, then press it down again with cardboard, and there you have it, beautiful sawdust carpets which will only last a couple hours until the procession and drunks destroy it. We had no problems with drunks destroying the carpet tonight, just drunks yelling at us, particularly any gringos helping (like me!). We had a couple of stupid dogs run through the middle of the sawdust carpets after we had finished parts of them, that was a very not-high-light of the evening. I already hate the dogs here, but they aren’t climbing up my list of most liked animals in the world quickly with behavior like that.:) At the start tourists were lined up all over the street to see what we were doing and taking pictures. Then they slowly left and we were left with like 50 people working on the carpets….slowly the numbers got less and less until at the end about 10 of us were left, maybe 15 or so. That was fun to be one of the last survivors, and I got an invitation to help next year (they said, “Hay que contratarlo el siguiente año también!” Which means, “we need to get him a contract next year!”). Ok, I’m going to go take pictures of our work now and hopefully later they will be put online. Hasta later gang!

Que Semana Macanuda

2008-03-20T06:48:00.001-07:00

Just when I think that school is getting too routine and boring I have a week such as this that mixes things up and reminds me why I love life down here so much. Today, Maundy Thursday, I am going to be working on the sawdust carpets for the Easter parades. I’ve tried to go work with people to prepare the sawdust but have never been able to for a variety of reasons from forgetting, showing up late, them finishing early, or them canceling the meeting last second. Hopefully I have enough energy this evening to participate in the decorations. Last year people came up from the Catholic Church in Comayagua in order to teach and train people here in Copan on how to make the carpets. You should look up pictures of the sawdust carpets in Comayagua, there’s quite impressive.
In other news, last night I went out to Marisol’s just to say hello and her husband decided that I should witness what it used to be like with the Mayatan staff, so we should have a bonfire! We called up Tyler, changed everybody’s plans, and had a bonfire with marshmallows and hang out fun at their place. They used to have parties over at their house when the school was smaller. It’s grown from about 180 students to 280 in just a couple of years.
Funny story of the week… A drunk guy came up to Sam and I at the fair and asked (in Spanish), “where are you from?” Sam responded in a friendly manner, “the U.S.” The man proceeded to then go off about how he didn’t like the government, Sam defended it, they went back and forth a little bit. I tried to stay out of it because you could just smell the alcohol on this guy. Anyways, then he turns to me, “where are you from?” “Oh,” I responded, “I’m from here in Copan.” He responds with a confused look, “no, where are you from originally?” I just kind of smile and tell him, “I’m from Copan, born and raised 100% Copaneco.” He gets this look of confusion on his face, looks at Sam, looks back at me… “But you look like a Gringo.” This made me smile a little bit more but I just responded calmly, “I know, people tell me that a lot. I’m 100% Copaneco though.” Our drunken friend gets a bit smile on his face and says, “Que bueno!”
Moral of the story; alcohol makes you so dumb as to believe that a tall white guy, blond hair, American accent, and green eyes is from Honduras… so just stay away from alcohol.

La Santa Semana Santa

2008-03-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year when everything feels wonderful. Children laugh and smile once again, teachers smile brighter than Christmas break as the weather is now warmer, and the reason for all the smiles is the lack of classes happening for another week!:) That's the good news, it's Semana Santa (week before Easter) and we get the entire week off for vacation! Unfortunately the Copan fair falls on the same week and so we don't get two vacations, just the one. However, it's from now until Monday after Easter, then back to school on Tuesday. Today I wandered out to the fair for a little while and hung out with two of my friends and it's always funny to walk around with Catrachos (Hondurans) here because people are used to Gringos, but not Gringos that hang out with Catrachos I feel like. So I had lots of calls to me and random stupid things that people said.
The fair is very much so geared towards high school aged kids and younger but it looks pretty fun. Not so much tonight cause I'd just had dinner and didn't feel like the rides were a good idea to go on. However, I'm going back to that pirate ship! It's the kind that goes way up high on either side but not all the way around. I like that one, no upside-down-ness.:) There's a couple other fun rides, a ferris wheel, shooting games, fishing games, and some other booths of random darts and such. It's like any fair in the US, except somebody died there last week and it's still going on... I suppose that's a little different than the states in which the place would be shut down faster than the person died.:)
This week break I think that I'm going to just be relaxing around town and hanging out. Maybe I'll go to the river for a little while and hang out down there, go over to a couple profe's houses, visit Eva's mom's house again to make baleadas up there with her, and then...um... relax!:)

Pobre Savio...

2008-03-02T15:15:00.000-08:00

Unas lagrimas me curaron de le perdida. We went to San Pedro yesterday with a big group of teachers to see a soccer game and hang out at the mall there for a little while. The mall was not my favorite part, but I survived and we got some window shopping in as well as a Quiznos sandwich that cost me an arm and a leg. We got to the soccer stadium like 2 hours early so we played cards and just hung out. I had a blast of a time at the soccer game despite the fact that "my team" lost. Real Espana and Deportes Savio were the two teams, Real Espana is from San Pedro and Deportes Savio is from the Copan department, so of course I had to root for Savio. One of my ninth grade students also came along with her mom and since they were supporting Savio I had no other choice but to choose them.:) It was a really good game but Savio did anything but dominate, they were lucky to only be losing 3-1 when we left half way through the second period.
I've begun to realize that so many days here my life involves school (Monday-Friday), planning for school (Monday-Sunday), grading for school (Monday - Sunday), and then relaxing on Friday and Saturday evening. My life is so dependent upon school. I've been looking into the possibility of staying around here next year...if I weren't teaching I think that I might start to get bored. I guess that I'd have to go get a bunch of friends or something, that's a novel concept. It's hard though, because it's so built into the city around here that the Mayatan teachers come for a year, teach, enjoy, and then leave at the end of the year. I think that if I were to come back another year that I would be able to enjoy some actual friendships...although I would be that awkward exchange student that only the really nice and friendly people hang out with because only they have the patience to talk to me. What's wrong with that though?:)

Great Epiphanies!

2008-02-23T14:59:00.000-08:00

So, I guess that my last visitor is gone now, on their way back home. My grandma and cousin Courtney were here for a week and we had a good time (at least I think). There was the usual coffee finca tour, ruins visit, bird park, card games, Casa Villamil hang out time, and then the all special homework time with Courtney. Something about math teachers is mean, her math teacher gave her homework to bring with her on the trip.
I had a series of epiphanies this week while they were here my two favorite being that the seventh graders had to write a letter home to their parents from themselves. The letter was dictated by me and told their parents that they need help and their asking for their parents to help them because the fifth graders beat them in a challenge on decimal addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Now that’s just not right. Seventh graders should not be getting a class average of 7 out of 10 on decimals…so we wrote a letter to their parents asking for their help.:)
The second is for the eighth graders to help each other on their homework, but they are responsible for their partner. On the quiz Monday the partners will each earn the average score of their two quizzes. I’m pretty excited to see how it turns out. Those were my two great epiphanies.

Irony of Strengths Finder

2008-02-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

I took this quiz over Christmas break to help find my "strengths in teaching" and I have found one of the results to be quite humorous. Now think about my personality...then read this section describing my strength of "self-assurance."

"You know that you are able-able to take risks, able to meet new challenges, able to stake claims, and, most important, able to deliver. But Self-Assurance is more than just self-confidence. Blessed with the theme of Self-Assurance, you have confidence not only in your abilities but in your judgment. When you look at the world, you know that your perspective is unique and distinct. And because no one sees exactly what you
see, you know that no one can make your decisions for you. No one can tell you what to think. They can guide. They can suggest. But you alone have the authority to form conclusions, make decisions, and act. This authority, this final accountability for the living of your life, does not intimidate you. On the contrary, it feels natural to you. No matter what the situation, you seem to know what the right decision is. This theme lends you an aura of certainty. Unlike many, you are not easily swayed by someone else's arguments, no matter how persuasive they may be. This Self-Assurance may be quiet or loud, depending on your other themes, but it is solid. It is strong. Like the keel of a ship, it withstands many different pressures and keeps you on your course."

Has there ever been anything more true written about me? And it wasn't even written about me...or was it?

Chaos of the aniversario

2008-02-14T18:10:00.000-08:00

School this week is "anniversary week" which is the rough equivalent of homecoming week but on a little kid crazy scale. As Gabe just put it (talking on Skype by me), "Once you embrace the fact that you have no control over your kids and they are crazy it's great. That's just the way it's going to be." They don't wear their uniforms this week, we had a tournament all day on Monday for basketball with the students, today we had students vs. teachers in basketball and soccer. Blair bet his class thirty minutes of free time or time to stay in from recess with his kids on each game. He gave them a 30 point line on the basketball game but seeing as how we were dominating I think the game was called short and he lost the 30 point line to his kids. I think we won by like 22 or something like that. It was fun to play that. Then we played soccer and I of course was the goalie (they don't allow me to do anything else). I was like a brick wall with four holes in it and we ended up winning 6-4! That means Blair cancels out losing the basketball bet and Nora (director of the school) owes each of us in our apartment (Blair, Tyler, and myself) a cake!:) I think I could get used to this betting on games versus the students thing. It's working out great for me today. Tomorrow is fun day which is yet another code word for "crazy day with no control over anything that happens at school."
Apparently at this "fun day" we are playing an alleged game of "marriage and divorce." This is not a game supported by James Dobson but it does sound fun. Kids can pay for two other people to be "married." When they are married they are taped together on their wrists. In order to be separated they then have to pay to be "divorced" from each other. It should be entertaining (assuming I don't get married).
In the past couple weeks of no activity on here I have enjoyed a great visit from my parents in which we spent 2 days in Antigua, Guatemala and a week here in Copan. I don't think that I have much of a future in being a tour guide, but it was fun. I think we all made it out with the important things accomplished; a wide variety of baleadas eaten, hikes to places we don't know where they are, avoidance of ticks, sitting in the park eating ice-cream, and a wide variety of other important Copan activities.:) This next week I'll be joined by my grandma and cousin Courtney. It should be a blast of a week, but with less testosterone and more shopping than last week with both my parents.:)

La Casa Mas Bonita del Mundo

2008-01-26T18:34:00.000-08:00

Maybe not the most beautiful house in the world, but it is certainly one of the best houses that I've visited before. Today Blair (my roomate), Farah (school secretary), Suly (Kindergarten assistant), Koali (Sixth grade teacher), and Eva (school cleaning lady) all went up to the house of Eva's mom today. We hiked for about a half hour from Copan to Nueva Esperanza which is a little city nearby. From there we then hiked up into the middle of nowhere and then a little bit further. It was about a half hour hike through the brush and nothingness to get to her mom's house. When I got there I asked her younger sister if they had any neighbors and she just gave me a look like, "are you a freaking idiot?" The house has no electricity, no running water, it's made of tun/aluminum and wooden planks. It's freaking awesome!:) They made us the most amazing chicken and rice meal that I have had in a long time. Then for dessert there just happens to be a million pineapple plants in the area so we had a couple of pineapples. The walk back was quite the adventure as it was misting at the start. It was perfect weather and we had an awesome view of the city from the trail. Part way down though it started to pour down rain! Ok, not pour, but rain, not just a mist. By the time that we got home Blair and I were both fairly soaked to the bone. I'm excited to go back there in the future. Eva has like 7 brothers and sisters. Her younger sister Maria lives at home, she's 23, and has 3 kids! I'm almost 23! I don't want three kids! Ay Dios mio.

Why am I teaching?

2008-01-22T05:20:00.000-08:00

One of the teachers has a chart for the first year teacher. There are many stages to being a teacher for the first full year. Apparently the ending step is “victory,” or something glorious like that. In the middle somewhere there’s a stage something along the lines of dismal, depressing, the great valley of doom, maybe not quite that exasperating sounding. Anyways, I’m in that valley of certain doom right now and it’s a really dumb valley to be in. I’m pretty sure that I’m wasting my students time, I think that they all hate me, none of them want to even talk to me, they make fun of me all the time (who wouldn’t make fun of their teacher in middle school?), and I can’t control anything inside the classroom. This week is exams for the second quarter, which is nice. I’m half way there, but nobody told me that the halfway point would also be the valley of doom from which I would never leave. Or at least that’s what it’s feeling like at this point. What ever happened to the library? I’d love to be sitting in the library reading with kids right about now…where for art thou library? Deny thy name, for if thou wilt not be but sworn my books. I would deny my classroom…it’s a modern teachers rendition of Shakespeare.:)
Anyways, this whole stage of dismal depression is getting a little bit depressing at school; I can’t wait for that victory stage at the end. “Chariots of Fire” will be playing in the background, my kids will all have 100% in the class, I will be schooling them all in soccer (not just math), but most importantly everything will be happening in slow motion.

Una semana terminada, millones por delante

2008-01-15T04:36:00.000-08:00

One week of classes is down and I’m having a great time back down here in Honduras. With each day that has passed since coming back I’ve become more and more sure that I want to come down here again next year. I just had the 8th graders over tonight for s’mores and a little fire on my rooftop. Don’t panic, we have all concrete buildings here (unless they’re sticks and mud).:) None of them had really heard of s’mores, let alone tried it before. Between about 16 of us we finished about 50 s’mores, I’d say they were a smashing hit.
Here’s a pop quiz…do you know how long a teacher can have an impact on their students academic performance? In a study by the Gallup organization teachers can have an impact on their students academic performance for up to three years. This means that if you have a really bad teacher it may have negative effects for three years. But a really good teacher who cares about the kids may have a positive impact for up to three years on their schoolwork. Is anybody following my line of thought?:)

Whew...

2008-01-05T18:02:00.000-08:00

I survived last night and am still making the trek to Copan...this is kinda fun.=)

Just When Traveling was Getting Boring…

2008-01-04T22:24:00.001-08:00

I meet a guy named Tim, he’s far from any person that I would just strike up a great conversation with and be best friends. For starters, he’s on the plane to El Salvador and doesn’t speak Spanish very well, that’s strike number one. Strike number two is that he swears quite a bit. And strike three I learned after the flight…he smokes like a chimney, but more like a wildfire. However, he’s nice beyond all belief and I start to strike up a short conversation with him and he asks where I’m staying at. I tell him the name of the place and he says, “maybe we can take you there on the way home.” He tells his wife where it’s at and she says, “oh, the center of town, you don’t want to go there. Why don’t you stay at our house instead? We have an extra bed and would love to have you with us.” So naturally, without thinking that maybe these people are going to rob me, kill me, drop me in a ditch somewhere I say, “That’d be great!” I hop into the truck with Tim, his wife, his 11 year old daughter, and his brother-in-law Milton. Not thinking anything weird still until I realize that I’m with a complete stranger who supposedly works at the US Embassy in San Salvador, married two years ago to a Salvadorian lady, smokes and swears like it’s going outta style, and they’re telling me how you can’t trust people in San Salvador cause they will kill you and take your money.:) Anyways, we get to his house eventually and it’s really nice. It’s in a gated community and his wife just changes the sheets on the bed, sweeps the room, starts the air conditioning, and mops the floor saying, “make yourself at home!” My mom doesn’t mop my floor! Maybe cause it’s carpet…so here I am, and I just found out they have wireless internet in their house…and it’s fast…and free. This is the greatest!

The “Famous” Salvadorian Band

2008-01-04T22:23:00.001-08:00

Did any of you hear about this group from El Salvador that was coming up for the Rose Parade but couldn’t raise enough money for the flight so they drove 5 buses up from El Salvador? Well, my mom told me about this group on New Years day and I remember thinking, “Great mom, big deal…it’s cheaper for them to take a bus, big whoop.” Although I really did care a little bit and I thought it was cool that they drove 5 days in 5 buses to get to L.A. for the parade. Anyways, our flight from Houston to San Salvador was supposed to leave at 5:45 but it was delayed to 6:05…we get on the plane at 6 and they announce that we are waiting for 47 students who represented “nuestro amado pais” (our beloved country) in the Rose Parade. I was thinking, cool, this will be fun to have a bunch of little kids on the plane. Well, as it turns out, this was part of the 200+ students that drove up from El Salvador and they had gotten the money to fly back down. One of the girls, Jenny, sat next to me and I got to talk with her throughout the flight. It was super great to get to know her and meet the “Famous Salvadorian Band”! I told her that my mom had told me about her group and asked about them driving up, for her it was her first time flying as well. She just laughed when I told her that they were famous now for making the 5 day drive just for the Rose Parade. I’m so excited to be able to say that I sat next to one of them! They were all over the plane, kids from 14-21 years old she said. She just played the cachiporra which is…I have no idea…I need to look that up. Sounds fun though.:) Anyways, other than that the travel down was fairly uneventful…just me and my famous Salvadorian friends.:)

Christmas Break

2007-12-27T22:15:00.000-08:00

I figured that during this three week break I would become more sure about wanting to stay a second year or more at Mayatan. All of these things that I have been plagued by in teaching I'm beginning to learn are just the hazards of being a teacher. That has helped me to not get as down on myself if I have a bad day. However, this has also contributed to my thinking, "do I really want to go through this every day/week/month/year?"
I have become more sure of two things this break....I for sure am in love with Mayatan, Copan, and my students and want to stay longer for them. I am also more sure of the fact that I am not going to be a teacher for life (I also said going into college teaching wasn't for me...I'm opening my mouth so there's room for my other foot perhaps). I love the town, the school, my students, but I can't see myself as a teacher for my life. It's such a hard and draining job. It's been getting better slowly as I've become more and more accustomed to the job...but still..it's draining!:)
There are days that I get along great with the kids and I think that they all love me and love class and it's just a great day. But then there are still those days in which I come home and I'm pretty sure that my students don't like me at all and hope that I just stay home instead of coming back at Christmas. I think that both those extremes are foolish, but I feel like the life of a teacher combined with my life is a life of extremes. Extremely bad days, extremely good days, and extremely interesting days.:)

Lo que extrañaré

2007-12-15T19:01:00.000-08:00

Lots of other teacher have been getting really excited about going home for Christmas and the prospect of all sorts of things, ranging from carpet to friends. I was super excited about going home like a week ago, but over the course of the past week I have been almost dreading leaving Copan. I really like it here! I can’t help but compare it to how I felt about Spain. In Spain I had a list in November of things I wanted to come home to. Included in this list was; chocolate chip cookies, chocolate balls, carpet, no more ugly dogs, being able to drive, having lots of different friends around all the time, American traditions, American culture, not having to order things in Spanish, etc. But here those are all things that I wouldn’t even include in a list if I were making one. I haven’t even thought about making a list of things that I miss because for everything that I miss about the states I’m going to miss at least one thing (if not two) about Copan.
What I won’t miss is “lucha libra,” also known as WWE. Today I found two kids fighting in the hallway, let’s call them boy 1 and boy 2. I called them over and boy 2 explained that boy 1 was picking on boy 3 so he stepped in to break it up. Long story short, I took them to the office and had Norma (who was just there for today) talk to them about why they were fighting. Boy 1 has now been to the office 3 times for fighting, boy 2 five times, and boy 3 three times. Norma let boy 3 go cause he was the “victim” but called the parents of the other two. Come to learn that there’s been a fight between them for some amount of time now. Boy 1’s mom had this response to her son fighting with boy 2, “good for him! I’ve told him that he has permission to hit that kid! I’m tired of him being picked on and he can fight back when he wants to!” In fact, boy 1 has done just that, one time he got a bunch of his friends and went to find boy 2 to beat him up, luckily they never encountered one another. I can’t believe that this kids parents have given him permission to try and beat up another kid! It’s freaking ridiculous! And I wonder why some days I have trouble with kids fighting in my classroom….go figure. So on the list of things that I miss, the top ten list just has one thing on it, “lucha libre.” Oh stupid lucha libre…

El Deseo

2007-11-28T09:31:00.000-08:00

Some days I get home from school and just have this great desire to do nothing. I spend all day trying and trying with these kids just hoping that they learn something. There are days that I feel great, like I could teach class standing on my head and the kids would still understand. There are other days in which no matter how hard I try, no matter what I try to tell them they don't want to pay attention and they don't want to try and learn. What ever happened to those days when kids wanted to learn? Oh right, that's not in middle school, that's back in elementary school. I have thought so much about staying a second or third or fifteenth year but it's challenging when certain I come home knowing that I haven't taught anything to the kids. I was hoping that things wouldbe better with the new teacher here but I still just can't get a handle sometimes on how the kids behave. It seems that there are certain days in which I show up without a lot of energy and those are definitely the worst days! If I don't have energy to deal with the kids then they just run wild (like today). Maybe if I had some feedback from people about my teaching style and how I interact with the kids then I could change how I run the class...maybe learn something. After all, almost none of us teachers have any experience, a little feedback would be nice to have in this situation. Oh well...what can you do but just survive to see another day of chaos and class?:)

The Traditional Untradition

2007-11-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

For the second time in three years I’m spending Thanksgiving outside of the states. More importantly I’m spending the holiday away from my family. Is this becoming a tradition or something? I was pretty bummed to not be spending Thanksgiving in Yakima with all my family. Although I don’t know most of their names, and we tend to play more card games than talk to each other, it’s the Thanksgiving get together!
Down here we had dinner at the Hotel Marina Copan. It’s one of the nicest in town and the food was a close imitation of American Thanksgiving. I arrived about 10 minutes late (although technically on time here in Honduras) because I was taking a nap. The first half hour or so was really awkward as I was still waking up and didn’t feel much like small talk. We did the usual small talk…making fun of how the group always splits into the “gringos” and “indios.” I don’t really like how we always divide like that, it’s just the natural thing to do. I got to sit at a table with Norma, Marisol, and Rudy. They are all Honduran staff at Mayatan and they are a hoot!
We told all sorts of funny stories and made fun of the “solitaria” (essentially a tape worm) that I have in my stomach because I tend to eat more than the normal person does. However, tonight I just had a regular amount of food, just for the record.:) This is the second Thanksgiving in the past three years that despite not being around family I have been around people that I love and it’s been great. The people down here are amazing and we had an excellent conversation filled with English, Spanish, and Spanglish.
Paige and Ty are due to arrive at any time from San Pedro and I’m getting kind of excited. I should really go to bed because it’s almost 10pm as I write this but I’m trying to stay up for them. 10pm might not seem that late to all of you but when I walked back from Marina Copan at 9:30 this place was a ghost town! I actually love it, not gonna lie.:)

Gustavo!

2007-11-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

Man, how could I have forgotten to put this on here? Last week I’m in the middle of class with seventh grade when up walks Rudy (music prof) sweeping the floor outside my classroom. Then I realize, he’s not sweeping the floor, he’s sweeping the gigantic tarantula! The kids all jump out of their seats to see it, but of course nobody wants to even try and touch it. One of the kids put him on a piece of paper and then passed him into a glass box we have in the science room. There we let him sit for two days without food or water. Then on Thursday morning he was looking pretty sickly. We had already named him Gustavo and decided to keep him. So instead of having computers with the 9th graders we collected grasshoppers and pulled off their back legs so they couldn’t jump out of the box. Then we put some water in the box. By mid-day on Thursday Gustavo was looking pretty good. So for 8th grade science we made Gustavo a place to live. He now has lots of dirt, rocks, sticks, and even a cave in which to live! I think that he is finding his new glass box home quite enjoyable compared to his old, boring life of freedom. He doesn’t have to worry about getting lost, eaten by other things, or tired from too much running around. The question is, “how could he not love this new life?”
I am going to pass him off to the new science teacher, Nicki, and she can worry about what to feed him and how to feed him. I had a science book that said tarantulas eat bugs, insects, and beetles (not the band). We’ll see if he’s still alive tomorrow when I go into school. I’m writing this Monday night and we didn’t have school today because of Miriam’s funeral yesterday. I hope we don’t need another velorio and funeral procession for Gustavo.
-Cheque, he was alive...and still is.:)

La Muerte No Significa El Fin

2007-11-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon I was given the sad news that our first grade assistant, Miriam, passed away from a massive stroke that she suffered several weeks back. There was a brain bleed that would not stay clotted and doctors could do nothing for her. Unfortunately she never made it back from the hospital in San Pedro, but passed away en route. Last night everybody dropped everything to plan and attend a huge vigil for her in which her body was placed in the church and people could come say one last good-bye to her if they so desired. I definitely did not desire, I know what she looked like just fine.:)
It was sad to say good-bye to a friend. Even sadder because she was only about 41 and left behind two younger daughters. One is only in fourth grade at Mayatan! She did not have a husband and so the children are left with family members in town. I'm not exactly in the best mood after this weekend, but it was such a different and awesome way to have a funeral. The vigil was a great time to just sit with other friends of Miriam's and chat. I got to know a couple of new people and get caught up with old friends. Well...old friends here in Copan for me are people I met 2 months ago.:) Fortunately the family is well taken care of by friends and supported by all of us at the school. It was not the most desirable weekend I've ever had, but I was glad to be in the area and hopefully be of some help to the family...

My Second Casa Copaneca

2007-10-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

This has been coming for a little while but I can finally tell you all! I moved this weekend into another house down here in Copan. It’s a long story and I don’t really need to get into all the details but Tyler and I were feeling pretty awkward in our living situation with a guy down here so we decided to talk to him last week. It was just a weird conversation and for the sake of all of us we decided to move out and find a new place. We decided on Wednesday last week to talk with the school and see about moving and here we are, six days later, sitting in our very own apartment. We’re living with a third teacher from the school, Blair, and our apartment is even sweeter than the previous location. We have three bedrooms, three bathrooms, huge living room, nice dining room and kitchen, plus a freaking rooftop! On our roof there’s a hammock and really just a sweet view of the city and a nice place to hang out when it’s not too hot. I’ll have to post pictures as soon as I can. The place is closer to the city, which is a little downside because things will be more expensive, but the plus is it’s right by an awesome restaurant called Picame, which has awesome burgers and baleadas.:) When you come visit now, yes you, there will be a spare bed downstairs in which you can sleep without any problems.
My one hope is that we don’t turn into a huge hangout place for all of the American teachers down here. I really like the connections that we have made with the Honduran teachers and I want to keep that up. I’m hoping to still make time on the weekends for visits to all of the teachers houses and time to hang out with various families. I’m sad to be leaving all of the families that we’ve gotten to know in the area around where we were living, but this will be such a better situation. Woo sweet houses and our very own apartment!