Otro Comienzo

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

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

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…

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

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?!

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

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.