hammocks

This afternoon has been utterly blissful.

The sun is out, the air is cool, and my hammock is so comfortable. Plus, I'm taking the next two days off work to visit the Copan Ruins.

fear

I'm currently reading Yann Martel's book Life of Pi. There's a few lines I'd like to share with you from Chapter 56:

"I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life."

I love those lines. Especially here in Honduras, where fear is a part of every-day life. I don't talk on my cellphone when I'm outside for fear of being robbed. I don't take many pictures for fear of being robbed. Two weeks ago I was woken up at 3 am by the sound of four gun shots, and last Sunday a woman at work found her dad murdered.

Fear is crippling. I see it in my own life, and I've seen it especially in the lives of the Hondurans I've met. But as I've made it farther along in Life of Pi and as I've thought more about fear I've realized something important: I'm not doing anything about it.

I've been in Honduras three months and all I've done is bitch and moan about how dangerous it is here. I've adapted: I don't go out much, I don't take pictures, I don't talk to strangers. No wonder I'm having a hard time here! I don't do anything positive. I'm not involved anywhere. I see a broken system, but I'm not making any effort to fix it.

So what's the next step? I need to find a place to volunteer. Here are some of my options:

1. Left Eye (former member of TLC, now deceased) has a children's shelter about 20 minutes from La Ceiba that I might check out. They help orphans and former street kids.

2. Rumor has it that there's a women's rehabilitation center downtown. It helps former prostitutes and sex workers get their life back together.

3. There is a school and orphanage in the Jungle (about 20 min. away) that asks for child sponsorship donations online. Maybe they are in need of time donations too.

Finding a place to volunteer is surprisingly difficult here. And I imagine that actually following through and volunteering is even more challenging, especially considering that I still speak crappy Spanish. But this post is to let you know what I'm thinking and to help keep myself accountable so I wont let fear rob me of great experiences the rest of my time here. Also, if anyone has any suggestions about places or ways to get involved in La Ceiba, PLEASE let me know!!!!!

a week in pictures

Flooding

It's rainy season, so the soccer field at school is almost always flooded. It was raining so much Sunday night that school was canceled on Monday. Every morning my alarm goes off and I immidiately turn on the TV, hoping school has been canceled again. It hasn't, but this picture was taken this morning and there's still so much water.




The apartment horse
It was raining lightly when I got back from school today.This horse was trying to stay drive on the front porch ofmy apartment complex. Five minutes later my landlord chased him away.







Flags + Sociology = Fun?
Here in Honduras I teach English and Sociology. My Sociology book is horribly BORING so I've been creating projects for my students. Right now we're learning about culture. Each student is responsible for representing a different country. Each week I assign a new topic (ex: food, family structure, etc.) and the students take turns presenting that info about their country. The flags represent some of the countries my 10B class is studying.


Tools for school
Yep, that's a machete and it's sitting on my desk on top of a bunch of Christmas decorations. I'd be lying if I said it didn't creep me out.















Football is LIFE
Honduras beat Mexico last night, 1-0. Thank God. Seriously. If we didn't win we'd be out for the rest of the season and I'm not sure what Hondurans would live for if there weren't any more games! This is a photo of one of the caravans that took place after the game. When Honduras wins everyone goes CRAZY: cars honk, people shoot guns, and everyone drinks lots of beer. It's literally a riot! It lasts at least until midnight. And although it was a school night, some of my students celebrated until the bell rang this morning at 7.

hell

Another f-ing day of teaching begins in less than 12 hours.

sigh.

shower patterns in honduras: a story that wont change your life

This is my shower. It misses me. Lately it hasn't been getting much use.

The problem is my shower only supplies cold water. In August, when it felt like my skin was going to melt off my body, I thought this wouldn't be a substantial problem. But now it is rainy season. What an appropriate name. The sun is often hidden, hurricane-like rains threaten and flood the city, and it gets surprisingly cold. But Hondurans have no sympathy when I tell them that I can't shower when it's cold. Thankfully the sun has been out the past few days. Thus, showers have been more frequent.

Expected Value (making friends is hard)

Making friends is difficult after college. It's especially difficult when you live in a foreign country and speak the local language like an early-elementary child. Last night Micah and I hung out with a new friend. Afterward I was exhausted. I blame my exhaustion on the following observations about our night: Our new friend expected us to pay for everything, he didn't speak any English, and lastly, he dominated the evening's activities dictating an early departure just when the real fun was starting.

This experience led to a cost-benefit analysis of hanging out with new friends. Micah created this "Expected Value" equation:



The options are simple: hang out with new friend or don't hang out. There is an automatic -20 points for not hanging out. However, if hanging out with the new friend sucks you get a -50 points. But, if hanging out results in a great time you get 100 points. After some quick math we determined that although the potential for having a crappy time is relatively high, it is still better to take the risk and hang out with new friends.

I'll let you know if any of my new friends turn out to be long-lasting. :)

Finally....

...the sun comes out after weeks of heavy rain.
(The La Ceiba Pier, Nov. 6)

Obama and Honduras

The front page of the Honduran daily today.

I think it'd be hard to find people who disagree with me when I say Obama's victory speech in Chicago last night was phenomenal:

"...Tonight we proved once more that that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."

Inspiring.

I may live in another country, but I've been following this election more closely than any other election. Although I'm disappointed by the petty, back-biting behavior of both candidates during the final months of the campaign I'm excited with the results. And so are my students. Today we celebrated "Obama Day."

A few days ago I asked one of my 10th grade classes who they wanted to win the presidency: Obama or McCain.

"Who's McCain?" one student asked.

I was shocked by this response. Both candidates receive about the same amount of media coverage here, so why is Obama so much more popular? Very few students could give me reasons for why they like Obama, and even fewer could give me reasons for why they don't like McCain. But one thing is clear: No one likes Bush. My students wrote journal entries a few weeks ago about their opinion of the U.S. Most of them said they liked the U.S. for its shopping and entertainment, but many of them were also frustrated with the current U.S. government. For many of my students Obama is appealing simply because he is different. Although an Obama supporter myself, I'm discouraged by how blindly many of my students have given their support without more thought and research.

My two-plus months in Honduras have made me more proud than ever to be an American. The U.S. obviously isn't perfect, and we've made mistakes that I'm ashamed of, mistakes that often get rubbed in my face living here. However, Obama is right, last night we proved that our strength is our ideals of democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

Very few other countries can honestly say "Yes We Can" and actually mean it. Yay for being an American and yay for four years of Obama!