Week 41: Being Sick and Scared for J

Day 281 May 15
I was awake much earlier than I wanted to be and despite my best efforts to fight the morning—I was up. I started out with a very leisurely morning. I did some laundry, cooked breakfast, and called Rachel before I showered to let her know that Chris had told me we were taking off around 11. However, shortly after this, Chris called to ask if I could make a bus in the next 15 minutes. No, No I couldn't. Thus began the mayhem.
We found that the next bus would leave at 10. I could tell Chris was already frazzled, and my house is right next to the bus station, so I decided I would just stay home, be ready, and do as I was told to keep myself from getting anxious or frustrated. I abandoned several morning plans to leave an hour earlier, but I succeeded in buying toilet paper for the house before leaving, which was the most important. It allworked out well except that Chris and Katie left some things at my house, needed to use the bathroom, and as the three of us finally departed, Rachel had to convince the bus driver to stop pulling out. We had to run it down and hop on. The locals were staring.
We hopped off the bus just before La Entrada and right there was a truck we could catch a ride in to the park of the ruins of El Puente. When we got there we paid, signed in, and I noticed that the last visitors they'd had were a week ago.
We weaved around the museum at a nice slow pace. There was pottery, ax heads, obsidian tools, skulls, a skeleton, maps, and other very interesting things. I liked the details that were displayed here that you can't get at our ruins.
The park had a really nice climbing tree. Rachel went up much higher than I did and stayed in it for longer while we went up the big pyramid. We did everything slowly, which was nice. We'd climb up something, and sit and talk for a while. We went through the tunnels, which showed the structure the one we could see was built over.
We went to the picnic area and had a lunch of breads, cheeses, and mango. There was winding river next to us and Chris took a dip. It was very pleasant and I was slightly amused at how accustomed to large men with large guns I've become. After lunch, we walked the short nature trail, with signs trying to encourage people to enjoy nature, appreciate it, and treat it well.
We got a truck back to La Entrada, which was one of the fastest hitchhiking experiences I've had. As we pulled up the Casasola bus was pulling out and Rachel and I jumped on. We had a nice ride back, though we both became very thirsty as we drove along because we'd finished our water at lunch.
When we got back to Copan we made a B-line toward Picame for smoothies. A young man who appeared to be, and sounded hispanic, asked us in perfect English if we lived here and could direct him to a hotel. We were both surprised. No one ever assumes we live here.
We met Megan for a smoothie, which was perfect and hit the spot. I went inside to finish all the things I'd wanted to do that morning, but fell asleep. When I woke up, there was no power, it was terribly hot in my room, and I was out of it.
I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (the second book I've read by him and am tremendously impressed. I'm not even sure when I finished reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox I was so unimpressed.) I took a shower and met Cid at ViaVia for a little while before he had to go back to work at the hotel.

Day 282 May 16
I had a lazy morning, but nice. I spent some time working on my computer and then finished The Alchemist, which I've decided I need to read again, this time writing down all the profound quotes. Which might be the whole book. I think this is a book I need to read at least once every year. Who knew about Coelho and never told me? This man is a talented writer and good story teller and he has many different styles. I will read it in Spanish one day. I think it's a book I need to read about once a year, or so.
I went out grocery shopping and picked up corn flour and flour to start getting me out of my baking shell. We'll see how it goes. I got home and cleaned up and did laundry.
I headed over to Rachel's house to learn to make scones and talk. I wrote down everything we did and we talked for a long time. I told her how much the story of the Alchemist applies to the things we talk about. We prayed and went to church with our scones.
At church, the group discussed how strong this group is and what else we can do. We discussed plans for the future and more formal things, like tithing and what we use it for, what we can do in the community, etc. It was good. In the end, as we were praying, the power cut out and we just kept going.
When I got home, there was garbage everywhere and a dog I couldn't see because of the power outage. I chased off the dog and stepped over the garbage to get in the house. The whole downstairs smelled like rot. I told Sierra what had happened and went to bed. Eventually the power came back on, but, as it's been for days, you can hear and feel it fluctuating when it's on.

Day 283 May 17
At breakfast I had the equivalent of an Honduran corn dog. It was tasty. The day was relatively uneventful, except that I kept Carlos after for a homework detention. He always does his work, but never well, and so he never learns a thing. I stayed after school to finish up some loose ends and started getting a sore throat while I was there.
As soon as I started walking home, though the sun was shining, it started to pour. The closer to town I got, the darker it was. A car picked me up and got a ride to the central park. I talked with a tourist for a while on a corner, gave her some info she hadn't yet realized and then continued on to tutoring. Jaqui gave me birthday cake to celebrate her older son's birthday, who lives in the States.
I hurried home after to get ready for a run, and this time we were joined by Theo and Beth who set a much quicker pace than we usually go on slow days, but I managed to keep up. When I got home, I chatted with Sierra for a while and cleaned the pila. When I went to refill it, because it's so slow to refill, I showered while it was filling. When I finished, I had a strong urging to go out in the hall and check it. As I peeked in the pila room, still dripping myself and only in the towel, the pila began to overflow. I turned it off and there was no harm done. I won't take that risk again, though.
I went over to the Casa de Cafe, where my sore throat began to manifest much more strongly as a cold. I had seen Mark earlier, and he came to visit with Cid too. We joked about how visiting Cid was like visiting the ill at a hospital. “Yeah, have you been to see him recently? I was thinking of going tonight.” “Yeah, I've been with him every night.” But he's not sick, he's just trapped at the hotel.
The cold came full on during the night and I hardly slept at all. It was miserable.

Day 284 May 18
I felt terrible, so I wanted to catch a taxi, but as I started up the hill, there was a visual reminder of the road being closed down, so I turned to go up the stairs by Megan's house. On the stairs, I saw Abby leaving a house she's dog sitting for. She was confused to see me there. When I got up the hill, Megan was waiting outside her house for Gilda to pick her up, so we waited together. I met Antonia, the head of archeology at the ruins while we waited. He seemed very nice.
As the day progressed, I felt worse and worse. I developed a fever which I almost never do—less than once every two years, I'd say. I told the kids how I was feeling and they did pretty well for me during the day. They also tried to send me to the school nurse, which was cute. I slept in Megan's office during my break, and let my kids go early if they promised to be quiet in the hall. I then slept on my desk until the staff meeting. Some of my kids hung around my door giggling and watching me. I cared about nothing.
The meeting was probably the most productive we've had all year. I still couldn't care about anything, as I felt like death warmed over, but we got all our closing procedure paperwork and instructions. I started planing out my next few weeks.
I walked home and watched the OC with Sierra, for hopes of a back massage, which I got. I then went to the Casa de Cafe where Cid took care of me. I developed, and maintained for several hours, another fever. Cid made me tea and took care of dinner. I was asleep before 8.

Day 285 May 19
I was up by 5 and feeling better after so much sleep, but still not great. The kids and I had a decent day, but they tried to take advantage of the fact that I was feeling better. I spent my free time making worksheets and planning my last weeks of school.
After school, some of my girls stayed to help me translate an end of the year note home to the parents. I then walked home, got a smoothie while continuing with the worksheets, and then left for tutoring. When I got back I journaled, got baleadas, and went to the Casa de Cafe where I ate the baleadas with Cid.

Day 286 May 20
My day started when I got to school and learned that J had been in a car accident. I sat at my computer and cried before my students came in. I walked to the office and told Megan. I knew very little, except that he had a depressed fracture in his skull and was in an ICU. I was scared.
The rest of the day was overshadowed and I spent my free moments trying to learn more about the accident. I walked to Scout breifly and I got some information from Lia, which was much appreciated. As Scout reminded me, He's a strong ox. He'll be okay.
I walked home with Kristin, until her street and was then joined by a man named Gustavo who tried to get me to go to his house with lour of mangos. He also asked about my amigas. I did not bite. I walked straight to the Casa de Cafe.
I wasn't able to stay long, but it was good to talk to Cid. I told him what I had learned about J and then we chit chatted with Mark before I had to leave to tutor. I went to tutoring and then met up with Tammi and Nash for a run. After the run, we grabbed some cash and went to Las Brisas for baleadas.
I spent some quiet time alone and broke down on Sierra when she surprised me in the hall. I had to explain that nothing had happened, I was just scared. It reminded me of when I stepped out of the staff room at camp and saw Kate and Louise there after I got of the phone with mom when Dad was in ICU. I was sure everything would be fine, but I was just scared.
I chatted with Sierra for a while until mom called and then I talked to her. Sierra left. Mom and I talked for a long time and Cid was never able to come over because Howard had just gotten back into town.
There was a big storm before bed, which knocked out the power and made it hard to fall asleep.

Day 287 May 21
I walked to school with Kristin and the first thing I did when I got to my room was check the internet. I learned that J was out of ICU, which was great news, but I didn't feel much relief. I was starving for a detail, to know about any long term damage, or, really, just to talk to him.
My kids and I had a solid day. I stayed after to finish up all of my grading, but two of my boys were playing around and missed the bus so the vigilante told them to go to their classroom so I could deal with it, or go to the office. They came to me asking if they could walk home with me. I let them play in the room for a while but when I saw they were getting to anxious, I packed up the rest of my papers and went to leave. I checked the internet one last time and learned that J was already home. It was a huge relief, but I still wanted to talk to him and learn the details of his situation.
I started to walk home with Nilvio, Isaac, Kristin, and Megan, when a very late bus came and we asked if the driver would take home the boys too. The bus picked us up on our way down the hill, so we rode it too.
I went home and got some clothes I could get dirty to go help clean and paint at the Urban Promise office. I scrubbed a door down so that it could be painted later and then took some time on the internet, which I have been obsessed with recently. I was not in the mood for cooking, so I got a baleada at Picame and researched planets for last days random facts.
I went in the house did the laundry, the dishes, and took a shower. I sat up in my room and finished the grading I had wanted to finish at school. I completed my grade book on my computer and worked on my student comments and behavior grades. It was a very productive afternoon.
Eventually, Cid came over. We had planned to watch a movie, but ended up talking instead. As I was still sick, I got very tired early and went to bed.