The last 2 weekends

We’ve had eventful past couple of weeks. 

Last weekend after classes were finished we (our family and most of the students) went to a “fair” in Las Botijas and met up with some other Gringos that we’ve befriended.  I’ve probably mentioned this before, but it’s always nice to see other white people.  Being here, we have a small – let me emphasize small – taste of being a minority - more on that later.  The fair was quite small, but allowed all of us to get away from campus and enjoy something different and a little fun.  Once we got there after about an hour and a half trek over the mountain (which we were told was going to be 35 minutes), we watched a local soccer game for a bit and chatted with our fellow Americans.  The girls (students) were getting a little antsy, I think because they wanted more attention or something, not really sure. 

Allow me to sidetrack you for a moment…I find it quite funny that every time a group of girls or all of us are going somewhere off campus it becomes like a beauty pageant around here.  Everyday campus life only includes small or no amount of makeup and “normal” clothes and shoes (like flip flops and socks-looking at a girl with them on right now, hehe).  But when we are going somewhere, it’s a different ball game and it doesn’t matter when or where we are going.  For example, we were going to visit a doctor’s office a couple weeks ago, and we had to leave at 4am because it’s basically 1^st come first serve everyday (no appointments at the cheaper places), and one of our students woke up at 3am to get ready!  These girls crack me up.  Ok, that was more than a sidetrack…

The fair was quite underwhelming other than the ice cream bars that we had.  There was some music playing, a booth thing selling clothes and toys, a food booth, and well that was about all to it.  Anyway, like I said, nice to get out and get some exercise. 

Yesterday we went to Zambrano with the older students that have been here longer and taught at a small youth program.  The basic essence of the program is to provide some positive influence to children that don’t get a whole lot at home.  Our students taught dental health, read books, helped with art projects and played with the children for 2 sessions.  In between sessions we went to a Chinese restaurant.  To my surprise it was quite delicious, a little greasy, but a good change of pace from beans and rice.  We came back to the missionaries’ house that runs the program and played a board game and some volleyball.  All in all, a fun time.

More on being a white person in Honduras…I suppose I don’t fully know what it really feels like to be a minority somewhere because we are tucked back a ways and kind of have our own little community here, not to mention that I’ve only been here for ¾ year, but you notice you’re a little different from the others.  Most of the time it’s just the staring that makes you feel like you are sticking out, but also not understanding the language, sayings, and the customs and traditions also contributes.  Not that people are trying to make me feel all weird or something, and don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming anyone for doing this to me, just saying I can “feel” it sometimes.  I suppose most importantly it gives me a greater appreciation for those people who are coming to America to try to have a better life and find it difficult to interweave into American society and customs.  I think I’ll end there. 

As we approach the finish line as they say, I’ve decided that I will re-dedicate some of my time to blogging.  Obviously, I’ve done a poor job of consistently updating our blog, but I will try the last couple months that we are here. 

We’ve had ups and downs just like any other part of life that we or anyone else has been involved in.  We've missed family and friends, had some difficulty adjusting to a life without cold drinks, blazer games, consistent electricity, water, and internet, and living seemingly bazillion miles from civilization (even though it's only about 9 miles).  We've had our fair share of beans, rice, tortillas, mosquito bites, sleepless nights, arguments, problems with the students, etc.  

All that said we have really enjoyed the "ups" as well.  We have met some amazing people - Hondurans and gringos.  The struggling, but prevailing lives that ours do not compare and others whose lives have been committed to serving the poor, the parent-less, the widow or single mothers.  Lives that, again, we don't feel like we can compare ours to.  

We've been here for 7 months now and really feel like we are doing good, and still have a heart to serve those at Leadership Center and in Honduras.  With our affiliation to the school, we will be serving young Hondurans for a long time to come.  

Even though a couple months away, going back to the states seems like such a weird thing right now.  Heck we don't even know when we'll be headed back, but we are excited and weirded out at the same time.  After being in a place so long (well, it seems like forever), you begin to feel at home.  And seeing the poverty that we've seen first hand can make going back to the states (or any "wealthy" country for that matter) a weird and even difficult thing.  Our lives are changed from the experience here.

Thank you for your thoughts, your support, and your prayers.  We are truly thankful for all who've made this trip possible and above all else, thank God for our lives and the opportunity to be able to serve others.  I'm making it sound like this is my closing email, which it isn't, but feels like it for some reason...anyway more to come!

Look forward to seeing you mom and lish!

Back in Honduras!

The girls and I left Portland the night January 2nd after a wonderful visit with family and friends in Oregon. We were blessed (again) by the hospitality of Ira’s family. Olivia enjoyed her princess room overflowing with baby dolls and books and Ira, Sicily and I enjoyed a cozy bed with no mosquito nets to struggle through during middle of the night feedings/wake-ups. We also loved that my parents were able to come visit and spend Christmas with us! We enjoyed good company, good  food, and lots of swimming at their hotel :)

We left Houston at about 9am the next morning and arrived in Tegucigalpa around noon. Despite the rough landing in which we hit the runway, took off again, and then entered the “bowl” where the Teguc airport is to try again…we did make it safe and sound. As my hands went numb (probably due to the extreme adrenaline rush that enters one’s body when one realizes that death, I mean heaven could be closer than expected) the Honduran girl next to me assured me it was perfectly normal for the pilot to make several tries before actually landing the airplane.  Anyways, by about 2pm we were on our way to Zambrano with Glen. After a few errands and a balleata (traditional Honduran street food) we were happy to meet Ira (who arrived a day earlier) at our home: the place farther than Los Valles is how we describe it when people ask… “despues de Zambrano, mas larga de Los Valles.”

It feels different coming back, maybe because some things are more new again, maybe because the dynamic is so different with only us, one other volunteer and 11 students on campus. Also, Sicily’s mobility and development have changed so much in the last month. She can walk very well now and the rocks and cement are not as intimidating as we thought they might be, yay! She loves going for walks to see the cows and horses and she is always “mooing” at the cows :) Spending the days exploring the outdoors and Honduran culture with my two little girls is a gift I know I will look back
upon with awe.

The first few nights were so cold but since then, the weather has been hot during the day and comfortable at night. The good thing about cold nights is that there are no mosquitos, I think because they can’t survive.  Ira is enjoying the responsibility and purpose demanded by the job of managing everything at Leadership Center. The girls and I love helping him, working on other projects around campus and visiting neighbors. Olivia, Sicily and I have been taking care of the gardens….watering the vegetables always turns into sprinkler and water play time and I usually end up with two, wet, muddy, giggly girls. Sometimes the girls play in the sandbox and tree fort while I clear land of prickly brambles and collect firewood for burning garbage and cooking. We do a lot of walking…often to the neighbor’s to buy beans and quajada (sp?) (sort of like cheese, but different).

Since we returned, we have been visiting the family I wrote about earlier, the one with three little girls. It is about a 20 minute walk across the river and up the side of a mountain. Currently the mom is working picking coffee up on the mountain so she is only home to care for the kids on Saturdays. The father cares for the girls some but often he is out planting in the fields or running errands. The oldest, Nelly, is 11 and she cooks and cares for her little sisters a lot. She is looking forward to returning to the elementary school in February, it seems like her childhood has been pushed aside by the expectations of her in the home. She says she likes helping her family but she would like to go to high school someday and does not wish to have any children of her own. We will try to help her and play with the three of them as much as we can at least until their mother finishes her job at the end of January and is home more. It will be fun for us to go back to helping at the elementary school when it starts up again too. Thank you to everyone who has sent materials for the elementary school and for the college!

On a completely different note, our neighbor Erlinda and her daughter, Margarita, taught Olivia and I how to make quajada (sp?) today. We put our hands in this huge bucket of cows milk and pulled out the cheese-like substance and squeezed most of the liquid out then mixed it with salt and squished it around. It felt so gross but I really wanted to help so I sucked it up, haha. It was worth it because we had quite a few laughs and Erlinda let us bring some of the quajada home for dinner. While we were there, Olivia and Sicily danced to the music on her radio and they discovered four baby kittens in their corn storage house! They were sooo cute, I really wanted to take one home but they are not old enough to leave their mama yet. I wonder if I can get a flea and tick collar somewhere here so we can bring one home…hint hint Erlinda :) Olivia is wondering how much they cost hehe

Overall our first week and a half back has been reallygood. The improvements in relationships between the students show their growth in character and have continued to make our community more tight-knit and happy as a whole. There has also been a noticeable leap in their academic abilities. Ira and I have been greatly encouraged by all the positive changes we see among the students.

Johana's house and soon mine (well, at least my parents)!

I had a fantastic time visiting with one of our student’s family this weekend before I left (on the airplane now).  As with most families in Honduras, Johana’s family is highly valued and many family members live under the same roof or at least in the same village.  Johana’s brother just recently returned from The States and now lives at the house with his wife and parents.  Though the house is pretty small comparatively speaking (to the US), it was very comfortable for all of us to be there and share space, maybe that was cause I got my own bed and bedroom, but nonetheless, it was comfortable, even when we ate or spent time together in the living room. 

Johana took me on a quick tour of her small community where most people work in the cal business.  From what I understand cal is like (or maybe is) limestone.  Rocks are heating up in a large silo type thing for about 8 days before they are removed and drenched in water.  This causes the rocks to more or less explode into a white powder that is used in agriculture and in cooking.  We also walked to a small dulce “factory.”  Dulce is just the Spanish word for sweet, which is also used for many candies.  Here they extract the pulp from sugar cane, boil it for a while, then pour it in a mold and sell the “caja dulce” – I think that is what Joha called – block candy.  We walked right up to the factory on the street and gave ourselves a tour, including doing some of the work; taste testing!!  It was pretty awesome!  After we returned to her home I was telling her that I’ve always wanted to try actual sugar cane, so she got her dad to get some sugar cane from a farm close by.  Chew on that for a while for a sweet treat!  Yum!

Joha’s mother cooked me some of the best food I’ve had in Honduras, even though it was fairly typical Honduran food and her dad constantly told jokes to the family and me.  I also got to play video games and watch movies with her brother.  I really felt like part of the family.  We also visited her ill grandfather and grandmother who were very sweet.  I got offered coffee, bread and “chi cha,” a homemade jungle juice of some sort.  The bread and the coffee were good.  We also walked 300 meters into a cave that is near her house, and I was able to learn a little bit of Spanish while I visited the family as well. 

On a totally different note…I finally get to see my family today!  Well, at least Sarah, since she will be picking me up at the airport while the girls are hopefully asleep.  The time away from my family has really shown me that life is meant to be spent with others.  And as I wrote in the previous post, maybe we just don’t know that until we have it, then lose it (or in my case, have a 2 week break).  There hasn’t been a day since Sarah and the girls left where I haven’t thought of them several times.  I can’t imagine what life would be like without them for any longer length of time. 

Thank you to Johana and her family for putting me up for a couple nights and showing me a part of Honduras that was new to me!  I loved spending time there.

To my girls

It has been a productive week living as a bachelor.  I have been able to do a lot of things, like studying more Spanish for example, spending more time with the students and teachers and sleeping.  I stayed pretty busy the first few days which kept my mind mostly off of not having my girls here with me, but now, however, things have slowed down a bit and I have more time to think.  And when I usually go home and get hugs or play with the girls, nobody is home to welcome me.  Plus it's just weird when the house is always so empty and quiet (though the quietness is nice in the middle of the night).

The cliche is true though, you don't realize what you have until it's gone (even when it's not gone for very long).  And before Sarah left for the US, I have to admit, part of me was excited to be by my lonesome for a short while, basically so I could have a little more time to myself to get some things done.  And I have, but it almost feels like it's all for not, sort of.  I mean I know I'm doing a lot of good things for me, for the students here and for the university long-term.  But when I walk to the house and nobody is there for a hug and kiss or nobody is getting into trouble or nobody is crying, there is a small void.

I think it has been very good for us to realize the importance of each other while we've been separated.  For example, I had to sweep the house and organize the books that have been out since Sarah left.  And I miss the girls yelling and playing.  I miss Olivia's craziness and her wacky questions, and Sicily copying Olivia and me, and Sarah's gentle nurturing of the kids and me.  But most of all it's the companionship.  The sharing of my life with the others.

I know we will have to catch up when I arrive home, but for now I miss you guys lots.  I love you!  See you soon!

More pictures!

Here are some new pictures of our time in Honduras.  Things are going well.  Sarah and the girls are leaving in 2 weeks to go home for a month.  See some of you soon!

You can see all our pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/116056851866020798623

Here are some sample pictures:

Olivia and one of her favorite friends, Jessica.

Sicily and dad 

Sicily and mom in front of the new classrooms 

The girls and dad in front of the new classroom. 

Olivia and her fishing pole

A weekend in Comayagua

Some of the boys from the community

Olivia and one of her friends

Community play by the local school

Community play by the local school

Ouch!  Burn from the moto!

Pinata and pin the tail on the donkey for Martha's birthday

Where am I!?

Yay for birthdays

doggy pinata for Olivia's birthday

candy and cake for Olivia's birthday

On the beach with Martha and her brother

Standing on a cool bridge

Olivia and Martha swimming

driving the golf cart in Belize

Iguana!

beach bum

ya man

October Update - Ira

After another long break from writing, I have a lot of news.  The first is that things are going well here.  We have adjusted pretty well and enjoy being here away from it all.  We’ve been blessed by family and friends who have sent us care packages with food, small toys, and other activities for our girls and us.  They have definitely helped us transition a little easier.  The hardest thing here is that we are far from a lot of people, so when we want to do something it’s a long walk or a motorcycle ride away.  Last weekend however, we were able to get out to a larger town called Comayagua just to get out a little and enjoy ourselves a bit.  We got to have fast internet, cold iced-coffee and hot pizza.  After talking with family on skype we went to the Parque Central to hang out and enjoy the scenery.  We were only there for a little while, but we saw a beautiful old cathedral, browsed the street vendors’ items and sat by the fountain.  It was a nice trip that we will certainly do in the future. 

Travelling in Honduras –

I’m not exactly sure how Honduran buses make money because it is so darn cheap to ride them.  I think we paid about $1 or maybe $2 each for an hour bus ride. And the kids were free.  The one thing they do, do is they pack the buses like crazy.  On the way to Comayagua I stood in aisle while Sarah and the girls shared one seat next to an older bigger lady.  The only reason they got a seat was because a kind gentleman gave his away. 

The main street is under construction and every so often we were stopped for 1-way traffic.  There are people on the street selling soda, cookie things and some other treats for the bus riders.  A few people buy stuff each stop…what a job.  There are also sometimes people on the bus trying to sell things like books to learn English in a week, medicine that cures cancer, and vitamins that make you smarter.  I suppose I applaud the people selling these things if it’s making them money, ok not really, but the people that buy these things...well, that’s essentially the reason that we are down here.  We are trying to educate an un-educated country. 

Coming home for Christmas –

I think I have mentioned this in my last post, but we are coming home for the holidays.  Sarah will be home the very end of November and I will travel home a couple weeks later.  For those Oregonians and those travelling to Oregon, we can’t wait to see you!

I have begun a new role at the school, Dean of Education.  A fancy name for the guy in charge of all school related stuff.  I’ve been doing this for a while now, developing curriculum, managing the other volunteer teachers, developing grading criteria etc.  Some of the stuff is already in place, but I’m attempting to improve what’s already there. One thing that we could use some help with is more business books.  We’ve gotten a couple books from people, but we really need some business books.  We aren’t starting the hardcore business curriculum for a while, but we’d definitely like to get something planned.  Then in several weeks are good buddies, Joseph and Hailey are moving back to the states to have their 2^nd child, so I will then have his role as President also.  And after that another long-term volunteer will return for his second tour of duty and take over as the Dean of Education.  All this to say, there has been and will be a lot of changes since we arrived, but all good things.

We are also trying to finance a once per quarter trip to another part of Honduras for all the students.  These trips will be to get the girls to experience different parts of their country and to get to know their country better.  If they are going to be leaders of their country, they need to know their country.  The trips will probably be a night or 2 nights and will cost around $75 per student.  Total cost of around $1000.  If you are interested in helping please let us know.

Our Cook’s bathroom project –

As everything else in Honduras things are going slowly.  All the materials are purchased, they just need to get the job done.  They are held up now because they don’t have straight boards to use for the foundation.  Joseph and I will go up to the house probably tomorrow to see what we can do to get things going.  Thanks again for those of you who helped sponsor this project.

October Update - Sarah

The last few weeks we have been learning and growing so much. We have been busy, but our lives look so much different here than back in the states. We are not running around to places of work, play dates, church gatherings, or running hundreds of small errands at local stores. We are trying to teach, nurture, encourage, inspire and set good examples for 16 women who have the potential and the goal of being leaders of integrity in Honduras.
Last week Joseph and his family returned to the states for two weeks leaving Ira in charge of the school and many responsibilities on the farm. We have welcomed 3 new volunteers. Ira continues to coordinate the eight classes each day between the 4 teachers and two groups of students. He has learned to be an excellent teacher in many disciplines including English, Math, History, Computer Skills, Leadership, and various other topics that are discussed in conversation classes, creative writing, and group projects. Coordinating curriculum and preparing interesting, creative material for his own classes, he amazes me every day! The girls are learning so much, it is wonderful to see the growth in their characters and skills in just a few months.
We must also take inventory of everything in the kitchen and the storage area making sure there is enough food and supplies for the 26+ people living here. This morning Ira will go on his moto to Zombrano, a town about 30 minutes away, to the nearest vegetable stand. He will pack his backpack with as much supplies as he can ride back with! He is debating whether eggs could make it back on the moto (did I mention the roads are horrible here…seriously though, you must cross at least three rocky riverbeds to get to a vegetable stand?!) since we are out and this is our third staple besides beans and rice. We had a car for a few weeks and we were able to buy groceries more easily on trips to and from the airport (when picking up and dropping off volunteers). Ira also took three of the girls to a dentist in Comayagua (an entire day endeavor)…other than having teeth pulled, apparently two of the girls also have 10 cavities each…eek! I believe they will be making other trips to the dentist soon. Dental and general health care have been import topics in the beginning of the girls’ education here because they simply do not know the importance of things like brushing teeth, washing dishes properly (we must use bleach water after washing with river water because of much bacteria and parasites) and eating healthy food (like not frying everything in vegetable oil). It is not uncommon to see babies with coca cola in their bottles. Several of the little ones at the elementary school have noticeably rotting teeth .

Some of the other things we are learning, to name a few, include making tortillas, harvesting coffee beans, raising chickens, building classrooms with rocks, bricks, wood and cement, and fixing the washed out, dirt roads with rocks. Olivia’s comment on this, “Mommy, why are we making the roads MORE bumpy?!” Haha, good question. Me: “Liv…I think it will be easier for the one car that travels on this road, though it will probably be bumpier for us and Daddy on the moto, but at least there will still be a road.”

We have not had lights for over a week because we had crazy thunderstorms and lighting for a few days that broke one of the necessary parts. We also have not had water for a few days, but the guys were finally able to get through the rivers yesterday to restore our water line. Just kidding, it’s out again. Luckily we have become good at collecting rain water for baths. And there has been a lot of rain! Some days we can collect a 5 gallon bucket in 5 minutes from the streaming of rain water off the roof, it’s awesome! Ironic though how the more rain we get, the less likely we are to have running water.

3 weeks later…I should have posted that last part earlier but I didn’t think I was finished, uhg, sorry.
So lately the girls and I have been visiting a family about a 20 minute walk up the road. There are three teenage boys, 3 little girls, an elderly man and a husband and wife who share the one room home plus bathroom-sized kitchen. Apparently the three middle children (the only ones for which a school is available in this area) are not going to school for lack of notebooks. We have tons of donated notebooks at the Leadership Center so we were able to bring them these and some extra food and some little toys Olivia decided to give away. My friend, and one of the girls studying at LC, Zuelmi, came with me for a visit and we tried to enter negotiations in how we could help this family to make a little income by buying some vegetables and beans each week from them rather than the market in Zombrano. You know you are in Honduras when you ask someone how much for a pound of green beans and they proceed to give you advice on how to cut, cook and eat green beans. You are probably thinking wow, your Spanish must be horrible, but really, asking how much something costs is pretty straight forward AND Zuelmi was there to help translate. We both sat there through the cooking lesson like seriously, what did we just do wrong? Haha I guess the point is, we are trying to find local produce we can buy to help our neighbors out and reduce our trips to the market which is a bit of a trek. Buying food for 26 people each week here involves a large garbage can full of beans, one of rice, and one of potatoes, 8 dozen eggs, a crate of carrots, pataste (a type of squash), cucumbers and a line of onions hung up. Sometimes green beans, plantains, bananas, oranges or a few packages of spaghetti noodles.

A few other fun things that have occurred:
-Olivia has enjoyed riding one of the neighbor’s horses with Celeste (one of the students)
-Liv, Sis and I learned how to bake banana cake in the neighbor’s outdoor oven
-Liv and Sis love swimming in the rivers, especially with some kids behind Candida’s house
-All of the materials have arrived to build Candida and her huge family a bathroom!
-The kitchen for the elementary school is now in construction
-Ira and the guys have been jumping off the rocks into the river at El Salto
-Sicily is almost walking, she has taken her first steps walking back and forth from Ira and I several times and she loves walking around all day holding my hand.
-Sicily can say cow/vaca, chicken/gallina, up, hop, dirty, gato, meow, moo, dada, mama, banana, plantain, bath, thank you and probably a few other words I can’t think of now. She also signs for milk and thank you, we are working on please, doggie, bunny, cat and a few others.
-Olivia is learning how to read, she is now able to sound out many words and we just started addition and subtraction which she is picking up so fast
-Olivia and I have planted potatoes that are growing well (we can’t plant many other vegetables right now because it is too wet and our garden becomes a river when it rains hard). We have basil, peppers and marigolds growing well in egg cartons inside.

Been a while...

Well, it has certainly been too long.  A lot has happened in the last few weeks including getting a promotion which includes additional responsibilities at the school.  I am now in charge of the class schedules, organizing volunteers teaching schedules and creating curriculum for the school.  It has only made me realize how much I don’t know, but I’ve really enjoyed the added responsibility.  The last week I’ve also taken over director of the school responsibilities while Joe is in the US for another week.  This of course only compounds the responsibilities and time that I need to spend with the school.  Even worse I’ve had to pour more of my life into the school – I say this jokingly – and I fear that it will be much more difficult to leave than I expected.  As I said in my previous post, I feel like I’m supposed to be here, but it’s really more than that, I feel like I’ve gained new family members here, they just speak another language.

We also decided that we’ll be coming home for Christmas and we are so excited to visit friends and family in Oregon.  You’ll be jealous of our farmer’s tans.  Speaking of family and friends…YOU ARE AWESOME!! We received a container with like 20 boxes of toys, books, (American) food, and other supplies.  You are all such a blessing.  Thank you for your continued support. 

A couple weeks ago we purchased 500 bricks to build a bathroom for our cook, and will start getting into construction in a couple weeks. We are waiting for Joe to return before we purchase the rest of the materials, but I would think that we’ll get some nice bathroom pics in a few weeks.  I’m very thankful for the folks that have donated money towards this project.  A little money and love can go a long for a family here.

Did I mention we haven’t had lights for a week and a half, we just got running water again after a few days of running off the reserve, only for it to go out again tonight. I think you have to be crazy to love this place.  Guess that makes me a lunatic.   

Week 8 - No place like home

Last week we travelled to Belize because it was the end of summer break.  It was very nice.  Warm weather, warm ocean water (like 80 degrees warm), iced vanilla lattes every morning, smoothies most evenings, nothing to work on, and time to spend with family and friends on the nice beaches.  Sarah and I were expecting it to be very difficult to leave Belize, even before we arrived.  But even though our trip to Belize was fun, nice, and even necessary for our friends (for passport renewal), I really missed Honduras, in fact I was ready to return home to Honduras before the halfway point of our trip.  Not like me.  I usually decide that I want to move to wherever I am on vacation or “accidently” miss my return flight so I can stay another day, but not this time.      

After reflecting on this feeling or readiness to return, I realized that Honduras is where I am supposed to be (I mean, at least for now).  You don’t often want to leave daily iced lattes and warm beaches to return to beans, rice and your job.  But I did, and it has, if nothing else, given me more assurance that I am and my family are exactly where we are supposed to be.