Poser

September 5th 2009 11:00pm
Today, I came to the sad, but very true realization that I am in fact...a poser. I realized that in the middle of the Honduras v. Trinidad and Tobago match when I didn't know any of the players in the game. Heck, I didn't even know how many players were supposed to be on the field. Did that stop me from wearing a jersey and cheering like a maniac during each of the four goals scored by Honduras? Absolutely not!

I perhaps should have realised this earlier, as I have been masquerading about under the guise of someone who has an idea of what he is doing. I definitely should have reached the conclusion that I am a poser this morning. I had been instruced to meet up with Luis Felipe at Plaza Mira Flores this morning at 8:00am, so that he could take me to the CCD and I could teach my first class on Values and Faith. I showed up right where I was supposed to around 7:55, but did not expext Luis Felipe to arrive until much later, as I am growing accustomed to "event oriented" and not "time oriented" days.

Around 8:30, I began to get a little bit nervous that I had perhaps missed him. I looked around trying desperately to find him and a young man came up to me. I recognized him as being one of the students that I had seen earlier in the week at the Seminary. Oh thank goodness. "Hey man, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm trying to get a hold of Luis Felipe. I'm supposed to go teach in about an hour at the seminary."

"I know," he responded, with a very quizzical look on his face. "I am Luis Felipe...C'mon."

After that awkward exchange, the two of us boarded a nearby bus and took off into the city. We switched busses twice, and on the third and final bus, there were some sweet jams pumping. I couldn't help but to bob my head a little bit, which made my friend laugh (at me). I asked how much the bus rides cost, because I wanted to pay him back, but Luis Felipe informed me that in total, for all three rides, it was about 60 cents.

Once we got to the CCD, we went into the area that is the Seminary. Apparently, a small office was set up for me, and I went in, planning to discuss my lesson with Luis Felipe and one of the directors of the Seminary, Gloria. When I asked if either of them wanted to review my lesson plan for the day, they both responded with a simple: "No."

The class was great. There were three or four guys in the front row who really helped me out. They participated when I needed participants, helped me when I couldn't pronounce words correctly, and really helped to motivate the class. I won't go into everything, but we had a couple of exercises which involved moving around the class. The students were all smiles, and they seemed to really enjoy it.

When I was done, I was ready to call Maricela to meet her for lunch at Plaza Mira Flores. But Luis Felipe asked if I could teach the same class again, to another group. I didn't hesitate to say yes, but I found that the second group was a little bit more difficult than the first. They were much more talkative, but not in response to any of my questions. I still think that they enjoyed the class.

On my way out of the classroom, a young man stopped me and we talked for a bit before I realised that he was Gloria (the co director)'s son. We talked for most of the rest of the morning about various things ranging from where we've been to where we are going. At the conclusion of our conversation, he informed me that he speaks English, and is the English professor at the school. He is only 19, but he can speak English very well. The two of us then sat down to lunch with his mother and Luis Felipe.

We dined on very fine Chinese cuisine, and talked about the failure of school systems all over the world to address religion. Some of us thought that religion should be taught in schools, while other more white persons of us believed that at the very least religion should be addressed and taught as a part of our history and culture.

Finally, I was ready to go and meet Maricela at Plaza, but after calling her, I found out that her daughter was ill and that she had to stay at home to take care of her. While I waited for a taxi, I wandered around the CCD office until I found Haiti working at the receptionist desk. She apparently works on Saturdays and takes Mondays off. We talked for about half an hour about our families and about how I think that Hondurans are younger than they actually are. It was a lot of fun, partly because we were both in wheelchairs (it just kind of happened).

After the taxi took me to the mall, I walked home and called Freddy to firm up our plans for watching the big football (Honduran football) match this evening. He let me know that he would pick me up around 5:30, and that if I didn't already have one, a jersey would be a good idea. I took his advice and purchased a Honduran Football jersey from a street vendor for 100 lempiras, which was significantly less than I was prepared to pay for it.

I ended up falling asleep for a while, until the rain on the roof woke me up. I looked outside to see the city dripping wet with its first rain since my arrival. I watched the rain for a while until I got ready to go see the game.

Freddy picked me up around 5:30, and we first headed over to his girlfriend Jasmine's house to pick her and her brother up. Then the four of us ate a quick meal at McDonald's before heading to the local Marriott, where we met up with Raul in the lobby to watch the game on some of the big screens that the hotel had set up. Raul is Freddy's friend and neighbor, though Freddy told me that Raul is not one of his better friends, because most of them were in San Pedro Sula at the game.

The game was a lot of fun, although in many ways it reminded me of the ball game, or poolie ball. When either team is close to scoring, it is very exciting. Most of the time, not that much is going on. When a team scores though, the adrenaline is crazy. Due to a relaxed drinking age, however, there were a few rowdy 13 year olds next to us. They didn't detract from the game too much, however.

Each time that Honduras scored it was a grand celebration, with the entire lobby erupting in cheers! I was jumping up and down, clapping my hands as though I was a Honduran football fan all of my life! This was when I realized that I am a poser. But, I didn't really care. It was a lot of fun. We won by the way. 4-1