The Adventures of Hannah & Charlie

Thank you

2011-12-24T18:31:00.000-08:00

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. - Meister Eckhart

Yesterday at the supermarket, the woman in line ahead of me had a few meager items in her basket - mostly what you would see in a "canasta básica" - rice, beans, spaghetti, tomato paste, plus a few other "luxuries" like milk, some pastries, and a big bouncy ball for her 3 or 4 year old son that was with her. From her tired eyes and rough hands, I knew she was a hard working woman - probably someone's maid. I watched as she stared at the monitor, blinking and swallowing as each item was scanned and the total at the bottom of the screen increased.

I glanced into my own shopping cart, filled to the brim with supplies for my husband's birthday party, our Christmas dinner and breakfast - thousands of lempiras worth of food.

And I couldn't help tearing up when I heard her say to the cashier, "Please, don't let it go over 400 lempiras ($20) because my gift card is only for L 300 ($15), and I only have L 100 ($5) more to pay."

I watched the monitor as well, silently praying that the total wouldn't go over.

As I crossed my fingers behind my back, tears started streaming down my face. And it wasn't out of pity. It was because it wasn't that long ago that I was in the same exact position as she was now. I was pregnant and unemployed, and we could barely make ends meet with Jose's salary. Only by the grace of God did I get enough invitation jobs to make my car payment each month. Everything that we got for Nicholas was loaned or donated by friends and family - even my maternity clothes were borrowed. And so our grocery budget was laughable - it was easily enough for one person to spend on dinner out at a chain restaurant. I spent hours meticulously planning a menu each week from the sale ads at La Colonia in order to spend only what was necessary. And I remember on many, many occasions, watching that monitor in the check out line just as carefully as she was doing now, crossing my fingers, and blushing as I told the cashier I had decided I "didn't need" the last few things.

With each beep of the scanner the total increased closer to L 400, and finally she selected a few items to leave out. She decided to sacrifice the pastries, the milk, and the tomato paste in order to afford the ball for her son, who was jumping up and down with excitement when she handed it to him.

I wiped my cheeks and told her, "Please, take it all. I'll pay the extra." She looked in my eyes - I think seeing the reason for my tears - took my hand in both of hers, and said "Thank you, young lady, thank you."

if you still believe in the easter bunny, you probably shouldn't read this

2011-04-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

My older cousin is probably the one that broke the news to me. I probably tried to act cool - like I already knew. I don't really remember the exact details about finding out. And I don't clearly remember telling my mother about my new found knowledge. But I do clearly remember the devastation on her face when I told her I knew that she was the Easter bunny.

Most parents stop playing those parts when their children "grow out" of it. But I have a special kind of mother, the best kind, who up until this year, still labeled gifts from Santa, and still surprised me with treats "that the Easter bunny left at her house." I remember one Easter when I was dating my husband, the Easter bunny even left a basket for him at their house.

This past Christmas, she broke the news to my brother and me... Santa doesn't visit you anymore when you have your own children. My brother (whose wife was expecting) and I understood. But deep down, I think we were both a little sad. "No more Santa? Just because we have babies? No fair!"

Tonight, I prepared Nicholas' first Easter basket. As I contemplated where to leave it (his room? the stairs? the kitchen counter? Where does the Easter bunny leave these things?!), it suddenly dawned on me why Santa doesn't come anymore...it's because I am Santa. Duh...how could I not realize this before? Now, I am the Easter bunny. I'm Santa. I'm the Tooth Fairy.

I don't feel old enough for this. But here I am...wife, mother, Easter bunny.

I hope I can fill her shoes.

rule #1

2011-03-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

The first rule of driving in Honduras...

there are no rules!

Make your own lanes (as seen above), drive on the sidewalks, drive over medians, drive in reverse down ramps, ....I'm telling you people I've seen it all. If you can drive in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, you can drive ANYWHERE!

dear soptravi,

2011-03-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

Since you regraded the road I take to work, I really like you...

Pave it, and we could be talking love...

I got pulled over today...

2011-02-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

The officer approached my car and said, "Su licencia y revisión, por favor." (License and registration, please.)

I said, "What? Yo no hablo espanol," with the gringo accent turned way up.

"SU LICENCIA! LICENCIA!!!" he said like he was talking to a deaf person.

"Ohhh, my license?!?" I asked in English, playing dumb.

"Yes," he replied in English. For a moment I panicked and thought OMG he speaks English...this isn't going to work!

But then he said, "y la revisión??"

"My what?! I'm sorry, yo no hablo español!" I said, still playing stupid.

"La revisión del vehiculo. DEL VEHICULO!" he said slowly.

"Ohhh...this??" I asked, pulling out my registration.

"Yes," he replied in English.

He walked to the back of the car to consult the other officer. They both laughed. He came back, handed me my license, and sent me off with a smirk and a "que le vaya muy bien."

"Grassy-ass," I answered with a grin, and drove away WITHOUT a ticket or having to pay a bribe.

So for future reference...learn from my past mistakes and current success:

Being mean, being nice, and crying do not get one out of a ticket in Honduras.

Pretending to not speak Spanish...now, that does the trick!

finally

2011-02-16T19:12:00.001-08:00

I picked up my carné de residente (ID) today!! I'm an official Honduran resident! Wahoooo!

i knew this would happen

2011-02-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

What did I tell you? I knew I wouldn't keep that resolution. But a girl's gotta try, right?

I've got lots to say...just no time! HELLO, I have a new baby. Everyday is a new adventure. But there's not a lot time when you have one of those. AND, I feel like I would bore you all to death with only baby news.

So how's this?

I spent way too much of my baby-is-sleeping-so-you-can-get-stuff-done time looking at the urban outiftters website tonight. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of almost everything. I love eccentric things. I mean, just look at that scarf strips shag rug! No one in Honduras has one of those. And those Alice drawings! So unique!

But, oh my, would you look at this headboard??

I saw it and fell. in. love. My heart said YES. My wallet LAUGHED. And my brain said HEY maybe YOU can make that!

What do you think? Should I give it a try????

And, of course, the obligatory cute photo...

silly goose

2011-01-10T04:34:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Nicholas spit up all over himself (the story of his life). I said, "Don't do that, you silly goose! Now we have to change your clothes AGAIN!"

My husband asked, "Why do you always call him that? Silly goose? That makes no sense."

"It just means he's being silly."

"But why goose? That makes no sense."

Hmmmm. Good point.

So off to Google I went. It took a little while, but I found the answer.

According to Brewer's Dictionary of Fiction and Fable, calling someone a goose/geese means that they are foolish or ignorant due to the "alleged stupidity of this bird."

And now you know the rest of the story.

And now I REALLY want this book.

Your obligatory cute photo of the day...

our trip back to los EEUU!

2011-01-08T20:40:00.001-08:00

I really thought traveling with a baby would be more difficult. Nicholas was SO wonderful on all 4 flights...even the flight attendants commented on how well he behaved! :)

We really enjoyed our time back in Kentucky. My family was thrilled to finally see Nicholas in person (vs Skype!). Everyone thoroughly spoiled him. :)

And as much as I like it in Honduras these days, it is so nice to visit the states where the streets are straight, quiet, and SAFE! When we were landing in Atlanta, I told Jose... "It's funny...I know it's not like we live in the jungle or anything, but I really feel like we're coming into civilization for the first time in a year!" The first day we were out and about, we stopped at a major intersection in my town. I rolled down the window and said, "Listen Jose...it's so quiet!" We were surrounded by about 30 cars, and there was complete silence. No children begging at the windows, no one selling cell phone chargers, no one yelling the newspaper headlines, and NO HONKING HORNS! So strange after a year in Tegucigalpa, ha!

While we were there we shopped and shopped and shopped....and then shopped some more. The first thing I wanted to do when we got there was go to Walmart! We spent hours there, just walking up and down the aisles. I kept saying, "oh my gosh look at how many types of ___ they have!" Or "oh my gosh look how much/little those ____ cost!!!" Funny, because I hated that place when I lived there. Now I wish I could pack up Walmart, Target, TJ Maxx, and Hobby Lobby (really, I could keep going...) and bring them back to Honduras with me!

We also had a list of places we wanted to eat while we were there. Arby's, Starbucks, Olive Garden, Mariah's, Rafferty's, DQ, White Castle, PANERA!....we probably spent the majority of our budget just on food! But SO worth it. Yum!

And while it was good to be "home" for 10 days and visit family/friends that I haven't seen in a long time, it actually felt good to come back to Honduras. I never thought I would say that! But this is home (for now) and I think I sort of missed the crazy chaos of the streets, I definitely missed my maid and nanny, and absolutely missed my dear friends. :)

And ps, Nicholas grew into a new size while we were there! Already in size 6 months!

Christmas crafting

2010-12-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

I got all crafty yesterday and made up some sticker tags and stuck them on cellophane bags. Then today I baked SIX DOZEN cookies. Oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, and peanut butter. Yummm. A friend and I stuffed them in baggies, and I handed them out today to the pediatrician, ob/gyn, neighbors, in-laws, etc. I'm really proud of them. Aren't they cute?? :)

tenga una dulce navidad = have a sweet christmas

my first resolution

2010-12-17T20:39:00.001-08:00

Good grief I can't believe I haven't posted anything since October. I'm sorry my dears (if there are even any of you still reading!!). I think you have to forgive me though, since I've been a little busy with a new baby and a new job and whatnot.

Anyway, to the point...I want you to know that this year I am making my first New Year's resolution ever. Can you believe I have never made a New Year's resolution? It is probably my subconscious just preventing me from making a promise to do something it knows I can't follow through on. I'm really good at coming up with ideas, but not so good at following through...

*drum roll*

This year, I promise I am going to write a blog post at least once a week!

I hope I stick with this because I really miss writing, and I hope you miss reading!! :)

Now, for what you all actually came for...

I know, right?! :) :) :)

surprise, surprise

2010-10-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Attention:

...we are not seeing anyone today, because there is a lot of dust...

My husband went to the RNP (Registro Nacional de las Personas) yesterday to apply for Nicholas' birth certificate. They were closed. Because of dust. Yes, dust. AND they misspelled the word "demaSiado" (too much/a lot) on that sign. Spell check, anyone?

He went again this morning, and they were open (hooray!) but the wait was over 5 hours (boo!). It took Jose over 6 months to get a new ID last year because every time he went they were out of plastic (for printing the cards). Next time he gets away from work to go, they'll probably say no hay sistema (the system is down). Or they'll be on strike. Or they'll be out of paper....

Maybe Nicholas will never have a birth certificate (and therefore never a US passport!!!)....

Baby Nicholas is here!

2010-09-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

September 10 @ 8:26 am via c-section

8 lbs 2 oz

50.5 cms (19.9 in)

I bet you didn't know...

2010-08-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

...that I lived so close to Kuwait, did you? ;)

Wait, maybe this is in reference to the BOULEVARD Kuwait. :)

t- 6 days

2010-08-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm going to be a mother (to a human...I'm already a mother to a fur baby!!) in 6 +- days!!!

The Dr. Seuss nursery is ready and cleaned, the clothes are washed and folded, our bag is packed....

Now what?!

I'm dying here. It's not that I'm that uncomfortable. Sure, I have little feet in my ribs and it's hard to breathe and I pee every 5 minutes, but it's not THAT bad. I've heard of a lot worse.

It's this WAITING GAME that has me going insane. Knowing that he could make his grand entrance any day now, but not knowing exactly when is driving me crazy. With every little pain, cramp, or tightening in my belly, I have googled "what do contractions feel like..." thinking OK THIS IS IT! But it never is. :-/

I guess all I can say is..... stay tuned!

Word of the Day Wednesday

2010-08-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering...

An ant-hill is NOT called "la casa de las hormigas" (translation: house of the ants) in Spanish (like I called it, much to the amusement of my gardener).

It is called an hormiguero (say or-mee-geh-roh) or nido (say neee-doh).

Now you know.

count your blessings

2010-07-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

does this add up?

2010-07-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

One roll is L.22.95, and a pack of 2 rolls is L. 82.00.

Claro TV update

2010-06-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

Remember this story about my experience with Claro from forever ago??

It turns out that a friend of a friend is the Gerente General at Claro. She told him my story last night, and in turn he had his assistant call me first thing this morning. I told the assistant the whole story and she apologized a million times and said they want to do "whatever is necessary" to redeem themselves.

I'm supposed to hear back from her tomorrow. I think if she actually calls back when she said she would...that's a big step up for their customer service! ;)

Stay tuned for updates....

Dear Fetus

2010-06-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

I appreciate your signals from the womb to let me know you are alive and well and growing...but will you please stop kicking me so hard? It's starting to get uncomfortable.

Sincerely,

your mother

27 weeks!

marketing FAIL

2010-05-22T06:59:00.001-07:00

*because the future is written with an F*

I am no marketing expert, but this tag line has been really bugging me since I started seeing it about a month ago.

Yes, future starts with F. But so do a million other words! Some of them are good words, but honestly none of the good ones come to mind first. How about the F-bomb? Failing grade? Fake? Fraud? Frustrating? How about the word FAIL?

healthy AND delicious!

2010-05-21T15:07:00.001-07:00

With todays visit to the local Yogen Fruz, I announce that I have officially tried all of the flavors (except for higo, because I'm not sure what it is). AND I've tried them all with a variety of toppings. My favorite? It's a tie between canteloupe with granola or strawberry with granola. (You see, I add the granola so I feel like it's even healthier....)

This is a little bit embarrassing, since it means I go there on a regular basis (like, every other day) and I think the employees are starting to recognize me.

In other news, I am boycotting Zara because they wouldn't let me shop while I ate the aforementioned frozen yogurt. And you should too!....because who tries to take frozen yogurt away from a pregnant woman??? ;)

the big 2-6!

2010-05-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

If we didn’t have birthdays, you wouldn’t be you.

If you’d never been born, well then what would you do?

If you’d never been born, well then what would you be?

You might be a fish!

Or a toad in a tree!

You might be a doorknob!

Or three baked potatoes!

You might be a bag full of hard green tomatoes.
Or worse than all that…

Why, you might be a WASN’T!

A Wasn’t has no fun at all. No, he doesn’t.

A Wasn’t just isn’t.

He just isn’t present.

But you…You ARE YOU!

And, now isn’t that pleasant!
Today you are you!

That is truer than true!

There is no one alive who is you-er than you!

Shout loud,

“I am lucky to be what I am!

Thank goodness I’m not just a clam or a ham

Or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!

I am what I am!

That’s a great thing to be!

If I say so myself,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!”

-Dr. Seuss, "Happy Birthday to Me!"

23 weeks!

21 weeks!

2010-05-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

over halfway there!!!!!!!!

the beginning of the bump!

2010-03-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

16 weeks

the end is in sight...

2010-03-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

My first trimester teaching English at the university is almost over. Thank. you. sweet. Jesus.

Don't get me wrong, I like teaching! I do! And I like teaching English! And I like *most* of my ~80 students!

But good grief. When I am grading final projects and doing final oral evaluations and I hear something like this...

me: Describe your typical day.
student: Chicken.
me: What? Tell me about your typical day. What do you in a typical day?
student: Baleadas.

(from a level 2 student. not level 1, but level 2!)

Hellooooo. Have you not been listening to anything I said for the last 10 weeks?

It makes me want to scream! It makes me want to run far, far away! Thank GOD Semana Santa is almost here!!!

hellooo smoky season!

2010-03-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

We technically only have 2 seasons in Honduras - the rainy season and the dry season. But I am declaring that there are actually 3. That's right Wikipedia, update your info. These are the seasons in Honduras: dry season, smoky season, and rainy season.

Since the last rainy season (which wasn't as rainy as usual) it has only rained a few times. That's like, 6 months with only a few inches of rain. Talk about a drought!

And what happens when there isn't any rain, we go into our hottest time of the year, AND it's time for the farmers to get their fields ready for crops (remember, they burn their fields)? Ahh, bienvenido smoky season!

That's right, smoky season. As in, the air is full of smoke. In the city, you can't smell it and you wouldn't even know it was there if it weren't blocking the view of the mountains.

(see those beautiful mountains in the distance? oh, you can't really see them? that's because there's smoke blocking the view!)

And if you weren't an observant person and didn't notice the lack of mountains in the distance, then you would still most definitely notice that all of a sudden your throat hurts all the time and you can't breathe through your nose anymore.

I am tired of waking up every morning with a stopped up nose from the stupid smoke. And it's SO hot right now that it's impossible to sleep with the windows closed. And I know in a couple of months I will probably be begging for the rain to stop... but will someone please, PLEASE do a rain dance or something?

jirafa

2010-03-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

I know that this is a strange and foreign land to a lot of you, but this sight today was even strange and foreign to me.

Yes, that is a giraffe. It was being pulled on a trailer in the middle of some protest or something, in front of the Casa Presidencial. And pobrecito, the cage wasn't even tall enough for him. :(

Now, there is a circus in town, but the 50 or so people walking in front of/behind the trailer were all wearing red, which is the color of the resistencia. If it was them, I'm not really sure what a giraffe has to do with the resistencia. "Come join our circus" maybe?

Just to be clear, giraffes are not native to Honduras. Hahaha

Peeps

2010-02-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

I'm not happy about the monopoly that Mas X Menos has going on with the Easter candy. I paid $1.50 for FOUR peeps today! And I don't mean 4 packages. I mean I paid $1.50 for 4 pieces of delicious, yellow sugar-coated, marshmellow heaven.

Normally, I wouldn't splurge on something like that. But, when I saw them I had to have them. Blame it on the pregnancy. (Ha, who am I kidding? I'm always craving candy...pregnant or not!)

When I go back to the states after Easter, I'll be sure to buy ALL of the Peeps at half off.

Yummm.

Our Marero Gardener

2010-02-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

I promised you some entertaining stories a really long time ago, soooo....

A few months ago we were greeted on a Sunday afternoon by a strange guy in front of our house. He was carrying a machete.

He explained that he was a gardener and did work for some of our neighbors, and would we be interested in hiring him to help out? Well, it just so happened that the grass/weeds were taking over our backyard. It was so tall that even Charles was scared to walk through it. So we invited him in to take a look. He suggested a price, we haggled, and we had a deal. He said he would be back the following Saturday to start the work.

The next Saturday he showed up (which was a surprise!) and he did a great job cleaning up the yard.

He showed up the next 2 Saturdays like he was asked....even on time!

The 3rd Saturday, he came again. It hadn't been raining, and the grass hadn't grown at all. There was no work for him to do. Also, more importantly, I was home alone because Jose was out of town. I asked him to come back the next Saturday instead. He got upset, understandably, because he had been counting on the day's work and pay. I gave him all I had in my wallet, which was a lot less than half of what I owed him for one day. I told him to consider it an advance for the next week, when I would deduct it from his regular pay.

Now, you've probably already guessed.... he didn't show up the next Saturday, right?

Right!

I didn't mind it, because I was only out $2.

The next Saturday? He didn't show up then either.

But the next Thursday (Thanksgiving!)....

I came home from work and there was a strange man in front of my house. When I saw the machete, I realized it was the gardener. He had been beaten up so badly that I didn't recognize who it was.

So I got out of the car. Stupid! And I asked him what he was doing there, on a Thursday. When I'm home alone! He explained that someone had robbed him and beaten him up. Hmm. Ok, that could be true, but why risk it?! He asked if I had any work for him. I explained that since he hadn't shown up the Saturday before, we had already hired someone else and that we would no longer need his services. Which wasn't true, but....

You see, I had decided from the second that I saw his swollen face that I did not want him in my house or anywhere near it. Around here, being beaten up that badly screams GANG (mara in Spanish). Now, it doesn't necessarily mean he is IN a gang, but that one had beaten him up. And who wants an employee in their house that is either a gang member (marero) or has upset one badly enough to beat the living daylights out of him!?!

So you can imagine my fear when instead of just walking away, he got upset.

"But I don't have any money and now I have to pay the doctor bill and you were supposed to pay me to work in your yard!"

"Umm, you were also supposed to show up on Saturdays, but you didn't come, so I hired someone else. I'm sorry for what happened to you, but I can't rehire you now that I have someone else," I explained.

"Well, you HAVE TO give me some money then!" he demanded.

Eeeeek. "Gerardo, I don't even have 1 lempira in my purse. I don't have anything to give you."

"But I have to pay for my x-rays at the hospital!" He was getting more angry.

"Like I said, I have no money. I'm sorry. Now, I think it's best if you leave," I said, eyeing his machete.

"I NEED SOME MONEY!" he yelled.

I glanced at the front door. Even if I made it there before him, he could try to push in after me and it would be worse than what could happen outside where the neighbors could see, I thought. I prepped my car key in between my fingers in case I needed it as a weapon. You know, to fight off his machete. !?!

Then, thank God, my phone rang. It was my husband.

"Oh thank goodness you called," I said in a completely normal voice so Gerardo wouldn't know what was up. "The gardener is here, and he's really pissed off, and he's demanding money, and I don't know what to do," I said in a cheerful voice.

And then, Gerardo did something totally unexpected, and turned around to leave.

I waited until he was near the gate, and rushed inside and locked the door. *sigh* Safe at last!

About 45 minutes later, the doorbell rang. Eeeeeek! He's back!! Probably with his marero friends!

But it was the neighbor, letting me know that the muchacho golpeado (beaten up guy) had just stolen the spare tire off of the other neighbor's truck, AND a gas tank from the other neighbor's house.

I don't know how he made out of the neighborhood carrying both things on foot. (I mean, why do we even pay the guards at the tranca?!) But, the guards were given clear instructions to never let him back in, and we haven't seen him since.

And if you think that was as bad as the day could get, you're wrong! Later that day my wallet was lost/stolen and I met a lovely scam artist. Stay tuned for that entertaining story...

You've Got Mail!

2010-01-27T08:58:00.000-08:00

I LOVE getting real mail here in Honduras. It's just such a rare occasion to receive something in the real mail! In fact, we don't even know our own mailing address. (How do we receive our bills, you ask? We don't. Sometimes the ticket for the electricity/water is stuck under the door of the house. Other times, it's not. Then you have to pay it online via your bank, or go to the bank to pay it. With cable/internet and cell phones, we don't get a bill...we just have to know when they're due!) So when friends ask me how to send me cards and packages from the US, I have to give them my in-laws address.

Now that I think of it, I have never seen a mail carrier or a mail truck....I have no idea where the post office is located or how to send a package/letter via snail mail. Hmmm, maybe this is something I should investigate!

So anyway, I love getting mail. And I was so excited when I saw TWO letters in my hubby's hands when he came from a visit at my in-laws house the other day.

Letter one was just a bank statement from the US. I LOVE my bank in the US...can you believe they send my statements all the way down here??

Letter two was a Christmas card from my friend Amy. She sent the card from Tennessee on December 10 and it arrived in Honduras on December 28. The envelope was torn on the back...but the card inside was fine!

Thanks Amy! And to the rest of you....send me more letters!! ;)

Surprise!

2010-01-20T12:38:00.001-08:00

We're gonna have a baby!!

I posted this on Facebook yesterday and got lots of questions, so I'm going to try to answer them all here in one post...

-I am 7.5 weeks, and due on September 4, 2010.

-I am feeling good, just very tired. The nausea isn't too bad (I hope it stays that way!), and is worse at night than any other time.

-I love my OB! It took me weeks of calling every day to try to get in to see him because he is one of the best (ok, I think he's THE best!). His office is one of the nicest doctor's offices I've ever been in, and I was very impressed by the technology, etc that he uses. So all you people in the US - don't worry...I'm in good hands over here!

-We weren't exactly trying, but we weren't trying not to either. We figured it was going to happen sooner or later. :)

-The plan is to have the baby in Kentucky. I will hopefully be going at the end of March/beginning of April for a week to do some paperwork and meet with an OB, etc. Then I will be going back in August to have the baby.

-We do not have any names picked out yet.

Thank you all for your lovely comments and well wishes. We are so excited!!!

updates....finally

2009-12-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

Our lives have been so crazy lately! I think when you read my updates, you'll understand why...

Since August, I have changed jobs 3 times...

First, I started at one school working as the Bilingual Academic Coordinator. The owner was nutty, she felt that God had sent her to earth to save Satan's children. Yes, her exact words. And, it was a really horrible neighborhood. The first day of school, there was a series of 5 or 6 gunshots right outside the school, and no one even flinched. "Umm, didn't anyone else hear that?" I asked. "Yes, but it happens all the time, we're used to it," they replied. Ok, thanks, but no thanks....

I decided from the first school that I really enjoyed the work, so I went to interview for a position at another bilingual school, in a safer neighborhood. I ended up being hired as a 3rd grade teacher. There were 2 sections that I shared with another teacher, so I only taught language, reading, and health in 3rd grade. I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. And I didn't want to leave, but.... I got an amazing opportunity to go work at one of the private universities. So I will start teaching English full time at the university starting in January.

This whole time, I've still been running my stationery business from my house instead of the store. The storefront is still there, but it's more of a showroom, and it's by appointment only. I've done several weddings and a lot of social stationery. I participated in a couple of local Christmas bazaars where I got so many orders that I was completely booked for 3-4 weeks and couldn't accept any other orders.

Charles is doing okay, but pobrecito, he has suffered from several Honduran ailments the last couple of months. First, he got amoebas, which, according to the vet, he most likely contracted from licking water off of the concrete patio in the backyard. That was a 10 day regimen of pills and a bland diet. Then, he was infested with these teeny tiny ticks. I still haven't figured out where they came from, because we don't have rats/mice (they would be getting into the trash outside and there's no evidence of that) and no other dogs have access to the yard. The only thing that I can think of is the birds....does anyone know if they carry ticks? When I say infested, I mean I was pulling 20-30 ticks off of him everyday. And we were using Frontline regularly, so I don't know what happened with that. A few days later, the house was infested. Yuckkkk. We had to use foggers in the house and spray all of the nooks/crannies with this bug spray. That took care of them in the house, and we treated the yard with these granules that you spread around. So after about 2 weeks, we finally had the tick problem under control. Then, just last week, he got this mysterious skin condition that looks to be like some type of mite (mange?). His ears are all scaly and crusty on the inside and on the tips, and he's got the same thing on his "armpits." I tried taking him to the vet last week, but I guess they were closed since they didn't answer all week. Jose is going to take him this week, since I can't because...

I'm in the US! We spent Christmas eve together in Tegucigalpa with Jose's family, and then on the 25th I flew to KY to surprise my grandparents for their 50th wedding anniversary. I'm staying until the first week in January.

Okay, I'm sure you're dying for more ;) ... so stayed tuned for stories such as...

The Stolen Wallet and Crazy Scam Artist

Our Marero (gang member) Gardener

and

Immigration Problems (aka, almost not being able to leave Honduras)

12 days of giving

2009-12-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas is a time of giving and sharing. In the US I usually pick a name from the Angel Tree each Christmas. But here....?? And this is a country with such poverty that I had no idea where to start...

So I'm snagging an idea from Heidi over at Sacred and Profane....

I'm modifying it a little since I'm getting a late start (can you believe there are only 4 days until Christmas?!) and I'm going to do 12 ACTS of giving instead of 12 DAYS.

And I think you should do it too! If 12 acts is too much in 4 days, do 10, or 5, or even 1!

For those of you that live in the US or elsewhere, check out Heidi's blog at the link above for some ideas of what you can do. For those of you that live in Honduras, here are some ideas ...

-Collect all the coins in the house/car and put them in one of those buckets in the check out line at the supermarket
-Give the guard at your office or neighborhood a small gift
-Christmastime adds a lot of extra work on our maids since we are having more people over and cooking more. Give yours an unexpected afternoon off to do whatever she wants
-Pay for the coffee of the person in line behind you in the drive thru at Espresso Americano
-Let the kids at the gas station/intersection wash your windshield (even though it makes it more dirty!)
-Stop to let someone cut in front of you when they are trying to turn at a busy intersection, etc instead of speeding up so they can't get through (like we all normally do)
-Keep several sandwiches/apples/bags of water/cups of noodles in your car and give them to the kids that beg at the intersections, instead of giving them a few lps that their mother is probably going to take anyway
-Give an extra tip at a restaurant instead of only what's already included in the check

Do you have any other ideas?? It's usually just the little things that make a big difference here.... Once, at the gas station, I bought some gum from a little girl going car to car. She commented on how pretty my lip gloss was, so I put a dab of it on her finger to use. She was smiling ear to ear and went on and on about how pretty she looked in my side mirror. The bombero almost cried, haha. It cost me nothing, but made her day (and mine)! So you see! It's the little things. :)

Now you go try, and then come back and leave me a comment telling me about it!

The Little Country that Could...in jewelry!

2009-12-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

Yeah yeah yeah, I know, I've sort of abandoned you. But I promise there are exciting updates coming soon.

As you wait in giddy anticipation for my life updates, feast your eyes on this...

It's a custom creation designed by my friend Mandy...a bracelet depicting the story of the Honduran political crisis that, thank the Lord, is basically over. Que creative, right!?

It's handmade with silver and precious stones. You can order them via her Facebook page, or you can email me and I'll put you in touch with her.

Delivery time is approximately 2 weeks after ordering, and costs L. 1,700 (about $90).

This is the story behind the jewelry...

There once was a president (Mel's cowboy hat) that violated the constitution and national institutions. He tried to remain in power via the fourth ballot box (4 colored stones). He was so disrespectful that he said that neither the Virgin of Suyapa nor God could stop his plan (Virgin of Suyapa charm). And then, by the national institutions (Congress, MP, CS) and based on Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution, he was sent abroad (airplane charm). Together, all the Honduran people, government, and armed forces (doll charms) fought 5 months (5 pearls) to defend its sovereignty (Honduran flag charm). And on election day, the sovereign people spoke as never before by voting among the five political parties (5 colored stones, each color depicting each party). They selected the candidate of their choice, recovering and achieving peace for their country (dove charm).

Que bella! It brings tears to my eyes. I've GOT to have one! :)

Door Monsters

2009-11-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Our house is cursed. Haunted. Possessed.

It has my poor Charlie shaking and trembling. He has been hiding under my desk and trying to crawl in my lap all afternoon.

It's the ....

DOOR MONSTERS.

They enter our house on windy days through the open windows and slam the doors shut. Evil things.

I wish they would stop terrorizing poor Charles.

you should be proud of me...

2009-11-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

I accomplished something major today. Something that I haven't been able to do for the last 1.5 years of living here.

I ordered a pizza all by myself.

That's right! Aren't you proud? What's that? No? You don't think that's a big deal?

Oh but it is. It really really is.

You see, ordering a pizza here requires speaking Spanish. Duh. But ordering it isn't the most difficult part. It's giving the directions. And when you live in Tegucigalpa and there are no street names (and if there are, who knows what they are because there are no signs), giving directions is quite a task. In the US, you tell the pizza guy "I live at 123 Mulberry Drive." In Honduras, directions usually go something like this: "I live in X neighborhood. Do you know where the Esso (gas station) in that neighborhood is? Ok, from there turn right, and then take the 3rd right, and then the 1st left. And then turn by the old movie theater. You know, the one they tore down 10 years ago. Then my house is on the right. The one with the wall. And the barbed wire. It's beige/yellow/white. Oh wait, all the houses here look like that. So, stop and ask the guard at the gate to the neighborhood, and he'll tell you the wrong way so you can end up lost. So, you know what? I'll meet you at the Esso and pick up the pizza there."

Okay, okay...maybe that's a bit dramatic. But it really is quite a task. Especially when you don't speak Spanish all that great.

So tonight I was realllly craving a pineapple pizza from Il Padrino. But Jose is out of town for work. I'm a little ashamed to say I called him and asked him to order me a pizza...from San Pedro Sula (a city 5 hours from here!). But he said no and told me it was time for me to do it myself. I said no way, and sent him a message telling him I hated him for making me order my own pizza. HAHA. I even contemplated calling my friend to order it for me.

But I decided to try it. What can it hurt? I thought. These people can't see me through the phone. If I sound like an idiot, I'll just hang up and eat a sandwich. ;)

So I took a deep breath. And I called. And I ordered. And I gave the directions. ALL BY MYSELF. Easy peasy.

And now I'm waiting for it to get here.

I guess the true test to my direction-giving skills will be whether or not the pizza guy shows up. :)

How YOU can help "the little country that could"

2009-11-01T15:05:00.000-08:00

I have been upset the last few weeks knowing that I can't vote in this historic Honduran presidential election coming up on November 29. HeLlooOO...I'm living in this country and I want my voice heard. But I can't vote since I'm not a citizen. Que triste! :(

Then La Gringa posted information on her blog about being an election observer!

You can read all about how to do it on her blog here.

I read all of the official application documents that she posted. My thoughts? Oohh, we get a security badge? That's so CSI, so Law & Order, so SWAT.... I'm in!!!

I honestly thought that, but I really want to do it because this is the BEST way for my voice to be heard.

Hello, CNN, I am tired of you telling the wrong side of the story and manipulating the US population.

Forget voting! Now I can participate in an even better way.

And if I can get away from work to actually do it, I will so be blogging about the experience and telling the world the truth. (Okay, maybe not the world, maybe just my few hundred readers. But every little bit counts, right?)

If you are an expat living in Tegucigalpa, or if you want to travel here for the elections.....come with me to be an election observer! Pllllleeeeaase? I don't want to do it alone. :)

If only I could find a pumpkin...

2009-10-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

So far I haven't been able to find any fall scented candles here in Tegucigalpa.

But in order to get the full Halloween celebration experience, I needed the house to smell like fall.

I found some "recipes" online that you can boil on the stove to make your house smell delicious.

So I put on a pot of water to boil. I added about a tablespoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of nutmeg, a squirt of vanilla, and some orange juice (I didn't have any orange peel).

I let it come to a rolling boil, and then turned it down to low.

And...

it worked! Now, it doesn't really smell like fall...it's no Jackson's Orchard on a Sunday afternoon. But it's close enough!

And it rained last night. So maybe the weather will cool down enough for boots and a sweater!?

:)

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween. I mean, you already know about my love affair with fall, so isn't it kind of obvious?

When I was little, I loved trick or treating. Who doesn't like dressing up as a magical character and getting bags full of candy?

When I was 1 year old, I had what I think was a great costume. Of course, I don't remember it since I was only 1, but I love the story. :) My parents, on a tight budget since my mom was in college and they had a new baby, couldn't afford a store bought costume. So my mom got super creative and turned me into a bag of groceries. Meaning, she put me in a brown paper bag of groceries. Haha. The story ends tragically when one of my aunts asked if I was a bag of trash and broke my mother's heart. ;)

Some of the other costumes I remember from my childhood are a troll, gypsy, witch, karate girl, cowgirl...

Then when I was in 7th grade I decided that I was too old for trick or treating, so I stayed at home to hand out candy to the trick or treaters. That story also ends disastrously with me in tears and depressed that I didn't get to go out to get candy and that I was missing out on the best years of my life. Yes, I used those words. And yes, I was (*ahem* still am) a very dramatic child. I vowed to never miss another Halloween.

And I didn't. My best costume ever was in college when I dressed up as Chiquita Banana. (And who would have known that 7 years later I would be living in her "native country" the original Banana Republic? Is that fate or what?)

Of course, in college, I didn't actually go trick or treating. Instead, my roommates and I dressed up in our costumes and drank cocktails on the front porch and handed out candy to the kids. Which actually turned out to be way more fun than trick or treating. ;)

Anyway. Now I am here in Honduras...where there is no trick or treating. Que tragic! :(

So what's a girl to do?

Why, make her husband have a junk food and movie date of course. The evening will include Halloween candy/food and all of the non-scary Halloween classics. :) I'm thinking Hocus Pocus, Beetlejuice, and if I can find it on Isohunt, episodes of the old HBO series Tales from the Crypt.

What are YOU doing for Halloween, boils and ghouls? (ahaha, sorry, I couldn't resist)

UPDATE:

My mother read my post and posted this Halloween picture on Facebook for the world to see. It's of my brother and me in 1990. She says the Minnie costume is the only costume she ever made by hand. I think she did pretty good! :)

...Fall...

2009-10-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I keep complaining, but...

My heart is aching for
the sight of changing leaves and pumpkins and
the feel of cool weather and and sweaters and
the smell of apple orchards and BBQ's and
the taste of apple slushies and apple pies and
the sound of tailgating and football season....

Sure, we had about a week of "cold" weather here in Tegucigalpa. I put on my boots and a sweater, and celebrated with a pot of chili.

But, it's hot again. And the hot weather and tropical plants just aren't doing it for me anymore.

And these pictures that my aunt posted on Facebook of my parents' farm in Kentucky....well, that just makes it worse. :(

And these pictures from the campus of my alma mater...Western Kentucky University...

I've got a really bad case of homesickness. *sigh* I hear they have REAL pumpkins at the supermarket Pais. Maybe that will lift my spirits...

To Write Love On Her Arms

2009-10-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

November 13th is the global "To Write Love On Her Arms" (TWLOHA) Day.

TWLOHA is "a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery."

On TWLOHA Day, you simply write the word LOVE on your arm to honor/remember friends or loved ones that suffer/suffered from depression, addiction, self-injury or suicide. It is also a way to spread awareness of the issue.

I'm doing it in memory of my husband's cousin Angel. I'm doing it in honor of my family members that have suffered from depression and addiction. I'm also doing it in honor of one of my close friends that struggled with self-injury.

I'm writing love on my arms on November 13th. Will you?

Facebook Event

Chicken Pot Pie

2009-10-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have been craving chicken pot pie for a couple of weeks, but I haven't been able to find frozen pie crusts at the supermarket. So earlier this week, I made a pot pie from scratch....even the crust! I had never made crust before, and I was a little intimidated, but it really wasn't that difficult and it turned out fantastic! It was the BEST chicken pot pie I have ever had!

I got both of the recipes from allrecipes.com, the greatest recipe site ever. I just had to make a few changes to them in order to accomodate the differences in products that I can get here.

These are the original recipes: Chicken Pot Pie IX and Butter Flaky Pie Crust.

Ingredients that I used:
Chicken Pot Pie:
1 lb chicken breasts
1 can of mixed vegetables
3/4 stick margarine
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2/3 cup milk
2 Maggi chicken flavor cubes dissolved in 1 3/4 cups water

Pie Crust:
(the original recipe is for ONE pie crust, so I doubled it for pot pie)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of margarine
a bowl of ice water

First, I put the flour in the freezer. Every ingredient for a pie crust needs to be very cold.

Then I put the chicken breasts on to boil. While they were cooking, I melted the margarine with the onion until it was soft. Then I added the flour, salt, and pepper. Then the dissolved Maggi cubes/water and the milk. I let it simmer on low, stirring it every now and then, while I did everything else.

I took the flour out of the freezer, and mixed the flour and salt in a large bowl. Then, I grated my sticks of margarine (which were in the refrigerator so they were cold) over the bowl. Grating it saved me a TON of time when mixing. I mixed it all up with a fork until the margarine was mixed into the flour. When it looked like coarse crumbs, I added one tablespoon of ice water. I mixed it until it was absorbed, and then added another tablespoon. I kept doing this until the entire mixture stuck together in a big ball shape, but I don't remember how many tablespoons I used. It never got sticky...I didn't even have to use flour on my hands to take it out of the bowl. I wrapped the ball in plastic wrap and stuck it in the freezer.

Next, I cut up the chicken breasts, and combined them with the canned veggies in a pot. I added one Maggi chicken flavor cube, covered all of it with water, and put it on to boil.

After all of that, I took the ball of dough from the freezer, rolled out 2 crusts on my dough mat, and put one into the greased pie pan. It was super easy to do since it was cold...and it never stuck to my hands or rolling pin!

I took the chicken/veggie mix off the stove, drained it, and put it in the bottom of the pie crust. Then I poured the sauce mixture on top. It filled perfectly to the top of the crust. (FYI, I was a little worried that it was too runny, but it turned out to be the perfect consistency in the end.)

I put the second pie crust on top, pinched the sides, and baked it at 425 degrees F for 35 minutes.

It took about 2.5 hours to do the whole thing, but I'm thinking it will go faster the next time. And anyway, it was totally worth it. It was incredible. And it's good heated up the next day too! Yummmm.

Honduras al mundial!!!

2009-10-15T13:56:00.001-07:00

Last night Honduras clenched their spot to go to the World Cup for the first time since 1982.

Hondurans (like most Latin Americans) are crazy for soccer. And securing a trip to the World Cup 2010 for the first time in almost 3 decades...especially during this current political crisis....was cause for a MAJOR celebration. The President even declared today as a national holiday (meaning, no work!) in honor of the big win.

We went out last night to witness the celebrating in the streets. And I have never seen anything like it in my life. Everyone piled in their cars and in the backs of trucks driving around honking and waving Honduran flags.

I really really wanted to drive down the Blvd. Morazan (one of the main streets here in Tegus) so I could get some good videos for you of the craziness, but traffic made it impossible to get there. We only made it as far as my in-laws house, and they live 4 blocks from the boulevard. Once there, we saw on TV that the boulevard was one big traffic jam, with masses of drunk of people running around. (Click here to see it.) We decided it probably wasn't a safe place for any of us to be. So, you'll have to settle for this video of the traffic in front of my in-laws house heading towards the boulevard. It's still pretty crazy...

Then today, the airport was packed when the team came back to Honduras. Click here to see it. They drove around the city in yet another caravan honking and waving flags to celebrate again.

I'm so proud of Honduras...it really is the "little country that could!" :)

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-10-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: This Word of the Day Wednesday is just chock-full of profanity. Sorry :)

Puchika
(say poo-cheek-ah)

Puchika is a "replacement term" for the Spanish curse word puta. People here also say "pucha" (say poo-chah). It is like saying shoot/crap instead of shit, or heck instead of hell.

(Background: In case you didn't already know this, puta means bitch. But people use it differently here. If you stub your toe, you say "puta!/puchika!"

I'm starting to realize that people in Honduras use it for EVERYTHING. I hear this about 50 times a day in school. I would say the English equivalent would be "Geez!" or "wow!" or "oh man!"...the list goes on and on.

Examples:

me: Eduardo (one of my students), sit down.
Eduardo: But I have a question!
me: You can ask it from your seat, sit down!
Eduardo (with a mad face): Puchika!

(you stub your toe on the door) Puchika!!!!

my boss: Are you busy?
me: Oh my goodness yes. I am working on 4 weddings AND exams for school!
my boss: Puchika! You are busy!

Homesickness

2009-10-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

I miss Target, Barnes and Noble, and Hobby Lobby.
Places that are open 24 hours a day.
Organic products.
The selection of products in the makeup aisles in the drugstores.
Cherry limeades from Sonic.

I miss WKU.
Seeing WKU sweatshirts everywhere I go.
Tailgating.
Craft beer.
Boot and sweater season.
Cornhole.

I miss AUTUMN.
The leaves changing colors.
The cool nights/mornings.
The smell.

I miss long walks around the city at night with friends.
Seeing Corvettes.
Having drinks at 440.
Buying pumpkins at Jackson's Orchard.
Caramel apples from Jackson's Orchard.
And their apple slushies.
And their apple pies with vanilla ice cream.

I miss my family.
My friends.
Kentucky.

:(

So STOP posting your lovely fall pictures on Facebook or I'm going to fall into a deep depression.

:) :) :)

And PS, my pants are still in the back yard...

2009-09-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for neglecting you... I've been so busy the last few weeks, and I honestly haven't felt inspired to write. Until tonight.... When I made such a fool of myself in my backyard (well, Charlie was the only witness, really, but still....) that I just had to share....

Remember the roaches from the last apartment that we lived in? (my infestation of TWO roaches, hahahaha.) I haven't had any of those friends in this new house. Thank God! We have a small ant problem, but I would take a total ant infestation over one roach, any day.

Well, tonight, I went outside to the back of the house where we have a small covered porch that houses the washer, dryer, and pila. There is a motion detector light back there. Usually, I make Charlie go ahead of me to scare away any little critters, and trip the motion detector so the light will come on for me. I think he's started to catch onto my reason for sending him ahead of me, and being the scaredy-dog that he is, he won't walk ahead of me anymore. He stays behind me until the light comes on.

So tonight, I walked around the corner (in the dark) and waved the laundry bag around in the air to trip the light. It didn't work. So I took another step and tried it again. After 3 more steps it finally came on, and there was a giant......ROACH staring at me from the wall right above the washing machine. I screamed, and probably woke all of the neighbors up.

I wanted to go upstairs and get Jose to kill it, or scare it away, but he was already asleep and I knew that he would not be happy if I woke him up for something like this, haha. So I took a deep breath, and tried to summon the courage to scare the thing away. I grabbed a broom, and stood there for a good 5 minutes just staring at it, imagining all of the ways it could jump on me and bite me (wait, do they even bite??) from the wall, and trying to come up with a good strategy to prevent that from happening.

I had a conversation with myself, out loud, that went something like this....
"Ugh, just do it Hannah!"
"Eeeeeek, but it's going to jump on me!"
"Charlie-dog, come get this thing!"
"Ugh, ok, just do it!"

Finally, I summoned the courage, closed my eyes, and took a swat. I missed, it fell onto the washing machine, and I screamed again. I was terrified it would crawl inside on my clean laundry. But I lucked out, and it ran around the side of the washer instead.

"Ok, deep breath, work fast, and get outta here before it comes back," I thought.

I threw the laundry from the washer into the dryer, keeping my eye on the spot where it had gone to hide. After everything was started, I went to reach for the basket of clean laundry on the ground. And guess who's there? The roach!!!! Right next to my clean laundry, plotting a way inside the basket.

I screamed, again....wishing that Jose would just wake up and come see what was wrong.

Then I started to feel like they were everywhere. You know how you hear a story about someone having lice, and then your head starts to itch? I started jumping up and down just in case one had run up the back of my pants without me knowing. (I mean, can you imagine going back inside the house with a roach on your back without knowing that it's there, and then seeing it run across the floor when you change clothes or something?!? Ha! These are the phobia-like visions that I have when I find a roach!)

Then I felt like one was in my pants, and, I kid you not, I took off my pants in the middle of my back yard and started running around like a crazy person. I had a surge of fearlessness, grabbed the broom, smashed the roach next to the laundry basket, grabbed the laundry, and RAN into the house, all in about 10 seconds.

I'm pretty confident that this is not a normal reaction to roaches. I think I should be happy that at least they aren't INSIDE the house. HA! I'm pretty sure I need professional help.

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-08-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Atajo

(say ah-tAH-hoe)

atajo = short cut

Example:

*as we pull off of the highway onto the sidewalk and down a dirt road, I see bums and buzzards gathered around the banks of a dirty river. and obviously start to panic. my taxi driver sees my face in the rearview mirror and he says, "Don't worry, Hannah, it's just an atajo to your school."

and fyi, it obviously (hellloo, I'm alive and writing to tell about it!) was a short cut and it saved us about 20 minutes in traffic. he's the greatest!

"Dear Lord, help us f@$%-us"

2009-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Like I said, my new job is in a bilingual school targeted towards lower income families. Monthly tuition is probably less than you spend in gas each month. Therefore, the teachers aren't held up to quite the same standard as say, the American School.

And so I get to correct English grammar and pronunciation all day. And. I. LOVE. it.

I am a stickler for poor grammar...and bad vocabulary. And when speaking to people that speak English as a second language, I've always wanted to interrupt and be like, "oops, you mean you taught it, not you teached it." Or, "hey lady? I think you mean, excuse me miss."

Well, now it's my job to do that. !!

My favorite correction so far has been the mispronunciation of the word "focus."

"Meees," yes, all of the employees call me Ms. but pronounced Meeees, "how do you say this word?" *shows me a piece of paper with the word focus*

"How do you think you say it?" I asked.

"My English professor in the university says you say it like this - f#$%-us." (okay, hint, it rhymes with duckus)

I tried to hide the horror on my face. (helllloooo, this is a Christian school!) "No, it's definitely fOH-cuhs."

And so last Friday I did a pronunciation workshop and spent two hours going over the pronunciation of the 40+ English sounds. Like the difference between in the /th/ sound in thy and thigh. No, not die and die....which is what they kept repeating to me. Or the difference between the /i/ and the /I/ in heat and hit. Which, in case you were wondering, is not heet and heet.

:) This is so. much. fun.

reason # 1 why I love my new job

2009-08-24T15:53:00.001-07:00

Last week, I attended one of my first staff meetings. Violeta, the owner of the school, came to the meeting and told us a story about Douglas (a teacher in the school). He is an excellent teacher and employee. And he has been dating a girl for several years. They want to get married...but they can't afford it. Sure, they could go down to the alcaldia and have a judge sign the papers, but Douglas told Violeta that every little girl grows up wanting a real wedding with a white dress, and he doesn't want his girlfriend to get married at the alcaldia because she deserves her dream wedding.

"I think we should give him a surprise wedding. Do you want to help?" she asked.

I glanced around the room, and the response was overwhelming. Everyone was raising their hands.

"We could decorate the courtyard of the school and have it here!"

"My grandmother makes really good food, she can cater it."

"I make really pretty flower arrangements, I can do that!"

"I can play the piano!"

"To pay for the supplies," Violeta explained, "we all need to chip in a little bit of money. How much can you each give?"

Keep in mind that this is a school targeted to lower income families. Most teachers there make the minimum salary of L. 5,500 (about $290/month).

I was expecting everyone to say 50 lempiras, or less. To my surprise, everyone, all 25 of them, started shouting "L. 100! L. 200! No, that's not enough, let's give L. 300 each!"

As soon as the meeting was over, I walked outside to call my husband. I told him the story with tears streaming down my face. "I can't believe we are actually stressed that we can't buy a second car. That we can't buy a house. That we can't travel back and forth to the US whenever we want. And here is this nice couple...They are not asking for a house, or a car, or money. They are asking for a simple wedding. A marriage! And my coworkers are offering up significant portions of their paychecks to throw a wedding for them! We are so blessed, Jose. And we should be more thankful for what we DO have instead of complaining about what we don't. Because we have a good marriage, and we have each other."

English skills and US degree or not...I am getting so much more out of this job than I'm putting in.

Thank you to my new friends for showing me that there are good and decent people in Honduras. :)

what's happening in Honduras?

2009-08-19T17:55:00.001-07:00

I've been getting this question a lot because of the current political crisis. So here goes...

Things in Tegucigalpa (I can't speak for the rest of Honduras) have been mostly normal.

The city is covered in mostly pro Mel graffiti like "fuera golpistas" (get out coupsters) and "urge Mel" (hurry, Mel). (I've also started seeing anti Mel graffiti that says "Mel Narco Ladron" (Mel drug dealing thief).)

There are a lot of protests, but they are mostly peaceful. Sometimes they break windows at the fast food restaurants that are owned by a so-called golpista company. And they always spray paint walls/houses/buildings, etc, etc.

And then there was the exceptionally violent protest last week, where the Zelayistas burned a bus and a Popeye's restaurant. You can see a video of all of that here.

But, like I said, things have been mostly normal....for Honduras. And then today, out of nowhere, there were TWO marches in front of my store. One was around noon, with walking protestors.

The other was around 4:45, and lasted for hours. It was car after car after car full of protestors (and you can't help but laugh when you see all of these latinos fulfilling the stereotype with cars of 10-15 people piled in...haha). They were all laying on their horns and being incredibly annoying.

I saw one guy get out of a vehicle and spray paint the wall of a business across the street.

he is writing "fuera golpista"

At one point, the people in the backs of the trucks turned their yelling towards me, and for the first time since I've been back from the US, I was really scared of them! They saw me, obviously gringa, taking videos with my cell phone from the balcony, and started yelling "golpista, fuera golpista!" I ran inside my store and hid for the rest of the protest. ;)

And I just keep asking myself.... what's the point of all this? All they are doing is creating nuisance and chaos. Is driving through the city in a line of hundreds of cars going to convince the opposition to change their minds? No. I'm pretty sure it's just going to piss them off.

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-08-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

Malcriado/a
(say mAHl cree AH doh or mAHl cree AH dah)

Malcriado = bad-mannered/rude

Example (a real conversation that I had with my taxi driver yesterday):

taxi driver - That's a nice place. How much do you pay in rent?
me - You shouldn't ask that question. It's malcriado!
taxi driver - You're right, I'm sorry.

Hahahaha.

Word of the Day Wednesday (on Thursday) ;)

2009-08-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

Futbolísticamente

(say fOOOt-bohl-leest-eek-a-mehn-teh)

I learned this new word last night while watching the Costa Rica vs. Honduras soccer game (which Honduras won 4-0, btw). I was intrigued by this word when I heard the announcer use it, because I couldn't think of an English equivalent.

After consulting my go-to online translator, and studying up on my grammar, again...I finally discovered that I was right....there is no exact translation. So, let's break it down...

futbol-ística-mente

-the first part of the word is obvious, because futbol is Spanish for soccer
-ística is an adjective that basically means "in relation to"
-and finally, mente, which is basically like adding an ly in English (creating an adverb)

So, finally, we have a sort of definition (forgive me if I'm completely butchering this word, and if you know of a better definition, please share it!)...

Futbolísticamente is sort of like saying "in relation to soccer."

Example:

Honduras es mejor, futbolísticamente.
Honduras is better, in relation to soccer.

Geez what a long Word of the Day Wednesday, haha. Only the language of a soccer-crazed culture would have a word like this...

What Book Got You Hooked?

2009-08-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

I have always loved to read.

And so I got a little nostalgic when I came across this website: What Book Got You Hooked? "'What Book Got You Hooked?' invites readers everywhere to celebrate unforgettable books from childhood and help provide new books to the children who need them most. First Book asks visitors to share the memory of the books that made them readers and then vote for the state to receive 50,000 new books from First Book, helping to get more kids hooked on reading."

The book that got me hooked was Matilda by Roald Dahl. I read it for the first time probably close to 20 years ago. It was one of the first chapter books I ever read. And I really don't remember WHY it got me hooked, but I remember it being the first book that I was just not able to put down.

Over the years I've found a lot more books that I just couldn't put down... from the "Face on the Milk Carton" books and the "Babysitter's Club" in elementary school; to practically all of Oprah's Book Club books through high school and college; and today, to the Twilight Saga (of which I am currently obsessed).

What was the book that got YOU hooked on reading? Click the link, share the memory of the first book that made reading fun for you and then help get more kids hooked: vote for the state to receive 50,000 new books for children in need. If you don't have a state to cast your vote towards, choose my home state of KENTUCKY. :)

i know an old lady who swallowed a fly....

2009-08-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning, I was greeted downstairs by the buzz of flies. There were about 30 on the windows. Since we have screens on the windows, I figured that Jose left a door open too long or something on Saturday. I spent the morning on a killing rampage...sucking them up in my handy vacuum cleaner.

Monday morning, there were a few stragglers, but I killed those too.

But last night, when I got home from work, there were about 25 more!

I spent about an hour looking like a crazy person running around killing them all with my make shift fly-swatter -- a dish towel. Even Charlie looked at me funny and ran upstairs to hide during my killing spree.

I was perplexed. Where were they coming from? We have screens, the doors stay shut...so there's really no way for them to enter through any of the windows or doors. I keep everything clean and sanitized, and the trash is kept in a container with a tight lid (...due to my phobia of the cockroaches, remember?)

So of course, I googled it.

I didn't find anything that helped me understand where they were coming from or why there were so many. I just found info that made me hate them even more...

Did you know that flies "spit out saliva on solid foods to predigest it, and then suck it back in?" *cringe* And "because of their high intake of food, they deposit feces constantly, one of the factors that makes the insect a dangerous carrier of pathogens?" *gag*

I have now developed a phobia-like need to kill all flies that cross my path.

Please, please, pleeeasse....someone tell me where they are coming from and how to keep them away!!

La Buena Suerte

2009-08-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

My mom says I'm the luckiest person she knows. Once, I walked into Target and walked out an hour later carrying the GRAND PRIZE from a contest they were having... a HUGE toy chest full of toys, valued at $1,000. And since I turned 16 and could legally work in the US, I've always stumbled across the most random, and awesome, job opportunities.

But last week when I met the owner of a small bilingual school here in Tegucigalpa, I didn't think anything of it. A job was the furthest thing from my mind. Anyway, we randomly met, and she and I started talking. It was an interesting conversation, considering the fact that she didn't speak any English. She asked about my degree...B.A. in corporate and organizational communication. She didn't understand it, because here in Honduras, communication is synonymous with journalism. After I explained it, to the best of my abilities in Spanish, she asked a strange question... "What could you do with that degree for my school?"

Hmmm... now why would someone ask a question like that? "Well," I answered, "I guess it would qualify me to teach some sort of business class or public speaking or something like that."

"No," she pushed, "what could you do for my school, as a business?"

I answered her question, and she immediately offered me a job.

Whaaat?? "But I'm not looking for a job. I own my own business."

"What do I need to pay you for you to come work for me?" she asked.

I panicked, and said the first number that came to my mind. I was sure it was too much. I kind of hoped it was...I had my own business to run! I couldn't take a job somewhere else!

To my surprise, she immediately agreed, and I kicked myself for not asking for more. ;)

So, today at 12:30, I will start my first day at the school. I have no experience working in administration in any type of school. The owner does not speak English. I have no idea what I'm going to be doing. Only my hours, and my salary. And the fact that she's going to work around my hours so I can still run my own business.

Is this luck, or am I crazy?

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-08-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Golpista
(say gohl-pEEs-tah)

Golpista = Pro-coup d'etat

A golpista is a person that is in favor of, or took part in, a coup d'etat. The word comes from the Spanish translation of coup d'etat, which is golpe de estado.

Another great article...

2009-08-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

My fellow expat blogger Debi reposted this article, written by Janine Goben, on her blog today. It's an excellent explanation of why the article that I reposted on Monday, by Dr. Jack Wheeler, is NOT golpista propaganda.

Honduras: When is a coup not a coup?
Coup versus Coup D’Etat
by Janine Goben

A few weeks ago there was a constitutional change of power in Honduras; not usually an event which would cause the world to get involved in the internal government of a country, especially a country enjoying the freedom of an effective democracy.

IT WILL BECOME A DEFINING MOMENT IN THE DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY

During the early morning of June 28th, 2009, an event occurred in the small Central American country of Honduras which will become a defining time in Honduras’ history; indeed, it will become a defining moment in the definition of democracy. And because of the immediate reaction of the United States of America, it will become a defining point in time for the world to judge how the United States becomes involved in the government of other countries.

As the sun started to rise on Sunday, June 28th, 2009, a military corps, acting under direction of the Supreme Court of Honduras and the entire Congress of Honduras, entered the Presidential Palace in the capital city of Tegucigalpa and removed the President of Honduras, taking him by plane to Costa Rica, where he was discharged.

The news media and the U.S. state department immediately jumped on the following equation:Head of state + Central America + military removal from power = coup d’état.

Armed with only these facts, most people would make the same leap to judgment….. Unless they had the rest of the information and some understanding of the Honduran constitution, or unless they came to Honduras today and see that life is continuing the same as it was prior to these events; there are no tanks rolling down the streets, no curtailed rights or liberties.

The international press would have you believe that Honduras is in disarray. Nothing could be further from the truth. A constitutional change of government occurred, without violence; and this constitutional change has brought the people of Honduras together in defense of their constitution and their freedoms. Hondurans and foreigners, both sides of the political spectrum, stand solidly together to support HONDURAS. Tens of thousands of people have staged rallies throughout the country in support of the actions taken against the ex-president. The only violence that has occurred is when Zelaya tried to return to the country, creating a media frenzy as he asked his very few supporters to disrupt the country.

I will give you the rest of the story from the viewpoint of an American citizen living happily and peacefully in Honduras for a dozen years, and also with a chronology from a Honduran businessman, who can speak to the actions first hand.

Let’s start three years ago; Mel Zelaya, candidate for one of the two main political parties, was elected President by a small majority. A rich rancher, Zelaya courted the poorer people of the country, making grand appearances by riding in on his horse, Café, wearing his trademark cowboy hat. His political objectives started to drift to the left fairly quickly and he publicly and frequently created photo shoots with political allies Hugo Chavez and the Castro Brothers.

ZELAYA APPEARED IN FRONT OF THE CROWD, ENCOURAGING THEM TO CREATE CIVIL UNREST. THIS EVENT WAS A SIGNIFICANT TURNING POINT IN THE SUPPORT ZELAYA ENJOYED AS A DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PRESIDENT.

Zelaya started making decisions which appeared to be detrimental to the stability of the country, such as overruling local law enforcement by demanding the release of people arrested for destroying government offices and burning records.

On one occasion earlier this year, he flew into the island of Roatan, on a whim, to encourage a group of protestors who were objecting to the electric company and who had managed to block the only main road on the island, effectively shutting down the island and creating havoc with the tourism industry for a week. Cruise ships detoured to other destinations and international flights were affected; people couldn’t work. Zelaya appeared in front of the crowd, encouraging them to create civil unrest. Several of the leaders had been arrested and Zelaya commanded the police and District Attorney to release them.

This was the first time most of us on the island were exposed to the courage of the Honduran people – the local officials, who are mostly members of Zelaya’s political party, resisted the order and managed to hold most of the detainees for several days. This event was probably a significant turning point in the support Zelaya enjoyed as a democratically elected President.

There is a long time relationship between Honduras and the United States; over 100 U.S. businesses operate within the country, providing thousands of jobs for Hondurans. Tourism is also a major source of employment and economic stability. There is a large military base, Soto Cano, in the center of Honduras close to the town of Comayagua, with a comfortable blend of Honduran and American troops whose mission is primarily humanitarian and to exert some control of drug trafficking throughout Central America.

Honduras is also a highly desirable country for foreigners to live in and own property; there are thousands of us living throughout the country, especially in the Bay Islands, a stunningly beautiful destination in the Western Caribbean. Life is relaxed and relatively inexpensive; the Honduran people are peaceful, friendly and welcoming. They are also fiercely proud of their country and their CONSTITUTION.

For the past twenty-plus years, Honduras has enjoyed the freedoms associated with a stable democracy and the comfort of friendship and aid from the U.S and many other countries worldwide. The second poorest country in the region, international aid is crucial for the people of Honduras. In the last decade, huge improvements in infrastructure and quality of life are evident. Humanitarian groups come in droves to provide medical, dental, spiritual and physical care. Homes are built by volunteers, trades are taught, education is boosted and children are cared for. No-one wants to lose any of this, so when Zelaya started toward a carefully chartered path to align himself with leftist leaders, people started to take notice. Rumors about missing money and illegal activities at the highest level were reported.

The democratic republic of Honduras has a similar governmental structure to the United States, with three executive branches. The following is an accurate chronology of the events which led up to the removal of Mel Zelaya from the Presidential palace, written by a Honduran businessman who lives in Tegucigalpa, and is re-printed with his permission:

The Chain of Events in the Honduras Crisis March 23, 2009: President Zelaya passes an Executive Decree ordering a National Survey asking citizens if they would approve a Constitutional Assembly that would write and approve a new constitution. The Decree stated that the National Institute of Statistics (INE) would carry the survey out. However, he did not publish the decree in Honduras’ official newspaper called La Gaceta as required by law. This decree violated the following articles in the Constitution:

• Article 255 for not having published the decree in the Gaceta.
• Article 5 which states that only Congress (with a majority vote of 2/3) can define a National Survey and NOT the Executive branch.
• Article 5 which states that only the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) can conduct/execute a National Survey and NOT the National Statistics Institute (INE).
• His actions implied intent to violate Article 374, a “Petreos” Article, which states that only five articles in the entire constitution (with a total of 378 articles) cannot be amended or reformed. Two of those five articles refer to the duration of the presidential period (Art. 237) and the prohibition of presidential reelection (Art. 4).

By May 27, 2009: The National Prosecutor, the Attorney General and the Supreme Court had unanimously ruled the National Survey decree as illegal and it was ANULLED.

June 5, 2009: President Zelaya’s lawyer appeals the ruling.

June 16, 2009: The Appeal Court unanimously confirms that the National Survey decree is indeed illegal and therefore ANULLED. The State Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Publico) informs the Armed Forces that the National Survey is illegal and therefore, the Armed Forces must not carry out its constitutionally-assigned responsibility to act as guardians of the Public Survey ballots. The Armed Forces apply Article 323 that states that no public official, whether civil or military, can be forced to comply with an illegal order and thus refuse to carry out President Zelaya’s order to safeguard the ballots and election/survey. That same day, the State Prosecutor’s Office also advises President Zelaya and his entire cabinet of the Appeals Court ruling against the decree.

June 19, 2009: The State Prosecutor’s Office formally advises President Zelaya, a second time, that the National Survey is illegal.

June 25th, 2009: Only three days before his announced and illegal survey, President Zelaya issues a second presidential decree again calling for a National Survey. But this time, he goes all the way and publishes it in the Gaceta. However, he makes changes to the wording in the decree. Instead of ordering “a Public Opinion Survey,” as he had worded the previous decree, he now changes the words to read, “Public Opinion Survey Convening a Constitutional Assembly.” This changes the legal interpretation of this decree entirely, and would’ve allowed for an immediate Constitutional Assembly to convene and disintegrate the three powers defined in the Constitution, effectively interrupting Constitutional Order.

AS SOON AS THE DECREE WAS PUBLISHED, PRESIDENT ZELAYA AUTOMATICALLY STOPPED BEING PRESIDENT AND BECAME A REGULAR CITIZEN.

With the publishing of this decree in the Gaceta, President Zelaya himself kicks into motion Article 239 which states that “whomever changes or attempts to change” Article 4 (an unchangeable “petreos” article protected by Article 374) relating to the alterability of the presidential position, “will be immediately removed from public office” and lose his/her constitutional powers.

NOTE: This is very important! As soon as the decree was published, President Zelaya automatically stopped being president and became a regular citizen.

June 26, 2009: The Courts, along with the Attorney General and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, order the Armed Forces to confiscate all National Survey ballots and voting material that had just arrived by plane.

That same day, in blatant disregard to all court rulings, Citizen Manuel Zelaya gathers a group of protesters and proceeds to the Air Force warehouse where the ballots had been impounded. He threatens with force, and uses human shields, risking other citizens’ lives.

Calling on Article 59, which states that the protection of “human life is the Constitution and the state’s supreme responsibility/obligation,” the Armed Forces yield to the mob and allow Citizen Zelaya and his human shields to take the ballots by force.

Immediately, the Supreme Court issues an arrest warrant for Citizen Manuel Zelaya for the crimes of (a) Attempts against the form of government, (b) Treason to the country, (c) Abuse of authority, and (d) Usurpation of functions belonging to other branches of government.

The Supreme Court orders the Armed Forces to serve this arrest warrant because according to Article 272, the Armed Forces has the constitutionally-assigned responsibility to maintain and protect the alterability of the presidential office.

June 27, 2009: Country leaders meet intermittently throughout the day in an effort to find an alternate means of resolving the situation without recurring to an arrest that would incite unrest and possible violence within certain segments of the population. In the meantime, the Armed Forces study Citizen Zelaya’s agenda in order to determine the best moment to execute the arrest with the least risk to the lives of Citizen Zelaya and the Presidential Guards surrounding him.

June 28, 2009: Having found no better time for the arrest, at 5:45AM, the Armed Forces capture Citizen Zelaya in his home. The arrest is successful without any injuries or deaths on both sides. Citizen Zelaya is instructed to get dressed, but wanting to be victimized, he refuses, only grabbing his passport and wallet (with the presidential palace’s credit card, by the way).

The Armed Forces decide to put Citizen Zelaya on the presidential plane and take him to Costa Rica where he is left behind. The Armed Forces and whoever else decided to expatriate Citizen Zelaya violated Article 102 which states that “no Honduran can be expatriated or surrendered to a foreign government.” The Armed Forces is defending its decision by arguing that they again relied on Article 59 (protection of human life as supreme obligation of the state). They said that, in this case, breaking the law (art. 102) actually saved lives since they felt that placing Citizen Zelaya in a Honduran prison would’ve incited violence, unrest, and possible harm to Citizen Zelaya himself. Nonetheless, the State Prosecutor’s Office has started an investigation into this crime.

Per Article 242, when the President is absent and when the Vice President is absent (or resigned in Honduras’ case), the third instance is the President of Congress. Thus, the President of Congress, Roberto Micheletti, became President of Honduras.

I have but one question that I would like to ask the international community that is so adamant about not recognizing our existing government and is so vociferous at demanding that Honduras reinstate our criminal ex-President Zelaya:

What part of our Constitution would you force us to change, amend or erase so that we can reinstate Manuel Zelaya as President of Honduras without breaking the law?

Ian Merriam Honduras Webster’s dictionary defines a coup d’état as “The sudden, forcible overthrow of a government.” A military coup d’état would be that forcible overthrow by the military with the military taking over the running the country. Clearly, neither of these definitions apply here – at no point were the military running the government because the order was issued by the Supreme Court and the next in line to the Presidency, Roberto Micheletti, was sworn in as President. Only one man lost his job….and the same political party is still in power.

Webster’s also defines the single word coup as “A sudden, brilliantly successful move”……much closer to accurate!

So, here is Honduras, a country with a strong, still in action democracy, and with the vast majority of its people supportive of the rule of law which demanded the removal of a leader who believed he was above the law; we are being condemned by international sentiment. When, in fact, Honduras has become the voice for democracy – almost unanimously, citizens are standing up to overwhelming odds to support their constitution – is there no better definition for democracy?

The Honduran people would rather give up the critical aid they receive in order to keep their democracy! Business is as usual here; transportation into and around the country is normal, regular seasonal discounts are available to tourists, cruise ships still visit and scuba divers enjoy some of the most beautiful coral reefs in the world.

PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD ARE SLOWLY REALIZING THAT THE IMMEDIATE REACTION WAS ERRONEOUS, BASED ON MEDIA REPORTS FROM NETWORKS WITHOUT CORRESPONDENTS IN HONDURAS

One man has disrupted the continuation of government, and continues to do so with his reckless (thank you, Hillary for recognizing it this time) actions on the Nicaraguan border.

And yet the country goes on with the business of living with almost no change, except that thousands of people have lost their means of making a living for their families because his continued showmanship. Thankfully, people throughout the world are slowly realizing that the immediate reaction was erroneous, based on media reports from networks without correspondents in Honduras?

Honduras should be held up as “The Little Country That Could” and its citizens praised for their willingness to protect what they hold most dear – their freedoms and their constitution. Who else has been willing to defend their country against the progress of communism in the face of overwhelming odds? We should be applauding their sacrifice and doing whatever we can to help instead of denouncing the country and cutting off its lifelines.

The U.S. State Department cautions against traveling to Honduras…do you have the same courage as the poor Honduran people? We’re here; living normal, happy lives…come and visit us…that is how you can help. Tourism and investment in Honduras is one way to give people back their livelihood, their self respect. Foreign governments interfering with the constitution of Honduras outrageous, and overblown, inaccurate reporting of the situation by an unknowledgeable media is deplorable.

I’ve never been so proud of the people of my adopted homeland; the courage and restraint shown throughout the country is admirable. To defend one’s constitution in a non-violent manner and to be successful in that endeavor is rare. Help support Honduran democracy – come and visit us, you won’t believe your eyes!

by Janine Goben
This article can be found in its original context here.

The Serenity Prayer

2009-08-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

I think I've mentioned before that I have generalized anxiety disorder. It is a "disorder characterized by long-lasting anxiety that is not focused on any one object or situation...the cause is either not readily identified or perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable..." (from Wiki)

Mine began suddenly in 2003 after a triggering event (which maybe I'll tell you more about some day). I didn't realize what it was until 2004, when I finally went to see a doctor about it.

It is not, as you can imagine, a pleasant thing. But over the past few years, I've learned how to deal with it more effectively. And I've found that during its peaks, it helps to recite a mantra.

So when I was in college, living at 919 Nutwood, I wrote out my mantra on a piece of clover green marbleized paper, trimmed it with shimmering clover ribbon, and attached it to the wall over my bedroom door. Whenever my anxiety started to get the best of me, I looked up on my wall and recited my mantra. It didn't take me long to memorize it, but I kept it up on the wall anyway.

Two years later, I moved into 1402 Nutwood with my brother, and took the green paper with me. Even though it had started to fade, I couldn't bring myself to throw it in the trash. I affixed it over my new bedroom door, and it continued to bring me comfort over the next 2 years.

Last year when I came to Honduras, I left a lot of my things behind in my room at 1402 Nutwood. My brother was going to continue living there with his new wife, and so I decided to let them keep what they wanted and trash or sell the rest. They lived there up until my parents left for Costa Rica, they moved into my parents vacant house, and put 1402 Nutwood up for rent. They found renters shortly thereafter: the daughter of my brother's highschool youth minister and her friends.

While I was in the US the past few weeks, I decided to go by the house before the new renters moved in. I went into my old bedroom, still the overwhelmingly bright teal color. And still hanging over the door was my clover green paper, faded even more. I shut my eyes and read the words out loud. I felt the familiar peace and serenity wash over me.

I wanted to yank it down and bring it back to Honduras with me. But I decided to leave it there. A gift for the new eager college student that will be occupying my old space.

So why the monologue about a stupid green piece of paper? :)

I'm writing this so she knows the story behind the paper. And the story behind the words. And so hopefully, it will bring her as much peace and serenity that it brought to me over the past 5 years of my life.

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

The bravest country in the world

2009-08-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is an incredibly long article by Dr. Jack Wheeler. It was published on his website. It is such a great summary of Honduras' history and a good reflection of my own views on the current political crisis in Honduras. I figure a lot of you only want the explanation of the current situation in Honduras, so I bolded/enlarged the first words of the paragraph where that part starts. :)

translation: Honduras, a small country, but with great dignity, has buried Chavismo

(see Wiki definition of Chavismo here)

THE BRAVEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
by Dr. Jack Wheeler

Thursday, 23 July 2009

On July 30, 1502, on his fourth voyage to what he thought were newly-discovered lands in far eastern Asia, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), reached an island which he called Guanaja, low-land.

Sailing due south, he soon came upon a massive coastline which he knew was no island. He also came upon a massive storm. Racing east in the deep waters along the coast, he reached a cape which provided him protection.

"Gracias a Dios!" he exclaimed. "Que hemos salido de estas honduras!" Thanks to God, we have escaped these treacherous depths.

On a beach of what his men now called Gracias a Dios Cape, he held a mass to commemorate his salvation, and in a solemn ceremony, claimed the territory and adjacent island for the Kingdom of Spain in the name of his sovereigns, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille.

Columbus' men named the land Honduras.Columbus found the only inhabitants of this land to be primitivos, primitive tribes such as the Lencas. Unbeknownst to him, a thousand years before a great civilization was here with its capital at CopÃ¡n. Around 800 AD, however, it collapsed, and the great Mayan cities such as CopÃ¡n, Tikal, and Chichen Itza abandoned to the jungle.

The Great Admiral sailed away, and 22 years later in 1524, the Spaniards came to stay in Honduras, led by one of Hernando Cortez's captains, Cristobal de Olid. Another Cortez captain, Pedro de Alvarado, did the same in the region between Honduras and Mexico, which he called Guatemala, Mayan for Land of Trees.

Alvarado attempted to continue south along the Pacific coast but was repulsed by Pipil Indians. After fervent prayers, he returned the next year, 1525, and succeeded in establishing a colony which he called El Salvador, The Savior, in thanks for his prayers being answered.

Meanwhile, other Spanish explorers had founded a colony far to the south which they called Panama, after the name of a large Guarani Indian village meaning both lots of fish and lots of butterflies.

In 1522, a Spanish explorer, Gil Gonzalez de Avila, ventured north of Panama into a land he called Costa Rica (Rich Coast) after meeting some Carib Indians wearing gold bands in their noses and ears.

He continued north to a land of large lakes, fertile valleys, and a native people whose ruler much impressed de Avila, King Nic-Atl-Nauac. De Avila rendered his name Nicarao, and combined it with "agua" for all the water and lakes to call the land Nicaragua.

Various captains from Mexico and Panama fought with each other for control over the entire region between them until the Spanish government, in 1543, declared it combined and subsumed in a new administrative/judicial district of New Spain called the Audencia of Guatemala. In 1609, it was given more formal autonomy as the Captain General of Guatemala.

Two hundred years later, thanks to the impact of the American and French Revolutions, and with Spain being conquered by Napoleon and ruled by his brother Joseph Bonaparte, an independence movement erupted in Mexico in 1810.

It was a bloody mess until the Treaty of Cordoba in 1821 granted full sovereignty to Mexico, which promptly annexed all of the Guatemala Captain General - except for Panama which annexed itself to Colombia to escape Mexico's clutches.

The bloody mess continued in Mexico however, resulting in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica joining together in 1823 as the United Provinces of Central America and seceded from Mexico. This just imported the bloody Mexican mess of civil chaos throughout the new country - so finally, from 1838 to 1841, all five provinces declared their independence from each other.

As they did, a group of British settlers who had been living along the Caribbean coast of Guatemala - a region called Belize after the Mayan belix, muddy water - since the mid-1600s declared themselves free as well and asked for British protection, which they got.

Subsequently, in 1862, England formally declared it a British Crown Colony, naming it British Honduras - even though it had no border with Honduras. It's been sovereign since 1981 as Belize. Here's Central America today:

From its independence in 1838 to 1981, Honduras was plagued by over 300 internal rebellions, civil wars, and violent changes of government. Cartoonishly corrupt and dominated by banana conglomerates like United Fruit, the place became the original "Banana Republic" - so named by famous writer O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 1862-1910) in his book Cabbages and Kings after his stay in Honduras 1896-7.

One coup and military dictator followed another for much of the 20th century. The economy's deterioration was made worse by hordes of illegal immigrants from over-populated El Salvador. By 1969 there 300,000 such Salvadoran illegals in Honduras, with such hatred between the two countries that when riots broke out between fans of their national soccer teams, both countries declared war.

The Soccer War was vicious, brutal, and short, lasting seven days, July 14-20, 1969. The invading Salvadoran Army was repelled along with 130,000 Salvadoran illegals. Hondurans found they had a new sense of national pride and patriotism. Then there was another military coup, and another, and another.

But when the dictator in neighboring Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza, was overthrown in 1979 by Communist guerrillas calling themselves Sandinistas and sponsored by Cuba and the Soviet Union, Hondurans decided it was time get politically mature.

This was accelerated when, in 1980, the Sandinistas and Cubans sponsored a Communist guerrilla movement to try and take over in El Salvador. The Hondurans were alone, with no hope or help from Jimmy Carter's America. They formed a truly democratic government with a new constitution and a professional army under civilian control.

In November, 1981, a medical doctor, Robert Suazo, was elected president. The first phone call of congratulations he got was from the new American president, Ronald Reagan. US aid began pouring in, economic and military.

A savage terrorist group sponsored by the Sandinistas was crushed. Suazo eagerly allowed military supplies to flow through across his border to the growing Contra liberation movement fighting the Communist Sandinistas in Nicaragua - as did his freely-elected successor Jose Azcona.

Since then, the two main political parties, Liberal and National, have traded power in free elections, while democratic institutions such as the Supreme Court have been strengthened. The Hondurans were justly proud of what they had achieved -- and had no suspicion that their success would be threatened when the son of a wealthy businessman, Manuel "Mel" Zelaya was elected president in November 2005.

He turned out to be an incompetent megalomaniac. As crime, corruption, and poverty rose, Zelaya increasingly blamed America for all his country's and the world's problems, while forging deepening friendships with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

When the Communist Sandinista Daniel Ortega was elected president of Nicaragua - thanks to Ollie North (see Kafka in Managua: Ollie North Is Helping a Communist Win in Nicaragua 11/06) - he quickly became one of Mel's best buds.

When Hugo Chavez formed a "Bolivarian" alliance (ALBA) of rabidly anti-American pro-Communist rulers - Castro, Ortega, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Ecuador's Rafael Correa, and himself - Zelaya announced he wanted to join. That was the last straw. His popularity totally tanked, even among the elected members of the National Congress from his own party.

He responded with a plethora of attempts at police state control - such as monitoring of all cell phone conversations. Journalists who criticized him in the press were murdered or fled the country due to murder threats. With millions of dollars from Hugo Chavez, he paid hordes of young people to protest for him and beat up opponents.

The Honduran Constitution contains eight articles that cannot be amended, one of them being term-limiting the presidency. Article 239 states:No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President.

Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those who support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.Yet Zelaya began insisting earlier this year on holding a National Referendum to overturn this un-overturnable constitutional prohibition. The entire country saw this as a blatantly illegal attempt to become president-for-life, exactly as Hugo Chavez has done in Venezuela.

The ballots for the referendum were printed in and shipped from Venezuela. The Supreme Court declared the referendum constitutionally illegal and ordered the ballots destroyed. Zelaya led a mob of his Chavez-paid followers to physically seize the ballots, at which point the Supreme Court ordered Zelaya's arrest and removal from office as article 239 specifies.

The army followed the Supreme Court's order, but instead of jailing Zelaya, he was put on a plane to Costa Rica - in hindsight a big mistake. The National Congress voted to have its Speaker, Roberto Micheletti, to replace Zelaya as the constitution specifies as next in presidential succession.

Instead of being applauded for adhering to its democratic laws and avoiding their demise, much of the so-called Free World - the UN, the EU, and the US via the White House - joined with the Communist World led by Chavez and Castro to hysterically denounce Honduras instead.

This, folks, is a terrifying wake-up call as to the extent the forces of darkness are gaining strength, and the forces of freedom are cowering in retreat. All of sudden out of nowhere, little Honduras catalyzes this process and becomes a pivot point in the struggle between good and evil on earth.

Let's take a look at those who lead the forces of darkness arrayed against Honduras.

On June 30, two days after Zelaya's removal, the UN General Assembly passed by acclamation a resolution that condemned the removal of Mr. Zelaya as a "coup" and demanded his "immediate and unconditional restoration" as president.

The President of the UN General Assembly is a Sandinista Communist, Miguel D'Escoto, who was Danny Ortega's Foreign Minister in the 80s and won the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1985. Under his leadership, the UN has become even more virulently suffused with a hatred of America.

On July 5, the Organization of American States (OAS) suspended Honduras from its membership, denounced the government of Roberto Micheletti, and demanded Zelaya be reinstated.

Since 2005, the president of the OAS is a left-wing Chilean politician, Jose Miguel Insulza. He has been bribed by Chavez to publicly denounce the Micheletti government as a "dictatorship" and endlessly threaten Honduras with "sanctions." Prior to this, Chavez was bribing him to crusade for the OAS to accept Cuba as a fully democratic member.

A radical Marxist Chilean academic, Arturo Valenzuela, is President Zero's nominee to be Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. Valenzuela has a long history of defending corrupt Latin American regimes such as Mexico and Argentina, and of groveling support for Hugo Chavez.

After Valenzuela denounced Zelaya's removal as an "illegal coup" in his Senate testimony this week (7/20), then refused to discuss the Honduran situation in detail, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) placed a hold on his confirmation.

"Why is Washington on the same side as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro in the Honduran crisis?" asked DeMint. Valenzuela had no answer.

The Zero White House is so deep in bed with Chavez and Castro that it had Hillary Clinton interrupt her visit to India and telephone Honduran President Micheletti (7/20). In her official capacity as Secretary of State, she was rude, insulting, and abusive, threatening Micheletti with "serious consequences" if he didn't turn power back to Zelaya.

Micheletti stood his ground. "Under no circumstances will we accept these pressures," he informed Mrs. Clinton. "Under no circumstances will Mr. Zelaya be returned to power.

"The World Bank has suspended aid to Honduras, as has the EU. Zero has cut off military aid. Oscar Arias of Costa Rica is playing his role of gutless neutrality to the hilt, trying every conman ploy in the book to get Zelaya back in power. Ortega is sending hordes of Nicaraguan agents across the border to foment violent protest (while at the same time trying to get himself elected president-for-life straight out of the Chavez-Zelaya playbook).

All of this is an astounding demonstration of how pro-Communist and anti-freedom much of the world has become. It's not just Zero.

It's also a demonstration of how intimidated anti-Communist leaders have become. You would think that Colombia's Alvaro Uribe, Panama's Ricardo Martinelli, and Peru's Alan Garcia would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Roberto Micheletti in Tegucigalpa's Morazan Square.

Joining them in support would be all members of the Supreme Court, virtually all members of the National Congress, all major Honduran business leaders, and vast numbers of Hondurans who want freedom not Chavez-style dictatorship.

It would be an ideal moment to announce the formation of an anti-ALBA alliance of pro-freedom Latin countries between these leaders and invite Honduras to join.

But no. These three guys remain silent and sequestered in their presidential palaces in Bogota, Panama City, and Lima. The best even Uribe can muster - the guy who is defeating the FARC narco-communist guerrillas - is to secretly (or "informally" as he put it) meet with Honduran Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez in Bogota (7/20).

No diplomatic recognition, no flying to Tegucigalpa, just a whispered hint he, Uribe, might be "sympathetic" to Micheletti.Honduras is alone against the forces of darkness. That the President of the United States is one of those forces is more than acutely embarrassing - it is acutely dangerous to us, to freedom in the world, and to a brave little country that should be an inspiration to all.

As of this morning (7/23), Honduras is still standing firm, having rejected yet again Arias' latest "final offer."

(As a demonstration of what an utter idiot the Nobel Laureate is, Arias claimed Honduras has become the "North Korea or Albania" of Central America, showing his ignorance of all three. To compare Albania, a free democracy, with the Norks is obscenely stupid, and the Norks with Honduras simply immoral.)

You can pray for Honduras. You can call or email the office of Senator DeMint to thank him for supporting a Free Honduras. You can encourage your Congressman to do the same. And if you really, really want to demonstrate your own support, you might consider doing it in person.

Remember that island, Guanaja, discovered by Columbus? It's one of the Bay Islands where you'll find some of the best snorkeling and scuba-diving in the world.

There are the stunning ruins of CopÃ¡n, cloud forests, nice hotels, and friendly people who will overwhelm you with gratitude for coming to them in their hour of peril. Getting there is a short flight and not pricey. Something to consider.

Honduras is at this moment in history the bravest country in the world. It deserves the support of all advocates of liberty.

by Dr. Jack Wheeler

http://www.tothepointnews.com/

my apologies...

2009-07-28T14:11:00.001-07:00

I have been such a bad blogger. I can't believe it's been a month since my last post!

And I don't have a good excuse either. There's been a lot to write about, I've just been avoiding it for some reason. My bad.

I've been in the US for the last month, avoiding the political crisis in Honduras. (And I'm not even going to go there right now. My fellow bloggers have written more than enough on the subject, and you can visit their blogs which are listed on the right side of the page under the list of blogs that I follow.)

I am going back to Honduras this week, and will hopefully get back into my routine. Until then...

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-06-24T06:35:00.001-07:00

A friend mentioned this saying last week at breakfast, and I feel like it's fitting for today's word of the day...considering yesterday's post. (Thanks Margie!)

"Las suegras son como las estrellas entre mas lejos mas bellas"
(Say....Umm, just guess on this one, okay?)

"Mothers-in-law are like the stars...the farther away the better."

are all mothers-in-law like this?

2009-06-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

First, I was "poisoning" Jose by feeding him (you know, because he can't feed himself) leftover pasta. That can cause a bacterial infection, you know.

Then, my cleaning methods weren't good enough. Evidently, an old rag with water is better than using Clorox wipes.

Now, she's showing up at my house unannounced and coming in without even knocking on the door.

What is this? Is this a Honduran thing, or are they all like this?

At least she's not as bad as a lot of these stories! http://www.mycrazyin-laws.com/

MY five essentials

2009-06-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

My fellow ex-pat blogger over at Laurie's Blog Spot posted what she thought were the 5 indispensable items for expats coming to Honduras.

My list is a bit different. Men, just stop reading now because my list is tailored more for women (high maintenance women, to be exact). ;)

1. Skin care products. If you don't like Ponds, stock up and bring your own.

2. Make-up. Whether you like the drug store or department store brands, you need to stock up while you're in the US. You can find just about all of the drug store brands in the supermarkets, but the products are rarely in stock. I ran out of bronze Almay eyeliner a few months back (actually, a maid stole it) and went to the supermarket to get some more. Not only was the Almay liner double the price, but they only had ugly colors (I'm guessing the overstock from the colors they can't sell in the US). The department stores are the same way. You can find Lancome, Chanel, MAC, Clinique, etc, etc, but they are always out of everything that you want. And colors that are appropriate for fair skin? They usually don't even carry it. Also, I have yet to see Bare Minerals or Lush or anything organic or mineral based. Ugh, I miss Sephora.

3. Feminine hygiene products. You can find "sanitary napkins" everywhere. But tampons are a little more difficult to find. Where they do sell them, there is usually only brand, they are almost always super, and they are almost always double what they cost in the US.

4. Underwear. There is no Victoria's Secret, and what the department stores here carry is of poor quality. So, bring panties. And bras. :) Or just be prepared to order it all online, and then pay a hefty import tax (sometimes 25%) when it gets shipped here.

5. Books. I have to agree with Laurie on this one. The selection of books in English is very limited, and they are outrageously overpriced. Amazon has been a blessing for books because you can get some for $0.01 each!

I think I could probably go on and on....but these are the first 5 that came to mind. :)

Now Hiring...

2009-06-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

...fast food workers in Tegucigalpa

Job Description
You will be responsible for listening attentively (or not) to customers and taking their orders. It is not necessary to enter the order correctly. You will repeat the order back to the customer, and when they correct the order, enter it incorrectly again. (Feel free to do this multiple times.) Feel free to give them the wrong order even if they did repeat it to you 5 times (see example #1 below). You will NOT accept orders that are not on the menu (see example #2 below). And this means no customizing the order, even if our slogan is "however you'd like it." You will learn how to say "no hay sistema" (the system is not working)...but only when they have waited in line for 10 minutes, already ordered, have a debit/credit card, and don't have cash with them to pay. Also, you will be responsible for telling customers that you are the supervisor/manager/owner, even if you aren't, in case they ask to speak with a superior. Finally, regarding those signs that say "your order is free if your order doesn't match your receipt" is just a joke. It is your duty to get really pissed off if someone points that out to you...and make up some excuse why it's not the restaurant's fault and we, therefore, do not have to give a free meal.

Example scenarios
#1 - When you give them their meal and they check it and it is incorrect and they say "for the 5th time, I only want bread, meat, cheese, mustard, and pickles," take their meal back to correct it. BUT, just to be sure, go back to the window and ask them if they want vegetables, you know, just in case.
#2 - If they want their burger cut into pieces because of, let's say, recent dental work; this is obviously not available because a cut-up burger is not listed on the menu.

Mandatory job skill
Complete stupidity

Desirable skill
Bad attitude

international health insurance

2009-06-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Remember a few months back when I wrote about Holli and helping her get home? She was in a nearly fatal motorcycle accident in India and suffered major brain trauma. The hospitals there, like in most developing countries, weren't sufficient to care for her injuries. So she needed to be med-evac'd back to the states. Do you have any idea how much that costs?? Evidently hundreds of thousands of dollars!

So it got me to thinking. What would my family do if I were in an accident like that? The hospitals here probably aren't much better than the ones in India. And I don't have US health insurance to cover something like that. And who just has $150,000 laying around?

So a couple of weekends ago we were visiting with friends here in Tegus. (The husband commutes from the US every couple of months, and his wife and family live here permanently.) They have health insurance that works in Honduras AND in the US. And it covers emergency evacuation for situations just like the one Holli was in.

So since then I've been researching international/travel insurance. One of the sites I found was www.hccmis.com. And according to the prices on their site, it's very affordable depending on the deductible, even on a Honduran salary. ;)

So if you are traveling abroad (studying abroad, backpacking, whatever!) or living abroad like me, then I suggest you consider what you and your family would do if you were in an accident like Holli's. If you want, you can click HERE to obtain a free quote for international health insurance. It's quick and painless, and this kind of insurance could turn out to be priceless if something ever happened to you abroad!

Bring a canned good, your Bible, a friend, and...your gun

2009-06-04T16:53:00.001-07:00

Please read this article about a pastor in my very RED home state of Kentucky.

Didn't you know that our nation was founded on "a strong belief in God and firearms?"

A gun raffle AND patriotic music? Y'all can count me in. ;)

taxi driver murdered, very close to my house!

2009-06-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

(photo from elheraldo.hn)

I was greeted by this scene yesterday as I was heading home after work. There was an obscene amount of traffic on the Blvd. Suyapa, and as I got closer to the road that goes into my neighborhood I saw why. There were about 20 police cars/trucks on the other side of the street (the same side as UNAH, for all you Tegucigalpans). The whole area was taped off with police tape, and there was a parked trailer that said "Crime Scene Investigators" on the side.

"Woah what is this about? What do you think happened?" I asked the driver.

"For there to be investigators and police tape and stuff, either someone was murdered or kidnapped," he replied.

And he was right. A taxi driver was murdered at 3 pm on Tuesday afternoon by a gang member for refusing to pay the illegal "taxes" that the drivers are "required" to pay to the gangs. He was the 3rd driver to be murdered in the previous 24 hours.

Very scary!

(To read the article from El Heraldo in Spanish, click here. To read the very rough translation in English via Google translator, click here.)

getting pulled over in honduras

2009-05-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

Jose and I left the house this morning just before 9 am to go to a funeral. As we crossed the Blvd. Suyapa, we noticed 2 police officers on a motorcycle pointing at us. We kept driving, because how were we supposed to know that pointing meant pull over? When Jose realized they were pulling us over, he put on his seatbelt (whoops!).

We pulled over in a gas station parking lot about a block down. The 2 police officers approached the car. Jose handed one of the officers his license and registration. Jose asked why he had been pulled over. The officer said that it was because he didn't have his seatbelt on.

"Yes I did," Jose lied. (Quick note to people that don't know how things work here: Please don't judge us for lying to the police. :) It's a different world here. The only thing that would have happened if we had told the truth was they would have expected us to pay a bigger bribe than if we hadn't done anything wrong.)

"I saw you...you didn't have your seatbelt on," the officer says.

"I DID have my seatbelt on," Jose lied again.

"I think that you just woke up and you are still kind of asleep and you didn't remember to put your seatbelt on," the officer said to Jose.

The officer asked his little sidekick, "What do you think? Should I give him a ticket?" The sidekick said, "Yeah, I think you should."

The officer then asked Jose again, "Were you wearing your seatbelt?"

Jose lied again, "I told you I was."

Then the two officers really started to play their little game, trying to get a bribe from us. "What do you think, man? Should I give him a ticket? Yeah, man, you should do it." They were trying to get us to beg, "No! Don't give us a ticket! We'll pay you a bribe instead!" Jose didn't say a word.

At that point I thought it might help our cause if they knew there was a gringa in the car. I took off my sunglasses, lowered my head, made direct eye contact with both of them, and said something to Jose in English. The officer asked Jose, "Where are you from? Are you Honduran?" Jose told him yes. "And her?" the officer asked. "I'm from the US," I replied directly to him in Spanish.

The two officers looked at each other, and then told Jose that he was free to go. Shocking, considering they saw him without his seatbelt, and then he lied to them about it.

I'm pretty sure my white skin and blonde hair had something to do with it. Jose is soo lucky to have this gringa as his wife. ;) hehe

el terremoto

2009-05-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

Word of the Day Thursday:

Terremoto = Earthquake!

(say tEHrrrrrEH-mOH-tOH)

At 2:24 AM this morning (3:24 AM KY time) there was an earthquake off of the northern shore of Honduras. It registered 7.1 on the Richter scale.

(picture courtesy of usgs.gov)

In some places I've read/heard that there was 1 death, and in others, that there were 4. I still don't know the exact number. There are some damaged highways, and I heard a bridge collapsed somewhere in the north. From what I've read on Honduras Living, it seems like the people that live on the islands felt it the most.

I live in Tegucigalpa, which as you can see on the map, is pretty far from the epicenter. Jose and I are okay...we slept through it, I guess. We didn't even know there had been an earthquake until we saw it on the news this morning as we were getting ready for work. I vaguely remember hearing Charlie bark in the middle of the night, so maybe he felt it. And I'm so jealous if he did. I survived my first earthquake and don't have any exciting stories to share because I slept through the darn thing. ;)

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-05-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

Maje (say mAH-hay)

I'm running out of favorite Spanish words to teach you. *gasp* So until I can come up with some new ones, I'm going to use my husband's favorite words.

And I'm pretty sure this is his favorite word because he says it all. the. time.

My online translator defines maje as a guy/bloke. The best equivalent I can think of is man/dude. Por ejemplo:

Hey maje, what's up?
Hey maje, let's go play pool tonight.
etc.

burning season...blame it on the farmers!

2009-05-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned burning season in yesterday's post about the palomillas. I thought you might be interested in knowing a little more about it.

The culprit of all of the smoke during burning season is from slash and burn agriculture.

It's a method that has been used in this area since the time of the Mayans. Slash and burn agriculture is when you use fire to prepare a field for planting. Cut vegetation is left to dry during the dry season, then right before rainy season, it is burned and the new plants are planted in the ashes.

I have been critical of this farming technique for a long time. I mean, I'm no farmer, but it always seemed to me that burning everything would just strip the soil of its nutrients. Not to mention all of that smoke. That just can't be good for the environment (or my allergies!).

And then last week when we were on our way to the hot springs in Copan Ruinas, we passed a burning field. I asked the driver, "Why do they do that?" His explanation was that the fire kills the disease causing bacteria in the soil.

Hmmm. I was intrigued. So I came home and looked it up. It is estimated that 250-500 million people practice this in 1/2 of the land in the tropics. And evidently, if done correctly, there are some benefits to slash and burn farming:

1. Slash and burn farming resembles natural ecosystems...more so than modernized farming does. Ex: with slash and burn farming, you don't have to remove the trees like you do to accomodate the equipment used in modern farming. Also, fields are supposed to be left to return to their natural state every few years. They sure don't do that in the fields in KY!
2. The "charcoal" left in the soil from the burned plants (the slash of slash and burn) creates a natural fertilizer. A much more environmentally friendly fertilizer than the man-made ones.
3. It does reduce the chances of losing crops to disease.

BUT... notice that I said if done correctly. There is an exception in all of this that applies to Honduras:

1. It takes A LOT of land to use this type of farming correctly because plots of land have to be rotated and left unused for long periods of time. It takes a lot more land than the typical Honduran farmer has access to.
2. In areas with steep slopes (hello, all of Honduras) or in areas with population booms, it is destructive because the "rest periods" are not used for the proper amount of time.

So, after the facts, what do you think?

I have decided that the Honduran farmers should not use slash and burn farming. If you know one, tell him I said that. And then wait for him to laugh at me, because hey, what does this gringa know? Haha.

the Plague is upon us

2009-05-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Honduras was experiencing burning season, when fires fill the forests and fields(both man- and mother nature- created), and therefore fill our skies with smoke. So for about a month, the skies were full of smoke. It burned my eyes. And caused a major allergy flare-up. But then we got a few days of rain and it ceased. Finally.

But now, the skies are filled with something else. Bugs. Big, flying bugs. A fellow blogger wrote about these bugs in her town of Gracias, Honduras last week. I was praying we wouldn't experience them here. But here they are.

The sky is full of the palomillas (say pah-low-mEE-yahs). They are evidently a sign of the coming rainy season. They fly around until they land (not sure how long this takes) and their wings fall off and they cover everything as nasty, dying worms. Yuck. Thank God we have screens and they aren't covering my furniture like Faith's house!

the sweet things that husbands do

2009-05-22T08:43:00.001-07:00

My husband is not romantic. But sometimes, on very rare occasions, he does something so thoughtful and unexpected that it just makes my heart melt.

On Tuesday when Paige and I left for our adventure, we had to be at the bus station at 5:00 am. I don't have a car. So Jose, who doesn't have to wake up until 7 to get ready for work, took us to the bus station. At 4:50 am. He dropped us off and said he would wait to make sure we could buy tickets. I told him he didn't have to wait and to go home and go back to sleep before he had to work. So he left. He called me 10 minutes later when he got home, "Did you get the tickets? Everything's ok?" I said yes, but I had just realized I left my pillow at home.

You really need a pillow on three 8 hour bus trips. He said not to worry that they would give me a pillow on the bus. I told him I hadn't realized that and ok, to go back to sleep and Paige and I were fine.

About 15 minutes later, he calls again. "Come outside." I go outside, and there he is, with pillow in hand. "I realized that you only get a pillow if you ride first class, and since you aren't, I brought you this."

Awwww.

Honduras, not a What but a Where

2009-05-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

"I live in Honduras," I explained to the operator at Toyota Financial.

"Honduras? WHAT is that?" she asked.

"WHAT is it? It's a country...in Central America," I replied.

"Oh, do they, like, have a different kind of money over there?"

oh.my.gosh. I mean, really?

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-05-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Mochilero (say mOH-chee-lEH-rOH)

Translation: backpacker

For some reason, this word also makes me giggle. Backpack in Spanish is mochila, so it's literally translated into "backpack-er." I'm not sure why this is so amusing, since it's exactly the same in English. But, it is.

Paige & Hannah's Honduran Adventure

2009-05-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

Paige came to visit last week. And we had so. much. fun.

She arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we spent the afternoon running a few errands and getting my house ready for my small birthday party. The party started around 8 or 9, and we socialized all night. The next morning we went on our first adventure, to the national basilica.

So we trekked to the basilica, walked through the cemetery, and then visited the inside of the basilica. But not before Paige got to try bagged water for the first time. !! She was just as excited as I was the first time I drank water from a bag, haha.

On Monday, we made a day trip to Comayagua because Jose had to go there for work. We visited the "oldest clock in the Americas," toured the museum, and then had a couple of beers while we waited for Jose to finish working.

Our original plan was to spend time going to the little towns around Tegus, like Valle de Angeles and Comayagua, until Thursday when we would Roatan for a few days. Well, we randomly changed our minds on Monday evening and I decided that she had to see Copan Ruinas while she was here.

So Tuesday morning, we caught the 5:45 am Hedman Alas bus to San Pedro Sula. We had a "layover" in the bus station for an hour, and then took the bus to Copan Ruinas. The whole trip, including the layover, was 8 hours. Cost: L. 475 ($25)

We stayed in one of the cutest hotels in Copan Ruinas. The original plan was to stay at Hacienda San Lucas, because my in-laws know the owner. But the hotel was closed and the owner recommended Yat B'alam. And boy am I glad she did! It was adorable. And better yet, had the BEST customer service I have ever experienced in Honduras. If you go to Copan Ruinas, you MUST stay at the Yat B'alam (around $75/night)! Tell Rina, the owner, that I sent you! :) She is one of the nicest people I've met here, and the customer service from her and all of her staff exceeded my expectations. She even made the reservation for us to go to the hot springs!!

We spent Tuesday afternoon exploring the little town. In the evening, we had a few too many rum teas, and then decided it was a good idea to buy some Salva Vidas (Honduran beer) to drink on the balcony of our hotel. After we drank those, we decided to go have some more at a little bar around the corner. Let's just say that the night ended with some strange pictures (like, of our feet and stuff), haha, and me threatening to stab someone with a broken beer bottle (I wasn't serious, though, haha) because he made fun of my accent. Ah, it was fun.

The next morning, we made it out of bed without a serious hangover, and headed to the ruins. We used a guide (worth every penny!) and finished in under 2 hours. THEN, we headed to the hot springs. This is the greatest part of Copan Ruinas (besides the Yat B'alam, of course).

You can pay a tour company to take you for around $30/pp. At first, I thought it was going to be a rip off. But in the end I learned why it costs so much...

The springs are about a 45 minute drive from Copan Ruinas, on a dirt road. Then to get into the "spa" portion of the springs, it costs $10. So you are basically paying $10 to get there, $10 to get in, and $10 to get back.

It's one of the coolest things in Honduras that I've seen so far. :) It's a natural hot spring, and someone, ingeniously, went in and built small pools and set up "spa" stations. There is a little area for a mineral mud bath, where you rub mud all over yourself and then soak in the warm water of the pool. Then you slowly move up the hill, as the pools get hotter and hotter (getting closer to the source of the hot water). There is a "hidro massage" area where the hot water pours from a small waterfall and you stand under it. And the whole thing is very secluded. It's like a spa treatment in the middle of the jungle. Ahhh, it was super relaxing.

After that was over, we went back to the Yat B'alan and relaxed for the evening.

The next day, we got up and took the 5:15 AM bus to La Ceiba. It was another 8 hour trip (with a 1-2 hour layover in San Pedro Sula). Total cost, L. 475. We arrived in La Ceiba and then took the 4:30 pm ferry to Roatan. By the time we arrived in Roatan, we were exhausted! (Ferry cost, L. 524.)

Nonetheless, we went out and had a drink with my friends that live on the island. Then we went back to their house and crashed. The next morning, we headed to the beaches early. My friends live in West End, so we took a water taxi to West Bay where the nicer beaches are.

It was paradise, as usual. We took the transparent canoes out to see the coral like Jose and I did last time, and we loved it. It was all fun and good, except for when we went home and realized we were extremely sunburnt. So we called it an early night again, and crashed.

The next day, we took the 7 am ferry back to La Ceiba (cost, L. 500), and then took the bus from Ceiba to San Pedro, and took another bus from San Pedro to Tegucigalpa (total cost, L. 475). It was a lot of exhausting travel, but so worth it for Paige to be able to see so much of Honduras!

The only bad part of the trip was when we were on our way back to Tegus. We got stuck in traffic, in the same spot, for 4 hours because of a wreck. We were both losing our minds what with the man next to us listening to the soccer game, without headphones, and the crying baby. Eventually some idiot gave the baby a whistle, so instead of crying we had to listen to it blow the effing whistle for hours on end. There were some threats by Paige to sacrifice the baby to the traffic gods. Thank goodness it didn't come to that. We made it back, safe and sane, in 8 hours on what should have been a 4 hour trip from SPS to Tegus.

Paige left the next day, :(, to go back to Kentucky. Even though her trip was short, it was so nice to have her here and go on an adventure with her. Come back again soon, Paige!!

Charlie's Adventure to Honduras

2009-05-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Charlie is here!

He left Kentucky on April 21st.

This is a picture of him checking in at the airport in Louisville, KY.

My mom said everyone with Continental at the airport was really nice and they seemed very concerned for Charlie's well being.

He left Louisville on a 2 hour flight to Houston, spent the night, and the next morning took another 2 hour flight to Tegucigalpa on April 22nd.

When I arrived at the airport, I was told to head to the baggage claim area. Since I wasn't a passenger, I couldn't enter the area. I found a security guard and explained my situation. He found a customs agent for me. He said, "Yes, your dog is there, and he's been so good! He's very tranquilo and is just laying down in his cage." I thought, "Did my parents send me the right dog? There's no way he's just chilling in his cage. He's probably growling at everyone." Haha. The agent told me I would have to wait outside the baggage claim area until all of the passengers had cleared out. Then they would bring Charlie to me. I waited patiently, almost crying I was so excited, for 20 minutes. The agent came back outside and chatted with me for a while. He was suuuper nice. He saw how anxious I was, and so he took me to the security office where they let me have a security pass for me to go into the baggage claim area. When I got into the baggage claim area, Charlie's cage was waiting by the carousel. I ran up to the cage, with tears streaming down my face, and squealed "Baaaaaby dog! Charlie dog!!!" He started going crazy and was crying to be let out of the cage. I wanted to let him out, but I could smell the urine from 10 feet away so I knew he was probably covered in it.

I had to sign some papers, and pay a L. 50 fee (about $2.50) and then one of the workers carried the cage out to the car for me on a dolly.

When we got to the apartment, I prepared everything to give him a bath before I took him out of the cage. I turned on the water, got the towels and shampoo. When everything was ready, I cut the zip ties on the cage, pulled him out, and ran to the shower with him. The whole bottom part of his body was covered in pee. Nasty. :-/ While we were in the shower, he started gulping the water from the floor of the shower. I swear I think he drank like 2 gallons of water. He acted like he hadn't had anything to drink all day.

When Charlie gets a bath, he generally likes to run all over the house rubbing his whole body on the area rugs (at my parent's house). But in our apartment, we didn't have any big area rugs. So he just rubbed his body all over the ceramic floor. Haha.

About 10 minutes later he found the small rug in the kitchen and rubbed his body all over that.

Then he found the welcome mat, and rubbed his body all over that.

There was wet dog hair everywhere. What a mess!

After he was done "drying" himself, he walked around the entire apartment sniffing of everything. And everytime he heard someone outside in the hallway, he would growl. You see, he had been living in the states with my parents for almost 9 months, and they live in the country where he didn't see a lot of cars or hear a lot of noise. So when he got to our apartment, he was so confused about all of the noise...the cars outside, the neighbors walking up and down the hallway.

He was so confused and nervous, that he followed me everywhere. He was always behind me no matter where I went or what I was doing, just looking at me, like, "Mom, where are we? What are these strange smells? What is that noise outside?" It was adorable. :)

After we had bonded for a little while, I "unpacked" his things. My mom had packed his leash and collar, puppy training pads, and a note in a plastic bag that was taped to the top of the cage. The note explained Charlie's personality, haha, and the times to feed him, etc. She also handwrote a message on the side, explaining to the workers, that Charlie would enter his cage if you just told him, "Bedtime Charlie."

So that's the story of his adventure. :)

He has been here for over 2 weeks now, and he seems very happy. We moved to a new house with a yard, so there is a place for him to go to the bathroom. He likes to guard the house too. He barks at all of the neighbors when they walk by the front of our house. Our neighbor has a guard dog outside, and they have chatted a few times with each other over the wall.

The first few days in the new house we had a few workers there finishing things up. Charlie did not like them, and followed them around growling and trying to bite their heels. It was very funny. :)

Last week I took Charlie to meet my in-law's guard dog Muñeca. I was really hoping they would be friends. But Muñeca is so crazy jealous of Charlie that she barks and growls and foams at the mouth when she sees him. And Charlie just stands there and looks at her through the fence and growls back. So I don't think they're going to be friends. :(

Sometimes I bring him to the store with me if I know I will be here all day. He likes to sit at the door and watch all of the people walk by. He's sort of famous in this commercial center now. ;) When I don't bring him to work with me, people ask me where he is. It's because he's so darn cute. That or it's because people think it's weird that I bring a dog to work with me. Haha.

On Sunday we went to the country house in Valle de Angeles so he could run around. He tried to kill one of the guard's chickens, and in the process, got tons of cockaburrs caught in his fur. The cockaburrs here are so big that I could not pull them out, so I had to cut big chunks of his fur out. Now one ear looks longer than the other, hehe, and he looks ridiculous. But I told him that's what he gets for chasing the chickens. ;)

So, that's what we've been doing the last couple of weeks. So far everything is great. He loves being here with his mommy ;), and I loved having him here with me!

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-05-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

Feliz Dia de la Madre!
Happy Mother's day!

Let's break this one down:
(say
f-EH-leez
d-EE-ah
dEH
lAH
mAHd-rEH)

Mother's Day is coming up! Sadly, I won't get to spend it with my mom :( because she's experiencing her own adventure over in Costa Rica, where she's currently in language school learning Spanish.

So this post is for her. ;) Feliz Dia de la Madre, Mom!

My guide to the supermarkets in Tegucigalpa

2009-04-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

1. No smiling allowed. Ever.
2. Feel free to take your time reading labels. But make sure you leave your cart in the middle of the aisle so no one else can pass through. And when they say disculpe, give them a really mean look.
3. Don't "look both ways" before you cross to another aisle. And if someone hits you, or vice versa, give them a death stare.
4. Be prepared to spend at least an hour inside. Why? It takes forever to find what you need (see note below about how things are organized) and then you have to wait in line. Forever.
5. If the supermarket has received a shipment of something that you like, for example cherry pie filling, buy a lot. And by a lot, I mean the whole pallet. Because it might be a whole year before they have it again.
6. Don't bother with a list, because they won't have half of the things on it. And then you'll have to rework your entire weekly menu (while you stand in the middle of an aisle and block other customers, of course) because they didn't have the ingredients that you needed to make the meals for 3 different nights.

How are things organized in the supermarket?
I still haven't completely figured this one out. And the logic changes depending on the store. But here's what I've found so far...

You know how things just logically go together in the supermarket? Like, canned tomatoes should go with the rest of the canned vegetables, right? Well, not here. Take the canned tomatoes, for example. Yesterday I searched up and down the canned veggie aisle. Nothing. In the end I found them next to the tomato sauces.

Baking goods are never all in the same place. Flour is in one aisle, usually with the rice. Sugar is in the same aisle as the coffee. And brown sugar? If they have it, it's usually in some random place. Last time it was with the pancake mix (which is in another aisle) because hey, they are both in boxes, right?

Peanut butter is usually with the nuts, and not with the other spreads/jams. Mayonaise and mustard? Not with the ketchup. Because why? The ketchup goes in what I call the "tomato aisle" with the canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Ah, and I should mention that some sauces, like Ragu, are kept in a completely different aisle labeled "import products." Even though most of the products in the grocery are imported.

Usually all of the dairy products are together. Except for in La Colonia where the milk and yogurt is in one aisle, while the butters and creams and some cheeses are across the store. Then other types of cheeses are with the sandwich meat. ?

And eggs? Sometimes they are by the chicken. Because why? Duh, eggs come from chickens. In other stores they are by the bread. Why? No clue. Maybe because they are a fragile item like the bread?

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today you get 2 new words. Why are you so lucky? 1. Because I missed last week, and 2. because I learned 2 cool new words. ;)

Largo/a (say l-AHr-go)

If you've ever taken a basic Spanish class, you know that this adjective is used to describe things that are long. But in Honduras (and maybe other Latin American countries?) this is also an adjective used to describe someone that will take advantage of you the first chance they get. It comes in very handy here, with all the lying maids/assistants/etc. But it's especially useful when describing people like the thieving technicians from the Worst Cable Company In The History of Honduras.

Example:
Spanish: Los tecnicos de Claro son largos.
English: The technicians from Claro are (people that will take advantage of you).

I couldn't think of a word like this in English. Does one exist? or am I just suffering from first language attrition?

Mataburro (say mAH-tAH-bOO-rrrrr-OH) *the rrrr means to roll your R's ;)

This is probably one of my favorite Spanish words so far. Not because of what it means, but because of what the literal translation is. I also like to say it because I'm getting better at rolling my R's. ;) A mataburro is a brush guard (the kind you mount on the front of a vehicle).

But if you dissect the word and translate it into English literally, it means "kill-donkey." Hehehe. I can't say it without giggling. I hope that now you love it just as much as I do.

busy busy busy!

2009-04-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

It's been over a week since my last post. I'm such a bad blogger. :-/

But the truth is, I'm suuuper busy! Here's a quick recap of everything that's happened in the last week...

1. Charlie is here! He arrived on Wednesday. (Hence the lack of "Word of the Day Wednesday" this week...sorry Ashley! hehe) He's doing great. Look for a post in the next week or so about his adventure here. :)
2. We are moving from our apartment to a townhouse this weekend, and I've been busy picking out paint colors and furniture, supervising the workers, bossing them around, etc, etc... ;)
3. I had to fire my assistant and find/hire a new one. The new one is 100% fluent in English, and is an excellent salesperson. Which is good for business, of course.
4. Our maid decided not to come back after her weekend visiting at home. So now I have to clean the house/wash all of the dishes on my own. *sigh* I know, poor me.
5. Everyone in Tegus decided to come shop in my store this week. ;) I now am working on jobs for weddings, baptisms, baby showers, and more! Which is good, but it's keeping me busy!
6. We found a car for me! (The Birthday Gods were listening, evidently.) So we are in the process of having it checked by a mechanic, talking to the banks, etc.
7. My parents (read about them here) are moving to Costa Rica tomorrow! And in 9 months or so, they will be moving to Honduras! Hooray! Now, if I could just convince my brother,his wife and a few of my closest friends to move here, life would be oh so great.

So you see, that is why I haven't posted anything. After we get settled in the new place, I'll hopefully be able to get back into my routine of posting regularly and stalking all of your blogs. ;)

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-04-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

Excuse me! and I'm sorry!

In English, we use "excuse me" and "I'm sorry" for a variety of situations. Por ejemplo, you bump into someone at the grocery and you say, "Oh, I'm sorry!" Or you need to pass through a group of people and you say, "Excuse me!" Or you do something wrong and you say, "I'm sorry!"

In Spanish, there are a few ways to say this.

1. permiso (say pEHr mEE soh)
2. disculpe (say dEEs cOOl pEH)
3. perdón (say pEHr dOHn)
4. lo siento (say lOH see EHn tOH)

Permiso is used when you need to pass through the aforementioned group of people. Or when the lady at the grocery parked her cart in the middle of aisle and is taking her sweet time reading the labels on every package of beans on the shelf.

Disculpe and perdón and lo siento are all used to apologize. You could use any of these if, when you got tired of waiting for the lady and she ignored your permiso, you bumped her cart to let her know you were serious. It is then that you apologize with disculpe/perdón so she won't know you did it on purpose. ;)

I should add that lo siento is used for more of a heartfelt apology, as in, you were in a really bad mood yesterday and were mean to your hubby. ;) Or when someone tells you that their friend/relative died, lo siento is the only appropriate form of "I'm sorry" to use.

Dear Birthday Gods...

2009-04-14T10:09:00.001-07:00

I ~~want~~ am in need of a few small things and, as you know, my birthday is coming up (May 11, to be exact). Here is my list (for now):

-Just a little tiny air conditioner would help me sleep so much better during this hot season in Tegus!
-It would be so great if you could send a shipment of cherry pie filling (or, even better, fresh/frozen cherries!) to any of the supermarkets here so I can have cherry cobbler and vanilla ice cream on my birthday.
-A swimming pool would be a nice relief from the aforementioned heat.
-Oh, and if it's not too much, a car with an automatic transmission so I can finally drive myself around.

Semana Santa in Comayagua

2009-04-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Comayagua was definitely worthwhile. If you've never been, it is a MUST see in Honduras. If anything, it's worth the trip just for the smiling, cheerful people that live there. Such a nice change from Tegucigalpa! ;)

We left Tegus around 12:30 pm on Thursday. The trip itself was pretty uneventful. Just lots of roadblocks like the one in the pic below.

There is one stretch of the highway between Tegus and Comayagua that goes for quite a while without any houses. Just pine trees and incredible views of the mountains. In fact, you almost forget you're in Honduras. It helps the homesickness. And with DMB blaring on the stereo, well, it just doesn't get any better than that. ;)

When we arrived in Comayagua, we headed straight for el centro. We figured we could walk around for a while and then find a hotel. The first thing we saw was the cathedral. It houses (according to our tour guide) the oldest working clock in the Americas. (I researched this when I got back home and can't find any reliable sources that back that claim.) It's a 16th century clock located in the bell tower of the church. The gears are on the 2nd floor of the tower. The weights fall through a hole to the first floor. The bells are on the very top floor.

the gears

the weights

view from the top of the cathedral roof

view of the park in el centro from the bell tower

After we toured all of the historical buildings, and the museum, we walked around to try to find a hotel. We wanted a hotel with air conditioning and a pool. The first one we visited, Hotel America, was very nice. But we had walked 6 blocks from where we parked. The woman at the desk said there was a room available, and we told her we would come back with Jose's wallet and the car. We came back 30 minutes later, and she had rented our room. So we went on a hunt for another hotel. In the end, we had to settle for a hotel without a pool. But it was very nice, and only L550 (around $30).

After we checked into the hotel, we went back to el centro to see the events of the evening. The first event was the reenactment of the Last Supper and Jesus' arrest.

While the Last Supper and arrest was being reenacted, the work teams started on their alfombras. These are sawdust carpets laid out in the street where the Good Friday procession walks. They work for more than 10 hours laying out these carpets, and then the next morning the procession walks right over them. There are over 40 carpets, and their purpose is to ease the pain of Jesus as he walks the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross).

first step: a layer of fine sawdust as the base

We walked around for a few hours after that waiting for the next event. It was the Procesion de Prendimiento (sorry, don't know what prendimiento is in English or in Spanish, haha). This was my favorite part of the whole trip. The entire march was carried out in complete silence. The only sound is of chains being dropped on the street. It's very eery and very cool. :)

After this procession, it was pushing midnight. So Jose and I headed back to the hotel. The next morning we woke up at 6 am and made it to el centro by 7. The work teams had made a lot of progress on the alfombras, but still weren't finished.

We waited around for a few hours until the main procession started. When it finally did, Jose and I were a little confused. You can see in the picture below that there is someone dressed up like Jesus carrying a cross. But there are also 3-4 little boys dressed up like Jesus too. And Mary was a 5 year old.

These people are not part of the KKK. Hehe...I thought the same thing. They are actually called Nazarenes, and they are members of the brotherhood of the church. These hoods represent the sinful nature of man (kind of like a dunce cap).

So this is how it goes... Jesus (and the little Jesus' too) lead the procession. Then there are altar boys that carry incense. (And it's A LOT of incense...everyone in the crowd was coughing.) They are followed by the priests and the bishop. Behind them is a choir and a brass band. Then behind them are the Nazarenes carrying an enormous "float."

At every Station of the Cross, the entire parade stops and the bishop speaks and then prays.

These are the Stations of the Cross:
1. Christ condemned to death 2. the cross is laid upon him; 3. His first fall; 4. He meets His Blessed Mother; 5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross; 6. Christ's face is wiped by Veronica; 7. His second fall; 8. He meets the women of Jerusalem 9. His third fall; 10. He is stripped of His garments; 11. His crucifixion; 12. His death on the cross; 13. His body is taken down from the cross; and 14. laid in the tomb.

At each Station, the parade "picks up" a new float. By the end of the parade there are a lot of floats and they reenact the crucifixion.

So you can imagine with all of these stops and songs and prayers, this parade takes forever. It goes for blocks and blocks. And it was hot. And it was sunny. And we were already sunburnt. The parade had already been going on for a couple of hours and it wasn't even close to being finished. So Jose and I made our way through the crowds and headed back to Tegus! Maybe next year we'll be able to see the crucifixion. :)

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-04-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Pila (say pEE-lah)

A pila is a really big sink/basin. Think utility sink. But these sinks are reallly big and made out of concrete. And every house has one.

This is a picture of my pila. The maid uses it to fill up buckets of water. And she uses the wash board on the left to wash the mop and cleaning rags by hand.

Semana Santa

2009-04-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

This week is Semana Santa (Holy Week). The entire week is a religious celebration starting on Palm Sunday. This day is spent celebrating Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem. Monday-Wednesday are also Holy days, and celebrate events which occurred on the corresponding days between Palm Sunday and the Last Supper. Thursday (Maundy Thursday) commemorates the Last Supper of Christ. Friday (Good Friday) is the day of mourning for Jesus' death. Saturday is spent in silence and prayer in mourning again. Sunday (Easter Sunday) is spent celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

Although this holiday is historically a religious one, most people in Honduras use it as their "spring break" and go on vacations. Most of our friends are flocking to the coast or the islands. Overcrowded beaches, pick-pocketers, and drunk tourists? No thanks. :) Jose and I are heading to Comayagua, a colonial town about 2 hours from Tegucigalpa. I find the religious history and Latin American customs of this holiday fascinating, so we are going to a small town to witness the traditional processions of Semana Santa.

I have never been to Comayagua. And like everything in Honduras, this should be an adventure. ;) Stay tuned for the crazy stories I'm sure I'll have after the trip!

The Worst Cable Company In The History Of Honduras

2009-04-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned the WCCITHOH a few times now. And up until now I haven't told you the entire story of how I was treated by their employees. I was trying to give them a chance to redeem themselves.

But they didn't. And now I've declared war on them.

So if you don't know already, the name of the WCCITHOH is *drum roll*.................Claro.

Wanna know why they're the Worst Cable Company In The History Of Honduras? Grab a beverage, sit back, and get ready for this loooooong story.....

It all started when I came back from the US in January. We had moved into our apartment and needed cable/internet. We did our research, and found the company with the best rates. Enter Claro.

We called Claro. They were nice. They said they would send someone asap. A few days later, technicians showed up and installed the cable. And, well, you know this story already. They stole my cell phone and racked up a $500 phone bill.

When we called Claro they were very apologetic. "Bring us the bill and the proof that it was our techs, and we'll take care of it," they told my husband. Actually, they said to fax it. So I printed out the bill and the rest of the info, and tried to fax it over. Their fax number was busy. For 4 days. So I tried to call. No one answered. Or it was busy. For 4 more days. So I got angry enough to go to their office and talk to them in person. I had to wait for 15 minutes in the lobby. When the woman finally came to talk to me, I explained everything to her. Again. And she told me, again, that they were going to take care of everything and not to worry and she was sorry for all of the trouble.

I left feeling a little better about things. And a few days later when I decided I needed internet/phone for my store, I called Claro. They are, after all, the cheapest.

I spoke with someone named Ilse. She was very nice and assured me that everything was in the system and someone would come to install it in a few days. But then she called me back and said that there was a problem, and it would be 5 days. Because of the trouble this would cause, I would get one month of free service. Okay, I can deal with that.

Seven days later, still no technicians. Not even a phone call. So I called Ilse at Claro. She apologized and said 3 more days. Five days later, STILL no technicians. I call. No one answers. Or it's busy (all 15 of their phone numbers, literally). For 3 more days!

Most people would give up at this point. But I'm too stubborn.

I then realized that Ilse had sent me an email. It had a signature. With her cell phone number. I called it. She assured me she would take care of everything and call me back THAT AFTERNOON.

Well, guess what? No phone call. So the next day, a Saturday, I called her again. She said she wasn't in the office and couldn't help me. "Well I don't care that you're not in the office Ilse. What did you tell me yesterday, Ilse?" I asked. "I said I would call you yesterday," she whispered. "And did you?" I asked. "No." "So what are you going to do to fix this?" I asked. She promised she would call me back in 10 minutes. And never did.

So on Monday I called Claro. No answer. For 2 days. When someone finally answered, I said I wanted to speak with Ilse. "Can I help you with something?" "No thank you, I'd like to speak with Ilse," I replied. "What can I help you with?" "Nothing, I want to speak with Ilse!" I said. Click. She hung up. SHE HUNG UP.

I was so angry that my blood was boiling. So I went to Claro. At the receptionist's desk I said "I want to speak with someone that speaks English," I said slowly. (This whole time I'd been trying to take care of this while speaking Spanish. I decided I could express my anger much more effectively in English.)

I was trying my best not to yell. "Ummmm....fijese que there is no one." "Do you mean to tell me that out of everyone in this entire building (it's like, a 10 story building) NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH?! I want to speak with someone that speaks English right now. I don't care if you have to go get the President of the company."

She picked up the phone and made a few phone calls. TWENTY minutes later two people show up in the lobby. I immediately thought of the dumb blonde jokes and thought, how many stupid Claro employees does it take to fix a problem? Haha.

I told them everything. I told them it was sad that I had to sacrifice customer service for low prices. I told them how angry I was. And they apologized. About everything. And about my cell phone. They guaranteed they would fix the problem. They guaranteed someone would come to install internet the next day. They gave me their cell phone numbers to contact them if I had a problem.

Guess what? No one came to install internet. No one called me about my cell phone. So I called them. They apologized again and said they were working on it.

Two days later, no one had come. Jose called his contact there and, low and behold, technicians arrived at my store to install the internet that afternoon. (HELLOOO why didn't he just do that before?!? Haha.) It took them FIVE hours to do it. And in the end, the phone line still didn't work. I told them I wouldn't sign the work order until the phone was working. They were angry. I spoke on the phone with their supervisor. He was angry. I still didn't sign the work order. They left and said they would come back in the morning to check it. And it should be a big surprise to you that they DIDN'T COME. Or call.

And now, here I am, THREE weeks later. The Claro phone still doesn't work. No one has called me. No one has come to help me. The Claro modem is still here, in the box, waiting for someone to come claim it.

So what am I going to do? I'm going to leave the modem in the box here on my desk until someone calls me. I am not going to pay any bills that I receive from Claro until someone answers the darn phone over there. I'm soooo tired of hearing the busy signal. AND? I'm writing this blog with the hope that it will dissuade you from using them. Bad publicity is the worst. After a few weeks, I'm going to print out the blog post, along with my stats from Google Analytics proving just how many people have read it. Well, that won't prove that I've dissuaded any of you, but, well...it might help my cause. ;)

So, like I said, it's war. ;)

PS - I have since switched services to Cable Color. They are an excellent provider. They are a few dollars more each month, but completely worth it for the customer service alone. And can you believe that they answer the phone when you call! And they come when they say they will! :)

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-04-01T14:37:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite words in Spanish is claro. It means clearly.

And one of my favorite ways to use the word is in the expression claro que si/no. It means of course/of course not.

Examples:
-Do you want some pineapple?
-Claro que si.

-Did you make that french memo board all by yourself?
-Claro que si.

-Did The Worst Cable Company In The History of Honduras answer when you called?
-No.
-Claro que no.

Dear reader in France...

2009-04-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

I love seeing your flag pop up on my live traffic feed. ;)

How did you find my blog?

How do I like living in Honduras?

2009-03-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

I've been receiving quite a few emails lately from people that are thinking about moving to Honduras. One question that they've all asked is...

How do you like living in Honduras?

I have a love/hate relationship with Honduras. Some days I hate it, some days I love it. Sometimes I love it and hate it all in the same day. Actually, it's usually like that. For example:

1. I wake up to the man on the street selling vegetables from his truck. He has a megaphone and speaks like an auctioneer in Spanish. Realllly annoying at 6:30 am. I hate Honduras.
2. I take a shower, and the hot water lasts as long as I want it to. We have an instant hot water heater (I didn't even know they existed!). I love Honduras.
3. I leave the apartment to find that our neighbors left the front gate open again. Do they want us all to be robbed? I hate Honduras.
4. On the way to my store, I soak in the view of the mountains in the distance and the incredibly blue sky. I love Honduras.
5. I get cat-called by taxi drivers as I walk across the street to my store (and it's only like, 50 feet!). I hate Honduras.
6. I open my store. I love the fact that it was so easy to open a business here with not very much money. I love Honduras.
7. I try to call the Worst Cable Company In The History Of Honduras and no one answers. For 6 hours. When they do answer, they hang up on me. When I try again, it's busy for 3 more hours. I hate Honduras.
8. I head to the supermarket. The weather outside is GORGEOUS! I love Honduras.
9. I have to roll up my windows for safety/the smell of exhaust on the way. I hate Honduras.
10. I need to buy canned cherry pie filling at the supermarket. I know they sell it, because I saw it there last week. But, guess what, they're out this week. And fíjese que, they don't know when they'll get more. I hate Honduras.
11. They are also out of skim milk. I hate Honduras.
12. I buy like, 2 lbs of brocolli for about $.50. Fresh veggies are cheap! ;) I love Honduras.
13. Everyone in the supermarket stares at me. I want to scream "what are you looking at?! I KNOW you people have seen gringas before." I hate Honduras.
14. On the way home I soak in the beautiful view of the mountains in the distance and the orange sky as the sun is setting. I love Honduras.
15. I come home to a sparkling clean house. I love my maid. And I love Honduras.
16. I cook dinner for my hubby. We eat together at our dining room table in our apartment. I love Honduras.
17. I finally get time to sit down and read the paper. There were 2,000 kidnappings and 5,000 murders in Tegucigalpa yesterday. (ok, I'm being a little dramatic) And it's all complete with the graphic and disturbing photos. I hate Honduras.
18. We head to Loca Luna for a few drinks and to watch the game with good friends. I love Honduras.

And the next morning, it starts all over again.

Honduras has it's good and bad points. But mostly, I'm enjoying the adventure of it all. :)

My visit to the slums

2009-03-28T15:01:00.001-07:00

Today I went a few steps off of the beaten path and found myself in a different world. A world where a small bowl of rice is considered the daily meal. And where sniffing glue is the only relief from the hunger. A world where medical and dental care don't exist. A world where the closest source of running water is a few blocks away. A world where hope lies in the acceptance into gangs. A world in the slums. On the river. In downtown Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Quick note: I did not take my camera with me today. Carrying anything valuable makes you a target for crime. So I am relying on pictures from Google to help you visualize my experience. :)

When my friend Juan Mauricio (Juanma) invited me to tag along to the weekly photography class that he teaches in the slums at a small school on Saturdays, I jumped at the chance. He warned me. "It's reallllly dangerous Hannah. I'm even scared to go there. I can't guarantee your safety." Still, I wanted to see for myself.

So I took off my jewelry. I left my money and cell phone at home. I put on old jeans and a t-shirt. And a baseball cap (to cover my blonde hair). And I went to the escuelita (small school) at La Isla, Tegucigalpa.

And five hours later, I am still crying. I am still angry, sad, and disgusted. It stirred so many emotions in my heart and rocked my soul so hard that I really don't know how to express it in words.

But I'm going to try.

This picture shows the type of neighborhood that I visited. As in, it's on a hill and you have to access the houses by a path instead of a street. However, this picture shows a concrete staircase and homes made of cinder blocks/bricks. The neighborhood I visited had a few stairs, but mostly dirt paths, and the homes were made from pieces of scrap metal, not blocks.

There are so many things I can say about the things that I saw/experienced today. Enough to write a book...so I won't bore you with all of the details. But this is the idea:

All of them (about 20 kids) had lice. They were dirty. None of the younger ones had shoes. Their feet were caked with mud. Almost all of them had visibly rotting teeth. The "houses" were one room shacks made of wooden posts and large pieces of scrap metal for walls and tarps for ceilings. No indoor plumbing. No electricity. No running water. There were teenagers stumbling around, high from sniffing glue. There were mange covered skin-and-bone dogs scavenging for food. A woman scrubbing her laundry in the river. A woman cooking something in the open fire in front of her house. No sink. No fridge. No stove. And she took breaks to inhale a mysterious substance from a rag (probably glue or gas). The trash. Oh. my. gosh. The trash and the filth and the stench.

The most memorable part was when a roach ran across the floor and crawled into the pants of a little boy playing on the floor. I jumped up and starting screaming in English that there were roaches on the floor. I realized I hadn't said it in Spanish, so I said it again. They all looked up at me and stared like, "Why is this crazy lady screaming? They're just roaches!" The little boy assured me that there was no roach in his clothes because he didn't feel it. About 10 minutes later he started yelling because there was, in fact, a roach in his shirt. We tore his clothes off and killed the roach. He redressed and went back to playing.

I should tell you that I have seen communities like this from the street. I've seen beggars. And I've seen kids sniffing glue. But it is a totally different experience to see it in their environment. To be on their turf. I've never seen anything like this up close. In fact, I've never seen pictures of this kind of poverty. (The Google pictures are nothing like what I saw today...they are better than where I was. My theory is that people are too scared to carry in cameras...therefore, no pictures!)

At the end of the day, I thought, Is this real?! These people are starving, yet they live mere steps away from the market where people are buying fruits, veggies, and meat for their weekly meals. These people beg for money in the streets, while there are successful business people driving on the road above in cars that cost more than these people could ever dream of making in 10 lifetimes. This is 2009, and they are living without electricity, water, or plumbing in the capital city of Honduras!

How is this?!?

I am feeling so many emotions today that I can't even try to explain why. But keep an eye out...I have a feeling that a lot of the following posts will be covering this topic.

Bringing a pet to Honduras

2009-03-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bringing a pet to Honduras is more difficult than bringing yourself. BUT, if your pet is your baby, like Charlie is mine, then I understand that you can't live without them!

If you are interested in bringing your pet to Honduras, you first must choose an airline. Continental (from what I've read) is the best. They transport pets in air conditioned vehicles on the tarmac. However, Continental does not allow pets as checked baggage. They must be shipped as cargo, which can be very expensive. For Charlie, it was going to cost ~$400. He was flying from Louisville, KY to Houston, TX. Then staying in the airport kennel overnight (that costs an extra $100/night). Then he would leave from Houston to come to Tegucigalpa.

With American Airlines, pets can be checked as baggage. You have to pay a $150 fee for this, and that's all. BUT, their temperature restrictions are very strict because they do NOT transport animals in temperature controlled vehicles on the tarmac. (The planes with both airlines ARE temperature controlled and pressurized.)

NEXT After you have selected an airline, I recommend speaking with your vet's office. Discuss your plans with them, and they might know the requirements and already have all of the forms that you need to have filled out. I wasn't so lucky with my vet. They had never had a patient move overseas, and didn't know what to do.

NEXT To bring a pet to Honduras, you need a Veterinary Health Certificate(VHC). (in Kentucky, this has to be completed by the KY Office of State Veterinarian)

Your vet will fill out the VHC and then you have to send it to the State Vet. They approve it, sign it, and send it back to you. The catch? This form (which is only good for 30 days) has to be dated within the 10 days before your pet flies with the airline. So if you don't live in your state capitol, you have to spend a lot of money overnighting paperwork. ;)

Then, you need to find a vet in Honduras. I recommend Happy Pets in Tegucigalpa. They speak English, and are suuuper nice. :) They have a website, but it isn't very good. If you want the phone number, let me know.

When you find a vet, you can email a copy of the VHC, and the rabies certificate to them. They will take it to some unknown government office, and file for an import permit. My vet does this for around $60-80. Others do it for around $100.

(I should note here that Kentucky said they needed the import permit FIRST before they would fill out the VHC. Honduras wouldn't give me an import permit without the VHC. The KY office just ended up giving it to me without the permit.)

So once you have all of your paperwork, call the airline. If you are using Continental Cargo, you can make the reservation only 3 days before. With American, you can call whenever you'd like to add the note to your reservation that you are flying with a pet.

When your pet arrives in Honduras, the Honduran vet will have to meet you at the airport. They will inspect the pet and sign off on the quarantine paperwork (so your pet WON'T have to be quarantined).

NEXT if you haven't already, you need to buy a carrier. The airlines have strict requirements for these. These are the requirements for American Airlines, but they are just about the same for all of the airlines:

-Animals must have room to stand/turn around, sit and lie down in a natural position.
-Kennels must be constructed of wood, metal, plastic, similar material, leak-proof, escape proof and door must fasten securely and need ventilation on 2-sides in addition to the door.
-Kennels must also have a water container with outside access for filling, in case a delay occurs. (think hamster cage water bottle...just bigger!)
-Collapsible Kennels (those which can fold down flat) can not be accepted due to the risk of collapse during transport.
-The customer is required to secure rigid plastic kennels with releasable cable ties (see example at right) attached to all four corners. American Airlines will provide the ties to the customer at no cost.
-The maximum weight of a checked pet and kennel (combined) cannot exceed 100 lbs.

My dog weighs about 18 pounds. I bought this carrier at Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10543933. I think it was around $40.

Some websites recommended putting housebreaking pads in the bottom of the carrier to control the mess.

Soooo...that's what I have right now. I'm sure some things will change and I will discover new tips when I actually get to bring Charlie in a couple of weeks. Until then...

Who is Charlie?

2009-03-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

There seems to be some confusion. Are you wondering who Charlie is?? :)

If you are new to my blog, and you don't want to read back to the very beginning (I don't blame you...I wouldn't either!) then you definitely don't know who Charlie is.

Charlie is not my husband's name. Charlie is not my husband's nickname. Charlie is not an imaginary friend. Charlie, in fact, is not a person. He is my dog!

(baaaaaby-dog! *in a really high pitched voice* Are you laughing Brooke?!) ;)

When I first planned on moving to Honduras, I did a lot of research to bring Charlie here with me. It's more difficult to bring a dog here than a person. But I made all of the necessary arrangements. And in the end, he still couldn't come. (Read the whole story here.)

And he is STILL not here with me. I went to Kentucky for my brother's wedding in September of 2008, and I stayed for about a month. When I came back to Honduras the airline said it was too hot to bring him on the plane. So he stayed in Kentucky with his grandparents. :) I went back to Kentucky for my wedding in December, and stayed for 2 months. The plan was to bring him here with me then. But guess what? It was too cold, and the airline wouldn't allow for him to fly.

So now that the weather is perfect...not too cold and not too hot...at any of the destinations, he is going to be able to come to Honduras! Geez, finally!

My parents are moving to Honduras at the end of April. (Visit their website and blog.) Actually, first they're going to Costa Rica for several months, and then moving Honduras. When they leave Kentucky for Costa Rica, they are going to fly Charlie to me. :) And we'll finally be reunited!!! :)

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-03-25T16:02:00.001-07:00

Fijate que...my favorite word/phrase in Spanish is fijate/fíjese* que. ;)

Quick pronunciation lesson:
Fijate que - say fee-HAH-tay kay
Fíjese que - say FEE-hay-say kay

It comes from the root verb "fijarse" which means to notice. People in Honduras use it all the time. Really, like every sentence. I've taken it to mean "ya know" or "you know what" when used in conversations with friends. But sometimes, it prefaces bad news (especially when coming from a store clerk/employee/etc). Like "fijate que I don't have the money that I owe you." Or "fíjese que I can't come install the sign for your store this week like I promised." Or "fíjese que no, we don't have any 80 lb paper. It'll be another 4 weeks before we get anymore."

My favorite way to use it is to show how serious I am. Like, "fijate que, if you don't start coming to work on time, I'm going to fire you." Or "fíjese que, I am going to sue you if you don't pay me for my stolen cell phone." Or "fíjese que, I'm not ignorant. How much does this pineapple really cost?"

Sometimes to really prove that fíjese que, you don't care what they say!...you have to throw a fíjese que right back. Like this conversation that I had with the man from the upholstery place...

him: "Fíjese que I don't have any gray paint, so I have to go buy some and it'll cause the price of fixing these chairs to increase."
me: "Fíjese que you DO have gray paint because you just painted this chair gray for me, and I know it didn't take a whole can to paint the legs on one chair."

Do YOU use this phrase a lot??? :)

*The difference between fijate que and fíjese que is the formality. Fijate que is less formal than fíjese que.

La muchacha??!

2009-03-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

I don't know that I've ever mentioned this before, but I don't drive in Tegucigalpa. Not because I don't want to, but because we have a car with a manual transmission...and I can only drive automatic.

Jose's parents recently hired a new chauffer.

The first time he drove me, we started our conversation off with the normal things. He asked me where I was from. I told him from the US. (I mean, isn't that obvious?!) He said, "WHAT? I can't believe it! You speak Spanish so well!" I laughed. Because that's just not true. I do NOT sound like I am from Honduras when I speak Spanish. I knew he was just trying to flatter me, and it freaked me out a little. I mean, who was this man? He could be a kidnapper! Or a rapist!

The whole way to the store he kept complaining about the air conditioning. He didn't want it turned on. It's bad for your lungs, he told me. I said, "ummm, pretty sure it's not since I grew up in a house with air conditioning and my lungs are just fine." He kept on complaining anyway, saying that he wasn't acostumbrado, or accustomed, to the air conditioning. I was annoyed.

Eventually I noticed that the doors weren't locked. I asked him to lock the doors. He said, "Why? It's okay to leave them open." So I said, "Well, you obviously aren't acostumbrado to driving a Gringa in the car. It is NOT okay to leave the doors unlocked or the windows down while I am in the car." And you know what he said? "You're right, I'm not used to having a Gringa in the car. I am used to having women in the car...just not any as pretty as you."

!!!!

So by then I was super uncomfortable. He had crossed the line. He worked for my father-in-law and it was NOT okay for him to be hitting on me. But what do I do, I wondered. If I say something like I am angry, he could drive me away and kidnap me. So I resorted to sending Jose text messages like "The new driver is going to kill me." "I'm pretty sure he's driving me the wrong way. Do you think he's kidnapping me?" and "I think he's going to rape me!" (I'm just a little dramatic, okay?)

It turned out that he wasn't a rapist/killer/kidnapper, and I ended up safely at home at the end of the day. But I asked Jose, "What do I do? How do I keep him from saying those things?" Jose and I decided that we wouldn't tell his father because we didn't want to make the driver angry with me. So, Jose said that I had to figure out a way to establish respect myself. I wasn't sure I was going to do it, but figured I could come up with something.

The next morning, he picked me up from home to bring me to the store. He got on the 2-way radio and said to my father-in-law, "Don Gustavo, I have the muchacha here with me..."

The muchacha?!?! Muchacha means girl in Spanish. But people also use muchacha to refer to their maids. For example, people will say "Excuse my messy house, I don't have a muchacha right now."

I saw my opportunity. I said, "The muchacha? Which muchacha?"

I stayed quiet and ignored him the rest of the way. When we arrived at my store I told him, "Look, the next time, my name is Hannah, not la muchacha. Ok?" He looked scared and apologized. He said he would refer to me as Señorita from now on. I said, "no, I'm not a señorita either. * I am a married woman." And I slammed the door.

As soon as I got into the store I felt horrible about the way I had spoken to him.

But.

The next morning when he came to pick me up he greeted me with "Buenos dias Doña Hannah."** And he was quiet the rest of the way to the store.

Ahh, sweet victory. ;) It's just a little sad that I had to treat him that way to get respect.

* Señorita is used to refer to an unmarried woman/girl. Señora is the term used for married women.
** Doña Hannah is sort of like MRS. Hannah.

Umm...what's the word?

2009-03-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

Do you ever find yourself in the middle of a conversation and you suddenly can't remember the word that was previously right on the tip of your tongue? I DO! All. the. time. It's ridiculous. I really thought I was going crazy there for a while. But you know what? I'm not crazy. :) Evidently, a lot of people that experience complete language immersion (like, let's say, living in Honduras) experience this "forgetfulness." This "forgetfulness" is called first-language attrition. (read this article if you really want to learn more about it) The good news? Studies have shown that the more fluent you become in the language, the less "forgetful" you become. ...As long as you continue to speak your native language on a regular basis. :)

the MAIN problem in Honduras

2009-03-23T16:20:00.001-07:00

Marco Cáceres from Project Honduras has posted a poll..."What is the main problem in Honduras?"

Head on over here and vote. I voted for education. What did you vote for?

Word of the Day Wednesday

2009-03-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Read this ad for an apartment in yesterday's paper:

"LOMA LINDA SUR - 2 plantas, 3 habitaciones, c/u con baño, la principal con yacuzzi, walking closet, agua caliente, cisterna, sala comedor, cocina americana, garaje (2), $ 1,000.00. 239-6170/9981-6993."

"Walking closet." Hmmm... I think they mean walk-in closet. :)

Actually, the pronunciation in Spanish of "walk in closet" does sound an awful lot like "walking closet." It's just funny because in English, this would mean a closet that walks. Not something I'm looking for in my next house! :)

And YES, this apartment costs $1000 USD! I'm telling you, it's not cheap to live here like you're all thinking!!!

El Ratón

2009-03-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

Today my assistant, Miryam, and I were talking about our plans for Semana Santa (the week before Easter Sunday). This brought on a conversation about our cultural differences regarding Easter celebrations. For example, here in Honduras, there is no Easter Bunny. There are no Easter eggs. The entire week is about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus (that, and VACATION!).

This conversation brought on another one. The Tooth Fairy. I tried to explain the US Tooth Fairy to Miryam. I didn't know how to say the word "fairy" in Spanish so I told Miryam that a "little woman" came into the house at night to take the teeth. She was confused (and I'm sure a little freaked out). Then The Greatest Online Translator Ever saved the day, and I could explain that it was actually a fairy, not a small woman.

So who comes to take away your baby teeth in Honduras? His name is El Ratón. (That means mouse in Spanish.) When you lose a tooth, you throw it onto the roof for him to retrieve. Why the roof? So your cat won't eat him. :) You know he has carried away your baby tooth when the new tooth grows in. Because that's what he gives you...a new tooth.

So all of this Tooth Fairy talk got me thinking. What do people in the rest of the world do when they lose a tooth? I did some research, and here is what I found:

Japan - If it is a lower baby tooth, throw it up onto the roof; and if it is an upper tooth, throw it underneath house. It is done so that the upper tooth grows healthy downwards, while the lower tooth upwards.
Hungary - In Hungary one custom may have been that the baby tooth was put into a bottle with water, and the tooth melted in about two years time. (Jesus! What kind of water do they have in Hungary?!)
Mongolia - In Mongolia the baby tooth is given to a young dog. In Mongolia, the dog is respected and is considered a guardian angel. The baby tooth is put in the meat fat and it is fed to the young dog. When the guardian angel eats it, it is said, that a strong tooth will grow.
Slovenia - In Slovenia, a mouse replaces the baby tooth under the pillow with a candy during the night.

Do you know of any other Tooth Fairy customs??