Neglect... oops

Sorry about the lack of posts! I now have a new blog, but I´ll try to update this one as well when I have time, which is a bit of a joke now that I´m here in Chalchuapa again. But yes, stay tuned.

The Coup That Wasn´t a Coup... or was it?

So this time last week was a very tense time for Hondurans. President Jose Manuel "Mel" Zelaya was forcing a public poll, asking Hondurans to vote yes or no for putting to vote a formal vote to host a Constitutional Congress to attempt to amend the Constitution. The formal vote would appear on the ballots for November elections. His political enemies, including members of his own Liberal Party, most of the Congress, and the entire Supreme Court said that, according to the Honduran Constitution, if the president takes this sort of action, that it could be seen as extending his presidency over the legal limit of terms, and he or she needs to be immediately removed from power. Zelaya saw his public opionion poll as exactly that, or at least that's how he portrayed it. Others saw it as an attempt to change the Constitution, allowing him to run for president again in the future, even though his current term would end in January, and the Congress wouldn't take place until afterward.

For me, the solution was simple: excercise your democratic right to just vote no in the poll. However, just asking for the poll is against the Honduran Constitution. When the military, the traditional distributors of ballots in any voting situtation, refused to distribute the ballots, Zelaya fired the army general. In support of the general, the heads of the navy and air force resigned. The next day, the Congress overruled Zelaya to reinstate the General. They supported what they called a "golpe de estado" to override Zelaya's decisions, all in the name of democracy. Last Saturday, June 27th, Zelaya and his supporters held a peaceful march to the army base in Tegucigalpa to confiscate the ballots to make sure they'd be distributed. They handed them over to him without incident.

However, the next morning, Sunday, June 28th, we woke up to no electricity, (which also meant no internet) all Honduran tv and radio stations static or soap operas, and only Sor Vilma's $2 off-the-streets radio got the lone radio station on the air, before it was later cut off. (My American-made, and American-bought radio was no help.) In the wee hours of the morning, the military had invaded the presidencial palace and removed Zelaya at gunpoint and in his pajamas, and flew him off to Costa Rica. Luckily, the Cuban station and CNN en Espanol was also on, so we were able to find out what was going on when the power eventually came on later that day, but most of the country was in the dark, watching lots of soap operas, or bombarded with rumor after rumor.

Later that morning, the Congress produced a letter allegedly signed by Zelaya, claiming his resignation. It was dated June 25th. At a press conference in Costa Rica, Zelaya stated that he'd never written nor signed such a document and that it was forged. Since most of the reporters were in hiding, the only semi-critical question about the document was where the letter came from. The best answer they could come up with is that "it just appeared out of nowhere."

There were reports of closing the borders, Venezuelan and US invasions, and counter-coups. The military had shut down all the roads, and they instituted curfews from 9 pm to 6 am. Everyone wondered what would happen if Barack Obama or Hugo Chavez took action or didn't take action. What would happen to Honduras? Especially to the people of Honduras. The newly instated president, Roberto Micheletti, who was President of the Congress (our equivalent of Speaker of the House), took office directly afterward, prompting immediate disdain from the international community, including the nations participating in the Organization of American States (OAS), eventually resulting in the secession of Honduras from the Organization yesterday.

Throughout the week, there have been reports of protests, both for and against the new government, including one that passed by the high school here, which happened to be in favor of the old government. Since we had just come off a week-long vacation for Student's Day the Sunday of the coup, the internas had trouble coming back to school, with the last one arriving today. All the public schools were ordered not to have school this week too, but the private schools had the option of having class, which, in true Salesian "we're not going to waste any time" fashion, we were up and running Tuesday for the rest of the week.

The fate of Honduras and its people basically rests on whether the US will take action or not, and whether Venezuela will take action or not. Since President Zelaya's actions were illegal according to the Honduran Constitution, his removal of power is now not considered a coup. However, the way in which he was removed was illegal and just downright dirty. Sacking the president at gunpoint instead of some sort of trial? Shutting off all the electricity in your country so nobody will know what's going on? Turning off tv and radio news to keep everyone in the dark? Installing military forces to keep people from gathering? Revealing days-old documents of supposed resignation? And all this in the name of democracy? To me, this is a transfer of power from one to another in the same party, neither of which were thinking of the highest level of poverty in North America, and who would rather have a power grab than address the issues that really matter to Hondurans: violence, from gangs and drugs; obtaining help for victims of the swine flu, who die here because there isn't the medical attention or drugs that developed countries have; and victims of the earthquakes from last month, that destroyed homes, bridges, and roads, making it harder for people to get to work and to the cities to sell their goods - what happened to all the promised aid? Instead, they're arguing over technicalities in the Constitution and planning uprisings, not in the name of the people, but for their own personal gain. I am not for the old president or the new one. I didn't think Zelaya did a very good job of running his country, nor do I belieive that Micheletti will do any better. For me, the excitement will die down, and things will continue on in the way they were before, if not worse. Now that Honduras lacks the economic support from the OAS and other countries have stopped importing Honduran products, the poor will only get poorer and the rich, richer.

On a different note, I'd like to stress that Hondurans are very peace-minded. Civil war will most likely not break out, and violent protests are also very unlikely. They are very opposed to the intervention of other countries, and prefer to just "wait things out" until the next presidential elections, this coming November. I'm not necessarily for just leaning back and letting these things happen unattended to, but since I'm a visitor here, I'll have to let it slide. Luckily, (or unluckily from a journalist's point of view), I haven't actually seen any action. The sisters are very protective and have kept a close eyes on the news. Santa Rosa is a pretty uneventful place and although it's the most important city in western Honduras, it's pretty unimportant on the nation level (one sign of this: the absolute lack of the presence of fast food chains), and is pretty out-of-the-way. Tegucigalpa, where most of the action is, is about eight hours from here, and San Pedro Sula, the second likeliest place, about three. So here I am, safe and sound, glad to be where I am, but secretly dying to see something worthy of reporting.

If Zelaya chooses to return, Micheletti has threatened to arrest him on site and put him in prison for treason against his country. Zelaya had planned to return on this past Thursday, but delayed his return to today, and has now delayed it indefinitely. To me, this is a sign that he may not have the international support that he thought he had. His return would spark a lot of controversy, especially if he came with the aid of another country. But he wouldn't come back by himself, since his only two options are to live in exile in relative comfort or come back home to jail time. Things could change within the next few days, but both sides are using the confusion to their benefits. As time goes on, people aren't as tense and things come to light, so I'm thinking that if anything big were to happen, it would've already happened.

On that note, I hope you have a wonderful, safe Independence Day! My plans to come home later this month are still on, and my eventual move to El Salvador is also still on. Thanks to all you worriers out there who asked how we're doing. And please pray (or send out good thoughts) for Honduras, especially its people, who will suffer the most.

Madonna, Madonna, and the Power of Persuasion

Here is it, my second May in Central America. And, as usual, everyone is very excited about it being the month of Mary. Every class built an altar in their classroom, compete with a paper flowers and a little statue of Mary, Help of Christians. Each day, one grade offers Mary a flower in the morning assembly, and in the afternoon, they say a Rosary together and go to the Mass at the cathedral. It's a very serious business. Each grade is also learning a new song to sing on the feast day of Mary, Help of Christians (May 24th). I got to help by teaching the sisters how to download music and videos from the internet. If I'd had known that they ALL wanted to learn, I'd have given a class to them all at the same time. But they all asked me individually over the course of a few weeks, so I got to tell them all the exact same thing six separate times. But now they all know!

To shift gears a little, I just wanted to comment on the idea of international adoption (Madonna's been in the news for that recently - at least she has here). Before this whole experience, I was sure that any child who gets the chance to grow up in a developed country is the luckiest child in their home country. But after seeing the problems that can arise, hearing stories of adopted children in other countries, I have completely reversed my position (with one exception). Children should have every chance possible to grow up with their own family. If not with their parents, then with some other relative, or at least within their own culture.

For example, there's Alex, a guy I met yesterday. Right now, there's a group of students from the University of Maine here for two weeks. They went to visit the orphanage, and met Dani, so she invited them to go out to eat with us (and the two bilingual school teachers) for supper last night. Alex is Colombian but was adopted by a white couple in Maine. His major is Spanish, for the sole purpose of reconnecting with his heritage. He went to visit Colombia for two months and plans to move back there. Raising a child outside of his or her own culture, despite the feeling of a family, is harder than people realize. The child grows up with the sense of feeling like something is missing, and even though they know absolutely nobody in their country of origin, they somehow feel at home when they visit there.

There's also the example of the volunteer who went to a country in Africa. While she was there, she met a girl who is mentally disabled, and the volunteer found that the people there and the school she was in weren't really prepared to deal with the girl, or help her in a specialized way, so she decided to adopt her and bring her to the US. Wouldn't it be a better idea, however, to contribute to a program that trains psychologists/doctors/teachers to better help the child so she can remain in her own environment and so they can help other children like her?

My exception to this rule is when there is no family, nobody in the home country willing to adopt him or her, and there is immediate danger to the child. The child should be removed from the dangerous situation as quickly as possible, even if it means taking him or her to another country to be raised.

As for the power of persuasion, the sisters here have convinced me to stay here another month to help the new volunteers when they get here. I remember how helpful Sydney was in Chalchuapa and Teri here in Santa Rosa, so I'll be here to meet them at the airport and help with the transition. Which means I'll be leaving for El Salvador at the end of June/beginning of July instead of the beginning of June. Which is, of course, fine, because I really do love these girls here and it'll be hard to say good-bye when the time comes.

And, since I'll be here longer anyway, why not give me some more classes? I now have three more English classes with the students that come only on Sundays. I haven't mentioned this much (if at all) because I haven't really been involved in this aspect of the school until now. These are distance education classes, where the students are all ages and mostly women, and come from all over the area, from as far as Lempira, over three hours away. During the week, there's a radio program that gives lessons that go along with their workbooks. They only have to be present in class one day a week, so the teachers can answer questions, explain things better, and check to make sure they're doing their work. It's like the equivalent of a TA session for a professor's lecture. Then, we give standardized tests so everyone in the program in Honduras takes the same one. So I'm now with the 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, an interesting mix of girls who are actually 16-18 years old, single mothers, and about six guys (out of about 50 students). This is completely new for me, so we'll see how it goes!

A Few Days in the Life

So last weekend, I had the chance to take advantage of Labor Day here to visit an interna's (boarding student's) family. We left on Thursday afternoon after class to go to Lepaera, a town about 45 minuts from Santa Rosa (or more like two hours on a bus). After riding the bus, taking a rapidito (taxi-type vans that take 30 people when there's only technically space for 15), and then bumping along in the back of a pickup, we arrived at Rudys's family's house. It's just a three room building, with a bathroom, shower, and "laundry well" in the outhouse out back and a seperated kitchen. I got one of the rooms all to myself, and the rest of the family (there were 6 of them) slept in the other two, with curtains separated the two living room sized spaces into separate bedrooms.

The roof was basically tiles placed on top of beams, and when it rained (which it did, and very hard), the tiles on the edge of the roof flew off with the wind, and the dirt and bugs living in the clay tiles all rained down on top of us inside. Since it rarely rains that hard, people just place the tiles on the roof without securing them, or just put a sheet of tin across the tops of the walls and puts stones are the edge to keep it from blowing away. So when we had the thuderstorm with strong winds, lots of people lost their roofs and were putting up new ones the next morning. Fortunately, and unfortunately, it was pretty easy for them to do, once they figured out which one of their neighbors had rescued their piece of tin/roof. Even though it looked like a tornado had ripped through the town, judging by the damage, it really wasn't all that strong.

Here in Honduras, the custom for receiving guests into your house is to offer them coffee and sweet bread, a fruit, a glass of juice or whatever they have. But it's always food and something to drink. Rudys is number seven of eight brothers and sisters. All of her family lives in the greater Lepaera area, except for two brothers who live in Washington DC and some city in Canada. Only she and her younger sister are not married, and still live in the house. While I was there (about four days), we visited all of their houses, plus three other internas' houses, Alejandra (one of my English students), Rosa Ayde, and Lourdes.

Rosa Ayde's house was two stories tall. It was by far the nicest house in the area, from the outside. But the light bulbs were hanging by wires. There was only plastic furnirture and only a few decorations. They didn't turn on the lights in the house until it was too dark to see by the light of the two windows in each room. The only decorations on the wall were plaques and awards from when her father won the best cup of coffee in the world contest in 200-something. He'd used the prize money to improve his fields and his house. He says he only got that far on the money and then had to stop. Now now he has a giant empty house, with unfinished walls, and sketchy electricity. But they're working on it. The stove, however, was my favorite part was the stove in the kitchen. It's a gas stove, and the gas comes from a machine in their backyard that converts the pulp from coffee beans into fuel for the stove. I don't know, I was impressed.

Lourdes's house was by far the poorest. There were 8 people in her house and it's tiny, at the bottom of a road in terrible condition, basically in a mud pit. Since it's at the bottom of the hill, all the water washes down and settles in her "yard" and it just turns to mud. When I walked into her house, it was dark and stuffy and pretty much full of bugs. There was only one window in the kitchen, to let the smoke out since the stove didn't have a chimney. No wonder so many people around her suffer from asthma and other lung problems. They let their houses fill up with smoke from the stove and wave it out the windows.

Throughout the weekend, I ended up visiting eight people's houses, not counting Rudys's parents. I ate at all of them, and by the time we left on Sunday morning, I was sure I wouldn't eat again until the next Sunday. But I wasn't just eating all weekend long. It was so cool to see how these people live, but it was also cool to be able to give something back. Rudys's brother had just sent enough money for his family to buy a computer. He has four sons, and all of them are studying (very rare - out of all her brothers and sisters, Rudys is the only one with more than a sixth grade education). Anyway, I showed them the basics of Microsoft Office so they could actually use it for school projects. I also happened to be the only one who knew how to drive the car that the family owned. Before, Rudys's brothers were the only ones who drove it, but since they're not home, I got to give driving lessons (for one hour, and she will now be entrusted to drive on Honduran roads? Yikes.) and be the chauffer for the weekend as well. I also had the chance to attempt to explain the concept of gravity when Rudys's dad asked me if it was true that the Earth revolved around the sun. I wasn't expecting that one, and I'm pretty sure my two-minute explanation went right over his head, but apparently it's not necessary to know that in order to survive and live to be 60-something years old. Both Rudys's parents have up to a third grade education.

The contest that Rosa Ayde's dad won on the international level is a contested one in Lepaera. Apparently, on the national level, Rudys's dad won fifth place and Rosa Ayde's in sixteenth. Then, Rudys's grandfather died and her father couldn't go to the next round of the contest, which is the one Rosa Ayde's father won. So logically, instead of Rosa Ayde's father winning, Rudys's father would've won. For me, the most impressive thing was that I was staying in the house of the disputed world's best cup of coffee, and I ate dinner in the house of the official world's best cup of coffee. Lepaera, therefore, has the best of the best coffee in the entire world. AKA heaven.

This Friday we celebrated Mothers Day at the school. Like Fathers Day in March, the teachers had a party after class ended, and we ate Chinese food. All the guys treated the women to lunch and then they sang for us. They awkwardly gave me a "Te Quiero Mama" mug, because of my status as a potential mother. But it was sweet anyway.

This was a nice treat at the end of the week, mostly because it was the last day of the grading period, which means my official English classes are done! I can't believe it's already been 12 weeks. Oh wait, I'm not done? Right. Nobody told me we were having an early release day, so the class I would've had to give the final exam was cancelled, and I have to wait until Monday to give it, spoiling other travel plans I'd made for the coming week. Stupid being out of the loop!

To make up for forgetting to tell me about cancelling my classes, Sor Eduviges took me with her to pick up "provisions" from La Esperanza, in Intibuca. We have a lot of internas here from that area, the poorest in Honduras. The parents bring sacks of food to the church one day and we go to pick it up. This is a form of payment, since a lot of them can't pay in cash. We pick up a record load of food, sacks of potatoes, rice, corn, beans, cabbage, some weird giant fruit that looked like a watermelon but tasted nothing like watermelons. So full that I had to sit in the middle of the front seat and it took us two hours longer to get home than it took to get there. Our driver, Don Cristian, was really scared that if we went too fast, we'd hit a bump and the bed of the pick-up would break off and separate from the cab. Tha back tires were practically flat from the weight, but we made it home fine. A mixed blessing, indeed.

We got home last night just in time for the welcome celebration for Sor Sandra, the provincial mother. The girls had prepared dances, songs, skits, poems, everything. Today, all the sisters left, so they could have a community retreat with Sor Sandra, leaving me in charge of all 65 girls all by myself. What a babysitting job! They weren't too bad, and the school secretary showed up to finish some work, and she decided to stay and help me out (which was very nice of her).

We're starting to get ready for the giant Mary, Help of Christians festival later this month, and I'm getting excited about another visitor coming!

I hope you all have a great end of the school year and start of the summer!

PS- The summer month here (April) is already gone and the rain is back. It was nice while it lasted.

HOLY cow! what a WEEK!

Well, Holy Week in Latin America is a very huge deal. I took the opportunity to go to a VIDES camp in El Salvador. We went to a village on the border of Guatemala, called Casas de Tejas. I was so excited because I thought it would remind me of being home in Texas, but teja is a kind of brick that all the houses are made of. The community still kinda reminded me of D'Hanis, only with a lot less technology. I'll try to let the pictures do most of the talking, so you get the idea. Special thanks to Sydney and Chiky for their photography skills, as my camera is still on the bench.

In the mornings, we went out in teams of two to four to visit people's houses. We read the Gospel of the day, and asked for their input. While we were there, we asked them what their needs were (if they have electricity, running water, access to a doctor or a pharmacy) and took notes for our next trip out there.

A lot of times, they would invite us in for a coffee or to see their rooms or their cows or whatever else they wanted to show us. Even though I was a little wary around going just to read the Gospel, people were pretty accepting of that and were appreciative too. I don't know if I would've let me in if someone showed up at my house wanting to do the same thing, so I have to thank them for their openness.

After the morning visits, we all came back to the church we were staying in to make lunch. One day, I made all the tortillas for our group (about 20 of us), which made me completely exhausted, but I was very proud of myself.

After lunch, we'd have a little time to get things in the afternoon prepared, like crafts, packing things up or whatever else we needed to do. Then, the group divided into two smaller groups and headed out to two different locations, one to a school in Boca de la Montaña, and the other to the Common House in Casas de Tejas. It takes about fifteen minutes walking (about 3 minutes in a car) to get to the Common House, but about an hour walking (15 minutes in the car) to get to the other location. It was a long, dusty road, but we always had a full house waiting for us when we got there.

We always started with a "chat," something to benefit the whole community. Some of the VIDES group members are in dental school, others are medical students. So one day, they gave a talk about dental hygiene and how you can save your tooth if it falls out, another day, how to rehydrate your child if he or she has diarrhea and there's no medecine. Another day, they talked about arthritis. Then, we'd break people up by age. I always went with the kids.

We did projects like finger painting, origami, making crosses out of newspaper, and playing games and singing songs. The last day, we had all the kids trace their hands, cut them out, and decorate them. Then, they glued them to a poster as a sign of a promise to take care of their planet, their school, their house, and to respect their teachers and parents. They all made the "promise" and stuck the poster on the wall of the classroom.

Meanwhile, the adults were outside, on the patio, learning a new trade, like making jelly they could sell, using wire and beads to make fashionable jewelry, and thread to weave bracelets. All of the things they learned how to do, they learned well enough to sell and help their economic situations with a small additional income.

After that, we headed back to the church in Casas de Tejas and started the evening activity. The first night, we had a soccer tournament with the kids. First, we played boys vs girls and the girls held their own for quite a while, until most of them had to go home to help their moms get dinner started. Once we were drastically disproportionate, the boys gained the advantage and beat the girls. After that, they had a game just with the older guys that were there. This camp, we hadn't had much prepared for this demography, so the contact through the soccer tournament was very important.

That night, we had a Rosary with just ourselves. But some people from the community heard us and came and joined us. The next night, we had a community-wide Rosary, followed by a Celebration of the Word the next night. The last night, we had a living Stations of the Cross, where we were the "actors" and a different family from the community hosted a different station.

There's a tradition here in Central America that goes hand in hand with the processions. Lots of people make alfombras (carpets) for the people to walk over in the processions. The alfombras in Chalchuapa were extremely elaborate, but the ones in Casas de Tejas were simple, but beautiful, made of twigs, fruits, and flowers.

We ended the Stations of the Cross at the church, and had a dinner with all the food that the people from the community had given us throughout the week. A lot more people showed up than we were prepared for, but somehow we had enough food for everyone and for ourselves. The kids all surprised us by helping us out with passing out the food and collecting the plates to wash so we could serve more.

The next day, we all went for a dip in the river by the soccer fields, in a creek called Aguas Tibias, which wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. There were women there washing their clothes, and lots of kids swimming, jumping out of trees into the water, and a few little bitty kids getting baths. After that, we headed back to the church, dried off, and said adios to Casas de Tejas. Our plan to is continue to visit them once a month, teaching new trades or bringing a doctor, or something to lend a hand, until we do another week-long camp in December.

The sister that came with us, Sor Marta Lilian, is from Chalchuapa, so she, Sydney, and I all headed back home from the camp in time to go to Mass in Chalchuapa on Holy Thursday. This Mass celebrates the last supper and when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. The church was decorated so pretty, and the altar was hidden behind a (very rickety) staircase leading up to a giant Eucharist. We had a mini-procession (one that I'm more used to) that went out one side of the church, around the front, and in the other side to do Adoration.

Afterwards, Lupe, the only interna still in Chalchuapa, Sydney, and I ate pizza at the fair in the park and went to look at the giant, elaborate alfombras in the streets, already getting ready for the next day.

On Friday, we anxiously awaited the arrival of Karina, another American volunteer working in the eastern part of El Salvador. She's fairly new, and it was her first time on the bus by herself. Turns out she missed her stop in Chalchuapa and went all the way to the end of the line. Then, on the way back, she missed it again, but this time didn't go as far. Third time was a charm, and she got off with the help of everyone on the bus, and two other gringas waiting for her at the bus stop to make sure she made it alright.

After we got Karina, we went out to meet the procession of the Stations of the Cross. We walked along the route ahead of it, checking out the alfombras as we went. They're made out of fruit, sand, leaves, paint, colored salt, flowers and whatever else is really creative. Chalchuapa is the just the right size to have really intricate alfombras and lots of tradition, things they say you don't see much in the larger cities or in the smaller towns.

When, we finally caught up with the procession, we were just at the right spot. First came the band, playing really slow, doomsday music. Then, there were a bunch of kids, carrying objects on platters that symbolized different parts of the death of Jesus. After that, came the two parish priests, followed by people who were walking the whole route for a specific intention, all of them barefoot, and some of them walking backwards so they could keep their eyes on Jesus the whole time. The most hard-core were people who were blindfolded as well.

The image of Jesus carrying the cross was carried by about eighteen guys, all barefoot. Each time they came to a station, they turned Jesus sideways to see the altar on the sidewalk and then continued on.

At the corner where we were waiting, they had the encuentro, or the meeting. That's where the procession with Jesus meets up with a smaller procession of people carrying three images, one of Mary, one of Mary Magdelene, and one of St John. They meet at a street corner, that coincides with the station where Jesus meets his mother. The other three images were carried by three groups of eight women, all barefoot and dressed in white. They make the statues bow to each other by making the people at the front stoop low and the people at the back raise it up high over their shoulders. Then, the processions join up, with Jesus in front, and the other three saints behind them.

We stayed with the procession for a few more stations, then headed home for lunch. About an hour later, they were passing by the house and we all went to the corner to watch it go by on its way to the church. It got to the church about half an hour before Mass was about to start, making the whole procession a five-hour affair. All the alfombras were completely ruined by the people walking over them, but people were already out, cleaning up and starting new ones for the next procession that night.

There was hardly anyone at the Good Friday service, but it still lasted about four hours. At one point, two of the sisters went out to the fair outside and came back with snacks for everyone. After the service, we headed back to the house to eat dinner and get ready for the other procession that night.

This other procession was called the Holy Burial, where they march Jesus around town, along the same route, in the tomb. This time, He's carried by about 40 guys, and it was so tall that they had trouble getting under power lines. They'd get lower, then back up and try again, until they finally made it. Even without stopping for stations, this procession also lasted long into the night. The three saints were also trailing behind, but this time the women were dressed all in black. We joined up with the procession at the same point as the Station of Cross, and left at about the same point too.

We all headed back to the house, where Sor Marta Lilian, Karina, and Sydney called it a night and I headed back out with a few VIDES friends to see the end of the procession. We went to see the alfombras that hadn't been stepped on yet, and waited for the procession to arrive at the church, where they had a heck of a time parking Jesus's tomb. We almost got run over multiple times as the tried a 30 point turn, but finally got Him all settled in. That was the end of the night, so we all went home for some much-needed rest.

The next day, all the sisters, Sydney, and Karina headed out for a field trip to Esquipulas, the basilica in Guatemala that I have now been to three times. So I stayed home to catch up on sleep and grading papers (haha, yeah right). I got to man the door and the phone, do everyone's chores and watch some tv. However, I did NOT feel like cooking lunch. About the time I wanted to go make a bowl of cereal, the pharmist who lives across the street came over with some lunch that his grown daughter had made. I don't know how he knew! But it was delicious.

About mid-afternoon, the same VIDES friends came over to pick me up and go sight-seeing. We went to a town called Apaneca, just to get out and about from the city life (as if we hadn't just spent five days in the pure countryside, cooking over an open fire and bathing out of a bucket!). Anyway, we went to a hotel/restaurant that had a dance floor, ate cheesecake and danced all afternoon, and then went back home. It was so fun and a nice break!

We made it back in time to go to the Easter vigil. This is the Mass that starts at 9 pm and I never go to this Mass in the US because it's so late and lasts so long. Here in Central America, the Mass on Easter Sunday is just like any other and the big deal one is Saturday night. So we went to that one here instead! It started at 9 but I didn't make it there until 9:50, but it was just beginning when we showed up, so I don't know what they must've been doing for all that time before. Anyway, the whole service lasted until 1 am, but then we had ANOTHER procession after that, and didn't make it home until about 2:30 in the morning.

However, I think this last procession was my absolute favorite! After a VERY long Mass, they bring out the image of the resurrected Jesus, and the three saints again, but this time, they're all dressed in really pretty clothes (they all have wigs too). The put Jesus on one street corner and the three saints on a parallel corner. Then, four guys carry a box on their shoulders that has the "little angel" inside. Although I had been told about it beforehand, I was not expecting it to be a two-year old girl, dressed like an angel! She starts out with Jesus and they give her a microphone. She asks Jesus if He would like to see His mother. Then, the four guys take off running down the street, away from Jesus, turn the block, and run down til they get to the three saints. Everyone takes off running after them, and it's a race to see who can get there first. Most of the old people don't even participate, but all the kids and the younger adults do. Once they arrive at the three saints, the "angel" asks Mary is she wants to see her son. Then, they take off running again, until they get to Jesus. During this time, the people carrying Jesus and the saints are walking slowly closer together, so every time the people run, they don't have to run as far. Then, the little girl tells Jesus that she's spoken to His mom and that she wants to see Him. So she runs back around the block again to the three saints and tells Mary that she'll take her to see her son. Then, the four guys carrying the girl and the fifteen women carrying the saints, and all the people still able to run at 1:30 in the morning take off running again, to get to where the people carrying the image of Jesus are, and that's when the last procession starts. The band shows up again, this time playing happy music, then comes the guys carrying the two-year-old, then come the people carrying Jesus, followed by the three saints, followed by all the people. All along the route, people throw confetti and pop fireworks. And then everyone goes to bed to sleep off all the excitement and activities from the week.

And on Easter Sunday morning, at 8 am, I was on the way home to Santa Rosa. Seriously, what a week! I slept on the buses all the way home, and all this week I was exhausted, but I wouldn't trade any of it.

Just a Little Something

Ok, so we're doing a project in my English class. Jamie Baker, a friend from college, is a world history teacher in San Antonio, and the Student Council sponsor. Her students wrote letters to mine in English and sent things to help them study as well. My class translated the letters and wrote them back in English, along with pictures of them using the study stuff, and a class picture. I wanted to share a few with y'all.


So now you know who I'm spending my time with at least two hours every day!

525,600 Minutes

So it has been exactly one year since I'm slept beneath the Texas stars! It feels like the year has flown by. I can't believe I ever thought that a year could be enough time to spend here in Central America. Although I'm really not sure how much time would be enough exactly.

I can remember saying good-bye to my family in the early-morning hours at the airport curb, and walking in by myself to check in. Getting on the plane for Houston was easy enough, but once I got to my gate in Houston for San Salvador, I realized that I was the only person there that wasn't speaking Spanish and wondered how I was going to survive. When I boarded the plane, I immediately fell asleep and didn't wake up again until the flight attendant handed me the form to fill out upon entry. It was so cloudy, and I remember thinking that I didn't even know what to expect when I landed, if there were mountains or a dirt landing strip, or anything at all that would be even remotely familiar. As I was getting off, one guy struck up a conversation with me to ask where I was going, and whn I told him Chalchuapa, he had no idea where it was, and that's when it hit me that I was going to be doing something special in an unknown place, and that I didn't have a clue.

After I got my baggage and fended off a baggage porter that wanted to charge me $20 to haul my suitcases about 30 feet (I was so proud of myself for that!), I saw Sor Paty and Sydney waiting for me across the barrier and I was so relieved! Sor Paty didn't know that I didn't speak Spanish (oops), but Sydney translated for us, and we went to eat pupusas. After that, my life completely changed and hasn't been the same since.

Here are some things I've learned this year:

1. Mass transit isn't so terrible, once you learn the bus system
2. There's still a ton of work to do
3. Talking with people is the best way to learn about the world
4. There are lots of things I can control about my own behavior
5. There are lots of things I can't control (flexibilty is a virtue)
6. Technology isn't as important as everyone thinks it is
7. I still have a ton to learn

Some things I miss from home:

1. The concept of weekends
2. Having my own car
3. Making my own schedule
4. American sports
5. Texas dancehalls/country music/barbecue/Shiner Bock
   
6. my FAMILY and FRIENDS (this should really be #1)
7. being on a family cell phone plan

However, even with all that I've accomplished and how much I've grown this year, I know that these next eight-ish months will be even better, and I hope to learn even more about myself and the world, to come home a changed-for -the-better person, and to take advantage of every moment I have here, because I know I won't have another chance to live my life other than right now.

All of you are in my thoughts and prayers and I am so grateful for all your support this past year! Happy one year anniversary!

A Month of Catch-Up

Well, it's been about a month since the last update, but actually not that much as been going on. I got to go with some of the girls to a conference at the Casa de Cultura earlier in the month. Most of them had never been to a program like it before, so it was interesting to see what they'd think of it. The point of the conference was to try to involve youth more in the community of Santa Rosa. There's apparently a youth council, with a (very mature) 9 year old president who hosted the conference. They had a panel of experts, the mayor, a lawyer and a doctor, talking about political involvement in the community, sex and domestic abuse and HIV/AIDS. It was so weird to realize that these things aren't really addressed very often if at all, and for most of the girls, it was their first experience hearing about the topics.

Since then, it's just been business as usual, until this past weekend. Father's Day in Honduras was last week, so all the teachers had a special lunch for all the teachers who were dads, as well as "dads in potential," or really like a dinner for the guys, put on for the girls. School got out early and all the teachers headed to the library, which was decorated really nice, and we had catered lunch (delicious!), and had a Blessing of the Fathers, a PowerPoint presentation with pics of them with their kids, and a song composed by the music teacher. It was all very sweet, but the girls set the standard pretty high for the guys, who presumably will be giving a lunch for the mothers and potential mothers in May. Good luck, guys, it'll be hard to beat!

After the lunch ended, the real weekend began! Dani, another American volunteer here, had a friend come visit her for the week. The last weekend of her visit, they decided to go to the ruins, in a town called Copan Ruinas, about two hours away from Santa Rosa, which is basically a miniature version of the Western world. So, Dani, her friend Brenna, two American teachers from the Bilingual school, and I made a whole weekend of it (a much-needed mini-vacation), staying in a hostel and having adventures in general. Dani and Brenna left Friday morning to go to the actual ruins, but since Abby, Sarah, and I had all been at least twice, we left Friday afternoon after school and met at the bus station in Santa Rosa, going on a chicken bus for about an hour, until we had to switch buses for Copan Ruinas. The second bus was much nicer, but my favorite part was meeting one of their students from the bilingual school. He and his sister were both students there, and came from very wealthy families. They only took the first bus with us, when a Mercedes with tinted windows picked them up, and we continued on the other bus. Their perspective was so different from the girls who go here, and I was kind of glad I decided to come with VIDES instead of the a "teaching English in a foreign country" program. The girls here are just so humble and conscious here, with the mix of rich and poor, and these other kids knew more about American pop culture than I did! They didn't have much concern for their fellow Hondurans, but they don't have that foundation, either, so I guess you can't really blame them.

So, anyway, we get off the bus in Copan Ruinas and we're immediately bombarded by these tuk-tuk drivers who want to charge an arm and a leg to take us to our hostel, just as we realize that it's about a half-block up the street. The good old Green Apple hostel. I stayed in the Elvis bed, one of four bunk beds (hence eight beds) and one double, the Barbie & Ken, where Abby and Sarah slept. Dani and Brenna were in another room, since they got there earlier in the day. We shared our room with some girls from England, a couple guys from Germany, some from Argentina, a guy from Denmark, a girl from New Zealand, and a photgraphy student from Chicago. We were quite the mix! And that was only the first night. A bunch of them left after that, and some new ones showed for the second night, just as diverse. It was cool to meet them in Honduras!

The first night we spent getting acquainted with the town, walking around, eating a leisurely dinner, and going out for a night on the town. It was much-needed and really fun. And it felt just like being in the United States. Hanging out with a bunch of English-speakers, actually being outside after dark and able to walk around in a fairly safe town. That was a nice treat in itself.

The next day, we got up early to go visit a legendary waterfall. It was really only legendary because of the directions we got to go visit it. Here's what they were: You take a shuttle to Santa Rita, about a 20 minute ride. Then, you get off at the gas station. Not the first one, but the other one. Then, you cross the street and go down a dirt road for about twenty or so minutes until you get to some pillars. Then, you walk through a pasture and go down to the river and look for a bridge. Then, you cross the bridge, walk along the path another five minutes or so until you get to the river again, get into the river and swim upstream, until you get to the waterfall! Surprisingly, we made it fine, with only some minor confusion about the location of the bridge, but it was so, so worth it! The pictures really don't do justice, but special thanks to Abby, who waded, swam and treaded water with her digital camera to take pictures of the spectacular sight.

Dani, in the purple shirt, took the lead, and here we are in the field, looking for the bridge.

Here it is! We decided to cross the bridge one at a time, which turned out to be a good decision.

Here's the entrance to the waterfall. It's just around the curve behind the giant rock wall on the right in the back.

Unfortunately, you can't really get far back and take a picture, so here's a view of the top of the waterfall from very close. Just fell out of a hole in the rock up above!

Here's Abby, me, Brenna, and Dani, at the foot of the waterfall, in the cave where the waterfall empties into. It was super cold and there was a strong current.

Here's Sarah, me, Dani, and Brenna, attempting to stay afloat at the foot of the waterfall.

Looking up at the tree roots. We now understand why you have to swim in the river to get to the waterfalls. The walls of the gorge are way too high to see it from up above!

Walking out of the gorge, downstream. Now THIS reminds me that I live in a tropical country.

It's my turn on the bridge, walking back.

So after our waterfall adventure, we headed back to town the way we'd come and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. We took a walk around town in the evening, since the fair was in town, but we pretty tired, so we headed back to the hostel to hang out there. We planned on taking a nap, and going back out, but our nap turned out to be an all-night thing, and we didn't get up until the next morning. Dani and Brenna got up to get on the 6 am bus for San Pedro Sula, since Brenna had to fly out at noon, and Sarah, Abby, and I took our time getting ready and leaving and were out the door by 10, on our way back to Santa Rosa, after a great weekend.

On the way back to Santa Rosa, my friend Andrea called to see if we wanted to go to the soccer game. Santa Rosa's team, Deporte Savio, was playing a Sunday afternoon game, and were playing a good team out of Comayagua. Since I'd only been to soccer games in El Salvador, and I miss watching live games anyway, Sarah and I decided to go. We dropped off Abby at their house first, then Sarah and I headed over to Miraflores Stadium to meet up with Andrea. Here's what we saw, with special thanks to Sarah's excellent photography skills.

Here's the view of the wild side of the stadium, what would be the student section in Royal Memorial Stadium.

Savio's in red, Comayagua Real Hispana, in yellow.

Here's a bit of the crowd, watching from our side. Yes, that's barbed wire along the top of the fence.

I don't know how well you can see it, but there are four guys in khaki overalls and white helmets carrying the injured player off the field. We agreed they must be storm troopers. Why else would they be wearing helmets like that? And those guys outside the fence are a bunch of guys from the wild section who left the stands to go stand on the end and twirl their shirts over the head. Some were up in trees. I don't know.

Savio ended up winning in the second half, 1-0, just how I like it, with a header into the net. It wasn't as wild as a night game in El Salvador, but it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Anyway, this past week, all the girls have been taking turns going on spiritual retreats for Lent. I got to tag along on the 8th graders' retreat, which was the largest group. We went to a retreat center a little outside of Santa Rosa, which was just a big meeting hall in the middle of nowhere. Padre Lucio, the young, energetic priest who says Mass for the girls one day a week, was in charge of leading it, so I was just there to help handle crowd control. They started out with a Bible verse reflection and they had to bring something from nature that represented what they wanted to be. For example, a bunch of them brought leaves to show that they want to keep renewing themselves as they grew. Then, they had a very intense adoration session, where Padre brought out the Host, and then asked them to reflect on all the pain that they've felt in their life and to offer it up to God. There was a lot of crying, and during discussions, we found out that a lot of them are victims of abuse, neglect, and other atrocities at home. No wonder these girls are so hard to control at school. When they have such problems at home, it's hard for it not to bleed over into their educational life too. One girl, who only makes it to class about twice a week, told us that her abusive father left last year to work in the States, leaving her mother and her by themselves. Her mom's depressed and threatens suicide, so the girl has to stay home and take care of her mom to prevent her from killing herself. With the support of her classmates, she has a bit of an escape when she actually comes to class.

After that session, we had lunch and Padre took all the girls on a long hike around the area. He took the lead, so I took up the lead to watch out for stragglers. We had to go up and down the sides of mountains, and most of the girls aren't used to so much physical activity. At one point, one of the girls didn't think she could make it up the hill and wanted to turn around and go back. But I remembered my days at Camp Champions and all the kids who didn't think they could make it to the top of the rock wall. I talked her through it, and when she made it to the top, she was so proud of herself because she'd never done anything like that before. I was really proud of her too. After the hike, we had a reconciliation session, where girls had to confront conflicts they were having with other girls to work out their problems in the group. Mean Girls, anyone? It was really effective, and they all left more united and at peace. It was definitely a learning experience for me, too, and I'm looking forward to going again next week with the high school girls.

Speaking of high school girls, we finished our first grading period this past week, and I'm very proud to say that only one of my girls failed, because she never turned in her homework. Jamie, a college friend, who's a social studies teacher in San Antonio, had a project for her students to write mine in English and made some things for our class to use. So I'm very excited for us to start our end of the project!

Also, I just wanted to let y'all know that the computers that you sent in October arrived last night! Sor Eduviges went to pick them up from the port. It took her two days of driving with Don Cristian non-stop, from 5:30 am to 9 pm, but we have them now, and they'll be installed and ready to go next week! THANKS AGAIN for all the support you're giving the girls here!

I also want to thank y'all again for the sponsorship response! All the girls who are in need are now sponsored. Be on the lookout for thank-you cards from the girls and me in the mail!

Well, I hope everyone had a good Spring Break and have a good last stint toward the end of the school year! I'm headed to El Salvador next weekend for another week-long VIDES camp. I'll let y'all know how it goes!

Lenten Projects

Lent marks a forty day period of reflection that leads up to Good Friday and Easter for Christians the world over. It's a time to give something up in order to strengthen your relationship with God, as well as do something extra to share with the community. Hopefully, the changes that you make during the time of Lent will extend throughout the year, and ultimately, your lifetime. Things are no different here in Honduras.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, all the girls prepared a project to do for the community on Ash Wednesday. They had games, learned songs, talked about this year's theme being honest in the classroom, at home, and as a society. The seniors split up into pairs and were responsible for running activities with each class. I got to be with the youngest girls, in 7th grade, not so much as a teacher, but just to maintain order, because the seniors ran everything. At one point, they were given newspapers, divided into groups of eight and told to cut out pictures about social issues, political issues, and economic issues and paste them on a poster to explain to the class. I was completely surprised that, without any outside help, they did a superb job. Let me just remind you that these girls are between 10 and 12 years old. They talked about poverty, unemployment, prostitution, consumerism, and a whole lot more in depth that I would've at their age. They talked about sexual and domestic abuse, citing examples from their own families, reminding me of the situations they're coming from. Even the externas, from Santa Rosa, hence those in better economic situations, still had a lot to contribute. I was thoroughly impressed, as well as appalled (you'd think I'd be used to this by now), and amazed at how much sooner they mature here. They don't really get to be kids, with normal kid worries. It's a shame they're forced to grow up so fast.

Wednesday was the best though. First, we had Ash Wednesday mass in the auditorium. Then, each grade split up and went to different places around town to do projects with other kids. A few grades went to preschools, or the orphanage where the Mother Teresa sisters work with malnourished kids. I went with the 8th graders to an elementary school to play with a class of third graders. We played games, we danced, we talked about honesty, and hit piñatas. It was really great to see the kids, because they really are very poor. But my favorite part was watching the girls with the kids. They weren't so little anymore, and were helping the littler ones and it was all just so cute! We were there for about four hours, sharing and playing with the kids.

Anyway, school got back to normal for Thursday and Friday. Every Friday morning during Lent, we'll be doing a Stations of the Cross. This first week was the teachers' turn, to set the standard, and every grade will do their own version for the rest of the Fridays of Lent. Well, this time I was actually included as a teacher! And I had to be the narrator, of all things! There were plenty of non-speaking parts, but I got the reading/speaking one. Which is daunting enough in English, but in Spanish, with weird Spanish versions of Biblical names of people and places? Well, I was worried, to say the least, but I ended doing fine. And lots of people told me they didn't realize I knew how to read Spanish. I guess they thought I was illiterate because I never have to read in front of them or something. But it's actually easier than speaking because it takes out the whole really-fast-speaking-with-an-accent factor. So yay for getting through that without major problems!

Then, on Friday for lunch, all the teachers went out to eat at the same Chinese restaurant I went to for Thanksgiving for a good-bye dinner for one of the teachers who's been at the school for thirty years. It was so fun, and reminded me so much of being at home, going out to eat and have a beer after work with my friends. Just very relaxed, without the sisters (their bosses) and the crazy girls! I absolutely love them to death, don't get me wrong, but I love them even more when I get some time away from them too. Then, the sisters changed my day off from Sunday to Saturday (which is so much better!). Now, things are open when I need to go shopping, I can actually sleep in if I want, and I have the same day off as the other American girls here. So, Saturday night, Dani (the other volunteer), Sarah and Abby (two teachers in the bilingual school from San Francisco and Chicago), and I went out to supper and chat. That felt even more like regular life, since it was in English and we got to vent about how hard it is to teach English, how crazy the culture can be here sometimes, how much we adore Dwight from the Office, the Bachelor, etc. It was so nice! I really am so lucky to have them here with me, basically in the middle of nowhere!

So now my Sundays are filled with basically what I was doing before, but now I'm more rested and it doesn't feel like a chore, since it's not intruding on my free time. Teaching is going so much better now I'm getting into a groove (although most of my students failed the second test.. oops!), and classes with the internas in the afternoons are trying, but they're getting more used to the classroom setting and how much fun it can be to study English (attitude is everything, right?).

I want to thank you all so much for responding for my appeal for support for the girls. You totally came through for them! We raised enough money to sponsor all the girls, plus four extras, and enough to buy new irons and school supplies for them to use. Also, the computers are coming in soon, so we're extremely excited about that too. I'll keep y'all updated.

So to sum up, things are going well, very busy, but well, and I hope y'all have a wonderful Lent! Don't just change something small, convert your lives for the better!

PS - Sor Mirna's in Los Angeles for a meeting right now, but when she gets back, I'll take some pictures off her computer from the projects and post them, at least until my camera gets fixed!

New Twists on Traditional Holidays

First of all, I want to send a shout-out to all those that donated money to the Support Our Students project (or SOS as we're calling it). We got enough money to sponsor five girls for the whole year and one girl for half the year. We're still missing three girls and the other half of the year for the sixth, so there are still plenty of opportunities for you and your family/friends/neighbors/co-workers/club members, etc to support the project.

Well, the school year is officially off and rolling, I've already given my first test, and most of the girls got pretty good grades (it was just over the alphabet, and pronunciation of the letters, so they'll get tougher as the year goes on). However, getting ready for the school year, new classes, new students and internas, and helping the sisters get everything done that they needed also, really wore me out! After the first week of classes, I was already ready for a vacation! I hadn't had a day off in weeks, and it was catching up with me.

Sydney (the other American volunteer from El Salvador) wrote me to remind me of a meeting for all the VIDES volunteers in Central America that was from Feb 13th to the 14th, the first weekend after school started. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go since I was swamped with work and planning for class, but I went anyway, knowing how important it would be.

I took the direct bus by myself again, only this time, there was nobody at the station to pick me up, so I used my week's worth of experience in San Salvador from December to get on the right bus (a miracle, really) that let me off in front of the school in San Salvador, to meet up with the other volunteers from the area and we headed off to Soyapango, a town about an hour away, where there's another high school, for the meeting. I got to see some old friends from VIDES Santa Ana, as well as meet a lot of new people from El Salvador and Guatemala. Unfortunately, I was the only one from Honduras who could make it, so I represented with pride. As soon as I got there, one of the sisters asked if I knew Karina, and that I should go say hi to her. I assumed she was talking about the interna who used to be in the internado in Chalchuapa, but moved to Soyapango to study, so I went to say hi to her and see how she was doing. Only later on did I realize that there was a new American volunteer from Michigan there who's only been there a month! Once that confusion got cleared up, I went to meet the American Karina, and chat with her for a bit. Talking with her reminded me of when I first got there, because her Spanish wasn't very good and she was frustrated with her communication skills. Luckily, Sydney and I were there to remind her of how great it is to be a volunteer and Sydney could attest to my absolutely terrible state of Spanish in the beginning, that has evolved to almost-fluency.

In Santa Rosa, Honduras, the girls and I had been preparing for Valentine's Day (or Friend's Day as they call it here) all week long. I had been making cards and bookmarks and things for the sisters to sell in the reception area, and I had the girls in my English class make Valentine's Day cards in English, looking up the words in the dictionary. That actually did really well. Anyway, with all this prep here, and with El Salvador being a more "developed" country on a whole, I figured it'd be an even bigger (hence, more commercial) deal that weekend, but I was surprised to find that we didn't really do anything special. On Saturday morning, everybody got up around 5.30, we went down to a delicious breakfast that my friend Carlos cooked for all 40 or so of us, everyone went around and gave each other a hug and said happy Valentine's day, and that was it for the rest of the day. It was a little bit refreshing, because the day was more focused on improving the friendships and solidarity with everyone, a much more "love"-ey theme.

Once the we finished breakfast, we all got on a chartered school bus and headed out to a town called Suschitoto, where a family with a big house and a beautiful tropical garden lent us their whole property for the day. The two Guatemalans gave a presentation about their trip to the VIDES Congress in Rome in October, and talked about the new mission for the year. We talked about what we wanted to do in Central America and how we're going to do it. It was so inspiring to hear everyone's ideas, especially since VIDES USA is more about going to another country and living with a community full-time, but not really being active in a group. At least, that's how it is for me in Santa Rosa. The only group of VIDES kids in Honduras is in Tegucigalpa, and they're not very active right now. In Guatemala and El Salvador, it's the locals helping their own communities, kind of like a youth group, but more social service based, and more of university or professional types.

This year, our goal is to end gang violence in Central America (which is a very lofty goal) so that people don't have to live in fear to go outside of their homes. We're focusing on neighborhood solidarity and self-esteem, the root causes, so that maybe we can tackle things from the bottom up. I think it's a great idea, even though the problem's more about the mistreatment of women and the poverty here in Santa Rosa than gang violence. But I still think low self-esteem and lack of education is a giant cause of both of these things too, so I'm doing my part here by myself.

My favorite part was getting to know the other groups and realizing that we really do all have the same vision, even without ever meeting one another until this meeting. The Guatemalans met my VIDES friends from America when they went to Rome, and we saw pictures of them in their presentation. It was just so weird to meet these people that already knew my friends. We met in El Salvador, and they met in Rome, and none of us are from Rome nor El Salvador. It really is all about solidarity. Anyway, the VIDES in Guatemala has two groups, one in the capital, Guatemala City, and the other in Quetzaltenango, nicknamed La Chela. The two that came to the meeting are from La Chela, and they are proud to say that they're the only VIDES group in the whole world that has its own TV show. The TV station there donated an hour of air time for them every week, so they put on their own program and invited me to visit them so they can interview me! I have to say, I'm pretty nervous about it, but it would be pretty cool to say that I'd been on a Guatemalan TV show.

Anyway, after we spent an intense day in the meeting, we all got back on the bus and went to downtown Suschitoto to check out the historical cathedral, but it was being renovated, so we didn't get to see anything. We did, however, run into a giant group of newly arrived Peace Corps volunteers, and they kept trying to get Sydney, Karina, and me to get on their bus without realizing that we weren't with them. Of course, all the Salvadorans assumed they were already friends of ours since, of course, everyone in America knows everyone. It was just a very ridiculous half hour.

After all that confusion, we all got on our own bus and went to see Lake Suschitlan, about ten minutes outside of town. Most of the group went straight down to the shore and out onto a peninsula, but Sydney and I were chatting with one of the sisters and helping her walk down the path to the shore (it was really rocky and she has two prosthetic knees). When we finally reached the shore, she decided to wait for everyone else to come back instead of following all of them, so she went to sit down in a canoe that was on the shore. All of a sudden, two men came up to tell us that we were actually sitting in their fishing boat and that they were about to go out fishing. But when they saw how tired the sister was, they offered to take us for a quick trip around the cove while we waited for the group. So we got our own little tour!

After we eventually left from the lake about half an hour later, we headed back to the school in Soyapango and most of the people who lived relatively close by left to go home, leaving me with the Guatemalans, and some Salvadorans that lived on the other side of the country. Even though we were dead tired, we decided that we weren't ready for the day to be done, so even though we were already all changed into our pajamas and had our mattresses spread out on the floor, we moved them all to the side and turned on the radio and had a dance! The Guatemalans taught us all how to do a dance from there, the Salvadorans taught us all the cumbia, and I taught everyone the two-step! It was a very cultural night. And it brought on an early morning...

Since I had to be back in Santa Rosa on Sunday afternoon, and there aren't any direct buses on Sundays, I had to go "transbordando," meaning I had to take a series of buses back, that stop in every town. I left with the Guatemalans who were looking forward to a nine-hour bus ride, and we made it to the station in San Salvador at 6 am (meaning we had to be up at 4.30 to take the bus from Soyapango at 5). I got on a bus for the border and three hours later, I walked across, caught a shuttle to the bus station in the town on the Honduran side, and got on another bus for Santa Rosa. Then, I walked up from the lower section of town where the station is to my house at the top. I was walking in the door at 1.30, and just in time for lunch! Just as a comparison, it took me about four and a half hours to get from Santa Rosa to the school in San Salvador, and it cost me about $20. That's compared to the eight and a half hours from Soyapango to Santa Rosa, but only paying $6.50. I'm not sure which is a better deal. I'm just glad everything worked out.

And the strange thing was, that I went from being already exhausted and stressed out, to a weekend where I really didn't sleep much and traveled the whole time, and didn't touch any work that I needed to get done, to being refreshed and ready for the week, just from having the change, hanging out with my friends, and regaining the perspective. I think I had stressed myself out by focusing on the details and losing the big-picture vision that helps everything make sense. That's the kind of Valentine's Day I could stand to have every year, I think. Not ignoring it altogether, neither focusing on the romance, but acknowledging the day, spending it with friends in a loving atmosphere, and moving on.

Unfortunately, as far as my birthday went, it didn't turn out to be all that special, which in one very big way was fine with me. Here, the big tradition is to wake the person up by singing to them at 4 am. I do NOT like this tradition AT ALL. I would much rather everyone let me sleep in on my birthday. And that's just what I got. Because everyone forgot my birthday. I had no idea what to do, because I was not all that excited about turning 24 in the first place, but I knew everyone would feel really bad if the day came and went and they found out later that I just didn't tell them. So I told Sor Mirna and all the teachers sang for me in the planning period before classes started. Then, the computer teacher told my English class, so that when I got there, they had written "Happy Barday" on the board, which actually sounds more exciting that a birthday anyway. Then, they sang to me in English, which was really cool, because they'd only learned the song two weeks before for one of the girls' birthdays and they hadn't sang it since.

Then, the internas sang for me at lunch, while I was "monitoring" them and made me cards in their study time instead of doing their homework. It was all very sweet. Then, my American friend Dani and I went out to a pizza place here in Santa Rosa for a birthday dinner. It was delicious because it was American-style (very greasy), but then I got sick. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to America and have to re-adjust to greasy food. It's such a shame that the greasiness automatically tastes better than everything else, but after eating beans and rice for every meal of every day, pizza really messes you up. I was in heaven while I was eating it though, and do NOT regret it at all.

So, anyway, that's what I've been up to! I'm very sad to report that I clumsily dropped my camera again and it broke exactly the same way it did before, so I don't have any pictures to share. Sorry! Hopefully, everything will get all fixed up soon and we'll be back on the air. In the meantime, just use your imagination!