New Neighbor

Wednesday December 2nd 2009 9:15am

Yesterday was a pretty boring day at the office. Marisela couldn´t make it, which left me to search for more grants that we could apply for. I have found that searching for grants can be kind of amusing, but that filling them out is somewhat less than thrilling. I also sent a few emails to some various organizations asking for help or advice, and even got some responses back by the end of the day.

I had asked some of my co workers about any sort of Christmas traditions that I should be aware of, and that seemed to remind them that the office apparently does a Secret Friend gift exchange. We traded names at lunch, and got all the rules clear and straight. Its awkward when someone looks at a name and groans...I feel like when the secrets are all revealed, people will still remember who groaned.

After lunch, Freddy took me to the immigration building here so that I could get an extension on my passport. He had asked me to find out how to get there in the morning, and although I was able to find the address, I forgot that addresses mean essentially nothing as far as directions go here in Tegucigalpa.

We made a brief phone call to Kevin, we were ready to go and headed out. On the way over, we talked about some people in the office, and Freddy told me that they were going to have to let Patty go. That certainly was not good news for me. Due to a lack of funding, the office apparently had to cut someone. Freddy talked with her yesterday about not coming back after the Christmas break.

The immigration office was a simple enough visit. I went to one window, paid at another, filled out some forms, and have to go back in three days to pick up my visa. It was very crowded, but the rooms were mostly filled with people applying for passports and travel visas to other countries. My lines were very modest, and half an hour after walking in the door, we walked right back out of it.

It was late enough at that point, that had we returned to the office, it would have only been just in time to turn around and drive home. Freddy dropped me off, and I was back in my apartment by 4:00. I headed up to the roof to wash some clothes, and I ran into my neighbor again. Now when I talk about her, I can remember her name, and won´t just vaguely mention "her" or "my neighbor". Her name is Belkis. I felt better about not remembering it after she told me what it was again.

Belkis invited me over to her apartment for dinner with her sister and her cousin. I was cautioned that her cousin made wonderful Honduran dishes that would convert my palate to only favor Honduran foods for the rest of my life. For a free meal, I took my chances.

As my clothes were hanging up to dry, I headed back down to my apartment and watched some of The Big Bang Theory in Spanish before heading next door for dinner. I went over around 6:00, and much to my surprise found a much larger apartment. It had a whole extra room, and the living area seemed to be much larger than my own. I suppose it makes sense that three people living together might need more space than just one person living together, but I was still jealous that they had a couch, and I did not.

Belkis introduced me to her sister Gretel and her cousin who made the meal. I´m not going to lie, I don´t remember her cousin´s name. I think it was another name that I haven´t heard very frequently.

We ate some wonderfully delicious shrimp concoction with some rice and tortillas. It was pretty good, though somehow I think I´ll find a way to eat something other than Honduran food. We talked for a while after dinner, mostly in Spanish, though all three of them spoke in English, and were most helpful whenever I got stuck on a word. They asked what I do in the evenings after work, and when I tried to explain my joy for Spanish practice and reading, they took pity on me and told me that they had frequently noticed the lights out in my apartment well before normal sleeping hours.

In fact, they had been living next door to me for the past month and a half, and didn´t think that anyone lived in my apartment, because the lights were always off and it was always quiet. It wasn´t until Thanksgiving, when my place was hopping with a delicious meal and guests that they realized that they had neighbors. They said that they would have invited me over for dinner much sooner, if only they had known of my existence.

When they asked about my plans for the rest of the evening, I tried to explain that I was really looking forward to finishing Cornell West´s chapter on Nihilism in America, and they insisted that we all go out and see a movie. (I was serious about that Cornell West thing, I really did want to finish that chapter last night)

We caught the late showing of 2012 at Plaza, and my previous observations of a more talkative theater audience were very much confirmed by the time the previews had finished. There were many audable cries, gasps, "oh no"s and even a few "c´mon run!"s as we watched John Cusack reunite his family in their desperate attempt to survive the end of the world as we know it.

As we approached our repsective apartments, I thanked my new neighbors for the company, and then retired for the night. I was too tired to finish that Cornell West chapter, and grumbled something to myself about staying out too late. I laughed at myself for sounding old.