Ten Months Ago.

Ten months ago I was preparing myself for the "journey of a lifetime", ironically not my first journey of a lifetime this year. I was packing my bags in preparation for my three month stint in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Here I am, ten months later, living and working in yet another foreign country. And here I am, ten months later, with a completed (slash almost completed) photo book. I still have the finishing touches-- making sure that the fonts are the same size and style, checking for spelling mistakes, etc. And I have mementos that I collected throughout my trip at home that I want to scan in to add to the "Week One, Week Two, etc" pages, as well as hand-writing a little something something each week. But I'm in the homestretch.

                                             Click here to view this photo book larger

And here it is, for your viewing pleasure, $87 of awesome. (The password is my name, by the way. Capital C.)

My Honduran Life.

I feel like I haven't crossed a ton of things of my Honduran bucket list, yet at the same time, feel like I am always doing something. Usually those somethings are meetings or teaching or tutoring which is the real reason I'm here, but isn't much to write home about.

So here goes; my Honduran, child wrangling, baleada eating life. In no particular order.

I saw Vilma yesterday, my heart is super, super happy when I see her. We only spend about five to ten minutes together each week, but its the best five to ten minutes of my week. We hang out, chat about life, hug a lot, and tell each other how much we love each other. She's told me that I'm her best friend and her older sister and that she misses me on the weeks when I don't get to see her. Be still my Honduran lovin' heart.

We went up to Lago de Yojoa on Saturday for a little weekend getaway. I ate a fish. And I liked it. I did not appreciate the cold temperatures or the motion sickness however.

 

Skyped with some of my sister friends this weekend. Google+ was created for long distance friendships. I can see this becoming a weekly habit, for sure. Like I've always said, I love being here, but I love catching up with everyone from home. Things haven't changed on the homefront either. All of us trying to talk over each other about something super dramatic and life altering.

 

High School Cultural Day was last Friday. I ate my weight in tradition Honduran food. And didn't regret a bite of it. They also had some animals in cages that were attracting the students attention. Like the SQUIRRELS. This is not a joke. They had squirrels in cages and they were the biggest hit with all the kids. Squirrels. Not even joking. These children would have a field day on Ashland's campus.

I was harassed by my Grade Twos for about twenty minutes about not having a boyfriend. Which resulted in them drawing pictures of me with random male teachers at the school. Of which there about 5. Most of whom are married. Awesome. No wonder you guys are failing spelling. In the midst of their harassment, they asked me why I had my hair braided and if it was "to make me more beautiful for my boyfriend." I wasn't aware that was how it worked, but had I known, I would have saved myself a lot of heartbreak in high school.

In Grade One we were practicing words that begin with B. I was taking some suggestions from the students as to which words would be written on the board and then copied into their final projects. I received the usuals-- boy, bear, book. And then I got booty and boobie. Unfortunately, those two words just didn't make the cut.

And there you have it folks. A day in my life. What a life it is.

October 6-- Let's Go To A Water Park.

Cristian offered to take us to Otoro on Saturday to go to a water park. While we love our little house/ school complex, we jump at any chance to get away. So we packed up the car and headed up the mountain (and then back down the mountain again) to go to Otoro.

 

As a side note, it's always great to have a Honduran to take you places because we've frequently been going somewhere and the last stretch of the trip seems a little sketchy. And it's sketchy just long enough that we'd turn around if we were alone. But while having our own personal Honduran tour guides, we push through the sketchy parts and end up eating delicious pupusas or hanging out at a gorgeous water park or riding horses at some hidden Honduran restaurant resort.

 

 

Anyways. We get to this water park and pay 50 lemps a piece (about $3). The place was empty. We had the entire park to ourselves. And it was in the 80s. Let me remind you that it was October 6. I can't say that I hate any part of being here.

We stayed for the afternoon-- jumping off pirate ships, chowing on some Honduran food, enjoying the company of each other, and going down the waterslides. Some were faster than others. As in, the one made us feel like we were bullets coming out of a gun and on the other we came to a standstill.

 

I also had a few minutes of panic when preparing to jump off the top off the pirate ship into the pool. Which is ridiculous because I've jumped off the rock at Headlands. The five year perspective came into play here. Again. And it worked. 



En Honduras, En Honduras.

 

My most heard song since being here in Honduras. Band concerts, school assemblies, Independence Day parades. Anywhere, really. Cultural Day was no exception.

 

We had normal classes for the first three periods of the day and then the rest of the day was spent immersing ourselves in and embracing the Honduran culture. Activities included typical dance, singing some Honduran songs (definitely including the one linked above), and tasting some typical Honduran food-- which was fine by me. The kids also came dressed in their traditional Honduran clothing which was so stinkin' cute.

 

 

Days like Children's Day and Cultural Day are so fun for the kids because they're learning, but they aren't confined to a classroom. They're running around and being kids and just having a great time together. And it's great for me, as a teacher, because I get to form different sort of relationships with my students. Yes, I still have to be the teacher. But I'm not up in front of the classroom telling them to stop running around or to sit in their chair. We're able to hang out on more friendly terms and get to know each other differently.

 

Being in Honduras has given me such a glimpse into the history and culture of another country. I'm immersing myself as much as I can into the culture of this beautiful, wonderful country. It's also given me a greater appreciation for the culture of my own country. For apple pie and baseball games, for Lake Erie and life in the snow belt. I'm in love with my Honduran life, but I can never stray too far from the life that I have been given in the States.

 

 

 

Oh hey world, this is Rafael. You'll be hearing a lot more about this little stinker. Because the things he does and the words that come out of his mouth are funny enough to land a book on the New York Times best-seller list.

 

Te quiero...

...como si fuera mi hermana.

 

Being abroad for extended periods of time opens my eyes to things that I am aware of while I am in the States, but tend to forget. Such as how many wonderful people bless my life. I know, everyone things that they have the best friends, the best family, the best life. But really, that's how I feel.

 

I go to bed each night thanking God for blessing me with such fantastic people to interact with on a daily basis. On Tuesday, God gets an extra dose of thankfulness.

 

Typically I go to Bible Study at the Pastor's house on Tuesdays. Who happens to live right next door to Vilma. Life is perfect, right? I went the first Tuesday I was here (really, four days off the plane) and our reunion was everything my heart needed, yet not what I ever could have imagined. Week two was the reunion that I dreamt about for the past four years. Fast forward FOUR weeks and I'm just getting around to seeing Vilma again. It's amazing how I went four years without seeing her and, while it felt like a long time, it seemed manageable. Now here I am living in the same city and four weeks was pretty unbearable.

 

 

I was picked up by the pastor and a couple of my friends and we made the bumpy trek up to his house. I saw Vilma's house, but didn't see anyone outside. I looked over my shoulder as we drove past and there she was standing at the door. Ughh, precious. We went inside, socialized for a few seconds, and then I came back outside with Lorena. And there was Vilma, standing outside looking up at the house. I waved, she waved,  and she started runnng up the hill.



 

 

We legitimately greeted each other with an embrace just like this. Smiling, running into each other's arms. Be still my heart. We chatted a little, she corrected my Spanish. And then we began throwing rocks at a post to see who could hit it the most. (Just throwing it out there, I won.)

 

We threw rocks for quite some time before we said our good-byes. I might need to find a bigger bag of tricks for when my Spanish skills run out, but, for today, she and I were just having so much fun together. We were saying our good-byes, which isn't a short process, but involves lots of hugging, kissing, and "te quiero"ing. As we were hugging, she looked at me and said "Te quiero. Te quiero mucho. Te quiero como si fuera mi hermana." I love you. I love you a lot. I love you as if you were my sister.

 

Me too, Vilma. Me too.

Life is Different At The Beach.

Life is different at the beach. Time doesn't move hour to hour, but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun.

 

 

A long week in Siguatepeque? No thanks, we'd rather be in Tela. So that's exactly what we did. Jamie, Katharine, Erika, and I went to the parade on Saturday morning along with every other person in Siguatepeque, thought about joining a marching band, cheered on Sarah, and ate soem delicious banana bread courtesy of Celebration church.

 

Sometime in the afernoon Katharine picked us up and we began the three hour trek to Tela. Approximately 2.5 of the 3 hours were spent BELTING out Disney songs. All five of us. At the top of our lungs. I can honestly say that a year ago I didn't think that I'd be driving through the mountains of Honduras singing some wonderful Disney tunes. But here I am. And I kind of love it.

 

 

We arrived in Tela and went straight to the pool. An infinity pool looking over the Gulf of Mexico? Good luck getting me back to school. The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, and went straight to the beach. Pretty rough life, if you ask me. Beach, breakfast, beach, lunch, beach, dinner. And repeat. Yes. Please.

 

 

It was nice to get away. To rejuvenate, to relax. Tela, we will be back. 

Día de Independencia

 Happy Independence Day, Honduras!

Honduras celebrated 191 years of independence sometime in September therefore we had lots of independence day festivities and celebrations. The biggest of which was the parades. Kindergarten marched on Thursday, elementary school marched on Friday, and high school marched on Saturday. We practiced a couple of days this week and I was so proud of the kids and how well they did!

 

My Grade Two girls were dressed up in their fancy dresses, had their hair all done, and were all wearing make-up. The boys were all wearing khakis and button downs with ties. They looked so stinkin’ cute! It was really sunny and we stood around a lot, but the kids had really good attitudes about it.

Saturday was the high school parade and we all went downtown for it. Any chance for us Americans to get out of the house and we all jump on it. It felt nice to see so many people that I know and are  familiar to me; I’m really starting to feel connected here and like a part of Siguatepeque.

 

 A lot of the schools had bands and were really groovin’. It was much more of a performance than the elementary school parades which made it really fascinating to watch.

 

It wasn't the 4th of July at an Indians game chowing down on some hot dogs, but it was pretty darn close.