Over the course of the past few days, I have very fortunately been in a very good humor. Despite the mounting events that would, in any other situation be incredibly frustrating, I found myself frequently laughing, sometimes out loud, at the misfortune of the situations.
Thursday October 29th
Thursday was a pretty nice day, although that was when the rain began. A delegation from the CCD made up of Elmer, Noemy, Edgardo, and Gloria went to El Salvador to present on the situation in Honduras. Another delegation with Freddy, Alfreddy, and Nancy left to go to Tallanga later that day. The office was very suddenly very empty.
Heidy had some trouble finding someone to watch her kids, so she too was absent on Thursday, which left Patty, Marisela, Cristian, Betza and myself as the only ones in the office. Patty, Betza, and myself caught a cab back to Plaza at the end of the day, and discussed our desires to form our own more progressive church here in Tegucigalpa. It was fun to talk about it.
After work, I had been hoping to wash some of my clothes, but due to the incessant rain, I was unable to. I was, however, able to enjoy the halloween shows on Thursday night television, which is always rather cathardic for me.
Friday October 30th
Friday was when some of the frustrations began. The rain hadn´t stopped since Thursday, and wouldn´t stop any time on Friday.
When I got to my computer, I found that it had been wiped clean. It had no saved documents, hardly any programs, and could not recover anything. It had Microsoft Office that needed to be reinstalled, and Internet Explorer, which still functioned. Luckily for me, due to my past with untrustworthy computers, I had been backing up my information on a thumb drive for the past month or so, which meant I didn´t lose anything.
I spent the morning finishing up my translation for my class on Saturday, and also finishing up an extensive Microsoft Excel spreadsheet complete with the names and contact information of various websites I had contacted, the Universities and Colleges we wanted to contact, and all of the regions/conferences of the Disciples and UCC churches that we were hoping to send a letter out to.
Lunch was pretty good, although Patty was unable to make it to the office, and neither of the delegations nor Heidy had returned, which meant that there were only four of us in the office.
After lunch, I asked Marisela if she would help me with my translation, and she was more than happy to do so. I went and got my thumbdrive, but when I tried to upload the document to her computer, her computer didn´t recognize the device. So, I went back to my computer to upload it so we could work on it there. But it wasn´t recognized there either. In fact, no computer in the office recognized the device that I had saved my past month´s worth of work on, which was then my only source of that work since my computer had been whiped clean.
So, with the remaining couple of hours in the work day, I quickly typed up a rough draft of my lesson plan, got it translated, and finished just before we were all ready to leave. It was right before we left that Marisela let me know that she needed me to drive La Batalla to get everyone to Plaza, and then also to use over the next couple of days to go to Valle de Angeles with Kevin, and then also to take Kevin to the airport.
I started up the car, and we drove for the next hour in traffic to try and get to Plaza. It took a very long time to get there, and with my rookie driving status, I was still having to focus and concentrate very hard on the road. Especially, when starting and stopping very frequently on hills. Especially when it is raining.
Tegucigalpa is a scary enough city to drive in without an old beat up, half reliable vehicle, and a new driver behind the wheel. Marisela also wasn´t the most help with directions, although I knew how to get to Plaza, she kept changing her mind as to where she wanted everyone to be dropped off, and only after I passed the turn did she look at me as though I should have known that we always went that way.
By the time I got home, it was dark and time for dinner. I didn´t have much food in the apartment, and settled on pancakes and cereal for dinner. I studied and read for a little bit before going to bed. As I lay there trying to fall asleep, the rain pounded the metal roof over my head for the second night in a row.
Saturday October 31st
Saturday I woke up and called Luis Felipe to let him know that I had La Batalla and that I could drive us to work. He was happy to hear that and asked me to pick him up a little bit later than usual. I picked him in the rain up outside of his house at 8:15, and we were at the CCD by 8:30. On our way to work, he informed me that we only had two more weeks left in the semester, and asked if I had plans for a final exam. He then let me know that I was expected to return to work teaching English in February.
All of this was news to me. First, Juaquin was the current English professor, and I wasn´t sure if he knew that I was supposed to be replacing him. Secondly, I wasn´t sure if I should be replacing him, as I am not terribly confident in my ability to teach another language. I was also very surprised by the news that there were only two more weeks left in the semester, as I was unaware that the three month summer break in the United States is the same as the three month winter break in Honduras. From the middle of November to the middle of February, there are no classes.
The classes on Saturday weren´t fantastic. With my rough draft and translation in hand, I fumbled through my lesson plan, and only the very astute and diligent students paid me much attention. I appreciated their work, though truth be told, they are the ones I worry about the least. I also made a very dumb mistake and asked some of the students to read some quotes and passages about faith and values, not thinking that some of the students don´t know how to read very well.
So on top of embarassing myself by fumbling through my classes, I felt like an ass by unintentionally embarassing one of my students.
I was looking to get out of work as fast as I could, and was very happy that Betza was leaving at roughly the same time. I offered her a ride to her house, and instead of talking about frustrations with churches, schools, or systems in general, we discussed how we are terrible at cooking, fun things to do in the city, and generally frivolous things that normally escape the conversations that I have with Betza. It was kind of nice for a change.
After I dropped Betza off at her house on the complete other side of town, I realized that I forgot to ask for directions back to the main road. This was unfortunate, because unlike the two way streets so common in the United States, Honduras is filled with one way streets, zig-zags, and a thorough lack of signs pointing one in the right direction.
I soon found myself behind a taxi, and decided to follow the white car with yellow stickers back to Col. Kennedy. My plan worked, though I had to drive quite a bit faster than I was used to.
The afternoon was supposed to be spent with Kevin and Marisela driving to Valle de Angeles to drop off some stuff at Marisela´s property out that way. None of that happened, as Kevin was late getting back from his meeting in the south, and Marisela forgot to go to the store to get the equipment she needed.
When Kevin finally did come back, it was too late to drive all the way to Valle. Instead, we picked up Marisela and drove to the hardware store for her to pick up what she needed. After that, Kevin wanted to take us out to eat at a very fancy restaurant that he enjoyed spoiling himself on when he lived in the city. When we pulled up, we noticed that it was closed, and opted to eat across the street at a swank hotel restaurant.
The rain slapped up against the surface of an outdoor pool at the hotel, and the rythmic pitter patter provided a nice background to our expensive dining experience. Kevin told stories about when he had traveled around the country, and it motivated me to try and look into traveling more.
When we finished our meal, we dropped Marisela off and then Kevin and I proceeded to meet a couple of his friends and go out to a club called Rio for a Halloween Party.
We drove La Batalla through the drizzle to one of the shadiest parts of town, whose name in English literally means "Rough Rock". We stopped in to meet his friend Wendy, who he had met while living close to downtown.
In attempting to describe Wendy, I hesitate to use the word humble, for although that may convey her financial or social status, as soon as she walked into the room, you could see a power and a confidence in her eyes. She was of average height, and looked a little worn, but spoke with a certainty, and experience that only being a 23 year old single mother in Tegucigalpa can give a person. I was glad that Kevin introduced me to her.
We left Wendy´s house and made plans to go and meet up with Freddy, Cente, Dario, and some other guys at Rio by 10:00. We also made plans to pick up some of Kevin´s other friends and take them to the club. We started up the car to begin our trip to the opposite side of town, but when Kevin turned the key, the engine didn´t even sputter.
This was not good news, as we were not on a hill.
Kevin looked at me, and smiled. He asked if I had ever seen the movie Little Miss Sunshine. I told him that he was lucky that he was smaller and lighter than me. I hopped out of the car into the rain, which seemed to increase in intensity as soon as I exited the vehicle. I walked around to the back of La Batalla and began pushing. When I got to the point of a slow jog, Wendy´s friend saw us from the window and came out to help push. We got another block or so before another neighbor saw us pushing, ran outside, and began pushing with us. At just the right moment, Kevin took off the clutch, thrust down on the accelerator, and started the key to spur La Batalla to life once again.
I was drenched, and possibly a little muddy, but smiling ear to ear.
We asked Kevin´s friends to take a cab to the club, and parked on a hill once we got near enough to our destination.
Cente, Dario, and Ponche were already in the club, and were not happy with us for being late. We were not happy with the fact that the club was too packed for us to get in. After waiting in a line outside in the rain, a taxi pulled up and four of Kevin´s girl friends stepped out. I met them all and made small talk while we waited to get in. After a little bit of glancing back and forth between a couple of the bouncers, I´m afraid that a little white privelage got us in the door ahead of some other people who had been waiting longer.
The club Rio was packed. It was also, apparently the only place where Halloween is celebrated in the city. I saw dozens of witches, cats, michael jacksons, and even a few Mel Zelayas and Michelettis. The music was a mix of pop music from the states and pop music from Honduras.
Cente did not think that Kevin´s friends were very attractive, and in a pretty drunken state felt it necessary to tell them so. Freddy arrived shortly thereafter and took Cente away from the rest of the group. I had been dancing with Kevin out on the floor where we made quite a pair, being the only two white people at the club, dancing just like white people do. After we heard Cente´s comment, we spent the rest of the night dancing with Kevin´s friends. By the end of the night, they had forgotten all about Cente.
At 2:00am, the club closed down, and it was time to go. Kevin and I walked back to La Battalla, and I gave it a little push to get it started down the hill. We got it started and were able to pick up the girls and drop them off where the lived on a hill below the Cristo del Picacho.
Kevin then drove me back to my apartment, and I lay there in bed listening to the rain for the third night in a row.
Sunday November 1st
Sunday was perhaps the most frustrating day.
Marisela had told me that Kevin needed to be at the airport by 11:00am, but at 8:00am, I recieved a phone call from Kevin asking me if I was ready, and wanting to know if I could come down to the street to meet him.
It turns out that his flight was supposed to leave at 11, and we had to drive back to Marisela´s to pick her up on our way to the airport. At 9:00, she still was not ready, and La Batalla was still not working well. The vehicle was parked on a hill at Mariselas, and I had to practice starting it on my own.
When Marisela was ready, she and her daughter Mari came with Kevin and I to the airport. We got there by 9:45, and at 10:00, Kevin realized that due to daylight savings time, his flight didn´t leave until 1:00pm. We had parked La Batalla crookedly in the parking lot to better angle down the slight slope in hopes to get it started up right. As soon as Kevin realized his error, we heard our plate number called over the intercom, and were informed that we needed to move our vehicle, lest it be towed.
Running through the rain to the car, we got there just in time to explain to the airport official why we were parked the way we were. He let us go, and Kevin decided that he wanted to go out and shop at a couple of stores really quickly. That may sound ridiculous to do at an airport in the United States, but in Honduras, the airport is very small, and it is very easy to get in and out.
We headed to a nearby strip mall, where we spent way to long looking for three different shirts, before deciding that all of them were too expensive. All the while, Mari is crawling all over me like a jungle gym and complaining to her mom when I won´t pick her up.
When we were ready to head back to the airport, we piled into La Batalla, and despite our best efforts to start the car after going down hill, nothing worked. We were blocking traffic, and were on a level surface, which meant that it would have to be more pushing. This time, I did not have a couple of helpful passers by to aid me, and I had to push that monster of a car as hard and as fast as I could in order to get it started.
The engine roared to life, and the four of us were back in La Batalla on our way to the airport.
I was wet, though not muddy this time.
We got to the airport in time to grab a quick bite to eat before seeing Kevin off. Marisela, Mari, and I were then ready to go to Valle de Angeles, when Marisela realized that not only did she forget what she had already bought at her house, but that she also forgot to purchase something else from the hardware store.
I reminded her that we could not shut off the car once we got it started, a fact that she seemingly could not remember, and we proceeded to her house to pick up the wire she had forgotten. I was not familiar with the road between the airport and Marisela´s house, so my mounting displeasure with the situation grew with each turn that I "missed" because it was not pointed out to me in until after we passed it. Four missed turns and subsequent U-Turns later, we arrived at Marisela´s apartment.
I had to stay in the car and drive around the block, and as I did, the gas light came on. We could not stop at a gas station, and I suggested to Marisela when she returned that we call someone from the office to see if we can borrow a different vehicle to go to Valle de Angeles and deal with La Batalla later.
After a quick phone call with Nan
cy, we headed towards the CCD to pick up the red truck. We stopped at Nancy´s apartment to pick her up, and Nancy wanted me to meet her family. I reminded her and Marisela again that I could not turn off the car. The next idea was to just leave the car on and unlocked and to go in to meet the family really fast. I did not want to be rude, but I also did not want our car stolen, so I insisted on staying in the vehicle and meeting Nancy´s family from the drivers seat.By this point, Marisela was not very happy with my attitude about my missed turns, and my unwillingness to be a gracious visitor and meet Nancy´s family.
We drove with Nancy to the CCD, traded vehicles, and took Nancy with us in the red truck to go out to Valle de Angeles. But before we got very far, I asked Marisela if she had everything that she needed, and we had to make another stop at a different hardware store to buy some staples.
We got on the road to Valle and were, of course, stuck behind some of the slowest drivers I have ever seen in my life. I do not know if they were cautious due to the rain, or if it was just the icing on the cake, but I didn´t feel comfortable "Pulling a Honduran" and passing on a double yellow line. This decision made me even more unpopular in the car, and when we finally stopped at Valle, I decided to let Nancy drive for the rest of the day.
The "quick trip" that Marisela promised was anything but quick. After talking with someone who worked on her property for over an hour, Marisela decided that she was hungry, so we drove further into the city to stop for food. After eating, we went souvenir shopping, where we stopped in every store and bought every type of food that Mari wanted.
We didn´t leave until after dark, and with the rain still pouring down, I was happy that Nancy was driving.
Upon arriving at my apartment, I more or less collapsed on my bed and although I wanted to sleep, I forced myself to make a small dinner before retiring very early.
Monday November 2nd
Monday the rain stopped. Long enough for me to think that I could at last wash some of my clothes. Not long enough for them to dry, which forced a scramble from the wash basin to the clotheslines to save what I had washed from the falling droplets.
In the afternoon, I paid my rent, and headed to a local grocery store that was not my normal grocery store in Plaza. I had the truck with me, which meant that I could shop for more than just what I could carry in a basket. This was good, because my refrigerator light was getting quite bright, which meant that there was little blocking its rays.
After big grocery shopping, I took a nap, and woke up in time to watch most of the World Series game. I decided to make kabab´s from the recipe my mom sent me, but after starting it, I wished that I had read all of the directions, including the part about marinating the chicken for at least one hour in the sauce.
By the time I finished making dinner, the Phillies were winning, and I was incredibly hungry. I cooked up some egg noodles to go with my kabab´s and actually really enjoyed a decent tasting meal before finishing watching the game. I hope the Phillies keep up their offense tomorrow. I just don´t care much for the Yankees.
I went to bed after the game, and did not listen to any rain fall.
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