Earthquake

This is just to inform everyone that I am okay. Yes, there was an earthquake in Honduras last night at 3 in the morning, however, this earthquake was very far away from where I am. Actually, I was traveling with my friend Laura and we were on the islands just this week, but we left yesterday morning, just in time to not feel a thing. By the time the earthquake happened, we were safe and sound on the opposite side of Honduras. THanks everyone for your concerns! Mom, I´m surprised you haven´t called yet!

Unwanted attention 2

I was just reading and old blog I had put up about unwanted attention, and was reminded of a funny incident that happened recently in my town.

For the most part, the men in my town are respectful of me, and don´t make stupid comments when I pass by. However, there always has to be those one or two guys who are just downright rude. One of them lives in the town over from me, and every time I pass him, he just has to say something rediculous to me. Well, the other day, I just had enough of it. I was passing by him and a bunch of his friends, when he called to me ¨mi amor, I looooov yu.¨ That was it, I just couldn´t take it anymore. So I turned around (I was already a good way past all of them), and yelled ¨who do you think you are, talking to me like that? I am a person, just like you, and you need to respect me! Anyways, I live here, and I don´t want to hear you yell at me every single time I pass you, you got it?¨ And I walked away, just in time to see his friends doubled over from laughter, and his face turn slightly pink.

Mi madrecita

Mother's Day, I know has come and gone, but I also have not gotten the chance to get to town since then to write about Mother’s Day here in Honduras.

I was talking to my mom the second time I called for Mother’s Day about how the priest in our parish at home was talking in mass that day about how the woman who invented the special day in America spent the rest of her life since then fighting how it was celebrated. Now, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with how Mother’s Day is celebrated in the States, but I just think it’s so much more wonderful here in Honduras (and, I believe, in all of Latin America). That’s why I called my mom 3 times that day (she doesn’t know about the third, because I couldn’t get a hold of her the third time because the lines were so clogged up), because I was constantly reminded the entire day of how special mothers are and how much they deserve such a wonderful tribute to them.

When people go away from the house to study or work, they normally come home only 3 times a year. Once for Christmas, once for Holy Week, and once for Mother´s Day. I remember in the afternoon on Saturday, noticing that the bus from our town was passing through town a 3rd time to drop people off, and thinking ¨how strange, the buses only pass by twice.¨ Then I remembered, Mother´s Day! There are only 2 buses that leave from my town to go to the city each day. Well I know that on that Saturday, each bus made at least 2 trips because there were too many people coming into town to see their mom the next day.

On Sunday, I went to mass and saw that it was especially full that day and there was a buzz of excitement all inside and outside the church. During the homily, the priest talked especially about mothers and their role in the family. After the mass, a few people got up and said poems about mothers (there are a ton of them in spanish).

After mass, I went home to call my mom, because I missed her. After talking to her a short bit, I went to the school, where the students were putting on performances for Mother´s Day. They danced, sang songs about mothers and recited poems about mothers. It was beautiful. After that, I went to a friend´s house to celebrate the big day with them, and they were making a feast at home, with a special cake to go along with it as well!

One thing I love about this culture, and the importance of Mother´s Day definately reflects it, is how special family is. Family and relationships are their number one priority. It is very community-centered, which I think is why I feel so at home here, even though my family isn´t here with me!

Birthday in Honduras

So, last year for my birthday, I must say, was 100% disappointing, however, it was also all my fault. My family, and especially my mom, all know the type of person I am. I never mention my birthday to the people I love, hoping secretly that they will miraculously remember, and throw me a huge surprise party. Seriously, that´s how I am and have always been.

Well, in Honduras, it´s 5X worse, because if you aren´t reminding people every day 3 times a day, they are sure to forget. And that´s exactly what happened last year. I told a few close friends about a week or two before my birthday that it was coming up, and as the day approached, hoped to God they would remember. Well, they didn´t, much to my surprise and great disappointment. I just remember the disappointment of that day, when I was relating the whole story to my family up in the woods behind my house.

This year, I vowed to make it much, much different. So I had a party! In my town, when someone has a birthday party, it´s custom to have a celebration first (mass without the priest), then give out food and cake, and break a piñata. So that´s exactly what I did. The day before, the profesora, the woman I lived with before moving to my own house, drove me to Choluteca and helped me pick out all of the things I would need to make the food. When I got back, I went over to a friends house, and brought her back with me to spend the night, and help me make the cake (yes, i stupidly decided to make 2 cakes for 50 people myself!).

The cake making was quite an experience, I must say. First of all, I had gone to the city the day before especially to buy butter for the cake, something that is almost impossible to find. Well, upon arriving to my house, I set the bag with the butter in it on the chair outside, and went inside to set up for making the cake. To my surprise and horror, when I went to get the butter, it was nowhere in sight! The stray dogs that like to come around my house scavengering for food because their owners don´t give them anything to eat had stolen it! I was devastated. How the hell was I going to make my cake now? Luckily, my friend consoled me and she and my boyfriend both helped me make a cake with shortening instead. Not half as good, but it would have to do.

The next day, I went early in the morning to the Profesora´s house to cut vegetables, cook the chicken, and get everything ready for the food. I came back later that day to finish everything, and carried a huge pot that she had lent me all the way up the hill to my house. I was ready for a party. People started showing up. The kids first, then the parents came lagging behind. I remember walking back from the cooperative, carrying chairs, and seeing a multitude of children running around outside my house, and beaming with glee. I loved seeing my house like this!

During the celebration, many people expressed their sentiments for me, and how much I meant to them. And afterwards they sand various songs to me. The breaking of the huge piñata, almost the size of me, was the last blow out, and tons of fun. I had filled it to the brim with so much candy, they could hardly lift the darn thing! Every time a kid hit the piñata and candy shot out, it was a race to see who could get it first. And when it finally broke for good, it was a disaster. Candy, children, pieces of piñata everywhere. Just what a good birthday party should be.

I´m alive

So, I´m writing this blog today to let you all know that I´m am alive and okay. The thing is, the computer I would always write my blogs on in my town was not working for some time, so it made it much harder for me to write my blogs, because when i go into the city, i almost never have time to sit and think up something to put on my blog. But I am here to announce that the computer is working again! I will be putting up blogs from my trip to Mexico to visit my sister Sarah, and my birthday party very soon!

Peace to all, I hope you´re doing well

Mary´s visit

Soooo, I know my little sister left quite a long time ago. She came back with me from the states, and spent an entire week in Honduras, most of which was spent in my site. We kept meaning to leave and do other things outside of my site, but never got the chance, because we both loved just hanging out in my site! Some of my favorite memories were:

1. Climbing the mountain up to the top, and sitting and taking pictures, and just taking in the beauty all around us.
2. Watching Mary freak out while taking a bucket bath basically outdoors, while continually swating at the bees that were buzzing around her, and screaming. I´m proud of her for getting through it!
3. playing soccer with the neighbors, two of which were guys around mine and Mary´s age. Every time she looked like she got hurt, they would run up to her, and ask if she was okay, and if she needed a massage!
4. Dancing with Mary in the discoteca!
5. Going and visiting the gold mines in the town over from mine, and taking a picture with a group of the miners, who were quite happy to do so!
6. Riding on my horse to the next town down the mountain taking turns, and then riding him back up the mountain with both of us on him on the same time! One of us eventually had to get off, because we thought we were going to kill the poor thing!
7. Going to a great typical restaurant our first night in Tegucigulpa, and having a Mariachi band sing a song about Maria to us
8. Cooking some grand meals in my house!
9. Playing with the son of one of my neighbors, my favorite little boy in the world! We both want to adopt him and take him home for good.
10. Watching Mary´s spanish get better and better only over a week span, and her getting less and less timid.

My last day in site

Just kidding. I'm still here, and will be here for 9 months more. But I left my town today to go back to visit the states, and I definitely felt like I was actually leaving forever at times. My day yesterday was full of good-byes and good lucks that it made me start to feel like I wasn't coming back. Well, the least it did was give me a little glimpse of what it will be like for me when I finally leave.

So, I woke up early in the morning to wash my sheets, and the rest of the dirty clothes that I had left in the hamper. Right as I finished up, I rushed off to a Christmas lunch that the president of the women's cooperative I work with put together for all the women of the cooperative. The main event was to celebrate Christmas, and just have a good time together.

We all arrived together in the car of one of the women in my town. When we got there, the woman who had invited us all had set up chairs in a circle on her porch and already had lunch cooking in the kitchen. She ran up to us with a warm smile on her face, and greeted each one of us with a huge hug. We each sat down in the chairs, some uneasy being in an unfamiliar place, and others content and perfectly at ease. As we began talking about the women's children and telling jokes, I could see the more timid women opening up, and soon everyone was laughing and opening up.

The lunch made was chicken boiled with vegetables, rice, fried shrimp and salad. It was the best Honduran meal I have ever had! After lunch, we sat around and exchanged secret santa gifts (yes, the exact same custom that we have here in the states, they have in my small town in Honduras). The person who gave me the gift was the host. Before handing it to me, she announced to everyone that her secret santa was a very special person who meant so much to the women's group, and that she was going to miss her very much when she left. I almost teared up when she announced my name, and went up to give her a huge hug. The person I gave my gift to was none other than the profesora whom I lived with for 5 months before moving into my own house. She is a person very dear to me, and probably one of my favorite people in all of Agua Fria. I was happy to have picked her name, and be able to give her my small gift.

After secret santa, they brought out the cake. Now this cake had been the idea of, and bought by the profesora, who wanted to buy me a goodbye cake (yes, she knew I was only leaving for 2 weeks) to thank me for all the work that I had done with the high school and with the women's group. I was so honored, and realized how much I really do mean to these people, and that they aren't just saying formalities when they tell me they'll miss me. They really mean it.



At one point during the day, one of the women announced how happy she was that the group had formed, how much it helped her, and how she hoped that it would never fall apart. Last night my family asked me what was the moment in which I felt like I was making a difference. I suppose it was at that moment. During my time here, I'm sure I'll work a lot, and help many people. But the real difference I'm making I know will be very, very subtle. And revealed to me through gestures and small comments like that one.

After I got back from the party, I went from house to house saying goodbye to people, hoping not to forget anyone. The last house I came to is the house of a woman who makes bread every other day, and sells it on the others in the city in order to make a living. I went to her house to ask to buy some bread from her. I spent 3 hours there, just chatting with her and her daughter and grandchildren about airplanes, people who go illegally to the states, and Christmas customs in the states. As I said my final goodbyes, I looked into the face of the woman, and saw that she was tearing up. At first I thought that something was wrong, and that something had happened. But I soon saw that those tears were for me. Her daughter laughed at her and said, "mother, she's not leaving for good. She'll be back in 2 weeks!" "I know, " she sniffed, "I was just thinking of how hard it's going to be when she leaves for good."