Firefighting and Fish Farming

Wednesday February 10th 2010 6:00pm

When I asked Marisela what we would be doing in Talanga, she replied, "Mostly just checking out the facilities to make sure they are adequate for the groups. We will spend the afternoon doing that, and then probably spend the night and then drive back to the office the next morning."

So I packed a change of jeans, and a button up shirt because it sounded to me like I was coming back to the office.

As we were getting ready to leave for Talanga, Freddy told me that he was bringing his Playstation. Apparently, Freddy was coming too. And Elmer. And Alfreddy. And Nancy. I knew it didn't take all of us to check out the facilities, and was curious as to what we would actually be doing in Talanga.

By the time we got there, it was mid afternoon, and Marisela and I went to work checking the sleeping quarters, the kitchen, etc. The rest of the group got ready to put a roof up on a chicken coup. I was eager to head over and help, but when I finally made my way over to the chicken coup, I found all of my co workers lounging around in the grass. Why? Because the hardware store had forgotten about the order, and wouldn't be delivering it until tomorrow morning.

Freddy and I headed back to the one building with a TV and tried fruitlessly to set up the Playstation. Just as we were giving up, Elmer ran in and asked if we had any buckets. Why? Because the neighbor's property was on fire and we needed to help put it out or at least keep it out of our property.

Now this was no small campfire that was slightly out of control. This was a raging flame that was devouring the dried grass and creeping up the trees that were in its way. The smoke lifted high into the air, and when we tried to call the firefighters, they informed us that they were already busy with one and to call back later.

Most of the afternoon was spent running buckets back and forth between the tilapia pond and the fence that marked off our property from the neighbors. Surprisingly, we were able to beat back the edges of the fire, and contain it to the neighbor's property. This was, of course, wonderful news to us, and terrible news to the neighbor who now has a very scorched backyard.

In the middle of the firefighting, Marisela felt it appropriate to pick up a turtle and show it to me. She wanted to know if I wanted to keep it as a pet. I did not, and was slightly preoccupied with the flames that were about to engulf the area where we were standing. I didn't think much of the turtle incident, but one of the helpers in Talanga, Alfonso definitely noticed Marisela handing me a turtle in the middle of a firefight.

We all ate dinner together after that, and with the power out, there was little left to do but sit around and talk outside. One by one we headed off to our little houses where we slept in a small bedroom with one other member of our team. Freddy and I were paired together, and when we headed to bed, he gave me fair warning that he snored "like a lion," and with that, was out like a light, and began his long, nasal chorus that lasted the entire night.

Between that, and the beds that were two sizes too small for me, I decided to move my mattress out to the main room and sleep on the floor. It wasn't until the next morning that I was informed that I shouldn't sleep on the floor due to the creepy, crawly bugs that occupy Talanga.

This morning, we were up at 7:00am, and Nancy told us not to bother with showering. I expected us to work on the roof and head home when the project was finished. This was, however, not the case, as it was fish farming time for the Tilapia project. So, I suited up in my decent brown shoes, my work jeans, and my pajama shirt to get ready to harvest the fish.

Initially, I was careful with untangling the fish from the net, but as the morning wore on, the value I placed on the cleanliness and the cut-freeness of my hands was thrown out the window, and I began wrestling with Tilapia left and right. We worked until around noon, and then took a quick break for lunch before the buyer showed up, and we needed to head back to work.

We all laughed and joked throughout the morning as we tossed the fish up on to the bank into buckets for cleaning. Alfonso still had not forgotten about the turtle, and was apparently under the impression that I couldn't speak much Spanish, because every time he pulled the net in, he made a point of saying "Hey, Alan" and then giving me several handmotions signaling that he was either a turtle, or that he found a turtle and wanted me to check it out. I laughed for a while, but after the fifth time he told me he was a turtle, I had to let him know that I was not a 10 year old at a zoo, who only cared about my turtles because they were my favorite animal. He gave me a look that said, "woah...you know Spanish," and everyone laughed.

It was a long day of a lot of hard work. We continued casting our nets out until around 3:00, when the buyer told us that his truck was full. It was full with 600lbs of Tilapia at 15 lempiras per pound. We had expected to harvest around 2000 lbs of fish, and with market price at close to 40 lempiras, we were expecting at least 20 lempiras per pound.

We felt very defeated. Some people had been working on the project for the last seven months, and had pushed the last of their efforts through the 8 hours spent that morning gathering the fish up for the last time. Our hands were cut and bleeding, mud was caked all over our bodies, and the buyer drove away slowly in the truck, while we were left with hundreds of fish that were "too small" to sell.

None of us said much for the rest of the day. We loaded up into the cars without cleaning up, bid the caretaker, Oscar, and his helpers goodbye, and drove in silence for two hours back to Tegucigalpa. My heart broke for Oscar, his helpers, and the CCD.

A Trip to Talanga

Tuesday February 9th 2010 9:00am

Probably the best thing about having a computer in my apartment is the return of the shower party. In college, it was always a good time to bring a CD player or computer into the bathroom to play music while showering. It is a good way to start the day. Because I don't have iTunes or anything like that on this computer, I use www.grooveshark.com which is a website that allows you to type in any song, add it to your list, and play it.

This morning, I started my day off right with a little bit of "Eye of the Tiger." It doesn't take much more than that to get someone excited for the day. Even if the day will be spent driving to the middle of nowhere, walking around while other people use complicated business words that you dont understand yet, and spending the night in that same middle of nowhere place with nothing to do but read until it gets too dark to do so. Thats right, we don't use electricity at night in Talanga due to high costs. Maybe if I offer to pay for the extra light, I can read for a little while, otherwise it will be lights out around 6:00 or so.

I know that there are computers out there, but I'm not sure if there is any internet connectivity, or if I could even use the computers that are available. I'm also not sure when we are leaving today, when we are getting back tomorrow, or really why I'm going. But hey, this is Honduras. The way things are done here just aren't the way I've been doing them for 21 years. It can take a while to break some habits.

Patience

Monday February 8th 2010 6:45pm

Everyone at the office really enjoyed the massive amount of food that I brought in, but appreciated the drinks even more. Alleviating the burden of paying for refreshments for a week, I became a popular guy in the office.

With Patty's desk sitting idly by in the large office room with Marisela, Freddy felt that it would make more sense for me to move to Patty's old desk. It was rough leaving the secretaries, but it did make things a lot easier to communicate with Marisela.

That being said...it also meant that I had to communicate with Marisela a lot more. She got in around 10:30am, and we had a lot of conversations about nothing. Literally nothing. For example..."I'm working on a translation, how do I finish this sentence... I need -"

"...I don't know what you are looking for here, Marisela."

"Just finish this...I need -"

"information?" no "people?" no "numbers?" no "food?" no "ideas?" no

It was the worst game of Taboo ever. And we played a lot today. It really made me want to move back.

When 4:00 rolled around, I was ready to get going home. Marisela, however, was not, and everyone stayed at the office an extra half hour for her to finish some of her work before we left. Edgardo kept rushing her, and she got upset. She complained to me in the car for a while about how we are doing the Lords work, and how people shouldn't be in such a hurry to leave at 4:00. I tried my best to explain that the rest of the office arrived at 8:00 and not 10:30 without stepping on her toes, but she was getting upset with me, so I stopped.

We got out of the car, and I headed for home, but Marisela grabbed me and asked me if I remembered the meeting we had in Plaza with the cook for the group for the upcoming week. By that, I mean, she said, "I forgot to tell you, but we have a meeting in Plaza with the cook for the group for the upcoming week."

The meeting lasted until 6:00 and consisted entirely of the cook doing basic math outloud to determine how many eggs she would need, how much chicken she would need, how much rice she would need, and how much juice to need. There was absolutely no need for either Marisela or I to be there.

Of course, right before I left to walk home, Marisela pulled what I like to call a "Michael Scott" and walked with me part of the way, thanking me for my patience, and putting in the extra work with the meeting, and with my help with her translations in the office today.

And then she "reminded me" (told me for the first time) that her, Freddy, and I were going to spend the night in Talanga tomorrow so I needed to bring a change of clothes to the office.

Worst Superbowl Party Ever

Sunday February 7th 2010 10:15pm

Where to begin?

Catching up with yesterday, I spent most of my day making the dough for the pigs in a blanket, making the pigs in a blanket, finishing up shopping for food for 12 or so people, and taking a break at the end of the day to go watch Sherlock Holmes down at Plaza.

I thought it was a good movie, somewhat predictable, but most of all I always find it humorous when you know who the bad guys are after their names are revealed. . How about Lord Coward? You guessed it.

Back to the matter at hand...

It wasn't until I got out of the movie yesterday that I realized a crucial error I had made. I had told everyone in my office that the game began at 6:30, so they should aim to be at my apartment by 6:00. This would be true if we shared the same time zone with the New York television station which we were going to watch the game on. So, I sent everyone messages and called them to make sure that they would be at my apartment around 5:00, not 6:00.

I went to church this morning mainly to remind my co workers there about the time change. I'll be honest, I don't really pay attention during the service, I just flip through my Bible and look at all of the things I have stuck in the pages. Its pretty interesting actually. I have old Hebrew quizzes, letters from camp, pictures, notes...but I digress.

Freddy asked me at church if it was ok for him to bring Yasmine. I told him that it would be fine, and was shortly met by Elmer also asking if it was okay for him to bring a plus one. I gave him the same response.

The rest of the afternoon after church, I spent trying to finish cooking everything, setting everything out, and prepping the next round of food to go into the oven after the first quarter of the game.

I was ready to go at 4:55, and was pretty proud of my timing. I was less than pleased, however, with the timing of my co workers. Freddy showed up at 6:00 with Yasmine and the two of them made three of us at the party. A little while later, Hector showed up with someone who I had never met before and they were both wearing matching shirts. If I knew them better I would have made a lot of fun of them. Right before halftime, Marisela called to let me know she was downstairs.

That made six of us, and only one of us who really felt like putting a dent in the two pizzas, 60 chicken nuggets, 60 pigs in a blanket, the scores of bags of chips, the dips, and the M&M's, let alone the vegetables. That one of us was me.

I wondered where Elmer was, because I remembered how he had made a point to come over to me and ask if he could bring his wife. Right after halftime, there was a knock at my door, and there stood Elmer with three of the most ratty looking strangers I have ever met in my life.

Edwin was the first to introduce himself as a recent US green card holder who was deported a mere two months ago for drunk driving and drug dealing. Pardon me for misleading you...when I say he was the first to introduce himself, that would imply that the other two would later introduce themselves. They did not. I still have no idea who they are. They were rather quiet. Edwin, however, made up for the both of them, as I heard all about his time in the San Francisco court and jail systems. (I felt that a joke about Alcatraz may not have been recieved well, so I failed to bring it up)

Edwin knew dozens of Mexicans, Dominicans, even some Haitians all from the US. All from jail. He let me know about his gang, his drug deals, and his wife and four beautiful children. I know what you are thinking...did you get to talk to his wife over the phone for a while? YES! YES I DID!

When the phone was passed to me, I struck up a conversation with a surprised young woman living in San Francisco with her four children, who let me know that she was waiting until they could save up enough money to either smuggle Edwin back into the US, or move the family back to Honduras.

For all of his misgivings, Edwin was a surprisingly polite houseguest. He was constantly asking permission to eat the food, to have a pepsi, to use the bathroom, if it was okay to smoke on the balcony, etc. It wasn't until I walked Edwin, Elmer and their two aloof companions outside that I was informed about the minimal amounts of cocaine that they may or may not have used at some point throughout the day. Elmer insisted that he did not partake, as he was the designated driver. Whew.

By the time that affair was concluded, the game was all but over, and I got back up to my apartment after the Saint intercepted Manning and returned it for the touchdown. Hey, I got to see the replay.

A short time later, the game ended, and everyone else cleared out pretty quickly

Though their ziplock bags were filled with mini snacks when they left, the rest of the party barely grazed through the food, and I've resolved to take in the leftovers to work tomorrow.

As I sit here typing this, I can see the football shaped cake completely untouched.

Honestly, I'm laughing right now. As the Barenaked Ladies (they are a band, grandparents) would say, Enjoy the Humor of the Situation. A funny night indeed.

New Computer!

Saturday February 6th 2010 11:00am

That is right, yesterday afternoon, Freddy and I finally went to the store and picked up the new laptop. I am currently typing on a nice new Dell that has Windows 7. I've yet to really explore much of it, because I spent most of yesterday night and some of this morning installing various drivers and anti virus software stuff.

The keyboard is a Spanish keyboard, which is different than an English one in a number of ways. A lot of the symbols are switched around, for example the & and the / also the ? and the - I'm not really sure why. The only one that is really killing me is the shift key is split in half, with the half closest to the rest of the keyboard as making this sign:\ This happens to be the part of the shift key that I use most frequently. \so if this post is riddled with capitalization errors, please forgive me.

Yesterday was a really good "me" day. I felt a lot of love and support from comments, emails, messages, any way that people could communicate with me to let me know that I am in their hearts and prayers. I am so blessed.

After work, I started working on setting up my computer, but decided around 7:00 to head up to Plaza to go see a movie. The only one playing at the time was Zombieland, and I hadn't seen it yet, so I decided to watch it. For those of you who haven't accompanied me to a movie theater, it is not uncommon for me to laugh very loudly at some parts that might not be so funny to everyone else. This happened again while watching Zombieland. Not because the parts of the movie were particularly hilarious, but because the Spanish translation at the bottom was so horrendously misleading as to what the characters were trying to say, that I couldn't help but laugh very loudly. The scene was kind of funny anyway, but only in English. I felt very obnoxious.

I came back and tinkered with my computer for a while before reading some of Catch-22 and heading to bed.

This morning, I was up early, and with a phone call from Luis Felipe, I was reminded that I did not have to go into the Seminary this morning, because my class wasn't going to be starting until next week. I was already up, so I decided to head up to the roof and get some exercise in. There had been some work done on the work out facilities (three machines) and a TV was added to the area. I hopped on the bike, turned on the TV, and watched most of the second half of Pocahontas in Spanish. The songs were still in English, and I was glad that no other tennants came up to the roof to the sight of me bicycling while singing "Savages, Savages, barely even human..."

After a shower, I began making a list of things that I needed to get done today in preparation for tomorrow. Thats right. Superbowl Sunday. I am throwing a small party for my office friends, and want to do it the right way. So far, I have:

Pigs in a Blanket
Chicken Wings
Chicken Fingers
Skyline Chili Dip
Nachos
Salsa
Chips
Chex Mix
M&Ms both regular and peanut
Cheese
Crackers
Pretzels
Vegetables and Dip
Doritos
and a Football Shaped Cake

Now in our household, I'm pretty sure the cake years were only for when Dallas was in the Superbowl, but this may be one of the few times these Honduras get the chance to eat a football cake, so I decided to go for it.

So it appears as though the rest of my day will be spent trying to get things ready for this epic Superbowl Party. It turns out that most of my co workers are torn on who to root for also. Normally, they don't watch, but if they do, they root for the team from the city that they have heard of. This year, they have heard of New Orleans because of Katrina, and Indianapolis because that is where Global Ministries is headquartered. It should be a good game.

Am I missing anything that is a neccessity for Superbowl parties?

Coming Clean

Friday February 5th 2010 9:00am



Since I more or less updated and filled everyone in about yesterday, I thought I would take a moment to catch people up on some of the other things that have been going on here.



I´ve been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The psychologist here says that it is moderate, which means that it is not severe, but also not minor. I was hesitant to post about this for a number of reasons. Not because I felt that I wouldn´t have support from family and friends, because I know that I have the most amazing family and the best friends and support group that anyone could ever ask for.

More than for those reasons, I didn´t want to post about it because there were a lot of open ends, and a lot that I just didn´t have a whole lot of information on at the time. I didn´t know what it meant as far as continuing work here in Honduras, possibly coming home for a while, or transferring to another country.

Things are somewhat more clear now, and I feel more comfortable writing about them.

I went to a psychologist here a couple of weeks ago, because I had noticed since my vacation back in the States that I was always tense when I was in Honduras. The sounds of planes, and gunshots made me jumpy, and I was frequently trying to plan escape routes in my head everytime the door knocked. In my mind, anytime I was in a new place or with new people, I needed to know what to do in the event of a gunman, or a bomb.

Global Ministries and Felix have been wonderful in working with me through this process. We are taking things one step at a time, and it looks as though the next step is to do a second evaluation with the Global Ministries psychologist that I saw before I left to come to Honduras. From there, we will take it to the next step. The next step might be returning and finishing my work here in Honduras, it might be taking a break and staying home for a month or two, or it might be a tranfer to another country, or in the words of Monty Python, it could be time for something completely different.

I had shared some of this information with very few people, but after talking with Felix this past week, I felt that I needed to share some of what has been happening by writing about it.

All that being said, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of my friends and family for being incredibly supportive. There has never been a moment when I haven´t felt the love and support reaching me here all the way from home.

The more people I meet, the more I realize how blessed I am to be a part of such an amazing family. The guidance, support, love, and reassurance that I get from my Mom and Dad, my brother, my sister, my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, my great grandparent, my cousins in law, all of my extended family including even the newest member, little A(de)lynn, is indescribable. My parents would always joke when I was going through school that we were rich in love, and I have never found that to be more true than when I can get together with my family.

I am also blessed to have wonderful support from friends from high school and from college. Those who have stuck with me over the years and made it out on the other side are really some of my very best friends, and I am so grateful to have them in my life.

When I got online today, and checked my facebook account, I found that my Church Camp friends decided to make it "Change your photo to Alan Dicken week" and dozens of my closest friends had their names next to various pictures of me. It may have been a goofy gesture, and a really fun way for them to say "we are thinking about you," but it meant more to me than I think they can ever know.

I am constantly amazed and overwhelmed by the Disciples of Christ, and the power and hope in the love that I have known from my church family. It is unlike anything I have known. Relationships within the DoC are formed so quickly, and still so concretely. People travel across states to visit with friends for a couple of hours. Friends keep in touch their entire lives because of the foundations of Camp Christian. Words cannot describe the experiences that I have had within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), but those of you who have been there know the feelings. I sometimes try and imagine what my life would be like without Camp Christian, but honestly cannot do it. I´m glad that I do not know the world where I have lived without Camp. That Alan would not be the one here today. Not even close.

I´ll be sure to keep everyone updated as to what is going on with me in regards to the PTSD, and what that means for the future of my time here in Honduras. Again, I would like to express my deepest and sincerest thank you. You all mean more to me than you can know.

The Alabama Northwest Florida Region

Thursday Feburary 4th 2010 2:30

Over the last few days with my first group, I didn't have any access to the internet to be able to update, so I'll try to recap what all happened since Saturday morning.

Saturday
After I went to the meeting at the CCD, I had a brief lunch with Felix before we picked up Marisela, Rueben (our driver) and Fausto (our security guard). Then we all headed to the airport to pick up my first group. There were eight representatives from the Alabama-Northwest Florida Region, each one of them representing a different district within the region.

We had asked them to pack an extra smaller bag for an overnight stay so that we could take the bags to our Monte Carmelo center here, while the group traveled to San Pedro Sula for the night and met with some church leaders there the next day.

Unfortunately, they didn't get that message, and so everyone only had one large bag, which meant that we would need an extra truck and driver to go up to San Pedro Sula (SPS). Elmer was on his way with the truck, because he was originally going to take the baggage to Monte Carmelo. He couldn't drive all the way to SPS, however, which meant we needed to call another driver. I offered my services after the first few drivers we called were unavailable, and found myself driving the truck along the highway to SPS for the next 6 hours.

We didn't get there until close to midnight, and most everyone fell asleep right after arriving in our hotel rooms.


Sunday
Our meeting was scheduled to start at 8:00am, which meant we had to be ready to leave by 7:30am, which put our wake up time in the 7:00am range. The morning meeting went very well, and a wonderfully ecumenical dialogue was opened up by the two church groups looking to engage in a mutual partnership.

The church service after the meeting was really wonderful, and easily the best service I have been to since arriving in Honduras. I felt very much at home, and really enjoyed the songs, the message, and the theologies of the church.

We met for a little while longer after church, before heading back on the road to Tegucigalpa. The drive was long, and we didn't get to Monte Carmelo until a little after 8. After a quick dinner, I was ready for bed, but needed to drive Marisela back to her house in the city. I ended up staying in my apartment that night, exhausted from the days of traveling.


Monday
Marisela and I had planned on leaving around 7:30 to be up to the Monte Carmelo center around 8:00. We had, however, forgotten that Monday was the first day of school here in Honduras, and the streets were jam packed with cars. We called ahead and asked Rueben to drive them to Forum we were attending, and decided to just meet them there.

The rest of the morning was spent translating the speeches from the Forum on Human Rights council members. Translating can be very difficult to do, but is made even more difficult when the speaker gives no pauses to allow for you to catch up, which means you are trying to say in English what they just said in Spanish, while still listening to the Spanish that they are saying, and trying to figure out how to say it in English. Whew. I was beat after translating for two hours straight that morning.

During the afternoon, the group traveled to the CCD, where there was more ecumenical discussion on how to engage in a mutual partnership between the church groups.

We took the scenic route back to Monte Carmelo, and drove around the city, giving a brief tour to the group members.

That evening we ate dinner before doing some devotionals and reflections. When those had concluded, I went to bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.


Tuesday
Breakfast at Monte Carmelo was a delicious ensemble of eggs, bacon, and pancakes that got me ready for the day. We traveled with the group back to the CCD for more discussion, and a meeting with the various church leaders that participate in the local seminary where I teach.

Rueben and I dropped Felix off at the airport, because he ended up having to fly back to Indianapolis a day early.

When Felix was through the security checkpoints, we headed back to pick up the group, and all piled into the van to head up to Monte Horeb in Talanga. We picked up Marisela's daugher Marirosa and stopped at a drive through to get some chicken nuggets for our trip.

An hour later we found ourselves touring the facilities in Talanga for about half an hour before heading back into the bus to drive over to Valle de Angeles.

The mountain roads made sleeping difficult, but I was happy to talk with some of the group members about various things ranging from Honduran population percentages to the Conan O'Brien issue with NBC.

Valle de Angeles was a unique experience, due to my translating of the haggling that needed to happen. It was just a very odd combination of English and Spanish numbers being thrown around for a while, and at times became quite confusing.

We decided that it might be cheaper to eat back at Monte Carmelo, so we set out for the center around 6:30. Our dinner was waiting for us around 8:00, and we again shared in reflections and devotionals on the day.

When the devotionals had concluded, I stayed up playing cards with some of the group members. I really enjoyed spending time with them, and was very proud of the Disciples who came on the trip. They were a wonderful representation of the reasons why the DOC church is my home.


Wednesday
Yesterday the group headed back to the states, so the morning was spent packing, and doing some closing worship and devotionals. It was a wonderful first group experience.

We stayed with them at the airport until their flight left around 1:00, and then headed back to the CCD to drop off the vehicles. When the green truck was safely within the walls of the CCD, I headed out with Rueben back to my apartment, where I spent the rest of the day resting.

I apparently missed some phone calls to see if we could pick up a laptop yesterday, but the sleep was worth missing the calls.

Thursday
Today, I have spent washing my clothes, reading, and heading up to Plaza to buy groceries and fill you in on what has been going on with me and why I haven't been writing in so long.

I really loved my first group exerience. Every minute of it.

My First Group?

Saturday January 30th 2010 8:15am

Nothing went according to plan yesterday. Between forgetting things back at the office, running late to the airport, having Felix's flight come in late, and the groups flight delayed a whole day, my first day with a group was a day without a group.

I guess there was some bad weather in the southern US yesterday, which led to some delays and cancelations. This led to most of my day being spent running around on the phone with people in the US, with people here, and with our contacts for events we had planned trying to push around our itinerary to try and cram everything in with one less day to work with.

By the time we picked up Felix, found a hotel for him, and finished calling all the people we needed to call, I was finally able to sit down for some lunch around 4:00. I guess that is more of a linner or dunch really.

After linner, Felix, Marisela and I headed to the office to meet with a couple of people about plans. When I was there, I bumped into Luis Felipe who asked if, since we had no group, I could join the seminary meeting the next morning. Well that next morning is here, and I find myself back in Plaza, waiting to be picked up for what should be my first day with a group.

Wish me luck.

Oh and in reference to some of the comments: Its really good to hear from you Julie! Thanks for the recipe ideas Kacie, Julie, and Julie/Jeremy. It looks like people want me to root for the Saints. Kacie, my mom will love that you enjoy her being called MUM because all of her own children refuse to acknowledge it when she does that, and also, I think I have read almost every Hemmingway and they are all soo very good, and also the more "classic" books that I read, the more I realise I enjoy a good prose from the mid 19th century on. Much earlier than that, and the reading gets a little dry and a little long. There are exceptions of course.

Ok, so first group take two.

My First Group

Friday January 29th 2010 8:45am

I don't know when I'll get the chance to write again, because I'm not really sure how much I'm going to need to be involved with this group. I might be able to write tomorrow, or I might not be able to update until the middle of next week. I'm writing this from an internet cafe in Plaza, as I'm waiting for Marisela to pick me up on our way to the airport.

Yesterday was probably the most extreme vacation day I've ever seen. Only Heidy, Cristian, and I were in the office. Luckily, we all work in the same room, so it didn't seem really boring. We caught up about a lot of different movies, books, and other things that we like, and discussed some of the finer points between American and Honduran culture. The other seven and a half hours of the work day passed by slowly, and without word from Marisela on what I needed to have prepared for the group coming in.

Marisela eventually called last night and told me to pack a bag because I might be going with the group to San Pedro Sula for the weekend. I really have no idea what to expect with this group coming in. I'll be interested to see how my first group experience here goes.

Sorry if this is kind of short, I need to head outside. I did want to give thanks again for the comments, that I have really enjoyed reading. Apparently, people write more comments when I leave an open ended question for people to weigh in on at the end...so...I'm trying to decide which classic book to read next. I have a few with me, and I can find a few in English down here, so I'll be interested to hear of any good book recommendations.

Its the Thought that Counts

Thursday February 28th 2010 9:00am

The mob protestors carried on, and eventually dispersed without any violence or show of force, which came as a great relief to me. I spent the rest of the morning exercising, reading, and trying to ignore the firecrackers and yelling, echoing from the highway nearby.

In the afternoon, I had to go out to get some eggs for my banana bread project, so I headed up towards Plaza. On my way, I noticed that one of the little shops that I pass by sells eggs. I never thought to check if the "Casa del Queso" or "House of Cheese" would sell eggs, but a sign out front caught my eye. These eggs were bigger, cheaper, and didn´t come from a big store.

I find that more and more frequently, I am buying from smaller vendors, and feeling better about the decision. I get my bread from a small local bakery, I get my eggs from the House of Cheese...I might now get my cheese from the House of Cheese. It just feels good helping out small businesses.

Between the recipes given to me by various friends and relatives between the holidays and now, I feel like I should be able to keep myself pretty busy in the evenings, which is great. A lot of times it is really hard to do much of anything in the nights, because I can´t really go out after dark. There is only so much reading, exercising, and tv watching that one can do before it becomes all too boring. So, trying my hand at cooking has been both depriving me from my boredom, and providing me with fun and...I would say delicious foods, but we all know thats not the case. I would say it has provided me with fun, and an opportunity to improve my cooking skills.

The best part of that deal is that the cleaning ladies do all the dishes. So I get to have all of the fun of cooking, without the less glamorous work of scrubbing dishes, pans, and utensils. At first I felt bad about this and cleaned up my dishes for a while, until one day I spent at home, and the cleaning lady seemed rather frustrated that I cleaned my own dishes. Apparently that is the favorite part of her job. Who am I to deprive the kind woman of cleaning my dishes?

After cooking some dinner, and watching some TV, I set to work with the banana bread, while the State of the Union address was on. Some of it I agreed with, some of it I scoffed at, but mostly I found it incredibly deflating to watch all of the Democrats stand up and cheer while the Republicans sat and frowned. It didn´t bother me that either side had their opinions, it just uninspiring to see the very clear partisanship, which I feel prevents a lot of things from happening (I gear that comment towards both parties).

When the address was done, my banana bread was too, and I let it cool before taking a taste test. I was surpised at how much it looked like the loafs my mother used to bake, and was not so surprised to find that the taste was not quite the same...more room for improvement.

I thought of the title for this entry on my way to work this morning, in a taxi. Freddy had a meeting somewhere, so I hailed a cab to get to work. I noticed that there were lane lines painted onto the major roads. I also noticed that these lane lines meant absolutely nothing to the drivers of Tegucigalpa. They may as well not have been there. Now, I have always been a big proponant of "Its the thought that counts," but I´m really beginning to question the validity of that statement within the parameters of new lane lines on Tegucigalpa roads. Does the thought of lanes really count? So far, I think not.

Protestors

Wednesday January 27th 2010 11:00am

This will be a fairly short entry, as it is being posted on a borrowed computer.

Yesterday went by fairly quickly. Freddy and I went out to lunch with Ponce and Cente because it was Ponce's birthday. We ate at some BW3's kind of a knock off joint, but it was nice to have wings and see glimpses of American football on the televisions.

When we got back to the office, Freddy let me know that we had the next day off (today) because there is an innauguration ceremony for the new president. This confused the heck out of me, because I thought that they were doing that in the middle of my Thursday night television last week, but apparently that was all just prep stuff getting everyone ready for what was going to happen. Had I known that at the time, I would have been even more frustrated.

At any rate, without work on Wednesday morning, Tuesday night was freed up and Freddy invited me over to play some video games. There were a few people over at his apartment, and it was good to see a lot of the guys that I hadn't seen since I'd come back.

This morning, I woke up around 9:30 to the sound of blowing horns, whistles, and lots of voices. The Resistance was protesting down the stretch of highway outside of my balcony. They were marching towards a more central point in the city, and when I left my apartment to visit with Margo to see if I could borrow her computer, the line was still growing and marching.

Its really great though, because they enjoy things like spitting at the military stationed alongside the highway, and setting off firecrackers and yelling really loud afterwards, which sounds nothing like gunshots, and screaming...so I'll be a lot happier and more comfortable when this thing is over.

Lastly, I would just like to thank you all for the increase in comments. It is always really nice to hear opinions, updates, or ideas from you guys. It gives me both support, and fun stuff to do down here. Thank you.

Chauffer

Tuesday January 26th 2010 9:15am

Almost immediately following my post yesterday, I was asked if I would help Elmer go and pick up our 15 passenger van from Monte Carmelo. I agreed, and was soon traveling across the city with Elmer in our red truck. We made a couple of random stops, and due to my lack of perfection in Spanish, and Elmer´s incessant mumbling, I had no idea what we did at the Discovery School or right outside the new Mini Golf Course. Maybe we just stopped to chat with people. The important thing is, we did not play putt-putt, but I now know where the putt-putt course is for future mini golfing needs.

Monte Carmelo is one of our facilities literally across the city from our offices. The drive took about 45 minutes, and on our way, we couldn´t help but to notice an incredibly long line of traffic piling up on the opposite side of the road, which would have been our route back to the office.

When we picked up the car, I was in charge of driving the red truck back, and asked Elmer if there was a way to the office that didn´t involve the immense amount of traffic that we had witnessed. He gave a goofy smile and said, "follow me!"

I should have stuck with the traffic.

10 minutes later, we were barreling down dirt roads, hurtling over rocks, gravel, and tons of sand that got everywhere. Not knowing the way back, I was forced to keep up with Elmer at his incredulous speed for the type of road we were on. I felt as though I was in some sort of a truck commercial, where apparently a man has gotten so far off the road, that the only way back is up through a forest, over a creek, and off the edge of a cliff.

We emerged on another road that led towards downtown, by way of Comayagua, which is the less than reputable part of town. Hurrying through the streets, I was frequently stopped by hitchikers, who would jump out infront of the car, hoping for a ride.

Driving out of Comayagua, we entered the downtown area which appeared almost like a video game with all of its hills, twists, turns, curves, one way roads, and countless pedestrians. Don´t worry. If it were a video game, I would have lost, because I went slowly, and didn´t hit any pedestrians.

The people back at the office were waiting for our arrival, because they needed the van to go out to lunch. Yesterday was the Day of the Honduran Women, which means "After you clean up this morning, you don´t have to cook lunch. We can go out to lunch." The office was treating for the meal, and I was excited for good free food.

Before we could leave, however, Marisela pulled me aside, and told me that I had to drive her to the airport to pick up someone from the US who was coming to visit our facilities. So, rather than finding my stomach full of delicious Honduran foods, I found it growling at the airport waiting for someone named Greg. He had visited before and knew Marisela well, but I had never seen him before. After 10 minutes of waiting, I had to point out the flaw in Mariselas plan when she suggested that she head over to the food court and grab some drinks while I keep an eye out for Greg.

Finally, Greg arrived, and we sped off to the restaurant to enjoy the end of everyone´s lunch. From there, I drove back to the office, but didn´t get back until close to 4. As soon as I got settled at my computer again, it was time to go, and we headed back out to Plaza.

In Plaza, I picked out some ingredients for banana bread. I´ve been trying to think of good things to cook for myself lately, and banana bread kept popping up. Today, I´ll have to get a pan to cook it in, and maybe I´ll try to make it tonight. Any other suggestions for good things I can cook for myself?

The Colts and the Saints

Monday January 25th 2010 9:15am

Saturday
Margo ended up getting a call from someone at her school and was unable to do lunch, but it was still nice talking with her in the morning. I went for a walk up to plaza and grabbed some pupusas in the food court for lunch.

Feeling full, I decided to walk off my recent meal, and took a walk up and down a few streets around my apartment. It was nice to see the houses at street level for a change, instead of from my balcony, or from the roof of my apartment.

That evening, I made some chicken sandwiches for dinner and finished reading The Invisible Man. I thought about all of the different possible directions to take that book in, and wondered why HG Wells settled on the one that he did. For those of you who havent read it, its pretty good and fairly short.

Sunday I slept in late, when I woke up, I decided that I wanted to make waffles! (It helps if you read that last part in the voice of Donkey from Shrek)

I had purchased in one of my first weeks here, a small waffle iron from Plaza. It only cost maybe $5.00, and I knew that there would come a day when I yearned for a waffle iron. Sure enough, that day had arrived. A $5 waffle maker gave me exactly the kind of waffles that you would expect from such an expensive piece of equipment. Luckily for me, I enjoy burnt things.

After making waffles, I read some more of the God Delusion before settling down for a nice day of football. The teams that I wanted to win won, and the Saints/Vikings game especially was a really fun game to watch. Now that the Saints and the Colts have won, I´m not really sure who to root for in the Superbowl. I really like Peyton, and I think he deserves another ring, and its the second closest team to Cincinnati (geographically). On the other hand, I really like New Orleans, they have never been to the Superbowl, and Josh Baird lives there.

I´m torn. Feel free to weigh in with your comments.

The Saturday Morning Post

Saturday January 23rd 2010 10:30am

Yesterday, shortly after we got to work, the electricity went out. Normally when it goes out, it comes back on after five minutes or so. An hour after the electricity went off, we decided to call it quits and head back home.

As I walked the stairs up to my apartment, I found out that I had a new next door neighbor. When I asked Lady what happened to the other neighbors, she explained that they only had the room for a couple of days, and stayed in the building as a hotel guest instead of as residents. This really explained why they thought I was weird for introducing myself as a neighbor. I would be weirded out too if the guy next to me at a Holiday Inn made a point of knocking on my door and telling me that it was nice to see new people in the building.

I grabbed some lunch, and spent most of the afternoon either napping or reading. Just before dinner, I headed up to the roof for some exercise, and stopped to introduce myself to my neighbor. Her name is Margo, and she is here on a grant to teach English at the local university. She is roughly 50 years old, and will be here for the next nine months (which makes it not so weird to introduce myself as her neighbor).

Dinner was a good new recipe from the cook book Uncle Russ got me for Christmas, and I spent the rest of the evening reading and waiting for Conan O'Brien's last show. It was a good one, and I was sad to see him go.

This morning, I had just finished breakfast, when my new neighbor knocked on the door to see if I had any plans for lunch later. She didn't really know the city, and wanted to know if I had any good tips. We ended up chatting for a while, and she is letting me use her computer for a little bit. She seems really nice, and it is always nice to be able to speak in English with someone.

Spam

Friday January 22nd 2010 9:30am

My coworkers were happy to see Marisela and I pull up to the office yesterday, as it finally meant that there were keys to unlock the door.

In the morning, one of the women who takes classes at the seminary came in with her daughter Luz. Luz found the tall white man very fun to hang on and goof around with when he was trying to get a cup of coffee. He was even more fun to try and play spider solitare with when he was trying to type up emails. He seemed to know a lot about English, so she spent probably about 10 uninterupted minutes of pointing to things and asking how to say them in "American."

It was a nice break from the often monotonous work day.

After Luz and her mother left, it was time for lunch. Lunchtime conversation was dominated by talk of songs about eyes. Not "Jeepers creepers, where did you get those peepers." More along the lines of Brown Eyed Girl...just all in Spanish. I'll be honest, I don't know how it got to that point, but apparently there are enough of those songs, and enough controversy around them to last for a 45 minute lunch break.

The power went out almost immediately following lunch, so I resorted to reading more of The God Delusion. Cristian asked me about it, and I tried my best to explain it without offending her. She asked if there was a movie version, which led me to believe I didn't quite explain it well enough.

We all traveled home in Edgardos car after work, and between the age of the car and the weight inside, I marveled at the floor's ability not to scrape the ground constantly.

When I got home, I started getting ready to make dinner, when I decided that it would be a good time to try out some of my Spam. My grandparents had gotten me a gag gift of a Spam cookbook for Christmas, and my parents supplemented the gag by getting me a tin of Spam. I had been saving it for some sort of special occasion, so I decided to use it last night. What made last night so special was the fact that I hadn't gone grocery shopping in a while, there was nothing else in the apartment and I was reluctant to eat the Spam.

I flipped through the pages of the cookbook to find some of the most disturbing recipes including a Spam Cheesecake. WITH BITS OF REAL SPAM!

The "Spamwich" seemed the most harmless, and entailed slapping some sizzling slabs of spam on a skillet, and then putting them between two slices of bread. Much to my surprise, the Spamwich was not as terrible as I had anticipated, and I might even venture a review that would say I enjoyed the meal.

The evening went downhill from there, as my classic Thursday Night TV lineup was constantly interrupted by the swearing in ceremony for the new president. The timing worked out perfectly for every episode. In Parks and Recreation, they got a little bit past the intro song, then the station went blank and I was forced to watch the current government issue a statement for about 15 minutes, which put Parks and Rec back on right before the end of the show.

Next up was the Office, which was interrupted shortly after the intro song, by a message from the new government, which lasted for about 15 minutes, which put the Office back on right before the end of the show.

30Rock is probably my favorite show on TV, and low and behold, it went off right after the intro song, and didn't come back on until right before the end of the show.

It would have been comedic if it weren't so sad.

Kind of Shady...

Thursday January 21st 2010 10:15am

Freddy had to go to the Bay Islands yesterday to do some work with a property that the CCD owns up there. The Bay Islands are these beautiful tourist islands just north of the country in the Carribbean Sea. They are so touristy (How touristy are they?) They are so touristy, that the majority of the people who live there speak English and don´t even know Spanish.

At any rate, with Freddy´s absense, I had to ride to work with Marisela. This, I should have known, took longer than expected. I was told to be ready at 8:00, and at 8:10, I got a phone call saying that it would probably be closer to 9:00. I read a little bit of the God Delusion while I waited to be picked up, and also in the car to the office.

Throughout the day, our gatekeeper kept on poking his head in to check on us. He is new, and I wondered if he was trying to wander around to know us better, or because he thought that was part of his job, or what. The work day passed fairly quickly, which was helped by showing up about an hour and a half late. I helped translate a few request forms, and worked on preparing things for the group we are supposed to have next Friday.

Elmer had also gone with Freddy, so those of us at the office were left without a car to drive people home in. Fortunately, we had someone visiting the office who was able to give us a ride to Plaza. On our way out, the gatekeeper told us to keep an eye out for a blue car. Apparently, throughout the day, a blue car with a couple of rather questionable figures inside would park outside of the office for an hour at a time. This explained his vigilance over us during our working hours.

Our office has been broken into a few times at night, and various computers, or expensive looking pieces of technology have been stolen, so I wondered if that was perhaps on the minds of the shady figures in the blue car.

I made some dinner for myself when I got back home and spent the evening reading and watching TV, while pondering what the men in the blue car could have wanted.

This morning, I also rode to work with Marisela, although (somewhat) more on time today. On our way there, she got a phone call, and when the other person started talking, she immediately gasped. "Uh oh," I thought, "Shady blue car dudes."

"At the office, are you sure?" she frantically asked into the phone. "Ok, thank you," she replied with a disheartened look on her face.

"This morning at the office, Alan -" she began as I braced for the worst, "- everyone forgot their keys. They have been waiting outside and wanted to know if we were coming soon so I could let them in."

I really need to remember that Honduran people gasp at seemingly inopportune times.

On the Road Again

Wednesday, January 20th 2010 10:15am

The misleading title may make you think as though I have been summoned to some far corner of Honduras and am traveling a long way to get there. This is, in fact, not the case. Really, I just was privelaged enough to drive around this wonderfully designed city yesterday.

Freddy picked me up in the morning just as usual. The roads, however, were unusually full of crazy drivers. When I say that, I mean, of course, that there were even more crazy drivers than usual. We even saw an accident happen and saw the aftermath of another collision all in the 20 minute drive to the office.

Shortly after getting to the office, Freddy asked me if it would be ok for me to drive everyone home because he had to go somewhere else after work, and would not be able to do so. I reluctantly agreed, with the memories of the insane drivers and multiple wrecks fresh in my mind. The work day passed fairly quickly, as I was charged with updating a lot of statistics from the previous year. I sorted through power points, packets, and brochures to make sure that we were up to date.

The red truck sat outside the window all day, taunting me. I don´t really know how it was taunting me, I just remember feeling taunted by it.

Everyone piled into the vehicle after work, and I took my position behind the helm. My concentration could not be broken. I tuned out the chatter of my co workers, balanced the right way to sit without the sun hitting my eyes, and anticipated the maniacal taxi drivers, who seemed to surround us at every light, turn, and lane change. I think that when Plaza came within sight, someone yelled "Land Ho!" but that could have just been in my mind. We weighed anchor and docked alongside the parking lot.

Marisela stayed in her seat as everyone else stepped onto land again. I was confused by Marisela´s decision to stay, and asked,

"Um, did you want me to drop you off on the other side of the mall?"

"No, I want to go pick up that plaque that I was telling you about on the ride over."

"You told me that we were going to pick up some plaque?"

"I´ve kind of been talking about it for the past 15 minutes or so."

"Oh..."

I may or may not have been very caught up in my sailing/pirate style of driving, and missed an entire conversation that someone was having with me.

The rest of the drive seemed more like driving, as I was called back into the reality of the streets of Tegucigalpa.

After I dropped Marisela off at her house, I couldn´t stop thinking of Scally Wag Tag (Pirate Themed Laser Tag in Cincinnati) and was somewhat disappointed to find that Pirates of the Carribbean was not on TV when I got back.

Vacations

Tuesday January 19th 2010 9:30am

Yesterday was a pretty boring day. Freddy, Edgardo and I were the only ones at the office, which meant that I had no work to do. Without Marisela, or any news from upcoming groups, I was left to my own devices to keep myself occupied. I asked Freddy if he needed help with anything, but he too was lacking work without any of the other employees there to work with.

I think the vacation plan may have backfired slightly. Yes, people need to take them...just not all at once. Literally eight or nine people in our office all took yesterday off, which left the rest of us without much work to do.

By lunch time, I had exhausted my internet time wasting web pages, and was ready to go. Freddy, Edgardo, and I headed to the local market to grab a bite to eat. We took about an hour and a half for our lunch break, and they tried to correct some of my pronunciation for some words. It was a very funny lunch, and when they told me the words that I was actually saying by mispronouncing other words, it became funny to me too.

H.G. Well´s The Time Machine was waiting for me when I got back to the office, and most of the rest of my afternoon was occupied by the book. Next up: The Invisible Man.

After "work" I headed back to the apartment, and made a few phone calls before preparing some hot dogs for my dinner. They were pretty good, but definitely lacking the smokey flavor of a good grilled dog. I watched some TV for a little while before heading up to the roof to try and get some exercise in. I hopped on the bike machine that I use, and was quickly joined by a young couple who also had aspirations of exercising. I had never seen them around the building before, so I assumed that they were new tennants. For the next half hour, while I rode the bike, which was awkwardly facing the couple, the young man did a variety of exercises, all while the young woman just sat in a chair watching him. It was weird. It was really weird.

A refreshing shower later, and I was ready for bed. I read some more of the God Delusion, and again became frustrated with some of the presentations by the author. I decided to switch on the TV and watched a little bit of Late Night with Conan O´Brien before falling asleep. I really like Conan. I think he is hilarious, and I wish that NBC weren´t so dumb with how they are handling this process.

Free At Last

Monday January 18th 2010 2:30pm

This entry really has nothing to do with the title, I just wanted to give a small tribute to MLK Jr. today. I had absentmindendly called my last entry "Three Day Weekend" without realizing that today is a day that most people in the US have off for MLK Jr. Day.


The rest of Friday
I met up with Marisela and her volunteer friend Sarah as soon as I left the internet cafe. Sarah is 26 and was the intern here before Kevin. She didn´t work through Global Ministries, but came down on a few different mission trips, and decided to stay for a couple of years. It was nice to talk with another intern about their experiences here.

Of course Sarah´s experience was completely different than my own, but it was refreshing to hear her stories, and to share mine with her. Marisela, Sarah, and I talked until around dinner time, and then met up with some of their friends for Pizza Hut. Waiting for us on our way out of Plaza was an American named Missy. She apparently came down to surprise Marisela, and had made arrangements with some of Marisela and Sarah´s friends to meet up with us in Plaza.

Having no idea who this woman was, the rest of the night became very awkward for me as Marisela, Missy, and Sarah caught up with three of their Honduran friends (whose names I still don´t know). I was very much on the outside looking in on the converstaion, but found it exciting to listen to their stories, and know that perhaps one day I might return for a surprise visit and tell some other intern tales of my adventures here.

With our bellies full of pizza, we said goodnight, and all went back to our respective homes. When I got back to my apartment, I found myself exhausted and went to sleep almost immediately.


Saturday January 16th

Saturday I woke up kind of late, and spent the rest of my morning working on my application to Union Theological Seminary. I waited for a call from Marisela, who was going to accompany me to the phone store to see what we could do about getting my phone fixed. Shortly before I came back to the US for Christmas break, my phone that I use for making calls within Honduras decided to no longer recieve or make any phone calls or messages, and I was eager to solve the problem.

Marisela had suggested that we go out for lunch and then head over to the phone store. 1:00pm rolled around, and I was still without any word from Marisela. By 1:30, I called her and she wanted to know if we could go closer to 5:00 instead. I said that would be fine, but that I was wanting to be home for dinner. What need would I have to be home for dinner you might ask? I was trying to make the Rig D from Magiannos.

As soon as I got off of the phone with Marisela, I got to work. I popped on some of my jazz tunes that I got for Christmas, and began preparing the ingredients. The whole mixture took a while to make, and with each passing step, it looked less and less like the delectable meal I devour at one of my favorite restaurants. Even after adding the cream, the sauce that should have looked milky white had a brownish, reddish hue to it, and I no longer held out hope for my creation.

When the whole thing was done, which took until almost 3:00, I set it aside to cool for a while before giving it a taste test. I watched some of the NFL playoffs for a little bit before trying to eat what I had just cooked. After a few minutes, I went back to the pot on the stove, and took a fork to the pasta dish. I managed to get a little bit of the pasta, the chicken, and the onion all in one bite, and much to my surprise it didn´t taste too bad. I wouldn´t say that it tasted like the Rig D that I was aiming for, but it didn´t taste bad. I had made enough for six servings, so I decided that it was fortunate that the meal wasn´t a complete waste, as I would probably be eating it for the next couple of days.

I read for a while and waited for Marisela to call, and when she finally did at 4:30, it was to let me know that she was on her way to pick me up to go to Mall Multiplaza. There was a phone store there, and also a movie theater. Our friends from the night before had invited us out to see a movie, and we were to meet there at 5:00.

The taxi sped through traffic and we were at the mall in no time. We climbed the escalator up to the movie theater, only to find that every single movie started after 6:30. What was an "Oh well, I guess we have to wait for an hour and a half," to the Hondurans, was a very frustrating "Are you serious? Why would you not check movie times before hand?" to me.

This did, however, provide us with some time to go to the phone store, where apparently, I needed to simply pay a fee to re activate my phone number. The price was minimal, and I didn´t mind paying it. The next hour and a half passed slowly as we decided to remain in the phone store and chat.

Finally we headed back to the theater, and enjoyed our show.

As we headed back to the parking garage, where our friends had left their car, Marisela wanted to call someone, which apparently requires sitting down at a Cinnabun. When that person couldn´t be reached, calling more people to find out how to reach that first person still requires sitting around at Cinnabun. Just as we were about to leave, the first person called back, and we decided to sit around and listen to Marisela´s half of the conversation. When she was done, she remembered that she wanted a Cinnabun, and debated on buying one for literally five minutes, which is about four minutes and 20 seconds too long for an inner debate on Cinnabun purchases. When she finally decided that she did NOT want one, we started off to the car again. On the way, we passed a pharmacy, and Marisela remembered that she thought she might be out of some drug at her home, and needed to buy one. This process took about 15 minutes, and right before she came out, our Honduran friends decided that they needed to go to the bathroom. 20 minutes later, they came back with grocery bags full of soft drinks because after the bathroom they figured that they might get thirsty later in the night. We slowly ambled down the length of the mall heading towards the parking garage.

The entire process took about an hour. It took us an hour to get from the movie theater to the car. It was an incredible test of my patience, and though I may have externally passed it, my mind was screaming at my lackadaisical time philandering friends.

A healthy serving of Rig D satisfied my hunger at that point, and I watched the end of the Colts triumph over the Ravens before doing a little bit of reading before bed.


Sunday January 17th

Yesterday, I spent the whole day reading, working on my Union application, watching football, and relaxing. There really isn´t much else to say about it.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day everyone!

Three Day Weekend

Friday January 15th 2010 3:30pm

I think my landlady (whose name is Lady) might have a thing for me. I'll get to that later.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I was able to get a lot of work done, plan out the itinerary for the group coming down in a couple of weeks, and we left to go home a little bit early. The last part is exceptionally nice because when we leave early, I get to see "The Big Bang Theory". It may be in Spanish, but the jokes land often enough that I enjoy the show.

I cooked some kababs for myself for dinner, and had planned on heading down to Plaza to go see a movie. I got there around six, and to my dismay, every movie was sold out for the rest of the night. I had forgotten about the two-for-the-price-of-one deal that the theaters do on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is such a good deal! Not that I'm complaining about regular movie prices here, which are a whopping $3.00 to see Avatar in 3D. So naturally if you go with a pal, you both end up paying $1.50 to see Avatar in 3D.

The walk back home seemed to pass quickly as I realized that even though I couldn't watch a movie, I could still catch Thursday night television. I do enjoy my one night a week that I spend watching the shows in English. Its pretty cool. It doesn't hurt that they happen to be some of my favorite shows.

As I walked past my neighbor's door, I noticed that it was open a bit, and that there were people inside. I knocked politely and waited to introduce myself. To my surprise, an American couple slightly older than myself answered the door.

"Hi, I'm Alan. I'm your neighbor here in apartment 12."

-no response, just kind of staring-

"The landlady told me that I might have some new neighbors, so I just wanted to say welcome."

-blank stare from the girl-

"Oh...I guess that makes sense," said the guy before slowly shutting the door.

That was the second most awkward neighbor welcoming I've ever done.

After finishing up an hour of 30Rock, I tried reading the God Delusion for a while, but became frustrated and decided to try again another day. I feel like the author is coming from a place of anger and hatred of his percieved opponent instead of coming from a perspective of support for his own beliefs. I'm sure I'll get through it, and the author does have some interesting points, I just don't want to go to bed mad.

Today, Freddy told me that he would pick me up a little later than usual. He called around 8:00 to say that he would be over around 10:00. At 10:00, he called to say he'd be over around noon. By noon, he had called to say he wasn't going into the office today.

In the two hour gaps of waiting, I managed to do some laundry and fill out most of my application to Union (I have to reapply, ugh). As I made my decision to grab a cab and head to the office, Marisela called me and invited me to plaza for lunch. Apparently, she didn't go into work either. I have no idea who actually worked today. Maybe they are all taking this vacation issue seriously.

I met Marisela for some pupusas after we picked her daughter Mari up from school. Mari enjoyed teaching me new games she had learned over Christmas break, which included "I'm eating your arms-now put them in your shirt" and "I bet I can stomp on your feet really hard". I think I lost at both of them.

I headed back to my apartment after lunch, and took a brief nap before I was awakened by Marisela calling again. She called to let me know that she was going to meet an American volunteer in Plaza and wanted to know if I wanted to join her. Overwhelmed by the flood of incoming Americans, I decided it would be nice to meet one that might respond to a normal greeting, so I agreed.

A short time ago, I got to Plaza and recieved another phone call from Marisela letting me know that they were going to be late. I decided to head upstairs to an internet cafe to type up a quick entry. I may or may not have gotten distracted by a desire to find the recipe to Magianno's Rig D (for those of you who haven't tried this dish yet, as Daniel Schear would say: It tastes so good in my mouth). I found it, printed it off, and tomorrow night, I plan on trying to concoct my own version of Rig D. Wish me luck.

Oh, Marisela just walked by, which means I have to get going. I'll have to update about the landLady thing next time. Always leave 'em wanting more.

Take Two

Thursday January 14th 2010 1:00pm

I apologize for not writing over the past month or so, but I feel as though this blog is mainly for my Honduras experiences. "But you got back to Honduras a week ago!" I know, I know. And not to give excuses, but I still don´t have a functioning computer at my apartment, and until late yesterday afternoon, we did not have internet in the office.

Rather than breaking down every day as I had been, I figure that it might be somewhat easier to sum up the past week.

After my plane from DC was late getting into Houston, I arrived at my gate only 10 minutes before take off for my international flight. Amazingly, they hadn´t closed the doors yet, and I was able to board. Unfortunately, I knew that the close shave on my passengerdom for my flight to Tegucigalpa probably meant that my baggage would be coming in on the next flight.

Amazingly enough, after I passed through customs, my baggage was drifting merrily along the belt waiting for me to pick it up. I quickly picked up my luggage, headed outside, hailed a taxi, and was home within minutes. I took most of the rest of the day to nap, unpack, and get readjusted.

The rest of the weekend was spent grocery shopping, reading, and being disappointed by the Bengals. I don´t even want to talk about it.

On Sunday night, I went over to Freddy´s for a little bit to play some video games with some of the guys, and we all caught up about our Christmas breaks.

Monday and Tuesday at work, we didn´t have internet. The organization hadn´t gotten some money that was supposed to be forwarded from some bank to a Honduran bank, and so once again, the employees were without paycheck and we were without internet or water.

We had a meeting, where Freddy urged everyone to use their vacation time. I thought it was an odd request, and found it even odder to see the fallen faces of my Honduran peers who would rather come to work than take their vacations. It wasn´t because they didn´t have paid vacations, because they did. Heidy later noticed the confusion on my face and came up to talk with me about it. She explained that most people here would rather be at work than at home for various reasons. For some, the office is in a better neighborhood. For others, they don´t get along with their families. Some don´t have access to internet in their communities, and being at work keeps them informed.

Heidy went on to explain that she hadn´t taken a vacation in three years, and was not looking forward to somehow using up the six weeks of vacation that she had accumulated. This attitude towards vacations is something that I don´t think that I will ever be able to fully comprehend.

Throughout the week, I still came to the office, though without internet, most of my work was crippled. I took the time to finish up some reading, and got through a few books that I had gotten for Christmas. I finished Three Cups of Tea, On Dangerous Ground, and The Broken Teaglass, all between Sunday night and Wednesday afternoon. I´m currently working my way through The God Delusion, which my grandad is letting me borrow. I make mental notes for my arguments to some of the points, but really really want to write in the margins. I kind of got used to that during my time at Bethany, and almost marked my grandad´s book up with some pretty permanent markers.

We have a group that is scheduled to come in a couple of weeks, and Felix Ortiz, (my boss from the US) is coming down with them. It will be good to see Felix again, and I´m very excited to work with my first group.

My time between now and then will largely be spent working with Marisela preparing for the group´s pending arrival.

It has been very different to come back here. I´m not sure how to articulate how it is different, or expand on those feelings, but I know that it is different.

Again, I apologize for not taking time to pound out an entry at an internet cafe, but I´m glad I got the chance to update today. Please feel free to comment, message me, or send me an email. I would love to hear about how your lives are going. Keep me up to date with the States.

Last post of 2009?

Thursday November 10th 2009 9:00
My brother comes for a visit tomorrow, and I highly doubt I will continue posting over the Christmas vacation. I guess we will have to wait and see, but there is a possibility that this will be my last post for 2009.


Tuesday November 8th

Tuesday nothing worth writing about happened. Work was normal. The drive home was normal. The evening was spent relaxing. I elected not to waste an entire post yesterday just to write out those three sentences.


Wednesday November 9th

Yesterday Freddy let me borrow La Batalla (the car) and get some practice driving it. I am allowed to borrow it for the week that Bobo visits, and I was glad that Freddy let me use it for some practice. For practice, Freddy and I left in the morning to go laptop shopping.

As my work history in the United States is split between the food industry and churches, I haven´t had much experience with some of the office practices. From my limited experience with company purchases in the US, the standard has been to shop around, find the best product for the most reasonable price, purchase it, and be sure to include the reciept.

In Honduras, you must travel to at least three different stores and have them print out estimates for how much product would cost. After bringing the three or more different reports back to the office, discussion ensues, and then after a debate, funds are allocated and the product can be purchased the next day.

Before lunch yesterday, Freddy and I drove around town to three different laptop stores and got quotes from each of them. We returned to the office and the funds were approved for a Toshiba Laptop for the CCD, which I will be able to use while I am here. Hopefully this means that we will be able to get the laptop today. Knowing life and culture in Honduras however, I am not holding my breath.

We got back to the office for lunch, and enjoyed discussing different gift ideas for our secret friends. After lunch, we had our English class. For not having grades, tests or quizzes that matter, or really any benefit other than learning, these students are really studying and practicing! It makes teaching easy.

I drove everyone back to Plaza after work, and thoroughly enjoyed the traffic and general havoc that is driving in Tegucigalpa. When I had returned home safely, I did some laundry and got a few things ready for Bobo´s visit. I watched some TV and read a little bit before heading to bed.

Just in case I don´t post again in 2009...it has been quite a year.

Graduations

Tuesday December 8th 2009 2:00pm

There is a possibility that the funds for a new laptop will come through before leaving for Christmas break. I might be the proud new owner of a work laptop by the end of the week. At this point, I can only hope.


Friday December 4th

Friday at work I did a lot of translations. I translated power point slide shows into English. I translated budget request forms into Spanish. I translated different request forms into English. I was tired of translating by the end of the day, though I was pleasantly surprised to find that I rarely had to try and find an online translator for help with certain phrases.

After work, I went back to the apartment and began making dinner. In the middle of my attempt at pizza making, there was a knock at my door and my neighbors Belkis, Gretel, and their cousin all came in to visit with me for a while. As I finished up dinner preparations, they headed out to have their own dinner, but invited me to go out to a club with them later that night.

The pizza tasted better than I had expected, and when I had eaten my fill, I got ready to go out. Belkis´ uncle drove us to the club around 9:00 in what I can only describe as the most terrifying ride of my life. When he went a little fast on one of the back roads, I thought nothing of it. When he sped through the first red light, I became very nervous. As we approached 40 mph, and dodged back and forth across the double yellow line, I saw my life flash before my eyes.

We were fortunate enough to make it into the club unscathed, though it took a while for my heartbeat to return to normal. My neighbors could see that I was physically shaken up by the drive, and laughed to themselves. "What is that not how you do things in Ohio?"

"No...In Ohio, we value stop lights, speed limits, double yellow lines, basic traffic laws, and above all our lives!"

The whole night was kind of awkward from there on out. I wasn´t much in the mood for drinking or dancing, and the music was too loud for a conversation. I was grateful that my neighbors invited me out to experience something new...it just wasn´t really for me. At the end of the night, I refused to get back into the car with their uncle driving, and decided to take a taxi home.

I got home around 1:00am tired and grateful to be alive.


Saturday December 5th

Saturday morning, the Comunidad Theologica de Honduras (CTH) where I teach held its graduation services at 10:00am. I got to the office around 8:00, and was told that my job was to be the camera man. I spent the rest of the morning talking with students and setting up my camera. It was nice to interact with some of the students outside of the classroom atmosphere.

The ceremony was long. Too long. Too many students spoke. Too many teachers spoke. Too many board members spoke. Too many students presented giant acrostics of the director´s name and took a half hour to painstakingly explain how and why each word corresponded to some benevolent characteristic of the director.

Hours later, the ceremony ended, and Freddy and I headed out to pick up some lunch before going back home. We stopped at a KFC, which I have had more often in Honduras than I have in the US, and ate some chicken while discussing graduation reform.

I took a nap for a while in the afternoon and took some time to do some laundry. I made some plans for my brother´s visit, and read more of Cornell West´s book before watching some Christmas specials on TV and heading to bed. Shrek the Halls was pretty funny.


Sunday December 6th

Sunday I woke up around 10:00 and made some breakfast. I read a little and did some more laundry before watching the NFL action. I was surprised when almost halfway through the Eagles/Falcon´s game, Fox Sports in Spanish just decided to switch to the Saints game. Don´t get me wrong, the Saints game was far more exciting, but I just found it interesting that the network would switch in the middle of the game. Not at half time. Not after a quarter. After the third quarter had started.

I was happy to see that the Bengals had won, and took the rest of the afternoon to finish up laundry, read, and check scores periodically.

That evening I made some Chicken Surprise. I decided it would be a good idea to get creative with some dinner options and just kind of threw a bunch of things together. The taste certainly was surprising, though not in the best of senses. It was fun to try something new though.

I found a tv channel that played Christmas music, and listened to that for a while. As I was listening to it, I remembered that I had an extra can of pumpkin pie mix, and all of the ingredients. I was bored, and decided to make another pumpkin pie. I´ll probably eat all of it before Nathan gets here, so he shouldn´t expect any. At all.


Monday December 7th

Monday, everyone from the office met at Plaza at 7:30 in the morning. We got in a bus and drove to Talanga, where we held another graduation for the students graduating from technical school. We got there around 10:00 and the cereomony started around 10:30.

This graduation was much better. And by better I mean faster. It was over within an hour. No long speeches, no extra long speeches, no uneccesary acrostics. It was a thing of beauty. After the service, we stuck around for lunch and then helped clean up.

I got back to my apartment around 3:00 and remembered that I had forgotten about advent. I did not go to church the day before, and had forgotten that it was the season for advent. I went out and bought some candles, and did some research at an internet cafe to put together a little personal service for later.

I went back to my apartment and got started on dinner. I decided to take less liberties with my creations, and enjoyed the sophisticated taste of kababs. Absolutely stunning. "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" was on television, and I watched one of my favorite Christmas specials after I had cleaned up my dishes. That Burger Meister is just not a nice character.

After Santa ended up building a workshop, marrying Jessica, and selecting December 24th as the night to deliver his toys, I set up my own little advent service, and enjoyed the comfort that Christmas brings. Normally advent is something I share with my church family and then later with my parents and siblings. It was nice to feel a connection to them as I lit the candles.

Secret Santa

Friday December 4th 2009 2:45pm

In Honduras, Secret Santa gift exchanges do not exist. Secret Friend gift exchanges, however, are very common. Yesterday I left my first gift for my secret friend. My secret friend forgot to check the box before she left for the day. I am sure that the gift is now no longer nearly as delicious or not-stale as I had hoped. I have yet to recieve anything from my secret friend, leading me to believe that my gift giver places much more value on the "secret" aspect of the exchange.

As far as work goes, it was a pretty standard day. I translated a few documents, listened to my Christmas music, enjoyed some water from a snowman mug, and found a few more grant applications. Due to a late meeting, we didn´t leave the office until close to 5:30, and I didn´t get back to my apartment until close to 6:00.

I had wanted to make a pizza for dinner, but the crust which I had previously purchased, disappointed me in much the same way that I´m sure my gift to my secret friend will be disspointing. The stale crust pushed me in the direction of a delicious dinner of hot dogs with cheese and pepperoni on crackers.

The meal was surprisingly filling, and as I watched the Office, I got a phone call from Freddy inviting me to come over and play some Guitar Hero with Cente and a few of the other guys. I headed over for a while, and played various video games and watched television until close to midnight. I hadn´t seen Cente, Dario, and Sedok in a while, and it was really good to see them.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Thursday December 3rd 2009 3:45pm

Yesterday, Freddy had a meeting in the morning, so I had to take a taxi cab to work. At this point, I have memorized the directions I give to the taxi driver, which means I don´t have to look at the sheet where I had the instruction written down. This leads to lower prices from the taxi drivers, as it appears to them that I know what I´m doing.

Work yesterday was spent collecting more grant forms, organizing them, and preparing to talk with Freddy about the best way to fill them out. The meeting that Freddy was in, however, decided to last all day instead of just half of the day. This meant that after lunch, I was not going to have very much work to do. Because I knew that, I tried to make the English class for the day last a little bit longer. We have moved on to days of the week, and slowly but surely everyone is catching on to the "th" sound as well as the difference between "b" and "v".

After the lesson, I made myself useful by compiling a list of Christmas music that I could listen to while working. It took a lot of time and research. I´m not even kidding about that. I saved my list to grooveshark (a website with various songs, that allows for one to compile their own play lists and save them to listen to later), grabbed the snowman mug from the coffee station, filled it with water, and was content to listen to John Denver and the Muppets while sipping a nice cup of cool water on a relatively warm December day.

I turned on my Christmas lights as soon as I got home and made some chicken experiment for dinner. After dinner, I recieved some good news from Freddy in a text message. Global Ministries, has finally approved the funds for a laptop for the CCD, which means that sometime next week, I will be able to get a laptop that functions in my apartment!

Maybe on the 18th, when I feel air below 50 degrees, it will feel even more like Christmas. Until then, I´ll take my Christmas tunes at work, my snowman mug (which I have claimed and hidden so that no one else may use it), and my Christmas lights every day when I get back to the apartment.

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.

Thanksgiving Weekend and Elections

Tuesday December 1st 2009 9:00am

Merry Christmas Season everyone! And for my Hannukah adoring amigos, in the words of Kenneth Parcels "Merry Jewish" (it´s from 30 Rock).


Wednesday November 25th

This past Wednesday, there was a party at school to celebrate the end of the semester. Tons of kids came, and the office workers helped to operate games and prizes. I myself helped to work the prize booth, and was put in charge of making sure that the tickets were counted out correctly. I did a very good job counting to five.

There was a little bit of trouble around lunch time, when we began running out of prizes to give, and resorted to passing out what we could grab from the local pharmacy. The kids were less thrilled about getting soap and toothpaste, but the mothers of the kids seemed very pleased with the change in options.

After lunch, I headed out with Freddy, Nancy and Alfreddy to go to Monte Carmelo, a retreat center that we own outside of the city. Apparently, the offices for the CCD used to be located at Monte Carmelo, but due to its more remote location, the offices were moved to their present day location near the school.

On our way over, we stopped at a local tire repair shop, and they took a look at one of the tires in the vehicle we were driving. As one tire repairman filled our tire up with air, I became entranced watching the other tire repairman take a tire off of its rim with a machine that kind of just popped the tire off.

The machine was beautiful. When I was on staff, and we had to change the tires on the mule vehicle, we had to put a board on the edge of the tire, and drive our truck up the board until the tire popped off. It was a much longer, and I´m sure less safe practice. It was funny though how they kept on measuring the air pressure in the tires...usually you can just feel it.

We proceeded on from there outside of the city to a beautiful retreat center. Up in the mountains, surrounded by a forest of pine trees, the center has a few buildings and meeting places, but also has a lot of natural, outdoor recreational facilities. I hadn´t been before, and was glad I had the opportunity to go.

On our way back to the office, we drove nearby my apartment, so I hopped out and headed home a little bit early. As soon as I walked in the door to my apartment, I turned back around to go out and buy some measuring spoons, and a new can opener, because apparently ones that you buy for the equivelant of 25 cents don´t last long. When I was out, I also picked up some cheap Christmas lights, which I planned on hanging up around the apartment.

I got home and relaxed for a little while before making some dinner. I checked and double checked to make sure that I had all of the ingredients necessary for all of the dishes I was going to prepare.

I also went ahead and made another pumpkin pie, because after my misfortune with my second attempt, I knew that the third time would be the charm. With my make-shift rolling pin, and pie-pan skillet, I crafted a delicious looking pumpkin pie before heading to bed.


Turkey Day November 26th

I woke up early and spent the morning watching the Thanksgiving parade. Around 9:00, I called home and talked with my parents and my siblings for a while. It was good to hear from them, though a little sad to know that I would not be sharing Thanksgiving in Cincinnati with my family.

Previously, I had laid out a schedule of events, with a perfect timing on what I would need to prepare, set out, or cook. At 11:00, my cooking started, and as I got the turkey out, I was terrified to only find one of the alleged two bags of gizzards in the turkey. I kept looking and looking, but there are only so many places on a turkey that you can look for a bag of gizzards. I concluded that the company must have made some error and only included one bag of gizzards in the turkey. I also concluded that if I were wrong, it probably wouldn´t mess up the meal too badly, and I would probably find the bag when carving the turkey. That makes sense, right?

I set about getting everything ready, and after a few adjustments here and there, I got into the groove of cooking. Everything ran on time, as scheduled, despite only having one pot to boil things in, which made for a constant use-and-clean system throughout the day.

Around 3:00, Patty came by to help. By that point, I didn´t have much that I felt I needed help with, but she did help cut up some onions, and her small hands did wonders that my hands could only envy with peeling the small potatoes for mashed potatoes. Slowly the meal began to come together, and as each dish finished, I checked it off of my list.

At 5:00, Edgardo, Heidy, and Betza arrived, and I explained to them that it was Thanksgiving tradition for them to either sit around and catch up with one another, or to sit around and watch football. I took time between meal preparations to explain some of the finer points of the Cowboys victory, though I fear my speeches may have fallen on deaf ears.

By 6:15, the meal was ready, and we headed upstairs to the terrace on the roof to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal. My guests had discovered my cheap Christmas lights, and took the liberty of hanging them up around the terrace. It looked beautiful to me, despite the workout machines in the background.

When 6:30 rolled around, we finished our prayer for the meal and dug in. We had:

Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Corn Casserole
Green Beans
Onion Casserole
Stuffing
Dressing
Cranberry Sauce
Salad
Rolls
Gravy

It was delicious. I was surprised.

We spent the meal talking about the history of Thanksgiving, and then sharing different things that we were thankful for. It was definitely a more intense round of "I´m thankful for..." than I was used to. My friends in Honduras were thankful for having jobs, worried about the possibility of dying loved ones, worried about their children´s opportunities, and the list goes on.

Freddy and Yasmine came a little bit later, and we all finished enjoying the Thanksgiving meal.

After the meal was finished, we headed back down to my apartment to eat some Pecan and Pumpkin pie! Personally, the pies may be my favorite part of Thanksgiving. Pies (if you can believe it) are not very common in Honduras, and so my guests were intruiged by the rare dessert. After trying both, they all found the pies to be delicious, and some even had seconds, which I was not too happy about because that meant less leftovers for me.

During the meal, I was asked if it was traditional for families to dance after their meal. I tried to explain that, at least in my family, we don´t dance after the meal for a number of reasons:
1. We are pretty white
2. You get tired after a Thanksgiving dinner
3. You also should be so full after Thanksgiving that you don´t want to move

After eating the pies, I asked my guests if they wanted to dance. They all kind of groaned and generally asked if I was a crazy man for suggesting that we dance after eating all of that food. They all looked very tired, and just sat around for about 20 minutes talking about the food, and more about what they didn´t understand about football.

Thanksgiving amatuers. Oh well, next year, I´m sure they will be more prepared.

After they left, I cleaned up the mess, called my family again, and then went straight to bed. That turkey can make you sleepy.


Friday November 27th 2009

We were only supposed to have a half day of work due to the pending elections, and because I would only miss half of a day, I felt just fine taking the whole day off to recuperate. I slept in a bit, and at lunch time, I found myself slightly perturbed by some of my Thanksgiving guests. Before they had left, I allowed them to take some food with them. I was left with salad, rolls, a few green beans, about one spoonful of the other dishes, and only the turkey that I hadn´t carved.

I had been looking forward to lots of leftovers, but was not so lucky to be able to enjoy them. I spread them out, and made what I had last, and did enjoy carving the rest of the turkey. I never did find that other bag of gizzards.

The day was spent mostly bumming around the apartment, and finishing cleaning up some of the mess.

I slept a lot throughout the day, and that night, I tried to work out on the roof, but still felt pretty full from the meal and the extra turkey left overs.


Saturday November 28th

Saturday was the day before elections, and I wasn´t sure what to do. The news that I had heard and read told me that Honduras was bracing for the worst. Each report included more and more armed guards, police officers, and army officials stationed throughout the city. The people, however, seemed to be very calm about the whole situation.

I decided to go to the store and stock up just in case. I wasn´t going to be caught eating peanut butter sandwiches for three more days straight. I shopped for mostly non-perishable items, as my refrigerator was still largely full of turkey, and as I wasn´t sure if the power would stay on.

I got back to the apartment and boiled some water, filled my pantries, and got myself ready for the next day.


Sunday November 29th - Election Day

Everything in the elections went as smoothly as possible. Despite a call for boycott from the ousted president, there was a high voter turnout, and Pepe Lobo was elected president. There were no protestors, no mobs, and no deaths. I was pleasantly surprised, and rejoiced by watching football all day.

I was, however, a little frustrated by the constant interruption of the football games to show updates on the election. Rather than just having a few channels dedicated to the election coverage, every so often, all the stations would go blank except for the three stations that showed the updates. It would only last for a few minutes, but if you are trying to watch a Titan´s game winning, and very exciting drive, it can be a few minutes too long.

It can really be frustrating when one is watching Sunday night football, and at the end of the fourth quarter, the station blacks out, and you have to wait 15 minutes until it comes back on to find out that the game is in overtime!

Other than those minor frustrations, Sunday went very well, and I was overjoyed that the elections went smoothly.


Monday November 30th

Monday I did some real shopping. I had cleaned out a good portion of the turkey, and needed to refill my refrigerator. I spent the morning at the store, and after lunch, I decided to head up to the roof to try and work off a little bit of the Thanksgiving meal that was hanging around.

In the middle of a stationary bike ride, when I may or may not have been singing a Flight of the Conchords song outloud, my next door neighbor decided that it would be a good time for her to come up to the roof. The attractive young Honduran woman introduced herself, and began to strike up a conversation with me. Me who had not only been singing outloud and possibly dancing slightly, but also, me who had been sweating profusely for about 30 minutes, and hadn´t shaved his patchy facial hair in roughly five days. It was a great time to meet people.

It turns out that my neighbor had been born in Honduras, but had moved to LA with her family shortly after she was born. She and some of her relatives were only back for a month or so for vacation. She spoke English very well, and was able to help me out when I got stuck with my Spanish. After talking for a while, she invited me to knock on their door whenever I was bored, (which was foolish, because I am often bored in the evenings) and I invited her to knock on mine whenever she was bored...as long as it was at a reasonable hour.

When I finished my workout, I headed downstairs and took a much needed shower. I spent the rest of the day hanging up some Christmas lights around the apartment and on the balcony. It doesn´t really feel like Christmas when its 70 degrees and sunny outside, but the lights help.

I made some dinner for myself and watched some Monday Night Football before heading to bed.