Week 40: Henry and Mommy's Birthday

Day 274 May 8
I woke up earlier than was desired and lounged around bed until about 10. I went down and discovered Henry making breakfast for Sierra and me. It was delicious. We hung out and chatted all morning until they left to go to the bird park.
I spent the rest of the late morning/early afternoon cleaning the house and doing my laundry. Around 2:30, I hopped in the shower and got ready to go to Casa Villamil to met Megan to go over applications for next year. We reviewed, discussed, and took notes until about 4 when Viki and all of her students came to hear our stories. We hung out and explained our lives, one at a time, until around 6. The application meeting then wrapped up with semi-final decisions.
Between everything I spent some time online and updated my blog, chatted with Alex Kramer, and caught up on a variety of other things. A bit before 7 I headed on home.
I created a pasta dish with, well, pasta, ground beef, tomatoes, onion, garlic, milk, gouda cheese, cauliflower and carrots marinated in jalapeno juice for spice, and olives which made the dish wonderful. I ate and washed the dishes shortly before Cid came over. I was pretty tired, so we sat around talking. We had plans to watch a movie, but I didn't make it that long. I ended up falling asleep before 9.

Day 275 May 9
Happy Mother's Day, Mothers!
I woke up feeling very refreshed and ate the leftovers of my pasta dish. I did the rest of my laundry. I sat around talking to Sierra for a while, both of us wanting to shower but first there was no power or water and then there was no water.
We went out grocery shopping, which was very productive. I saw Viki while I was out and said my goodbyes. We saw a variety of other people as I went from store to store and market.
I got back home and found Henry had woken up. He went out to buy food to cook and when he came back he had found a friend of his from La Ceiba, very randomly. They cooked and then we ate lunch, all the while practicing Spanish. His friend, Ben, is a United Statesian who was taking Spanish classes in Ceiba.
Around 1, Sierra and Carolina came back from French class and I departed to call my mom. I called as they were sitting down to dinner, so I waited around until she was available to call back. We had a nice chat and I got to see my brothers and dad also.
I went home and cooked up a new dish I've been working on. It smelled good, but I was making it for the week to come. I ate a pb and j sandwhich. The guys had come back and wanted to try my cooking, saying I had kept it a secret that I could cook. I then made banana pudding, of sorts, and went to church.
Megan wanted to make sure the guys would not still be in the house when we went to school the next day, so I called Sierra and asked if she had talked to Henry yet. She had not, she said she would. We started church up late, and as I always do when we have it in the evening, I was zonked by about 7:30. I left around 8 and discovered the guys, Sierra, and Cid up on the roof.
Cid joined me downstairs and we chatted about roommates, my past roommate situations, how little drama this one has, and the current situations being dealt with.

Day 276 May 10
Sierra left later than usual and I wasn't sure if I was being avoided or not, but I gave her her space. As I walked out of the house, however, I heard someone call my name. I turned and saw Kelvin walking down toward me. He was in town for Mother's day and had to get back to work that day so he was taking off on the 6am bus. We chatted until 6 near the bus and then said our goodbyes. He said he'd come back into town for my birthday weekend.
I got a ride when I was most of the way there from Gilda. She gave me a banana. I was later than usual also, so I didn't have as much prep time as I like to have on Mondays.
I started out the day telling them how proud I was of them from Friday and how we now have 4 weeks left of school. Four weeks to prep for being fourth graders. They told be they didn't want me to prep them to be fourth graders, they want me to teach them. Even Carlos and Isaac. I didn't say anything about it, but told them I would do a better job and that I wanted them all to do their part.
We got our new spelling words, did a mini lesson on “a” vs “an”, finished our pizza fractions, did a timed science activity on renewable resources. Norma had asked me on Friday if I would come to her class today, so I did. The kids all had questions to ask me based around my childhood, when I was in primary, becoming a teacher, being at Mayatan, being in Honduras, and my favorite things. The interview was in Spanish, which my kids didn't expect me to be able to do. Norma pointed out that I came not knowing Spanish, but now can understand questions and answer them with few (many, I think) errors. They certainly enjoyed it. The end of the day was mayhem, but a moderate mayhem.
I spent my free periods writing out recipes on index cards and color coordinating them based on the type of dish it is. Many of these dishes, some from mom, some from the internet, and some from my brain, are even manageable here! I'm excited about it.
After school, we had a house meeting, which I thought went well until the end when I discovered it had not. I just have to hope it blows over. I walked home with Megan. When I got home things were a little awkward and the angry biting ants at the door didn't help when I went to let Jesse in. Jesse and Sierra left and I went off to tutoring.
We did his homework and then finished a book we started reading a while ago. When I left, I saw Chris and we chatted for a while, making a dinner date for tomorrow. I got home and tried to talk to Sierra, but she wasn't up for it. I went upstairs and finished the recipes I had saved to my computer and my progress reports. By the time I was done, I had 27 recipe index cards, and had watched my neighbors, two young boys, try to kill each other. It made me think of David and James. I kept an eye out and decided not to intervene unless they started threatening real damage to each other. They were very angry children, though. They worked it out and then mom came out to scold them.
I cleaned up downstairs and picked up my room. Jesse came back over and I got another recipe from him. I went out to chat with Cid, Denny, Esteban, and Jessica as I'd been hearing Cid's voice from the house. Denny wants to have a cook off.
I came back in and continued on, cutting up mango for tomorrow and doing other general prep. I went to sleep shortly before 9.

Day 277 May 11
It was a hot night, and I was not able to sleep through it. This resulted in a sleepy morning and a sleepy day. Yesterday my eye was red and puffy and it was today also. It hasn't been hurting or itching, but my kids ask about it a lot.
We had reading groups for the first time in more than a week. They went well and we actually went to the computer lab, which I usually avoid like the plague. I'm always scared being the only teacher in a room with 25 computers and 20 children. The potential for disaster is too great. But today we went and went well.
We started added fractions, learning about mixed numbers, and what are fossil fuels. I also managed total control during our out of control period at the end of the day. They were pleased with themselves, too. Let's see if I can make a pattern out of it.
After school, some of the kids hung around my room for a while, but at 2:30 I rushed down the hill to get to the bank before it got a line. It was a construction day on the road, which inspired me to walk all the faster. I succeeded in getting to the bank when it had short lines and came home for a bit. I made Sierra, who had gone home sick, some tea. I discovered a spilled container of honey in the house, and cleaned it up before going to tutoring. I am scared of getting more ants.
After tutoring, I went home and was shortly called by Cid. He came over for a while and informed me that he'd be stuck at the hotel for the next 10 days because Howard and Angela were going to Guatemala and Mexico. After he left to go back, I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Sierra and went to sleep.

Day 278 May 12
My kids have literally been planning my surprised birthday party for 2 weeks. I thought they would lose steam, but now I do not believe it is the case. My birthday falls on a Thursday, which means I have no specials to break up my day. I will have 3 periods in a row, 20 minutes of recess, and 3 more periods, then the last period at the end of the day. This is the plan: play the first 3 periods normally with reading groups and a question of the day. I will inform them of my plan during this time so they do not riot. During the second long period, I will essentially give them a one manned field day. We can do trust activities, play games like telephone, have relays. I refuse to give up too much at the end of the school day, so they will all be educationally based. Telephone is practicing English skills, relays can have a question element added. I will also tell them that I'm coming back and going to 4th grade. They've started asking, and this way I won't be losing class time. That's the plan...
I've been having a harder and harder time getting out of bed, but did and walked up the hill. Sierra is still a bit sick, so she decided to take the bus. When I got to school, I got set up, set up the board, and borrowed some push pins from Anne, as I had come ill prepared. Despite this, I managed to have a good day. Wednesdays tend to be like that. I stayed late and then walked home.
At home, I watched the movie Revolutionary Road. It was well done, but one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen. I had a slow movie and then went over to Cid's. We were going to watch The Men who Stare at Goats, but he was stuck working later than expected. He was in a skype call with Howard, who's still on vacation, for some time after I got there. I actually, awkwardly, fell asleep on the couch and woke up when a guest came in, who looked at me very strangely for not just going to my room. Of course, I don't have a room there.
I did wake up and we chatted for at least a little while before I went off to sleep.

279 May 13
Happy Birthday Mommy! You are wonderful!
I was able to chat with my mommy in the morning. My kids wished her a happy birthday also. The kids and I had a good day, except for one hour. One horrible hour. I came down hard on them hard and brought order back, but it was not a delight. We ended the day with a play by the 5th graders on bullies. It was well done and my kids were listening!
I stayed a little late to finish up some work and then walked home with Megan and Beth. I was only home for a minute before I rushed off to tutoring. Isaac had been sent home with a bill, and when Jaqui saw it, she panicked. She tried to talk to me about it, but even if I had understood everything she was saying...i still don't know anything about money at Mayatan. I just agreed to take in her receipts saying she had paid each month and told her who to talk to. When I told her to talk to Alexis, she ran out the door with her recite book, came back in and said she would cook for me first. After she cooked , she went back out to sort things out. When she came back, she had sorted it all out and she was not being charged for past months, but what she still had to pay for the end of the year, which was fine. I stayed later at tutoring to help her sort it out, and to comfort Isaac since he was getting concerned.
During school, I had had a brief conversation with Nash and Tammi about maybe going for a run. While I was at tutoring, I took out my phone, in case they called, but they never did. As I was leaving Isaac's, I saw Cid and he needed to run by my house to pick up his phone charger. Isaac saw us together and gave me a curious look, but luckily he's not much of a gossip. He just likes to make sure I know he knows.
When I got to the house, Nash and Tammi were there, waiting to run. It was 30 minutes after the agreed on time, but Nash had only been there for 10 minutes and Tammi for 2. I had given up on the idea of a run, but Nash wouldn't let it go, so I dressed quickly and we went. We ran to the ruins and ran through the nature trail. I saw my first wild snake since getting here, which is a little late in the game. I don't know what kind it was, but I almost tripped Tammi when I stopped to look. Oops.
We got back from the run and I stretched, did a few more exercises, and showered. I was then late to dinner with Alex, Megan, Chris, and Rachael. Rachael came a little after I did. We had a wonderful dinner full of good company and conversation.
After, I went home and went to bed around 8:30.

Day 280 May 14
I was running late in the morning, but walked quickly to make up for it. The class spent the day on the brink of chaos, and I was constantly afraid we'd slip into it, but I managed to keep things together just enough that we didn't. We did have a major let down when Katia was expecting her mom to come with cake at the end of the day to celebrate her birthday and no one came. It was sad for the class, but mostly for Katia. I hope she was greeted at home with something or at least a reason. She handled it well, though. I get the feeling she has a strained relationship at home and so she wasn't surprised.
I stayed late and did a lot of work. I made a lot of worksheets and did planning. I'm gerring up with prep for the end of the year. We'll see how it goes. I cleaned up the room and listened to music, while Victor and Marlon brought in several very large beetles.
When I did leave, I played a little basketball with Abby and Allan before heading home. I left earlier than I normally do on Fridays because there was no power. I went into town and bought saldo before calling and meeting up with Rachael.
We chatted for a while, much more casually than most of our conversations are, but it was broken up by the need to buy tres leches cake and get it to one of the local boys who was having his 9th birthday. There's no one who would celebrate his birthday. We took him up on my roof to give it to him and he was a very good sharer. Abby was in the house by this time and she heard us up there, so we told her it was Jimmy's birthday and she brought up some shoes, shirts, shorts, and briefs her family had donated to the area, but she hadn't yet figured out how to distribute. She thought this was as good a time as any to start. After Jimmy left, beaming in his new shoes, we set up some new ground rules for future church meetings.
I went to Cid's and we watched Inglorious Bastards, which wasn't as good as the hype I had heard. I was very sleepy, and we talked for a while after the movie before I finally decided I needed to get to bed.

Week 39: Celaque and Mother's Day at Mayatan

Day 267 May Day!
I was up before the alarm and showered. I was feeling more sick and finally had it manifest, which did not make me feel better. I packed up and water proofed my bag while I waited for the others to wake up. We still had to distribute the food before I could finish packing.
We got breakfast and checked out of the hostel once everyone was awake. I picked up some Imodium in a pharmacy to make hiking possible and then we got a ride up to the visitor's center of the mountain. The car had a hard time making it up the gravel road, so we walked the last bit.
There was a crew of Gracias teachers getting ready to head out. Liam, whom I met on my way back from Antigua in November, and I recognized each other. We exchanged pleasantries and then they headed up while we were getting situated and signed in.
We started out along the river. There were a few small waterfalls and a lot of pines. Some of the flora reminded me a lot of VA, but mostly it was the pines. Though, the bromeliads and giant ferns would periodically remind me that I was not in VA.
We decided to take a detour and go to the mirador to see the giant waterfalls, though from a great distance. We lunched there, at about 2000 meters above sea level and then hiked back down to start going up again. We'd been playing a bit of a leap frog with the Gracias teachers, and our jaunt up the hill gave them the advantage.
By the time we made it to the first campsite, Don Tomas, I was still feeling alright. We took a little break and I noticed bees all over the campfire stones, which I took pictures of. After that, it got much harder for me, though. It was steep, long, and unending. I went slowly, both to keep my heart from beating out of my throat and to enjoy the view, which was looking less and less like VA as we ascended into the cloud forest.
We had to take a short pit stop to doctor up what I thought was a hot spot waiting to become a blister, until I took off my sock to discover that the blister had formed and popped and was rather large. We bandaged it up and it didn't give me too much trouble from there on out.
Everything became green and soft. The world was covered in moss. Giant fiddleheads a little smaller than my first sprang up among the branches of tree ferns. And though everything was changing into a type of forest I've never seen before, the only consistent bird song I heard was either a Wood thrush, or a close cousin. It was one of those days which was filled with moments of beauty or awe and I knew that they were just small enough they would be lost in memory to more momentous moments.
The higher up we got, the less consistent the signs were with where we were and how far we had come. But, after one last set of steep steps, passing the Gracias teachers, and continuing up for what seemed forever, we reached the second campsite. It was wetter and colder than the first and there were already a host of tents.
It was starting to rain, so we quickly got up the tents. Mine was a little leaky, but it was still better than sleeping on the ground.
We went about collecting wood, all of which was wet, but the rain was petering out. Anywhere that remotely not soaked wood could be found, we took it. As we were, the other folks who were already set up in the camp site started coming back and it turns out they were a camping club from El Salvador. I never knew enough campers/hikers existed in CA to make a club, but they were really cool. We set to work splitting up larger pieces to try and take advantage of the dryness inside. Most of the guys worked on that, especially after the Gracias teachers arrived and Cid helped them put up their tents. The fire prep was a long endeavor because we needed to make sure we had enough to burn before trying. It was going to be finicky. We could hear the El Salvadorians taking bets on the likelihood of us succeeding with fire in this wet place. However, with everyone working on it, we did make fire.
We then kept it alive with a metal rod we used to blow air under the fire and after some time started using a blower for an air mattress someone had. It worked like a charm. The Gracias teachers had soup for dinner, and it was a group effort to hold up the soup and keep the fire going for long enough for it to boil, but through much trial and tribulation, it was done.
We then cooked up our food on the coals. Satisfied and exhausted, shortly after dinner, I went to sleep in my slanty bed.

Day 268 May 2
I had heard that there are two species of monkeys that live in this forest and that they come down at night to pick the campsite clean. Ever sound I heard in the night I decided was a monkey, whether is be true or not. The night was long, cold, and wet. There was a root under me that I spent the night maneuvering around and the trails of water from when it rained got the sleeping bag a bit wet. Mostly, I spent the night sliding downhill toward the bottom of the tent, waking up, and inching my way back up.
Around 5:30 I woke up and decided to go wandering while I waited for the others to wake. I explored around, hoping to get a good view. There was a good cliff, but there were so many trees that I could only kind of see the patterns of clouds below us. I circled back by the latrine, and went out through camp the other way as to never get too far from the others.
I was in the process of taking a picture of a large, fallen tree with a lot of growth on it when I saw a pair of legs appear behind it. Chris came out of the woods as he too had gone out on a morning stroll. We decided to head back and wake the others to start getting ready to get out.
We packed up, ate a breakfast of powdered milk with granola. We used our green-ish algae water for the milk. Then, we left our tents and our main bags in the campsite to return to after we came back from the peak. We brought our most valuable items with us, just in case, and headed out before most of the camp-club members, or any of the Gracias teachers were up.
The hike up was rough on my now very sore, swollen knee. However, we were only 300 or so vertical meters from the peak, so it wasn't too long of a trip. There was a bit of up and down to it. This forest makes me think of faerie tales.
When we got to the top, we were in the midst of a cloud and could see nothing. There was no view at all except for gray. Periodically, the wind would pick up and our cloud would disappear for a few seconds, then the clouds below, the town of Gracias, and the mountains in the distance were visible. The cloud tops in particular were cool.
We did a number of things claiming, “I am the highest person in Honduras doing...” just for fun. We ate the last of our chocolate and then we hiked back down. On the way down, we came across the Gracias teachers who had all of their bags with them and we recommended that they stash them on the side of the trail to pick up on the way back down, which they did. We chatted a little, said our last goodbyes, and continued on.
We stopped by the campsite to finish packing up and refill on water before continuing down. Going down was surprisingly easier for my knees, but we decided to take a trail we heard was nicer, called El Gallo, to go back to the visitor's center. It started out going down, but then it started to go up. It went up for a long time, and before we had connected with the trail we had already come down a long ways. The trail lead to a mirador at 2300 meters above sea level. When we finally peaked it, the view was nice and we stopped to lunch, but it was really the end to my knee.
The descent was long, but pleasant. The small plants growing along the path seemed like they were the same as in VA, again. I couldn't get the idea out of my head. The forest was obviously recovering from a forest fire, which added a beautiful element to the hike since it was recovering so well.
When we got back to the visitor's center, there was a bus of school girls just about to head back to town. We decided to skip taking showers and take the convenient ride. We chatted with the girls, who seemed very impressed that we had done the whole thing.
When we got to town, we got a new hotel. This one had hot water, fans, quiet rooms, free coffee and water, private bathrooms, and better beds. I enjoyed a warm shower and watched Animal Planet in Spanish until everyone was ready.
We hit the town looking for a pizza place that doesn't exist and ended our wild goose chase with a Chinese dinner. The plates were immense and so we ordered to share. I filled up and it was good. We also saw our fellow teachers as they came in, still unshowered, to eat as well. We had exchanged numbers on the mountain (except Liam and I had exchanged numbers back in November) and told them they were welcome in Copan any time. One of the younger teachers, who was enthusiastic about everything, promised he'd see us this coming weekend.
After dinner we got a cab to take up our to the hot springs in Gracias. They are very different than the ones in Copan. They're about 15-20 minutes outside of town and only cost 20 lemps to get in. It felt really nice to relax in one of the pools. They had several, of different sizes and temperatures. One was large and obviously meant for swimming.
When we were ready to leave, we called our taxi. He said he “had a flat tire” and couldn't come. It was about 9:30 and the hotel closed at 10, so I was a little anxious. We waited around and asked a number of people as they were leaving if we could get a ride but they were all full or going the other way. Finally, we did catch a ride in a back of a truck and made it to the hotel at 10:05.
I went straight to bed and the room had no window, so with the lights off the only thing you could see was the red light on the TV.

Day 269 May 3
After 10 hours of sleep, I felt great. My legs and knees were sore, along with my back and arms. Something about this trip felt like a full body workout...hmm...
I re-situated the clothes that had been hanging out to dry to continue the process as much as possible during breakfast and the morning hours. I took a shower and we headed out to breakfast at the same place we ate two mornings ago.
While we were eating, a drunk beggar came in and started asking for tortillas. Because, he said, he was drunk. One of the most burly men I've seen in Honduras was eating with his wife and son and he told the man to leave. To leave right now or he would remove him. That, really, it would be a good idea for him to leave.
The man continued to hang around our table and tried to argue. I remember being grateful with the burly man got up to escort him out and then shocked when he simply chucked him down the stairs and out the door. Even the waitress and his wife jumped a bit. There was a silence, and we said nothing about it for a little while. I heard his wife telling him that it was a bit excessive, and he looked at us and asked if we were okay with it. We said yes and he said, “See, they're tranquil.” It was a little uncomfortable, but the beggar did not come back in and was gone when we left so I can only assume he was not too badly injured.
We went back and finished packing up our things before catching a bus out. The bus was crowded, but fine. Cid and I continued into Santa Rosa when Katie and Chris split to go to La Entrada so that we could return the sleeping bags and tent.
We got a taxi up the hill to his mom's house, where is brother was just waking up to let us in. This time I actually got to chat with his brother. He showed me in foreign currency collection, which was impressive. He is only missing one quarter, Delaware I think, from the 50 States quarters, so I said I would get that for him when I was home. He also has a large library of books, including a lot of Tolkein, Clancey, and C.S. Lewis.
We cleaned out the tent and wiped off all the dirt before heading into Santa Rosa to the pizza restaurant. We left the sleeping bags at the house, but brought the tent for his dad to pick up later. I got to meet his mom while we were having lunch at her restaurant. She was very friendly and looked through all my pictures on my camera. Unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to be as talkative with her. Both my nervousness about Spanish and about her made me quiet, but I answered all of her questions to the best of my ability. I'm kind of counting on Hamlet to let her know that I'm okay when I speak English. It just reaffirmed my need to improve my Spanish and, even more, my confidence.
Lunch was delicious, but around 2:30 we headed out to catch our bus to La Entrada. We caught a taxi and stopped to flag down the bus as it was going. We paid and ran onto the bus. It was a very full ride and Cid and I were separated. When we got to La Entrada, we arrived just as a bus was pulling out and jumped on it too (part of the luck with buses is that they are pulling out for about 15 minutes to ensure they are as full as possible.) Our ride to Copan was with a young man I see every morning on the way to school.
We got home and Cid went off to work. I stayed in and started on my laundry immediately. I cleaned up the house a little bit but spent most of my time on the clothes, which were smelling pretty awful. The power was out, and I gave up on holding out for a hot shower so I went in for a cold on and went to Picame for a baleada. While I was eating and reading my book by candle light, the power came back on. Shortly after, Cid came over and we went up on the roof and talked about our travels.
Around 9 I made it down to bed.

Day 270 May 4
I was up and out early to get set up in my classroom. I was horribly let down to discover that the coffee maker was still broken. Luckily, I had tea, but it just isn't the same.
We had no reading groups because Megan had to sub for Caroline. That gave us time to cover a lot of material we needed to get through. We had a relatively good day and ended with singing practice with Beth's class.
Of course, as is the way of my mystery curse, my mug broke during lunch. It was situated between Sierra and myself and a soccer ball landed right there. Between us and smashed the mug all over the place. 'Tis luck, or a lack of luck.
I walked home with Megan and her friend after school. I did a little grocery shopping with Sierra and then rushed home to get my bag, turn around, and go to tutoring. Tutoring was fine and uneventful. Though, I noticed Jaqui was walking differently and I wonder if she's not 5 or 6 months pregnant.
I rushed home and Tammi called right as I came up on them standing at my door step. We had a running date and so I changed very quickly and was ready to go. We wanted to go on the nature trail at the ruins, but it was closed up early. We tried to go in anyway, since the gate wasn't actually locked, but the guard stopped us. We then ran back to the road and ran out to Las Sepulturas. I did better than I expected and was able to talk the whole time. I find that when my muscles are sore I am more motivated to exercise as I don't want to let the growth go to waste.
I got home and sweat more than I think I ever have before in my life. As my body cooled down I just dripped. It was gross, but it made showering feel wonderful.
I spent the rest of the evening doing all the cleaning I didn't get to do over the weekend. I swept the house, organized and leaned my room, finished my laundry, did the dishes, edited and went through my photos, and cleaned the bathroom. It was satisfying. I fell asleep around 8:30.

Day 271 May 5
I was up and out early again. Miss Norma had warned me that they would be taking a class picture with me for a project in Spanish class, so I put on a little bit of makeup, which my girls noticed immediately. I started out with tea again, but part way through the day, when I went to make more, I discovered that the coffee maker had been replaced with a new, working one. Yay! It is my friend.
We had a good morning and I was having a very energetic and involved Science class with Nora Welchez walked by with a guest. The kids were even giving good call and response. I love it when that works out.
Beth has a friend in town, so she left early and Abby subbed for her last class when they came to practice Baby Beluga. Things did not go as smoothly as usual, but it was manageable.
After school, I packed up quickly to go to a meeting with Megan in which we would review the latest applications for folks who want to work here next year, but the room was empty. I grabbed some copies so that I could meet her in the office and walk with her, but her office was locked. I had noticed that she was not here in the morning, but I thought it was because her friend was in town and Ann had said she didn't need her in reading groups. I stopped by Linda's office, but she didn't know anything. Instead we got to talking about some of my students, one we feel we have to let go to the public schools next year and one who's sponsor wants a write up on her. I went back to my room, wrote the write up, and sent it to her.
I walked home with Abby and Allan and we were picked up part way down the hill and rode the rest of the way in the back of a truck. Once home, Sierra invited me for a smoothie, so I dropped my bag and sat down with her in Picame. Before I could order, I got a call from Megan asking if I could come be a nurse. I said yes and asked what had happened, “My friend Kristin...” Then the phone cut out.
Megan had tried to call me twice when I was still at school, but I had no saldo to call her back, now I was concerned so I ran in the house, grabbed my first aid kit and ran up the hill.
Megan and Kristin had spent all night and all day with doctors or by toilets. Kristin had both a bacterial infection in her stomach and a parasite. Now with all the medication, lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of water, and still being ill...she was a mess. Megan, who also hadn't slept, didn't feel equipped to deal with the situation alone and just wanted someone else around in case something more happened.
Megan went into town to talk to a few local doctors, get some things that Kristin needed, run a few errands of her own, and left me in charge of Kristin. We watched “Becoming Jane.” The only thing I really needed to get done that afternoon was print pictures of my students, so I gave my zip drive and money to Megan so she could do it while she was out. I had hoped to do a ton of grading, but it was at home and could wait.
I stayed and helped and cleaned, and prepared emergency buckets, and mopped when the bucket wasn't around, and cooked until a while after seven. Anne came around 7 and Rachael was going to come around 9 to stay the night with them. Megan had calmed down considerably and we talked. I tried to get her to sit and relax but she was too wired and too tired to relax. Hopefully she could sleep later.
Cid came by to see the house, as it's where I want to live next year, and then we went back home and sat on the roof talking until about 9:30 when we realized neither of us had really eaten. We went into Picame to see if they would do us a favor and make baleadas after hours, which they did. I then went to sleep.

Day 272 May 6
I had a late start to the day, but I managed to get in 2 cups of coffee before the power went out. I had a nice chat with Rony about my Spanish.
The kids had a good day. We behaved well and spent a lot of our time finishing up our mother's day frames, cards, and songs. We took a quiz on paragraphs, which went horribly. We shall try again later...
After lunch, I discovered that my key no longer worked for my classroom. I ran to get Rony, who used his magically powers to make it work again. It took some tricks. Social Studies started 10 minutes late. I spent my break on grading, which I'd fallen behind on and then we finished the day singing outside, which lead to a lot of distracted kids.
After school, Marlon and his brother were hanging out in my room and when Patona came to clean my room, Marlon was so proud of his picture frame he wanted to show her. He's never been proud of much of anything he's done in class. It made me really happy.
I got sub plans from Ann to give to Cid later, as she'd be missing school tomorrow to go to a mother's day event at her son's school, which is the Honduran public school. We walked home together.
When I got home, I found a very drunk and unhappy Josue laying on the floor of my house. Sierra was in Picame trying to decide what to do about it. I rushed through and left for tutoring, managing not to deal with the situation much.
Tutoring went well, and as I was leaving I saw Viki, from the first semester, which a batch of students in the park. I gave her a big hug and we chatted a while before I headed off. I found Hsuan, who is having some real problems with the orphanage and may not be able to stay to see his project through, which is sad. I saw Josue drinking in the street, so I at least knew he was out of my house.
I went home and showered and then walked to Casa de Cafe to drop off the sub plans with Cid. Josue stopped me in the street to inform me that he was dying and would be single for the rest of his life. It was awkward. I saw saved by Tammi who was touring around two of the folks from Viki's group.
I got to Casa de Cafe and Cid was in and out. Suna, his 4 year old cousin, came and told me all about her chicken pox, which she is recovering from. I kept up mostly, but my Spanish has gotten noticeably worse since I stopped taking classes.
I ate pasta with Cid and we chatted a while before I headed home at 8:30 to go to sleep.

Day 273 May 7
I woke up an hour late, panicked. It was not a nice feeling. I called Cid to see if he wanted to walk together now that I wasn't leaving at an ungodly hour, but I was still leaving too early. I ended up meeting up with Chris on the way and then we got a ride with Gilda, so I only arrived 20 minutes late. I was also greeting with some sugar cane from my student Yaira, which is a rare treat in Copan. Cid arrived as the bell ran, which made me a little nervous, but I was glad he already had his plans and key to the room.
We had an energetic morning and the behavior was better. We made our Beluga puppets for the mother's day celebration and fraction pizzas. We practiced our song on the stage with our props and then went to lunch. It was the most productive, well behaved half day I've ever had.
I had more than 4 hours until the mother's day event started, and I decided to stay at school the whole time. I put grades in my computer for the first time this quarter, planned for next week, cleaned my room, and made my worksheets for next week.
While I was working, I got a call from Zoltan, from Gracias that I met on the hike last weekend. He was in Copan, on his way to Antigua, and wanted to see the Copan night life since there is none in Gracias. I invited him up to the school to see Mayatan and the mother's day event.
He arrived as I was finishing my work and as others started to arrive for the event. I showed him around as I got to work on prep for the event. I was surprised to find myself nervous for my kids to perform. I knew they were nervous and I wanted them to do well. We'd practiced so much, so I knew they could do it, but I was afraid we wouldn't have enough students, or they'd be too quiet in their nervousness.
They were pretty crazy before hand, and after, but the performance went really smoothly. They were among the louder, more composed performances. I was so proud of them! This must be why people have children...
After the performance, I took them to the room, we got our picture frames and cards and I told them how proud I was of them. I was a little sad later to see that Juan had pulled apart his picture frame, thrown it away, and just had his picture.
Shortly after the acts ended, it began to rain, which cleared people out quickly. We cleaned up in the rain and then I started to walk home with Zoltan. We got a ride in the back of a truck, which had my student Katia and her mom. Katia is one of my more outgoing students, but she is shy around her mom. We had talked before the performance about how much her mom wanted to hear her singing loudly and if she would do it for me. She promised and had done a good job.
I went home and showered. While I was waiting for Zoltan to come back from his hostel for us to get dinner, Sierra, her friend Henry, Carolina, Jorge, and eventually Cid came over. After an hour or so, Zoltan came and we had baleadas, which he previously claimed not to like. I changed his mind. We can be friends.
After dinner, the whole group went to ViaVia for a while. We were also joined by Jesse, for a short time, Zeya, a Peace Corps volunteer I've known since my first month here, and a friend of Cid's we didn't know would be in town named Rob. We eventually migrated to Barcito to meet up with Mark who is back in town. We stayed there until they closed and the whole bar moved to Papa Changos, which has changed location slightly. I was confused at first, but we figured it out. I'm not sure I like it as much. It has a bigger dance floor, but there was a man who was insisting on teaching me to dance and would neither let me leave nor allow Cid to cut in. Three times he told Cid to wait. It stopped being fun quickly, but eventually I got away and Cid smoothed things over to make sure there were no hard feelings. It was awkward, but things got better after that.
Eventually, Cid, Sierra, Henry, Zoltan, and I decided it was time to go and got everyone dropped off where they needed to be before making it to bed.

Week 38: Getting on in the Heat and Leaving for Celaque

Day 260 April 24
I woke up around 6 and couldn't go back to sleep. I went to breakfast at ViaVia with Sierra and Liz after a long chit chat in the living room. I went back home and showered. I cleaned up some and read. It was very hot very early in the day, so everything felt strenuous and dragged out. I spent most of my day cleaning, doing school work, working on my notes, and doing laundry. I took a break to watch Shutter Island with Sierra and Liz.
At some point I fell asleep, but even with both fans going, I woke up several times just disgustingly sweaty. I was also in and out of sleep because the neighbor's kids were playing futbol in the hallway and my window is the goal. I was too out of it to move downstairs or wake up fully. I felt gross when I woke up.
At some point I headed downstairs and did more of the cleaning. Judie came by to pick up her laundry and gave me a little grief for spending my Saturday evening cleaning, but it was really nice. Cid came over a bit after 7 and we watched Blindside, after which, I went to sleep.


Day 261 April 25
Today was even hotter than -even hotter than yesterday! I was up at 7 and showered, cleaned, made breakfast, finished my laundry, and got the house ready for a lot of guests. I went shopping with Abby and Allan and then we finished getting ready. Folks actually came on time and everything, cooking included, went on schedule. I hoped over to a plaque near Casa de Cafe with Megan for some information for her paper (which she is almost done with so I can start spending more than 15 minutes at a time with her again!)
Urban Promise has a crew in town for the week and so our “church” went from it's usual 4-7 people, to 17. It was intense, but fun. Francisco brought balloons which we used to replinish our tinseled strings and then just let the rest float all over the floor of the house. However, it is hot, so the full ones would burst at random as they expanded. The guests decided they wanted to organize the program, so they picked the song and gave a little talk and lead the prayers. It went nicely. When it was done, Noah, a tourist, taught us a Hebrew praise song. Before she left, I planned a new coffee date with Rachael.
We all ate lots of food and I think everyone left feeling generally satisfied.
Once they left, I cleaned up. Balloons were still popping everywhere. I then worked on my computer some, which is experiencing a little bit of trouble, until it started storming and then I ran out to grab my still mostly-dry laundry from the line.
Chris had just gotten back into town from Cofradia and was meeting some bikers in Picame who would be sleeping on his couch that night. When the storm started they came in my house for a while and I let both the bikers take hot showers before they went to Chris' for dinner. It was fun to talk to them. They had a two person bike and had come all the way from Alaska.
Cid came over a little after 7 and we watched the Love Guru, which reminded me a lot of Austin Powers, which I haven't seen in forever. Shortly after, I went to sleep.

Day 262 April 26
I woke up, showered, and made lunch for the day. I had ripe mango for the first time since the last mango season and it was heavenly. Sierra came by and asked if I wanted a ride to school with Josue, which I accepted. We picked up Chris and Alex on the way too.
We spent a good bit of the day starting our units on fractions, which my kids are excited about because 5th and 4th grades are also working on fractions right now, and energy. We're having fun so far. My productive streak from last week has carried into this week and it's making for better plans, more energetic lessons, and better prepared work for the kids.
Since the Ceiba flowers have popped open into this cottony substance that attracts and hatches small red insects that appear to be hemipterans, my students claim that if they bite you, you will die. I was alarmed, but also noticed that the insects were all around our feet and no one was running or panicked. I asked if the bites itched or hurt and the kids say hurt, but no one can really explain it to me. They call them chinches, and there is apparently one variety of chinches that can carry chagas disease. That's the best I got right now, however, I don't think this species of chinches carries chagas, but I will avoid being bitten anyway.
After school I had tutoring, which went well. Before I went home, I checked my e-mail and I had received and e-mail from my friend Tony, informing a group of us that a friend of ours had a missing boyfriend, since Friday, and that yesterday they had found a suicide note. We were asked not to contact our friend for the time being because she was not up for talking. I can't even imagine the kind of grief that would give. To know what had happened, but be unable to move forward and mourn because there's still that hope.
I took my make-up ITBS tests to John and asked if I could grade them because that kind of mind-numbing checking seemed right up my ally for the mood I was in. I walked home with Megan and went to tutoring.
Tutoring was pretty uneventful, except that Goofy the dog took a leak on my backpack and now I have to be careful of every other dog who comes near my backpack.
I was aware of how bad I smelled because of the heat, but immediately after tutoring, I had a date wit Rachael. I was surprised to see Luis sitting in the office when I went to pick her up, maybe he'll have time to talk later. Rachael and I went to San Raphael to order 80 pounds of coffee for an emergency business transaction for her friend who sells coffee in the States, but his usual source in El Salvador was robbed of all of their coffee.
When then went to a chain coffee place because it has AC and we were sweltering. However, the power went out, so we stayed until it had warmed up enough/gotten dark enough for us to move on to the park and then Cafe Welchez.
We stopped by the office to see the tarantula they had caught and they I started to head home. I got an invitation out while I was headed home, so I just turned and went to Barcito for about half an hour before turning back and going to bed.


Day 263 April 27
I woke up to discover that there was no water. This was not good news. I still smelled terrible from the day before. I took my first bucket shower from my pila water and hoped for the best. I also knew it would only amount to so much since the temp predictions were between 42 and 45 C (I imagine this was for Tegus, because it never got that hot here, but it was hot.)
I had a wonderful day of spills. I spilled coffee on books and papers and the kids spilled glue on a desk and books. Excellent.
My day took a turn when I got word of Ian Smith-Christmas. His body had been found. I tried to keep my kids from feeling my mood shift, but I don't think it worked.
We did, however, have a good end to the day. I told them a series of vocab necessary jokes, which I explained the necessary vocab in advance, like “What do you call a fly with no wings? A walk.” They loved it.
It tutoring I discovered that my low student is even lower than he realized. He didn't know the days of the week in English, so I asked him to give them to me in order in Spanish and he gave them to me in the wrong order. I don't even know where to begin.
I walked home and jumped in the shower, though there was no power. I didn't care, we had water again. Half way through my shower, the power came back on so I had heat, 5 candles, and a lightbulb.
I trucked to tutoring in a downpour. I ate with the Mormons, who were marooned at the restaurant in the rain. The power was in and out, but the rain was constant. Isaac and I read a book.
I went home and wrote for a while before cooking a lot and doing my dishes. I put my prepared lunch in the fridge. Shortly after, Cid came over and Hsuan came over for a shower. Cid and I went through my music library and talked about it for a while until I decided I was dead and needed to sleep.


Day 264 April 28
I slept in half an hour, but still got to school in decent time. We had a relatively easy day, though Ferjardo wasn't there and I discovered this 7 minutes into the PE class I had come with a stack of journals to grade, but oh well.
It was almost as hot as yesterday, but I was thrilled when I saw that one of my kids had picked out an old favorite from the library. The Great Kapok Tree is a book I haven't thought about in a long time, but I read it to the kids in the same voices as it was read to me. Most of my kids really liked it and were actually disappointed when I stopped so that we could go to lunch.
The story sparked in my the realization that there are tons of books I read growing up that I adored, but that have slipped from my memory. Since I've been working with kids, books like Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel have resurfaced and I don't want to forget them again. Someday I hope to have kids and I want them to be able to read these books. I started a list.
We ended our day by practicing our mother's day song with Beth's class: Baby Beluga. I sent the kids off and was going to tackle those journals that I didn't get to do during PE, but Juan wandered into my class. He usually isn't very talkative and kind of avoids me, but he was hanging around my desk. I asked him what music he likes and we listened to some. He said he liked it all and I tried to explain that it's okay if he doesn't. After a little while I asked him he wanted me to help him with his homework and he said yes. So, we had a surprise tutoring session. It went well.
I caught a truck back with Megan, stopped by the bank with her, and then we swung by Cafe Welchez for granitas. I headed back to the house and ran into my buddy from the orphanage, Marlon, and his friend. Though, when we asked him what his friend's name was he said, “He's not my friend.”
I went out with Sierra and Liz for smoothies and internet. Mango is so fully back in my life that I had a mango smoothie and it was heaven. I now know what heaven tastes like. While we were at Yat Balam, Megan, Cid, and Josue all passed by.
I finally heard from Luis, so I headed home to get ready to go out and get baleadas with him. We met at Guacamaya, and because I had no saldo on my phone to respond, I made sure I was there early so he wouldn't slip away thinking I had stood him up. We headed to Katia's mom's place, where I saw both Katia and Edgar and pestered them about their homework.
After we had talked for a sufficient amount of time, I headed home and did a lot of cooking. Cid called in the midst of it because he was out with a friend from Santa Rosa, and I went out to meet them later, but by the time I got there she was gone. I didn't stay out long then, because I was really coming to meet her, and as always, I was exhausted.


Day 265 April 29
This morning I was greated with an notice that Lucy Crook is engaged! She sent me a message so I wouldn't just find out on Facebook, which I appreciated. She also asked about Cid and I filled her in.
I had a very productive Thursday, and most of the day went well, but the afternoon was hard and I got impatient quickly. I need to hone back in on my patience. I started tutoring but quickly realized that my lack of patience was going to be detrimental to them. Instead, I helped them with their home work and sent them off.
I did work in my room and then swung by Chris' room to see the beautiful and large lizard he had just captured. I walked home with Beth which was nice. I headed straight for tutoring, where I tried to regain my patience. We did a Where's Waldo activity, which seems to help his vocabulary. The boy has perfected non-verbal communications so forcing him to communicate with words is a struggle.
I got home and did all my laundry for next week. I know I won't have another time to do it and I will need these shirts for work. I headed over to Chris' to swap music and make liquados. After a while, Cid came over and we all made spring rolls for dinner. We ate and planned. With enough of the detials hammered out, I went home, packed, and went to sleep.

Day 266 April 30
I woke up half an hour late again, but managed to snag a ride with Dona Olga. Win! I had all my stuff for the trip with me, so I'm sure I was a sight walking up to school. However, when I got to school I discovered that there was no coffee and the caseta coffee I was so excited about tasted very...off. I didn't even finish a cup and the coffee maker in the teacher's room was never fixed.
One of my students gave me a wonderful smelling flower that I put in my hair and continued to forget about all day. My kids were the worst they'd been all week and so when two of my boys claimed stomach troubles, I wanted to call paja. However, a few moments later one approached me with a very distinct, “I'm going to vomit” walk and said, “I'm going to vomit.” Oh, well then, lets get you outside. He retched, but was not ill. The other boy was also holding his stomach. I left the room in search of Nilvio's mom, as he sat outside trying to empty his stomach, or Gilda who's kind of the school nurse these days. I found them both in Norma's room. I told them and got some pepto and went back to deal with my now out of control class.
Fact learned: They had a gatorade drinking race. They were sick from it. Ugh. I went back during PE to tell Norma that her son was fine, just stupid and the boys and I talked about not playing games like this anymore.
I had all my worksheets done yesterday to be copied for Tuesday and today I had all my grading done before lunch. Though, my own stomach was starting to feel unsettled, which made me nervous as I was about to venture by bus across the country to go hiking up the largest mountain in Honduras, with cold, due to elevation, and rain, due to it being a cloud forest. I do not want to be sick.
When I got back from my lunch break, my kids had written me a variety of love notes, thank you notes, and we're sorry notes for the behavior earlier in the day. However, the last period was still not good. We cleaned up, during which time one of my girls bumped Isaac into the sharp corner of a chair and his eye brow was split open. I sent the two of them to sort it out with Gilda. We then sang Baby Beluga until Chris came to my door at 1:40 and then we bolted to catch a taxi down to the bus station.
I ended up with two tickets for the bus as both Chris and Cid bought me one in the rush to make sure everyone was situated. We got one returned and away we went on the bus. I actually slept on a bus.
There were some tourists on the bus who were headed to Santa Rosa, so we let them follow us to the next batch of buses. We chatted a while on the bus.
When we got to Santa Rosa, we found out when the last bus out to Gracias would leave, in 40 minutes, and went to the grocery store to get our supplies for the trip. Katie hadn't arrived yet, so if she came in time, we'd go to Gracias, and if she didn't, we'd stay in Santa Rosa.
Cid's father came with the tent and his brother came with the sleeping bags. I got to meet them both, but only very briefly. We were busy shopping and rushing to a bus and they were taking just a few minutes out of their days to meet us in our tight time frame.
Katie arrived, we checked out with our camping food, and hopped on the bus as it was pulling out. We arrived in Gracias around 6:30 and then had to search for a hostel. After a while, we settled on Corazon de Jesus. We later discovered that they had no water, no fans, warm rooms, cold showers, and were noisy.
We headed out to dinner, ate, and went to sleep. I was still feeling sick.

Week 37: The Early Rains and a Lack of Sleep

Day 253 April 17
I had a very slow morning and early afternoon. I showered, did the dishes, and took a half hour nap before leaving for the gymnastics competition at the school. I was lucky in that I got a ride up with Dona Olga. Angel, her son who is in Beth's third grade class, was talking to me about his recent discovery and new found love for energy drinks. Oh dear.
The gymnastics event was impressive. I was really proud of the kids, though it was all older grades, so I didn't have any participants. I took a lot of pictures for the Mayatan site. When it was over, I stayed and helped pick up trash in the dark and got one of the visiting teams into Beth's room, where they had left their things.
I walked home with Megan and then we caught a truck back. We stopped by her place to chat for a while. I was inspecting her house pretty closely. It's too early to fall in love with a house, but I was picturing where I could hang plants and rearrange things to suite my taste. I was also pleased because Megan had picked up my clothes from the seamstress. I tried them on and a few items were still too big, but I had more things I wanted to take also, so I wasn't worried about it. My too-stretched-out-to-wear skirt was wearable again, though!
I got home and helped Sierra with her computer before going to bed to read. I was asleep by 9. It was beautiful.


Day 254 April 18
I was up at 7. I did my laundry and made OJ. I took out the trash and went to meet Beth and Cathy on the corner of the park. Cathy picked us up in the truck and we went to Carla's house for brunch and a crazy Mother's Day committee meeting. All I will say, is that things will get done and the parents will enjoy it. Four hours later, we rode back to town.
I did more laundry and lounged around the house. I got to the school work I didn't do yesterday while transferring all my files from my old computer to my knew one. When I was done, I cleaned the house.
Folks came over for worship after 5. We ate, listened to the sermon, sang, and prayed. I had forgotten why I struggled with the evening services. After 7:30, I was too dead to be worth anything. The “it's a school night” switch went off and I was tired.
There was a huge storm with wind, lightening, and buckets of rain. I found Sierra, her friend Liz, Josue, and Cid on my roof. I was drenched just from walking up there. Sierra and Josue danced in it, but I stayed by the hammock until I went downstairs to go to bed.


Day 255 April 19
I walked to school in the mud, but the mountains are green again, the streets aren't dusty, and the air is fresh. However, the storm did a number on my classroom. Papers were blown everywhere, books were wet.
It got very hot during the day, but I had a productive day making sub plans, worksheets, and tests. After school, I have a make up spelling test. I then went over to Chris' room to grade ITBS tests with Anne, Abby, and Beth. I walked home with Chris and went straight to tutoring. We read a book together and then I rushed to finish my homework.
It appeared that a storm was approaching and 15 minutes before class, Luis wanted to cancel class because we'd get soaked at Guacamaya. I suggested we have class at Villamil and he agreed. 5 minutes before class, he sent me a text saying he thought it was better if we didn't have class.
Cid had called during my tutoring, so I called him back and we met at ViaVia. We hung out there for a while and then I headed home to bed.


Day 256 April 20
On the walk to school, Sierra and I witnessed a mother hen with her chicks...and a baby duck. The duck was just part of the family, it was adorable. I guess the family wants a duck and it can be raised by their chickens.
I had a good morning, but I found myself to be very tired and the kids got out of hand, probably as a result of my sleepiness, and so I quickly became more tired. Also, our trip to San Pedro (for tomorrow, to listen to a talk and pick new text books for 1st and 2nd grade) was canceled, so I had to call my sub and tell her not to come. I had also already finished my sub plans.
After school, I gave two ITBS make up tests and then had a staff meeting. Kathy saved the day by sharing our mother's day plans in a quick and concise fashion. After, we discussed, in the office, the events of the Sunday meeting.
I got a ride back with Megan and we got granitas together at Cafe Welchez. I left to go tutoring, which went well. After, I met with Rachael and we went to San Raphael for smoothies and a 3.5 hour talk. I left at 8:30 and immediately went to bed.


Day 257 April 21
It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do! We had a good day, good tests, good review, and we had mangoes at lunch! There was one fight, but that's not bad, considering everything else.
After school, I cleaned up, organized, and had my second productive day in a row after a few weeks of feeling...less than productive.
I started walking home and was surprised to see Cid walking up the hill toward me. He was walking up so that he could walk me home. I was a little giddy over it. We walked back and I did some grocery shopping. I tried to go to the market, but it was packed up a bit early.
I sat with Judie and Vicki in the park. Vicki is leaving Copan soon, so we talked a lot about where she's going and then came back to my house for a sip of Green Label, which she's never had. Vicki and I continued to talk for a long time after Judie left.
When Vicki left, I went out to buy some things and saw Chris. He was on his way to Picame for a baleada, which was my after-shopping plan, so I asked him to order me one too and I'd meet him in a minute. Chris and I ate and chatted until he went to class and then Denny joined me for a while.
I went back in the house and chatted with Sierra and her friend Liz for a while. There was some sort of teenager-party happening upstairs on the roof, and people were coming and getting confused about our apartment, so we closed the door. Judie came by again to talk.
I tried to go to bed at 8, but the kids were right outside my window and very loud. I would ask them to leave, and they would. However, there were so many people that more would come and the process continued for hours. We went out to talk to them, but they claimed to be doing homework (as they hid beers.) Once they were gone and it was quiet, it was so hot I still couldn't sleep.

Day 258 April 22
On my way to school, I dropped my keys off with Judie so that she could do her laundry during the day. I was tired and cranky, but we made the best of it and had a good day. It was Earth Day, and the 7th year that Earth Day has had an even more significant meaning to me. In Honor of Earth Day, and unbeknownst to them, only to me, in honor of Alex, we drew Earthy pictures and picked up trash around the school.
It was raining on my way home, and I had a taxi driver tell me it was weird that I didn't want a ride. I was only a little concerned about my books, but I love a warm rain. There have been many storms recently, but it is weeks early for the rainy season.
When I got home, I met Judie to get my keys and fixed the showers. I grabbed my umbrella because now it wasn't just raining, it was raining hard. The streets were rivers again. I walked to tutoring and managed to keep half of me dry, but my legs, feet, and skirt were beyond wet.
Isaac and I had a nice chat time and then we studied spelling. I became increasingly cold while I sat there in my wet clothes and by the time I went home, was rather frigid. I got home and took a hot shower.
When I got out, I headed over to Casa de Cafe to watch House, which I hadn't seen in forever. Cid got to catch me up. I then made it to bed shortly after 9.


Day 259 April 23
The end of this week has been good for morale in my class. We've had good tests grades, generally, good behavior, and my most troubling student earned a note home that said, “Edgar was very good today.” Which, has never happened before.
Today there was a presentation for “Dia del Idioma” or Language Day. It was a 2 hour block of time we were to dedicate to this presentation. Recess normally occurs in the middle of the presentation, so we rescheduled recess for the kids too. The presentation then ended an hour early. We had no warning, no plans, and it ended at my normal recess time, so my kids ended up with 3 recess periods instead of the normal 2.
We ended the day by starting on our Mother's Day photo frames. I stuck around school for a while to finish up some work and then caught a ride home with Megan and Alexis.
Megan and I got granitas before she departed to finish her paper. I had chatted with Marisol some about housing options and so we talked more about that. I stopped by Urban Promise on the way back home and none of my folks were there, just their guests. I introduced myself, but it all felt very awkward, so I left.
I went home and did my laundry. I took a shower and got dressed up with Sierra and Liz for a Fun Friday of our own. We went out to get wine and got the chick-discount, which I'm not sure I've ever gotten before. I went to dinner at the new pizza place, which I do like better than Jim's, with Theo, Beth, Nash, and Tammi. When we were done, we met everyone up on my roof. Folks came over and as more gathered, we migrated to ViaVia and later to Papa Changos, because Barcito was closed.

Week 36- Rastas in the House, ITBS, and Taxes

Day 246 April 10
When I went downstairs Sierra and the 4 folks who had stayed over were up and chatting. I joined for a while but came and went from the conversation as I started my laundry and took a shower. When I came out of my shower, breakfast had been prepared and I joined them all for a lovely meal, including coffee and tea. It was wonderful.
Sierra headed out on a hike to Yanotios and shortly after, the other’s left. I saw Jesse come into Picame so we chatted for a while. I spent the rest of the day cleaning, laundering, and reading. It was wonderful and relaxed. I cooked myself a large lunch with my left over veggies and got dinner in Picame. A slow, people-less, cleaning day was exactly what I needed.
Cid called and said he’d be over a bit after 7 to watch a movie, but he got held up at work and I fell asleep waiting. I woke up when he called again and went downstairs to wait. Abby and Allan were home and they startled me as much as I startled them, this time. I fell asleep on the couch again while waiting. Needless to say it was not a very eventful get together with me falling asleep. I certainly did not make it through the movie. I went to sleep around 9.
Around 1:30 I heard a lot of noise downstairs and at first ignored it, but it persisted. I could see people milling about outside the Picame door. I ventured down and peeked through the cracks, at first not seeing anyone, and I wasn’t going to open the door unless I could verify who they were. I then saw Giovanni laying in the street, looking pretty defeated, I assume about his chances of getting in the house. I opened the door and the 4 poured in, very thankful. I went back to sleep.

Day 247 April 11
I woke up at 7 and stayed in bed until 8:30. I went downstairs and asked the crew how long they’d been outside before I got them last night and they said maybe 10 minutes. We chatted for a while and they said they’d make breakfast again and if I wanted I could come to the river later. Maybe after church. They were also surprised that I’m so young. They thought I looked to be about 25 or 26. I’m glad for it, I am the youngest person in the Mayatan crowd and I’d rather have people think I’m a little older than I am than think I’m very young.
They made breakfast again, and it was delicious. Who would have thought orange and carrot made a great juice combination? Sierra came home and we decided we’d go hiking up to the “waterfalls” (in quotes because it’s the dry season) at 2. I headed off to “church” at Megan’s. We ate again and then listened to a sermon. We chatted about it and sang some songs. I left a little early because I didn’t want the group to leave without me and it was already 2.
We ended up waiting an hour on Caroline and her new friend Jorge, from Mexico. We stopped at Los Sapos and made it up to the waterfalls. We hiked down to the big one and further down to the jumping hole. We went exploring in the cave, after scaring away some bats, and over all enjoyed the trip. We got back to town around 6 and I bought bread in the bakery on the way back into town.
Sierra and I went home while the rest of the crew went out to sell jewelry and play music in the park for tips. I toasted up three loaves of my mini-bread for Sierra and I to munch on. It was tasty. She left for dinner at Josue’s and I showered and went upstairs to read. I woke up when Cid called at 8 or 8:30. Oops to falling asleep reading.
I woke up enough to watch Alice in Wonderland, which was fun. I usually struggle with Tim Burton films, but I think he pulled this one off well. I agree with James, he should go back and make the original. Shortly after the movie was over, I went back to sleep.

Day 248 April 12
I woke up, turned off my alarm, and woke up 30 minutes later. Oops. I got ready quickly enough and headed to school. I got set up and we started the day well. It actually went very quickly. The kids did well behaviorally on the ITBS tests and we had assembly and music, which we haven’t done in a while because we haven’t had school on a Monday in a while. I’ve been trying to keep everything hands on, 1) because it’s better for the kids and 2) to make up for all the sitting still during tests. The kids are getting better at self analyzing and one of my usual problem children asked for the frog (in closing circle you can’t speak unless you are holding the koosh frog) so that he could point out to me that his name was never written on the board or moved to the consequences chart. I hadn’t even noticed, but praised him in the moment and thanked him for pointing it out.
After school, I cancelled my tutoring for a parent meeting that never happened. I had tutoring pushed back for Isaac’s group work project meeting. I cancelled class because tutoring would go late and then tutoring got cancelled by Isaac. I still didn’t have enough time to finish my homework, so I didn’t un-cancel class.
The folks who had been staying at our house had been asked to leave by the landlord, and Lucia had given me a braclet. The guys invited us over to their hotel for dinner. I got a smoothie with Chris and had a heart to heart with Sierra before Chris called and we headed over to see if they were cooking yet. They were on a very different time table than we were, so at 8 they were still no where near ready to start cooking. I gave up on the venture and returned home.

Day 249 April 13
I reset my alarm for 20 minutes later and still left on time. The kids and I had a good day at school and it‘s our second to last day of ITBS! I had a nice chat with John about the tests, which was a comfort to me after skipping out on his angry meeting because James was in town. I wasn‘t sure if he held it against me or not. I don‘t know John well, but I figured that, if I understand him correctly, me missing the meeting would only be an issue if I botched up the tests or in the computer lab. If I can pull off exactly what he wants without his meeting, it‘s the same to him. But, if I do something off, he‘ll blame it on my missing his meeting. So far so good on not botching, and so far so good on not upsetting him. Boom.
In the closing circle, Fernando pointed out, for the second day in a row, that his name was never on the board. I told him that I had noticed today and I was still very proud of him. I had tutorias in preparation for recoup exams. After, we had a staff meeting, which was fun as always. I rushed home and went to tutoring. Isaac is certainly out of the routine and his attention was hard to keep. There was also an obnoxious woman there who liked to roll her eyes at Jaqui and make ridiculous requests. She played loud music on her phone which made it even harder to keep Isaac focused. I was not impressed.
Some of the local hustlers asked me where the man went, if he left. I ignored them, but I assume they mean James. So the fact that I was wondering around with a giant (for here) was noticed. One of them is a taxi driver who never says anything to me, just makes faces, but always tells my friends I’m pretty. He got his friend to ask me about my brother while he made faces. Classy, guy. You keep on being classy.
Class with Luis was cancelled again. I had assumed we would meet at 5, which is the only time I ever have class, but he thought 3 would be better. He has French class at 6 so he can’t at 5. I never can at 3. I never have been able to. Ah well. We said we’d work something out for the future or I’d get a new teacher. Class is set up, time and all, for tomorrow.
As I’m writing, a stupid mosquito just bit me on the underside of the joint of my big toe. That is going to itch and I hate itching. I am not happy about it. He’s a jerk. And dead.
I went out and got some grocery shopping done and came back to relax at the house with my roommates. Abby was buzzing off Allan’s hair. I helped with all my hair buzzing expertise, but mostly just took pictures.
After a while I went out and saw the folks who had been staying in our house and then met up with Cid. I saw a few folks while I was out but around 9 decided it was time to come to bed.

Day 250 April 14
Today was the last day of ITBS testing! We had a good day and celebrated a little. We used my Solargraphics paper, which is about 10 years old, and some of them worked, but some did not. It was a fun activity.
I did my taxes at school, but there was a problem and they were returned to me. So I tried again, resent, and heard nothing back.
After school I gave a little more than half my recuperation exams and then walked home with Megan and Eileen. We got a ride with Mario, went to our houses, and reconvened for granitas. We then headed to the salon by the cemetery for hair cuts. 80 lemps for a cut and wash is okay by me.
I left and went to class where we went over my diary of James’ visit. After class I helped Luis shop for a new dress shirt for the French Alliance meeting in Guacamaya.
I went home and got a baleada and juice in Picame. I took out my computer and rechecked my e-mail for wordon my taxes, but heard back nothing. No news is good news, right?
Denny was in Picame and we sat and talked for a long time. After a while, Sierra joined us, but had a hard time understanding the conversation. Around 8:30 Cid came and joined us too, but it was nearing bed time. I hung around a while longer before turning in.


Day 251 April 15
First thing in the morning, I checked my e-mail and there is still a problem with my taxes. Crap. I was pretty distracted all day and did not feel like a teacher. I threw away a lot of my plans and did filler things. They were still productive, but not as productive as my original plans. I had an online chat session with a woman from H&R Block who told me that since I'd already filed my taxes I would have to contact the IRS to find out and fix the problem. Goody.
After a talk with David about extensions, possibilities, and the law, I felt better about the situation and decided to drop it until I go home.
I gave the last of my recuperation exams and turned in my grades to Marisol. While I was waiting to go home, Gilda asked if I had lice. I said that I didn't think so, and I hope no. she said that apparently one of my girls had been full of lice. She had so much hair and it was all full. I am now paranoid again.
I got a ride home with Mario and Megan. I showered and paid the electric bill. I snagged a smoothy with Sierra and went to tutoring. After tutoring, I went to class. I immediately left class and went to the house warming party Micheal and Eileen were throwing for their new house.
The party was a lot of fun and there were some kids there as well as neighborhood kids hanging around outside who wouldn't come in. I went out and played for a while. I was a jungle gym. Kids were hanging all over me. Some of them thought it was a good idea to tickle me Things started getting out of hand after that. I had to hold one of the boys away from my body as he had never been taught what sorts of behavior were appropriate. I was impressed with my strength as I held him out with one arm. When I put him down, I went back inside with the others.
Mom called in response to a panicked tax e-mail I'd sent that morning. She was relieved to hear David had comforted me and I understood that it would all work out. We talked a but about housing as i'm considering living by myself for the first time in my life. We'll see what comes of that.
About 9 I headed home and went to sleep.

Day 252 April 16
Happy Friday! We had a fun day at school. We had both a “Fun Friday” for the last period and a “Shoeless Party” during science class. Why? Because we can.
Though, the day did start strangely. Ferjardo came into my class at the start of the day with his son. He stood in the door and his 1st grade son walked up to me, through my students who were waiting for class to start, shaking. He said, “Good morning Miss,” and still shaking, handed me 5 of my animal figurines. It was pretty awkward because I didn't want to have “the talk” with all of my students watching, but I did want to know what exactly had happened. It would appear that he stole them from me and Ferjardo found out. From the shaking, I hope he has learned his lesson.
I stayed after school for a while to clean up and set up for next week. I then walked home and ran into Rachael and her surprise visitor, Paul in Picame. I joined them for a smoothie. We set up game night and started calling to let people know when and where. I went in and started cleaning up the house. I swept up and made coffee so I could survive the night. I read a little, did some more school work, and showered. I cooked dinner and chatted with Abby.
We both finished up dinner about the time Game Night was supposed to start. Everyone was late by at least 45 minutes. Cid was the first one over and he didn't even know there was a game night until he called to see what I was up to when he got off work.
Ever came over for a bit but did not stay. Eventually Blair, Francisco, Rachael, and Paul came over too. We played three rounds of Mexican Train. I teamed with Cid until Blair left. I am still too competitive for my own good, but by the last round I was doing a little better. I ended up 3rd out of 9. Folks stayed until about 2, but I left to go out around 10.

Week 35: The End of James' Visit and ITBS

Day 239 April 3
James and I met up and got breakfast at ViaVia while we waited for Jesse. A few kids stole a tip from the table behind us and the nice tourist we ended up seeing all over town for several days tried to chase them down. He said they hang out here a lot.
When Jesse arrived, we headed out and as we did James mentioned wanting a machete. We stopped off in a store and bought one, carrying case at all. It was to be James’ for the week and mine when he left (until I bring it home to him.)
We hiked up to Hacienda San Lucas and hung out in the yoga pavilion while Jesse paid the trail fee and got us Jamaica tea. It was a beautiful spot.
We went to Los Sapos Mayan fertility shrine and then headed up toward the waterfalls. Because it’s the dry season, we skipped the waterfalls but found a waterhole to jump in to cool off. We then went to lunch at La Pintata. The kids that were there sang for us and waited very patiently for us to finish so they could have our leftovers.
We hiked back down to the zip line, where we met with Cid and a couple (the woman wouldn’t go alone and screamed a lot.) We had a blast and it went a lot quicker than I think it did the last time I went. One of the guides told me I’m very strong. My favorite part was the last line when we zipped over all the people swimming and picnicking at the river.
We took a truck back but stopped off at the bar in the river, which is only up and operational during Semana Santa, I think. Beers were had and we helped one of the locals we know track down his runned-off daughter. He then offered us a ride back to town, which was a bit of an awkward ride with her right there, fuming.
James and I took showers when we got back. While we were at my house, my roommates came back. Poor Abby and Allan had tried to go to Omoha, which was so packed they couldn’t even swim so they came back early. Sierra came back also after a rough break-up filled vacation.
James and I had dinner at Isaac’s mom’s restaurant and we were both so exhausted that we didn’t talk much. Hopefully Jaqui doesn’t think we hate each other.
We went to ViaVia and Jesse and some friends had a paid show which I really wanted to see, but as it approached 9 I lost all faculty over my mind and couldn’t even help James with the most basic Spanish. (“How do you say,”Inside?” “I don’t know.”) We both decided it was best if I went to bed. I apparently missed the cops breaking up the show because one of the players owed a hotel money.

Day 240 April 4
I was up early for early church at Megan’s house. We ate pancakes and listened to a very good sermon. We sang a few Easter songs and talked over the sermon. It was very nice and, though it was just Megan, Francisco, and me, it was nice to be with the little community we’ve built here.
James and I met in front of the church at 9:55, as agreed. The printed schedule and all word of mouth confirmed that the procession was to start at the top of the hill at 9 and mass would start when they got to this church, at roughly 10. However, when we were about to walk inside, I was alarmed to see the priest run out of the church, hop in a taxi, and drive away. James, who didn’t know it was the priest didn’t understand my confusion. The church was closed and it we waited a while before determining that it could easily be hours before mass would start. We grabbed computers and went to Casa Villamil, where we were able to watch the procession an hour and a half later.
We met Jesse in Picame, bought green mangos-which James had fallen in love with- and hopped on a very crowded bus to Santa Rita. We got there and started down the path to El Ruby, one of my favorite waterfalls. Two boys joined us, which was slightly unnerving, but they were fine and split with us after a while. Jesse did most of the talking with them and I translated amusing or relevant parts to James. When I said, “See, I could be a translator.” One of the boys, who claimed to know me, laughed and looked back.
We decided to go up to the top of the main falls and rock climb back down. James’ new machete came with us and we practically spelunked down the cavern of rocks and waterfalls. James almost lost his leg when he moved a friggin bolder into the river, but all ended well.
When we got to the jumping point, with 25-30 foot jumps into the water below, a lot of Hondurans were hanging around and joined us in a few jumps. A dog that was sniffing around them followed us for the rest of our journey. Sometimes, when she felt like the water was too deep for her, she would whine until we encouraged her to keep coming. When we did leave on the bus, she was heart broken. Also, James got his finger stuck in the mouth of a water bottle and we had to cut it and twist it off to help. He was afraid it would dislocate, but the whole situation was hilarious.
We got back and James took a nap. I showered, bought toilet paper for the house, did some laundry, and tried to call Sierra when Josue came over looking for her.
James and I met up to have Easter dinner at Twisted Tanya’s however, they are apparently always closed on Sundays. Instead, we went to the Marina Copan and were waited on my student, Fernando’s, mother. It was delicious.
We went to ViaVia, and I left James for a while with my buddy Mark to meet up with Kelvin as it was his last night in town. Kelvin wanted to go back to ViaVia, so we did and then he left about 10 minutes later. I didn’t stay out late, as I was worn out again.

Day 241 April 5
I was up at 7:30 and James came by early. The power had gone off at 7, so I showered in the dark. James and I caught a rushed breakfast at Vamos a Ver before going to his hotel to catch our ride to the coffee tour. Our guide was an aquantance of mine from town named Edgar.
The tour was a lot of fun. I learned more about my good friend coffee and discovered that I already knew a fair amount more than I realized. The plantation was beautiful. Like I do on any type of tour, I’m sure I confused my guide with the types of pictures I took, though I also took pictures of coffee related items, I mostly focused on the ants.
The van ride back was blasting some 80s classics and James and I had fun with those. We went by Villamil for a coffee. On the way back to his hotel, I stopped by the correo to pick up the package I had known about 10 days ago, but had been unable to get because the correo was closed the whole time. We took it back to James hotel, and he opened it on his bed.
This, we would soon learn, was a mistake. One package of peeps had been discovered by a colony of red ants who had moved into my package so much that they had eggs. I never spotted a queen, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t there. We killed about 200 on his bed and I took the package out to slowly pick through the salvageable items. Everything but that one package and the plastic bags was fine.
Luckily they were already planning to change James’ room. We explained about the ants and went to ViaVia, across the street, to wait for the owner to come back so we could switch rooms. While we were there we briefly ran into Cid, invited Mark to join us, and Heidi came by to tell James how special he is to me.
We went back to change James’ room and as I left him to set up, I ran into Jose. He said he was hungry but didn’t want to come over to have me make him something. I saw Edgar in the park and asked how his other tour had gone. Apparently, they always go well.
Once home, I finally started planning for the school week. I cleaned up my room a bit. Memo came by, looking for Megan, and this time I could help him. I dropped off copies myself for the first time and then went to get James.
We went up to the Fort, but the museum was closed. We did however see a beautiful sunset.
I took him to Katia’s mom’s comedor to have the best baleadas in town. He agreed. We then went back to town to watch the Hurtlocker at ViaVia. When we left the movie, Cid was sitting downstairs, but I simply didn’t have the energy to not be in bed. I went home and collapsed.

Day 242 April 6
I was up at 4:45 and left by 5:25. I put up my new spring time decorations from Nana and Granddaddy and prepared for the day. The kids started out really talkative, but calmed down and we had a great day. By the end of reading groups, James had arrived. (When they first arrived at school I was bombarded with, “And your brother, Miss?”s)
He set up for a little lesson during recess and it was really nice to have a second person to help manage all activities. We had a lot of good activities and they loved James.
James said if he had to keep a pace like that all day he’d be exhausted. Yes, that is why I go to bed at 8:30. I had prior permission to leave at 1:45 during the two days that my brother was in town, so I was able to skip the “emergency meeting” that apparently then turned disastrous. Sierra came home while James and I were preparing our next move and was near tears because of the fight she and Mr. John had as a result of the meeting. Oh dear.
James and I went up to the fort again and climbed up in one of the towers. We decided to skip the museum and went back to town to do a little tourist shopping. I helped him pick out something for his girlfriend, but I just showed him the sort of thing he wanted to look at. He did the picking.
We broke open the Johnnie on my roof. We then tried to have dinner at Twisted Tanya’s for the second time, but they were apparently vacationing in Tela. Instead we went to Llama del Bosque, which was fine.
For a variety of reasons, all the usual bars were closed, so we went to the Lost Monkey and met up with Cid and a couple of tourists. Shortly after the couple went to bed, I departed, leaving James and Cid at the Lost Monkey.

Day 243 April 7
I left for school at a more normal time. We had a good morning and the kids did well on their first ITBS test section. I only had to teach one real class and then they had PE or Library. However, the second ITBS was pretty horrible.
It was a reading comprehension test, 25 minutes in length. I had about 7 kids refuse to read the passages and finish before 10 minutes was up. I tried to explain they needed to go back and read the passages…to try. I can’t force them to do it, though and they can’t keep still and quiet for that long (I’m not supposed to let them talk, read, draw, or do anything except work on the test.) We had a long talk after about the importance of trying on these tests, which was particularly important because in the morning they’d have the second part of the reading comp and I wanted them to do better.
The last class of the day was okay, but not great. Though, in the closing meeting Yoela said, “Today, we were bad Miss and I was very bad.” She and I talked about it some and hopefully things will get better.
I rushed past other teachers to get home and found James waiting in Picame. He had gone hiking and had gotten back about 15 minutes ago. He was hungry, so we went to Jim’s Pizza for lunch. When we were done eating, we went down to the Hedman Alas station to get him a bus ticket. I was afraid he’d have to take the 7, get to San Pedro at 10, and wait until his flight at 5:30, but there was a 10:30. Much better.
We caught a taxi to the bird park and as we pulled in another taxi was pulling out with tourists who explained that it wasn’t open. I have no idea why. We went back to town and I set up a massage appointment at Casa de Café.
We saw Mark on the way over and chatted for a bit. I was afraid of being late to the appointment, but that was silly. I obviously forgot what country I’m in. I had my computer so I continued trying to figure out the ins and outs and setting it up how I like it.
James loved his massage. It rained and thundered some during it, which added to the effect. We went back to town and I hung out in Jesse’s store while James showered. We went for a second round of baleadas at Katia’s mom’s place and found Travis the Peace Corps volunteer eating there. We sat and chatted for a while. He only has 2 weeks left in his time here.
After dinner, we made sure James had everything from my house and I got the machete. I set him up at ViaVia, where he later ran into Mark. We said our goodbyes and I went to bed.

Day 244 April 8
The kids did much better with the ITBS reading comprehension section. It seems as though they actually read and tried. Lecture success.
We were doing an “Up and at ‘em” math activity when Megan came by for a 5 minute observation. It’s the first one of those that I didn’t feel like I was floundering.
I had spelling tutoring after school, but still wasn’t tutoring for Isaac. We had talked about how my brother had been in town and I couldn’t this week, but his mom called because he didn’t understand the spelling words. I told her I still couldn’t come, because I had a prior obligation, but was also frustrated because studying for spelling is something anyone can help him do and he could, were he motivated enough, so it on his own. He’s not that motivated, but she doesn’t need to know English to help him study for that.
My prior obligation was to help Urban Promise clean up their new office. I tackled a bathroom and, if I do say so myself, it was beautiful when I was done with it. We made baleadas, which were the greasiest I’ve ever had, but very good. Abby came by at the end and we talked for a while.
I headed home with her and grabbed a shower. There were about 12 people coming over, which I hadn’t known, for dinner. After about 2 weeks without much time to myself the idea of 12 people, several of whom would be children, in my face seemed terrible. Maybe had it been a different day I would have been happy to stay.
Hsuan arrived while I was still in the shower and he was in need of a shower, so when I was done we offered it to him. I left as the others started arriving. I ran into Marlon, from Hsuan’s orphanage on my way out and he wanted to know where Hsuan was (after a big hug, of course). I brought him to the house, asked Abby if she had enough to feed one more mouth, and then left. As I turned onto the park, Marlon was there, running from the other direction (he had apparently done a circuit looking for me as he didn’t understand why I was leaving.) I explained that I had already eaten and was meeting a friend. He went back to the house. I love that kid.
I went to Casa de Café and hung out with Cid until I needed to go to bed. I headed home and saw Hsuan and Marlon leaving. They both looked happy and full. We chatted for a moment and Abby was impressed with my timing as everyone had just left.

Day 245 April 9
The kids behaved well considering the length of today’s tests. I promised them that if they were good we’d have a Fun Friday and we almost didn’t make it, but we did. I passed out their report cards before they left. I spent my free periods grading and working on the new computer.
I didn’t stay long after school because it was so hot. I got home and showered. I met Megan for granitas to go and we went to the seamstress’ house to see if Megan’s things were reading and drop off mine. Megan’s were not, and I showed her all the things I wanted work on, which were many.
I stopped by UPH on my way back to talk to Francisco about game night. I headed home to cook for said game night only to discover the veggies I had planned to cook for my brother and never had the chance were molded. I read for a while and had a 30-45 minute conversation with my 4 year-old-neighbor through my window. She is cute as can be.
I met several of the teachers at Twisted Tanya’s, which was open again. I only stayed for half an hour and then I left.
I picked up chips on the way to Francisco’s house and called Luis to see if he wanted to walk together. I haven’t heard from him in so long, either. He said he’d be coming late, so I went on without him. No one else came for about an hour, but Francisco and I had a lovely chat. Luis ended up not coming at all and Megan, Jorge, Allan, and Abby all arrived at about the same time.
We ate chicken and potatoes and played 4 rounds of Mexican Train dominos. I won the first round and was 3rd of 6 in the over all scoring. It was intense at times and a lot of fun.
I left to head back into town and saw Sierra with a crowd headed to Jesse’s house. I stopped in for a bit but didn’t stay long. I met Mark and Cid at Barcito. We sat and chatted for a while. Sierra came by later for my keys and to ask if some people could sleep in our downstairs. I said sure. A while later, Nash, Theo, Vanessa, Jesse, and a few tourists came by. Theo had a bottle of Jameson’s which I haven’t seen in a while.
When Barcito closed we all migrated to Papa Chango’s. We were the only people there for a while. I actually got up the nerve to dance a little. Eventually, I got sleepy and headed home.
There were a variety of people sleeping downstairs and I used to my phone light to get to the kitchen and back to the stairs.

Week 34: Semana Santa and James' Arrival

Day 232 March 27
I had the laziest morning and afternoon. I woke up around 7:30 and lounged around. I took a shower, finished my book, The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho (I really enjoyed this story. Especially compared to the last two I tried to read. Coelho shows how to do different perspectives well and cohesively. Some things were repeated through different eyes but each voice and each character were different. It was pieced together like history even though it was wholly fictional. Pushing the Bear, which was history, was constructed so poorly I wanted to disagree with her viewpoint even though I agreed with her.), and went back to sleep around 10.
I woke up at 12:30 and had missed 3 calls from Luis. I called him back and he informed me that it was too late. Sleepy and confused I asked for what. Apparently the Correo was closing at 12 and would remain closed for the rest of the week for Semana Santa and I had a package. I was too late. Ah well.
I spent the next few hours listening to music, cooking, cleaning, sitting, typing, drinking coffee, and all in all not doing much. Allan, Abby, and her parents are in Antigua for I don’t know how long and I had the house to myself. I decided to take advantage of this fact.
Megan called me and we set up a dinner and a movie date for 7 in ViaVia. I continued in my lazy day.
I’m becoming increasingly aware of how long it takes a peeling sunburn to go away. It never even hurt that much, but it’s been a week and a half and I can’t stop my skin from peeling. Ah well, it is the nature of the beast. Luckily it’s only happened once before and I find it relatively easy to avoid.
I did not leave my house until just before 7 and I met Megan for dinner. Fransico and two of his friends happened to be getting a couple of drinks there, so they joined us and the 5 of us had a lovely chat.
Around 8:30 Megan and I left and outside of Jesse’s store I found Jesse, Marion, Cid, and a few others gathered on the side walk. I sat with them until we all migrated to Jesse’s old house. We picked up a couple of tourists who hung out with us and we all spoke a menagerie of English, Spanish, and French. Spanish being the main common language. I actually managed to stay up well past my bedtime, but when the time came I was dead.

Day 233 March 28
I was up earlier than desired, but that’s the way sometimes. I got ready to go to church with Megan and Francisco. Since the church is always full on special Sundays, we agreed to meet outside at 9:30. However, when I got there, it was empty. When they got there, it was still empty. We took a seat beside a fan near the front. As we waited, until10:40, we read Bible verses, discussed the protestant/catholic divide in Central America, and discovered the reason for the lack of crowd.
Only the Catholics celebrate Easter to any real degree. Only the Catholics celebrate Palm Sunday. The running theory is that it is a way for the protestants to be as non-Catholic as possible. I don’t know if this is the case, but it’s the best theory we have right now.
Also, the majority of the congregation came in together at 10:40 after doing a Palm Sunday procession from the Catholic church up the hill. We missed it, but it was fun to watch everyone come in with their palms together.
After mass, we met at Picame for lunch and we talked for a long time about religion and other things. I was actually able to get a partial translation of the homily. We sat from 12:30-3 talking, eating, and drinking coffee. We then dispersed and I met Alex at Villamil for some interneting. I got to Skype with mom and dad, and during the conversation, David came over.
Around 7:30, I met up with Cid and we went to “Blake30!” for Blake’s 30th birthday party. It was fun and there was a large group of people, from many different circles in town, at the party. I think Blake had fun and the party went through a variety of stages including everyone wearing fake mustaches.
Franqui invited me to come watch Ice Age 3 with him and Nilvio sometime, but we never settled on a time. I mingled a lot and enjoyed the lime-watermelon juice.
Around 11 I headed home for bed.

Day 234 March 29
I was up and out by around 9. I met Megan for coffee and sent off an e-mail to reserve a room for James and me when he gets to San Pedro. Megan and I chatted, gossiped, and I did my homework.
I left to go to class and Luis and I talked about the party some. I read about the Mayans and was given the homework of “write a story.” We’ll see what I can do.
After class, I went straight to the market and brought everything with me to Megan’s so I wouldn’t be too late for lunch, which she invited me to.
Jorge was already there and we watched some Mr. Bean while enjoying our tuna melt sandwiches. I left at 2 to drop off my groceries and meet Kelvin, who just got back into town, for coffee.
Kelvin and I started at Yat Balam and moved to ViaVia. We then hung out at my house, talking and catching up on the last month and a half since he moved until 5 when we went to Alex’s house to meet Alex, Megan, and Jorge for a showing of the Newsies, which I had never seen. It was a lot of fun and now there is talk of a weekly musical night. We need to get our hands on some musicals first.
Alex, Kelvin, and I moved down into town for some food and drinks at ViaVia. We stopped by Jesse’s store to chat and Cid called and met up with us. Our table was very transient as different folks we new from town came and went. At one point we had me, Cid, Kelvin, Alex, Alex the archeologist, Mark the archeologist, and Diana. After a while we moved to Barcito.
We didn’t stay in Barcito for very long, but while we were there, we met a couple of tourists including a young man who’s working in the peace corps elsewhere in Honduras and was the president of my brother’s freshman hall at RMC (Chad Ryerson?). It was toward the end of my night so we didn’t talk a whole lot, but it was interesting and sometimes I am just amazed at both how large and how small the world is.

Day 235 March 30
I tried to go to the bank around 8:30 but quickly realized that I was standing in a 2 hour line. I left and, for the first time, used my ATM card. It works! Megan was running late, so I picked us up cappuccinos to go. We went shopping for about an hour and it was very successful. During the last 8 months my clothes have begun to stretch out to where they were not as wearable, get holes, they were bleached (both by me and when I took them to be washed), lost, and otherwise becoming difficult to wear. I didn’t have much to begin with, but now I was really feeling a lack of options, except long sleeves, which are becoming less and less useful. It is hot these days!
Megan was perfect to shop with and during our perusing I picked up a pair of shoes, three shirts, and a pair of jeans for about $35 total. It was very productive. When we split ways I went to the bank and got out my pay before they close for the rest of Semana Santa and James arrives.
I went to the Cruz Bueso and picked up some more grocery items after budgeting my monthly spending (this much a week, this much for my caseta bill, this many classes at Guacamaya, etc.) I finally picked up nail polish remover and repainted my toes.
I then went to Villamil where I came across Alex. We talked for a while and I finalized reservations for San Pedro, chatted with Mom, got flight confirmations from my brother (who will only be here 7 days, not 10.)
Around 2 I left and came home to nap. I read about a chapter in my book and went to sleep for a little less than 2 hours. I woke up when Abby, Allan, and parents came home. I came downstairs and started up my laundry while I made coffee and chatted.
A bit after 5 they left to go to the hotel and I finished my laundry and cleaned up the kitchen some. I took a shower, read, and listened to music for a while, enjoying the downtime.
Around 6:30 I went into town to meet up with Jesse, but got distracted in the park by, first, Heidi, and, later, Judy. They liked my new clothes. We chatted for a while and I got to pet Heidi’s dog Baby (Side note: I forgot to mention after my dinner at Dona Nora’s that I fell in love with her dog, Mocha, who is a white cocker-poodle mix and looks just like Wallie. Normally Mocha doesn’t take to people very well, so Nora was impressed with how well we got along.)
Sometime after 7 Cid called and met me in the park. We left the ladies and he informed me that while he’d been calling around checking for hotels for James to stay in, he’d learned that not only was the bus schedule different on the Thursday and Friday of Semana Santa, but that this week they were not existent. There’s not one bus service working between here and San Pedro.
To take the buses, I’d have to go tomorrow and stay 3 nights. James would have to stay 2 nights and we’d come back on Saturday. No thanks. Cid said he could get us a ride with a friend, who I also know as the father of one of Abby’s students. He was actually hanging out in the park with his wife and daughter so we set up a ride and negotiated a pricing, getting a $30 discount for being us.
After setting up the ride, we marched to a hotel across from ViaVia and Tun Club, which I think is a good location for James and closer to town. I asked to see a room, but they’re full, so I couldn’t. Cid says they’re good rooms, and the price is right (and they have vacancies!), so I put down a reservation. They wouldn’t give us a discount for the weekend, just because it’s Semana Santa, but for the other days James will stay there we got a discounted rate, which evens out to about 20$ a night.
Having all of that sorted out, and being saved by Cid The Incredible, we went to hang out with Jesse for a while. Cid’s cousin met up with us for a while and we went to Barcito before going to ViaVia. I made an earlier night of it than usual and went home at 10.

Day 236 March 31
I woke up and as I came down the stairs Abby, Allan, and parents came in the door. They were having breakfast before going to see the missionaries work. I chatted with them before they headed out. I showered and did my homework before going to class.
I went to class early so that I could get some school work done and e-mail the hotel in San Pedro to tell them I was not coming and they should not pick us up at the airport. I do not like Spanish keyboards.
Class was two hours and I drank a lot of coffee. I feel it was productive but I think our 1 hour sessions are better.
When I left class I came home and cleaned up. I did the dishes, swept out the house, and started doing general prep for James’ arrival. At 2, Cid called and he and his cousins picked me up in a taxi to go to the bird park. I met two more cousins and a “niece.” It was a little chilly for swimming, but it was nice all the same. I taught the niece, Suna to make boats with leaves and twigs. I also showed her insect eggs in the leaves. This was all fascinating for her and I was less timid with my Spanish. I feel as though my timidness with my Spanish has gotten worse, not better as time went on. I need to fix this.
We hung out at the bird park for a few hours and Megan called to invite me to the river, but we agreed to meet up later instead. We did meet at Picame for dinner, which was fun.
Shortly after they left, Judy came by. She was having a rough night and was locked out of her house. I offered her one of the many available sleeping spots in my house and she almost stayed the night but while we were talking (and I was cleaning) her landlord called and said they’d been able to get it open. She decided to wait a while so that her husband, who’d been drinking, would have time to get to sleep.
Shortly after she left I went to sleep.

Day 237 April Fool’s
I met Megan and Heidi in the park to get some coffee. I met Saul for the first time while we were at ViaVia.
When I left then I finished my house cleaning and got Saldo. I rigged up a list of things James and I could do while he was here before going to meet my driver.
He spoke English, and so we spoke Spanglish the whole way to San Pedro. It was a fine ride. I was hit on while I was waiting for James and the new starter lines tend to be “So, are you married?” or “How many kids do you have?” In this case, we had just been talking about my job and so I told him I had 20. No,no, he said, how many kids do YOU have. Oops.
I spotted James coming through immigration and gave mom a quick call. We hopped in the car and chatted the whole way back to Copan.
We got James set up in his hotel and I showed him my house and roof. We went to dinner at the restaurant on the corner for a nice Honduran experience. Cid met us there and joined us for a drink.
We went out to the park to see the Catholic church making mats in the street. They had it blocked off from cars and many different vibrant colors of sawdust which they lay down with stencils to make a variety of patters. They were beautiful. We ran into several people that I knew and I got to introduce them to James.
Francisco, James, and I went to ViaVia to do a rough plan of his week here. We walked to my house to get James my alarm clock, walked him back to the hotel, and then Fancisco walked me back to my house before we parted ways.

Day 238 April 2
James woke up early and came while I was in the shower. I finished getting ready and we headed out to the ruins. There was another groups going with Juan Carlos and they allowed us to join them. We chipped in for the guide, but it was much less than if we had gotten one for ourselves, which was good since the ruins will no longer recognize the Mayatan discount. They still claim to, but “we don’t have a list.” It frustrates me.
We bought tickets to go in the tunnels also, which was really cool, but I probably won’t have someone buy me a ticket to do it again. It was a “now I’ve done it” sort of deal. After the tour, James and I stuck around a little more to explore other nooks and crannies that aren’t as impressive and the guides never go to. I was glad to get to see some new things and places. We also got to snag a few more pictures without fear of holding up the family. We came across a storage place for replicas and ruins being pieced together, which was interesting.
We got back and were hungry for some lunch. We went to Villamil where I introduced him to some new foods and we interneted a little. After lunch, James wanted a little nap time and so I took the opportunity to edit my photos.
On James’ way back to my house he saw Cid and told him we’d pop by the hotel for a bit of coffee, so we did. When we got there, Cid wasn’t there. Angela set us up out on the patio. Cid joined us for a bit and then we headed to Twisted Tanyas for drinks.
We ate dinner at Picame, where James had his first baleada. Delicious.
We went up on the roof and chatted for a while before hitting ViaVia, Tun Club(which was not doing karaoke), and Barcito. We met up with a number of people, some I knew and some I didn’t and I finally headed home to bed at 1.