Christmas?

Sometimes it just doesn't feel like Christmas. I live in a place where there are no Christmas lights, hardly any Christmas music and no worry about buying the new holiday gifts. Currently the weather has been warm and we just had a BBQ outside with all of the teachers. Other then the Christmas drama it feels as if Christmas still could be half a year away. I sometimes without thinking clearly, ask my kids what they hope to get for Christmas. Normally they kind of look at me almost confused and if they say anything they will say something like a pair of shoes or a pair of pants. Very rarely does anyone mention anything fun. I have had one of my students on occasion sleep over at my house on the weekends. He says its because he doesn't have electricity or anything at his house. He is 18 years old and I can hardly blame him for wanting to do something mildly fun at night and hang out with his friends. Sometimes I almost get this feeling of I am getting taken advantage of because they will stay here. Then I find myself looking at myself and telling myself how selfish can I be. My students may ask for something as some beans or cheese or fish because they are worried they have no food in the house. This is something I have never even been close to dealing with in my life. As I approach Christmas I begin to look at my life and see how much I have been given. It makes me thankful to God but at the same time it humbles me because even on my worst days I still have everything I need. Meanwhile many people right next to me or in my class maybe are lacking something as basic as food or a toothbrush. I have so much to be thankful for.

A 3rd World Teeth Cleaning

So after waiting about a year and a half I decided to go to the dentist. This for me is something that I absolutely hate doing. Now if I would decide to go to a dentist in the states it is going to cost me a lot of money. Then if I had any cavities then the cost just goes up like crazy. I make a Honduran salary so paying a United States dentist is a pretty difficult thing for me to do. So I did the reasonable thing and visited the dentist here in La Union. Not knowing exactly what I was getting myself into I decided it was worth a try. The dentist here charges me 150 Lempiras for a teeth cleaning. This is about 7 dollars. So I sat down in the chair trusting the dentist who is also a man from my church named Dr. Bonnie who actually speaks quite good English. In fact he is the only other person here besides the teachers who speaks good English. An hour later I was quite surprised he did a job equal or better then any dentist I have ever had before. As I thought about it in the states you never really have the dentist work on you unless something is really wrong. Normally you just have an assistant so having a dentist work on you the whole time should be much better. Now I do have cavities which is kind of a bad thing but at least I am no longer freaked out about visiting a 3rd world dentist. They actually do quite a good job. So if anyone wants a good cheap teeth cleaning I would recommend coming out here to La Union.

where are the people?

Every once and a while I read something that makes me kind of laugh and get angry at the same time. I am always happy to know when journalism is being used to its fullest extent. I just read an article from a Canadian Journalist called "where are the people?". This was one of the first things that came up when I searched Honduras news in Google. Now I realize there are biases on all sides of this article. This article basically talked about how no one really came to vote and there was close to 80% of people who didn't vote because they were angry with Zelaya being kicked out of office. Now my favorite statistic in the article was when he used the statistic that only 1.7 out of 8 million people actually voted in the election. Now this sounds like a great statistic showing that people didn't vote until you actually look into it. I could also throw out the statistic that 0% of our Abundant Life Christian School students voted in this election. This is a true statistic just like the other but it fails to say that anyone under the age of 18 can't vote, this rules out all of our students. This age group makes up a large portion of Honduras. It fails to also mention that many people who are Hondurans live in the United States and also many are in jails who cant vote. Also I am sure many people didn't register themselves. I know many people who didn't vote not because they were angry about Zelaya but because they were to lazy to do it. I realize there were some people who didn't vote because they were angry about Zelaya but before you start throwing out a fact like 80% of people abstained from the voting because they were angry about Zelaya. First you better check your statistics and try to be unbiased. I drove around Tegus a lot during Sundays elections and the days before and after and very rarely saw anyone protesting on the streets for Zelaya.

It must be easy to win an election when....

you just buy the votes. We are within one week of the election day which is Sunday. Between the endless anthems of political music and large parades of cars going by life is almost normal. Now in politics it is no hidden fact that corruption does take place. You see it in the United States as well as any other country. Today I saw our current mayor of La Union driving around to different houses. Now this in itself is not wrong it is when you begin to buy the identification cards of the people in the city so you control the vote that it becomes a bit sketchy in my opinion. Now the people here act like it is all just part of the political process. Also by the way I wasn't actually in the house when this happened the people of this town have just told me over and over again that this is a normal happening. Living in a place like this always shocks me because the people are so poor an uneducated that they just allow this to happen. They don't see how the road is basically one big pothole and there is trash everywhere. They just see this as normal and go on with their lives. Sometimes I don't really know how to make this situation better it just makes me sad that it happens. So in this election its not about earning the votes because buying them is just so much easier.

Pepe Lobo

So today I woke up to the sound of campaign music. This in itself is not extremely unusual but the amount of it coming from all parts of the city was. Today was the visitation of Presidential Candidate Pepe Lobo. He is from the Liberal Party so flags were flying all over the place that were blue with a single white star. Normally important people don't visit our town so it was kind of a big deal. Our kids kept running in and out of the classroom to see if he was arriving. Then during recess a helicopter flew overhead and landed on the soccer field in the middle of time. This means he is here so our kids and teachers as well were going crazy. Little things like this make La Union the interesting place that it is.

Tonight we have an American Thanksgiving party. We have all of the teachers coming to my house and I am cooking for them a turkey with stuffing mashed potatoes and vegetables. Then we are going to have apple pie for dessert. They are all really excited because no one here other then me has had a Thanksgiving meal before so it should be a fun night with a lot of preparation of food ahead of time. Also Laura and Renske are making some nice homemade bread so hopefully it turns out because it sounds quite wonderful. Only about a month till the United States time sure flies.

Sitting on my couch....

Well I am officially sitting on my couch and I have the internet. Who would know that I would be sitting in the middle of nowhere in some third world country with a laptop in my house with the internet. I am not saying its crazy fast but its fast enough and its pretty reasonable as far as internet prices go. Now that my television is gone I have a new way to waste time.

Currently in the politics an accord has been signed between the two parties that says Manuel Zelaya would come back into power. Now this accord has really fizzled once again and Micheletti has been able to stall politically for an extremely long time. Now Zelaya has been calling for his supporters to boycott the elections. Continue to keep Honduras in your prayers especially as the election nears. Nothing dangerous has come out of it so far but like always there is some potential for it.

We'll chalk it up to cultural differences

So in school this week I had what if it happened in the United States a scary experience. So on Wednesday I had a student come to school and during the first hour I had a student take out of his backpack a switchblade in the middle of class. He started playing with it so I did what any good teacher would do and walk over to him and politely ask for his knife and he gave it to me. Now in the states this would never be even a relatively normal situation. So I proceeded to tell the principal and instead of freaking out he laughed at me and started joking that I thought the student was going to hurt me with this knife. He basically said you have nothing to worry about he probably was just going to use it to peal an orange or something. Now I wasn't really worried because kids bring machetes to schools here and on buses so that is pretty normal. It just sorta caught me off guard because it was a switchblade but then again this is La Union and life is different here. To end my story he met with the student and I think he did give him demerits but I think it was more for the fact that he wasn't paying attention in class then it was for the knife.

Today I just finished with my parent teacher conferences and I must say they went just fine. I had almost 30 different conferences and they don't even give me a translator anymore. So I guess I should feel proud but really I just talk for only a minute or two with each one then send them on their way. Half of the parents I felt like couldn't even read the report card so they just stared at me and nodded with what I said so I don't really even know if they will help their students but at least I gave it a go. Other then that even though I had the most parents I was the first one done not because I am some great teacher but because I really couldn't actually express what I wanted to say so instead of both of us feeling awkward at the conference we just avoided awkwardness and made things short. It is almost Thanksgiving here and I will be making a big 17 pound turkey for the teachers so for most of the teachers here it will be their first Thanksgiving so it should be great fun. Pero por hoy, no quiero escribir mas. Dios Bendiga

My Birthday

Well yesterday was my birthday here in La Union. I had a very nice day at school and was sung Happy Birthday a variety of times. After school we then had our first volleyball match in which we played against a bunch of high school boys. I would like to say we came up with a victory but instead I must tell the truth we sorta got crushed. However, it was good practice for them and overall they did quite well so I was pleased for a first attempt at playing. Then I rushed home to cook dinner for about 20 guests that came over to eat. So we ate a late dinner then had a bunch of games and even truth or dare. I felt like I was in middle school again but it was fun. It was a nice birthday. Today we have our market open again and a big parade of about 40 people on horses that are showing support for Mr. Pepe Lobo who they want to be president so its been fun.

Seleccion Honduras

Honduras always proves to be full of surprises. Last night the Honduran Soccer team played El Salvador. In order for the Honduran team to make it to the World Cup in South Africa they would have to beat El Salvador and the United States would have to beat or tie Costa Rica. Honduras has not made it to the World Cup for almost 30 years. The games were played at the exact same time so during the first half of both games Honduras didn't score and the United States was down by a score of 2-0. The Honduran announcers were saying it was all over. Then about 10 minutes in to the second half the Honduras team scored a goal on a beautiful head ball. Then at about the same time the United States put in a goal making it 2-1. The Honduran game finished by a final score of 1-0 but the Honduran team wasn't real happy because the States was still losing and there was only like a minute left. Then out of the night here in La Union shots started ringing out all around La Union. People started screaming so we changed the channel and the U.S just put in the tying goal. About a minute later the game ended in a tie. The Costa Rican team was on the ground crying and Honduras erupted in cheers. Due to the tie Honduras qualified and Costa Rica no longer is qualified for the World Cup. The president came on the news and announced that the following day will be a National Holiday. So we went out and people had set up sound systems around La Union and we danced and cheered. Our kids from school were out with us till almost midnight. So today we have no school and all we hear about is the Honduran Soccer team. You wouldn't even know about the political problems if you asked anyone it is all about soccer right now. When asked what the most major news of the year was they said nothing about the crazy politics of this year but only of the soccer team. Sports have a crazy way of bringing people together. Once again life here in this quite little Honduran town never proves to be dull.

La Union Fair

I am always impressed with La Union events. We have crazy loud music playing and they make it sound like the worlds fair has just come into town. However, what it really is, is only about 8 - 10 people selling fruits and vegetables but I guess it is supposed to be the start of a market here in La Union so it is pretty cool. A lot of my kids were there selling food because it might make an extra dollar for their family so I bought some fresh oregano, carrots and tomatoes. I am a big fan of anything small to keep more business here in La Union. Tonight is the big U.S versus Honduras soccer match. I am pretty sure everyone here has told me that Honduras is going to wipe the floor with the U.S but we shall see. Tonight I am actually cheering for Honduras. Manana va a ir por la Lago de Yajoa con la familia de Mr. Perdomo. Seguir su oracions para Honduras. Dios Bendiga

New Chaos

Things here in Honduras at least in La Union have gone back to pretty much normal everyday life. You wouldn't even know that anything is going on here in Honduras here but on the news it is still all over. Currently but the president has just taken away some free speech rights so he has been getting a lot of flack for that. He has shut down a television station or two and a radio station. I think however, that due to the pressure from the international community and even his own people he is going to take back this decree. So currently we are in this time of "tranquility" where the president is still locked in the Brazilian Embassy and there are protests happening everyday but somehow life just goes on as usual.

Now the new chaos is seeming to take place at school. We have one teacher who just had surgery, another who is in Tegucigalpa for another sickness and another teacher is leaving for personal reasons. By next week we could be down 3 teachers. In a school of our size that is a lot of teachers. Plus we are working on this big festival and I have to help plan with parents all in spanish plus today I had to present in front of like 60 parents all in spanish. It isn't exactly my favorite thing in the world to do. However, God is good we have what we need to continue and life will go on. Keep Honduras in your prayers. God Bless

Zelaya

School has officially been in session for over a month now or at least that is according to recess watch schedule. I am not exactly sure if that is right or not. Today there was a large development in the difficult political situation that has been happening. For anyone who doesn’t know what is going on exactly a few months ago the president Mel Zelaya, was shipped to Costa Rica because he was trying to change the constitution. So he was no longer the president and a new man named Micheletti came in. Well the international community has strongly condemned this “coup”. So over the last few months there has been a political battle between Zelaya trying to gain international support for his return to presidency and Micheletti trying to tell the world what they did was fully constitutional. Well today Zelaya suddenly reappeared back into Honduras for the first time since his removal on June 28. This reignited this already divided country at least in the big cities. Essentially now there are two presidents of Honduras. The one the international community says is the president which is Zelaya and the one according to the current Honduran government which is Micheletti. Currently we are under curfew due to this until tomorrow. This has the potential to create a large amount of turmoil in especially the large cities. Things like large demonstrations and riots. Of course there is the possibility of violence but to this point that has not been the case and the government is calling for a peaceful resolution to this crazy situation. This so called resolution however, as I can tell is very far from figured out. I ask for those of you who read this blog to keep Honduras in your prayers and that everything stays peaceful and that this be something that is figured out soon. I will keep you all updated. God Bless

Since I wrote this blog I will give you an update. We have been under curfew for the last 2 days. Fortunately we are outside of the capital city so things are a little bit more slack however, there has been rioting taking place all through the capital city. It isn't looking real good currently. I haven't taught classes for 2 days due to the curfews. So it has been kinda boring and the country is kind of on edge but fortunately nothing too bad has happened. Please keep this country in your prayers that the leaders act wisely and don't do anything foolish. God Bless

Books

We received our new books today for our classes. I have 30 students in my eighth grade math class. I received 2 books. For 7th Grade I was given 0. For 5th Grade very few as well. It should be a fun year....

Flag Day and Christmas

Today is officially Flag Day here in Honduras. It is a day when we all go out to the flag pole and raise the flag and talk about the importance of loving your country. The principal stood up and made a very nice speech about how it is the youth who need to develop into the leaders that this country needs. I think that it is quite true. What is really sad is that at this point I feel like I know the Honduran National Anthem better then my own. That is what happens when you repeat the national anthem here over and over again. Hopefully today we should be receiving new textbooks for the school which makes me happy because currently I am teaching out of old textbooks and in some of my classes with no textbooks at all. So we shall see exactly what arrives today. I just bought my plane tickets back home as well. So I will be arriving back in for Christmas on December 18 assuming the weather holds firm. I am looking forward to spending Christmas with my family once again and seeing the snow fly. Then hopefully making it out to the west coast to enjoy some snowboarding. Of course this is all weather dependent but it is looking quite likely that this is all going to happen. Well it is time to go teach some math class.

Gracias and La Union

Well I am officially back in La Union. I am not going to lie it really feels good. We have been finishing up the decorations for the classrooms and getting ready for the orientation that is going to take place tomorrow. I have moved into a very nice house and all is well. Last weekend I was in Gracias we finally had all of the teachers from the states who are going to teach in Gracias arrive. I would like to say it went perfectly once they got there but it didn't quite go according to plan. At a few points I was more frustrated then I had ever been here in Honduras. With both teachers and administration but I guess that is bound to happen eventually. I think for a teacher or two the realization that this isn't a vacation and this is actually a job kind of hit them hard and for the administration they had to realize Americans have different needs then Hondurans. However, from what I can tell things are getting to normal there and hopefully it will stay that way. I have orientation with parents that I am supposed to do in Spanish tomorrow so that should be interesting but it will be good practice. I also have to go to Gracias again on Saturday to pick up a few new teachers from Great Britain as well on Saturday. Life doesn't cease to be busy here. I think its time for dinner. Adios y'all

A New Year

Well I am officially back in Honduras so I thought I would take the time to update. A quick catch up the day I left from Honduras was the day the "coup" happened here. The reason I put it in quotation marks is because it is a debated topic whether it was actually a coup or not. However, I was able to spend my summer at home with my parents and just doing a crazy amount of fishing. It was a good summer but I was ready to get back. I had a rocky flight back after missing my first flight due to a miscommunication from the airline so three connections later and 12 hours I was on the ground in Tegus with no luggage and very few clothes but I was here. As you drive around the city there is graffiti all over saying things like "golpista" or "fuera" then a name telling people they don't like who caused the coup to get out of the city. I have seen many demonstrations as I drove around but have seen no real violence other then a little on television. According to my principal today we are starting school on Wednesday I don't really think this is realistic as I most likely won't be there till Tuesday. However, we shall see. Hopefully this whole sponsorship deal with our students is going to work out alright as there is still some things to work out but Lord willing all will work. There is so much going on but right now I kinda feel helpless to do much about it. I kinda just have to wait it out. I will try to continue to update with more stories and ideas. God Bless

Earthquake

I guess I can chalk up today as a new life experience. At around 2:30 this morning we had a pretty sizable earthquake here in Honduras. It pretty much shook me out of bed and lasted what felt like a long time but was in reality probably only 15 or 20 seconds. Me and my neighbor went out in town a bit to make sure everything was ok but there was very minimal damage here. It was a crazy experience. Thank the Lord it was not worse then it was and was out in the ocean because it could have really been much worse. All that happened was it knocked out our electricity for a bit and shut down a cell phone tower. We still have no water but that wasnt due to the earthquake. Thank you for your prayers. It has been a scary but exciting day thus far.

Variety

May 24, 2009

It is officially about one month till I head back home and the school year is over. It is really hard to believe. I feel like walking into class without ever teaching and being scared stiff was just a week or so ago but I guess it has really been almost a year ago. I have so much to thank God for including for the first time in my life confidence in another language. I am by no means even close to fluent but I am conversationally understandable and that makes me feel really good. I have been given new friends and a place that I have really fallen in love with. Things could have gone so much different.

I bought a copy of the new movie by Jim Carry called something like Yes Man. In Spanish it is called Si Senor. Now I am not going to lie I am not a huge fan of Jim Carry and I am not even going to say this movie was fantastic. However, the point of the movie was saying that sometimes in life we look for reasons to say no to things and maybe instead of saying no all the time we should look for reasons to say Yes. Now, it is by no means a real deep plot but I think it did kind of have a point. In my own life I see many places where I really just look for a reason to say no to something when maybe in all reality it would be good for me. There are specifics but they are worth a whole blog entry by themselves. I see it as well in other people especially when I talk about working in another country. Most people just search for a reason to tell me no. Now I realize working in another country is not for everyone but in most peoples minds they don’t just give the idea a chance.

One other thing I meant to blog on.... About 2 weeks ago I was able to take my kids on an expedition to a cave near La Union. It was the sweetest field trip ever. We did everything from being explorers in caves, finding bats, pushing kids up cliffs, hiking and much more. It was a field trip that was by no means safe but at the same time extremely fun and the kids loved it. It was one of those days that made me say thank you for a great job and a bunch of wonderful kids. Also I just got back from hanging out with Joe, Leah and Erica in Copan Ruins for the weekend. I love having good friends who are willing to come out and see me. They are wonderful people and I really have a ton to be thankful for.

Ups and Downs

May 18, 2009



Today has been one of those days of ups and downs... In an earlier post I talked about how getting a Visa to the United States is quite difficult even if you just wanted to visit. Well today proved it to me when I received word that Ana the person that was going to live at my house over the summer was denied her Visa. In reality it makes my life easier for the summer but I would have much rather had the chance to show her around my country and given her the opportunity to have new experiences like seeing a lake. I also kind of feel like I was the one encouraging her so when she comes back disappointed it is in some ways my fault. However, on a brighter note my friends from college arrived safely to La Union last week and they have been helping in the school as well as with volleyball practice after school. It has been really great having them around. I also received this beautiful note of encouragement from an old friend today which made me feel like what I am doing in this place is something that makes a real difference. So it has just been one of those roller coaster days. One request I have it to keep me in your prayers because for the next school year I have some decisions to make about what school I want to be at and what I will be doing. I am thankful for options because so many people I know are stuck with their job however, options mean decisions and decisions can be difficult at times. God Bless

Mothers Day

Well mothers day is always a hectic time around this school. We had mothers day preperations which included getting projects ready to take home and skits to perform for the mothers. However, everything went very well and I really have no complaints about how anything went. Currently there is a group that just arrived from the states who will be looking into micro credit in our area. They are from the University of Michigan and are a bunch of pretty nice people. It is pretty weird to have a bunch of white people around. Once the rest of the group comes I will also be in charge of running a safety orientation for their stay here in La Union. Really there isn't much to say it is a pretty safe place. Other then that I officially come home on June 26 for a period of almost a month and a half so that is quite exciting. That means I will be able to do some camping and even go to a family reunion. Something that I haven't gone to in about forever. Field trip to the cave of Quiscamote this Friday and by that time my friends from the states should be here as well. It should be a fun week once everything gets going. Ill try to write a better post next time! God Bless

A leaky roof....

May 5, 2009


All my life I have had every advantage. When I turned 16 I had my own car and have gone to private schools my whole life. Here in Honduras I am often reminded of just the power me being able to say I am an American has. My passport is pretty much a ticket to anywhere I want to go in the world. I am currently in the process of trying to help my friend Ana visit the United States this summer with me. The goal is to allow her to practice her English and be a better teacher when she gets back and of course just to enjoy visiting and seeing the sights of the United States. However, there is one extremely large obstacle in the way of her doing that and that is getting a visa to visit. Now the process of getting a visa is quite a long process. It starts with getting a passport first. After that you have to go to the bank and buy a card so you can have a preliminary phone interview and set up a time to have your in face interview. Just the in face interview by itself costs over 100 dollars U.S. Now this interview by no means you will be getting a visa. I heard that as low as one out of ten people who apply are actually issued visas. It is a disheartening figure but it is the price of keeping our country safe from people living there illegally. I am not saying we should have totally open boarders but I am a proponent of making it easier for people to visit. When you actually meet these people and meet the people who try to do things the legal way and get refused you feel sorry for them. Like in all things in the world the bad things people do often overshadow the good people in the world and what they are trying to do. I don’t really know if this makes sense but right now I am kind of frustrated with it all and she hasn’t even gone to the interview yet.

On a lighter note my kids are working on their mothers day projects right now the problem is they sneak them home and have their moms help them on them. Now to me it would make sense to not have your mom help on her own present. It kinda ruins the present ya know? Oh well whatever. Tomorrow I have devotions for the whole school and I am of course nervous. I am just ready for this week to be done there is just so much to do and so little time.

Since writing this post a leak has developed in my room…. There is a torrential downpour happening outside and my roof is no longer stopping it…. Not much I can do right now besides ask God for the rain to stop and put a towel and bucket on the ground….

Hospitality

May 3, 2009

Today I just brought home my first major purchase here in Honduras. It is a fan. Now I know some of you are thinking that doesn’t sound very exciting. But those of you who really know me know that my whole life I have had a fan and that is how I fall asleep even when it is snowing outside. So this is a pretty big event in my life. I am currently sitting under my comforter with my fan blowing on me and enjoying every minute.

I have a student in my class his name is Leandro. He has quite a difficult time with spelling and reading due to what is most likely Dyslexia. However, he is the sweetest kid you will ever meet. Today during church I took a quick break intending to return to church when Leandro’s Dad called out to me telling me Leandro had a question for me. When I went inside I began to find out that he didn’t really have a question for me and he really just wanted his son to practice his English with me and show me hospitality. We just talked and they brought me coffee and bread. It was a nice half hour and they told me that I could come back whenever I wanted. Hospitality here in Honduras in most cases is incredible and they just like showing their appreciation for your work and being willing to live there. These are the small events that balance out the times of boredom and show me the good side of people.

One last note. This weekend I had a pot roast in a crock pot along with potatoes and carrots. It was terrific and really reminded me of the Midwest. We even had some nice wine to go with it. The city of Gracias is going to be fun next year. I think it will maybe even feel a little like college with lots of friends around. I am quite excited.

Slumdog Millionaire and Men

April 26, 2009

I just got finished watching Slumdog Millionaire. I thought it was quite excellent and for any of you who are looking for a good movie recommendation I would recommend Slumdog Millionaire. It is almost already May and we are preparing for Mother’s Day at the school. I wish I was more creative and had all sorts of ideas but slowly but surely we are making progress. Our seventh graders got back today from SAG so we had a welcome home party with cake and juice for them with all the parents so it was fun to hear about their experience. After reading some of Micah’s blogs I like how he talks about particular issues of the culture.

One issue that is big here that effects me is the issue of being a macho guy. Now in the states this is an issue as well but it seems to be a bigger thing here then there for some reason. In Honduras there is this feeling that all guys are the same and might act nice to a girl but all they want is sex. Having a ring on a finger doesn’t always seem like it means very much. I was sitting and talking to some guys and they heard I was in Belize and their first question was how many girls I had sex with there. I proceeded to tell them I was only there for one day. They looked at me like “so what?” I then had to tell them zero. They then proceeded to harass me a bit about it. This is something quite common with guys. When you look at all of the young single moms around town you see the effects of it as well. These things come with me into class as well. My kids are quite young but once and a while they will let a derogative word about girls slip. Also if there is ever a fight between a boy and girl I tend to side with the girl and tell the boy to treat the girl well. (Normally it is the boys fault anyhow) In this community there is a real lack of good role models for the young boys. Many just have a mom and the dad is gone so the way they grow up is quite difficult.

Night

April 22, 2009

The clouds finally came in today so today has a very refreshing feel. I am currently outside wearing pajama pants and sweater from Guatemala and it is perfect. The crickets are singing and I am sitting on a cowhide chair just enjoying the night in this dusty town. My Cuban neighbor just brought out internet so I can use it in my room so I am quite happy about that. It’s pretty nice to sit outside in the middle of a no name town in Honduras and sit online. It’s pretty incredible.

My Semana Santa out in Guatemala and Belize was quite awesome. We stayed in Antigua, Tikal and a little Garifuna village called Hopkins in Belize. I really wish I could put pictures up because they are quite fun but the internet here in La Union is a little lacking on the speed so it may take me about a year. So I have to either wait till I get to a faster connection or wait till the summer. One quick story about the trip besides the crazy amount of time in the bus. On our way from Puerto Cortez to San Pedro the police pulled our bus over for a normal check of people making sure there are no drugs, weapons etc. Well after they checked all the other guys besides me because I am white there was a mad rush to the door. Well the police seeing that I was white said that I was a tourist and made all the people get off the bus. Well some people started saying that the police man was discriminating and they were getting angry at him at me. All this time I just wanted peace and not to get beat up. Well to make the story short the police ushered me on the bus then I apologized and pulled my hat over my eyes as to not make eye contact with anyone. I made it to my destination after the person taking the money tried to rip me off and had no other problems. It was an experience.

Tomorrow some Capture the Flag. 5th Grade will conquer the 4th Grade!

SAG

Today we sent out students from 7th grade to SAG. SAG stands for Student Annual Gathering. It takes place in the capital city of Honduras. Our students were all so excited they were waiting around at like 6:30 this morning even though they didn't have to leave until like 7:30. For many of our students this might be their first time getting out of the town of La Union where I live and then they get to see the capital city which has large buildings cars and a whole bunch of new sights. Did I mention they were excited. During the weekend they kept coming and asking for luggage, ties and what not. It is a big deal for them so it was really fun to be a part of it all. For many of the girls they went to all of the girl teachers and asked for things to borrow even clothes because our school is known as the poor school and the students don't want to be seen as poor. So they try to borrow as many clothes as they can. Hopefully they do well and come back just as happy as they left. That is all for now. Life is good and God continues to show himself in everything. From my last post the pastor just returned along with his family and things seem to be settling back down to normal again. God is more powerful then what man can do against him. God Bless

Danger

April 14, 2009

Today was kind of one of those gut check type days I guess you would say. I most often have very few complaints of where I live and what life is like but here is one of the stories that make you check your motives.

I go to Abundant Life Church here in La Union typically. The pastor of the church is named Pastor Raul. He has two daughters that go to my school and one is in my class. She is a real sweetheart and a good student. Pastor Raul was driving into town which is about a 2 hour drive through some crazy roads. On their way into town from what it sounds like two guys came out and held up the car and stole it. Now in Tegucigalpa this wouldn’t be an extremely rare occurrence. However, here in La Union this is a huge deal. Things like this don’t happen. Some of the prominent families then decided to take off for a while especially the family who was kidnapped last year for ransom. The people who stole the car also said that if the pastor returned to La Union they would kill his wife and do some other things to horrible to write. This event also appeared to be quite planned so there is some general distrust around. So the pastor fled and is now in what they call hiding. According to most people it is very unlikely that they will be back to this community. This is a safe place overall but the reality of living in a place of poverty is that bad things happen. That is when you have to check your motives.

Please keep this community in your prayers. Regressing back to the way it was a few years ago would make it extremely hard and dangerous to live in.

New Adventures

March 29, 2009

For the last 4 days we have had no power. This is a rarity in the United States to have it out for that long but people here really don’t even make it seem like a big deal. We however, decided to make the most of not having any light and took a bunch of our 7th graders to a pool on Saturday. Then we made a fire at night and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. For a brief instance I felt like I could have almost been in the United States camping. It felt quite good I must admit. Sunday we went swimming and hung out with friends and bought all the girls that were with us dinner which isn’t really that big of a deal considering dinner may cost a dollar for a person. If only that is what it cost in the United States.

On another note of an update it looks like I will be out in Honduras for another year next year. The school would like me to go into a more administrative role for the new teachers and also change locations. I am pretty excited for the opportunity it should be fun and I will be basically creating my position so it should be interesting. I will most likely teach a couple classes as well. This will be one of the first times in a while I will stay in one location for more then a short period of time.

I also had one of those moments this weekend when you realize why you are out here. When the power was out I was sitting and talking to one of my 7th graders who is sponsored from our school. He was talking to me about how grateful he is for the opportunity that has been given to him. How he needs to always keep his grades up so he can have more opportunities in life and that he really wants to be a doctor someday. I look at these kids as the future of Honduras and one big reason why I will stay another year.

One week till Semana Santa and Guatema

Grading

Today I handed back a test. I had knocked off 1 point off a girls test because she didn't cross her t's and didn't erase very well so I couldn't tell what the word said. She started to bawl. How come even though you know it isn't that big of a deal you still feel like a jerk?

A New Post

March 22, 2009

Well it has been pretty much forever but I thought I would update. I just got back from a recruiting trip to the United States where we went looking for teachers. I did some snowboarding with Branden and showed Vicente snow for the first time. I also had the chance to see my family which was quite awesome as well. It is almost semana santa and we are headed to Guatemala and most likely Belize so I am quite excited about that all. It should be a good chance to relax, see new country and hang out with American friends. Since I had the time I wanted to pick a topic to write about as well and today it is dating.

Dating here in Honduras seems to be kind of a crazy thing. One of my friends here she is Honduran and as far as I can tell grew up very poor. At the same time however, she is very beautiful. She has a boyfriend who is a rich “missionary” who routinely visits Honduras. Now my friend is about 20 years old the missionary is almost retired and probably about 60 years old. Now in life it is often hard to determine what is right or wrong or what you should do in the name of Christ but to me there seems to be a little something weird going on here. Being an American here in Honduras pretty much automatically makes you attractive. So sometimes I find myself in awkward situations like yesterday. I was out by a “pool” with some of my friends and a forward older lady in her 30’s was hitting on me. It has happened more then one time. To me it kinda weirds me out but I guess they are curious. Here in Honduras as well by the time a girl turns 17 or 18 she is quite ready to be married. In the U.S it is quite different but here sometimes I am hit on by girls who are a decent amount younger then me and I even will have people encourage me to pick one out but all I can think about is how they are like High School age. Life here is much different and there is always something new to adjust to. All I have to say is that a nice normal date sounds kinda good. I would like the kind of date where I buy the girl dinner and flowers and talk to her in English and have her close to my age.