Friday, November 30, 2012

An American Thanksgiving in Honduras


November 29, 2012

Thanksgiving break arrived upon us in what felt like record time.  While August, September, October and the majority of November has gone by quickly we were still exhausted as teachers and ready for a break.  We were also stoked because we would get to travel to a real city!  We spent weeks preparing/reminding each other of all the great things we would get to experience and see and more importantly all the wonderful food that we would have. 

On Wednesday morning we met at our principal’s house who was going to drive us in his truck to Santa Barbara where, if we were on time, we would catch a direct bus to Tegucigalpa (known to Hondurans as Teguc), but we would actually get off at a rest stop about halfway where the Gracias teachers who were traveling on an Abundant Life bus would meet us and pick us up.  This was a great plan, but things quickly ran off course.  First, Jake accidentally slept in so when we were all ready to leave at 6 am we were missing him and had to call and wake him up.  He got ready quick though and we were on our way to pick up a few people and things on our way out of town.  Just as we got everything and everyone loaded in the truck started smoking and when the hood was opened we found that the truck had actually lit on fire.  The next best option was to walk to the main road and catch the 7ish bus out of town to Santa Barbara.  We did this and the ride wasn’t too bad, but since it left later we had missed our direct bus so we took a packed mini-bus.  There were no seats left and so we stood in the aisle basically on top of each other staring at the floor because the bus was just a bit short.  This took us to an intersection where we got off and waited for a mode of transportation that was heading in our direction.  A few minutes later a large van stopped and said they would take us to the rest area to meet our group.  We once again piled in to a tight space, but we arrived to meet the Gracias teachers…and Surprise! Their students too.  This meant another very full bus and with loud students, but the good news was they had gotten us all chicken sandwiches and fries from Wendy’s.  We finally arrived at our hotel in Teguc to discover that all of the girls (students and teachers) had been placed into one large bunk room that was just packed with bunk beds…and had only 1 bathroom.  After the frustrating day of travel we had and the screaming students we couldn’t handle it so we had a conversation with Jake who, bless his heart, was able to get the La Union female teachers their own room.  We took quiet naps and relaxed before we met for some Pizza Hut and got ready for a benefit concert at the Vida Abundante church.  Of course as a side note, this is when my body decided to rebel against me and I was stricken with a cold. 

The evening was spent at a concert that was actually a benefit for our La Union school.  I don’t remember the name of the group but it was 4 young people who played guitar together and had dancers that danced to a few of their songs.  Unfortunately for us it had been a long day and the concert was not of the super exciting kind so it nearly put us to sleep.  We gratefully retired to bed after it. 

On Thursday we went the Abundant Life School in Teguc and had breakfast.  We also got to see a bit of the school which was pretty cool and made us La Union teachers a bit jealous.  After the school we went to the Vida Abundante clinic and received a tour.  Many teachers, including myself, also had our eyes checked.  Glasses here are much cheaper even for designer frames like 50-100 dollars including exam, lenses and frames.  Unfortunately since I am so blind my lenses are very thick and they don’t have the lens thinning here so I decided to wait for a new pair when I get back to the states.  Once we had seen everything we went on to lunch at a local pizza place which was really good.  In the afternoon we stopped by a cultural fair that was being set up and took a look around; it was fun because it was taking place in this really old prison so it was quite unique.  We then went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. 
The table was all set

For us La Union teachers dinner was an exciting affair because we haven’t dressed up for anything and rarely put make-up on or do our hair.  So we got ourselves all dolled up and joined the whole group for dinner at one of the directors’ houses.  It was AMAZING! Her house was up in the mountains around Teguc and was absolutely gorgeous even by American standards and was all decorated for Christmas.  We spent time talking with everyone and thanking God for all of the wonderful gifts we have been given in our lives.  The food was great and much like a typical Thanksgiving at home.  We had turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, fruit salad with candied pecans, wine and pumpkin flavored flan for dessert.  My stomach and I were very content and I was able to sleep well that next night. 

The water cycle exhibit at the Chiminike
On Friday, we went to Chiminike in the morning.  This is a children's science museum and yes I was in heaven.  It was like having a kid in a candy shop, everything was soooo cool.  I even climbed my way through the digestive system and got sneezed on in a giant size nose.  I have decided one of my life goals might just have to be to own/direct/design exhibits for a children's museum.  After the museum we went to lunch at a local place in the what is known as the District.  This unfortunately was not the best experience.  There were 3 choices on the menu and we still waited over 2 hours for food and still they forgot about one of our orders so we had one person not get food at all (we shared of course). 

The afternoon was spent paint balling, which many of the teachers skipped out on, but our whole La Union crew was prepared for some domination.  Unfortunately we had 8 people and all the other schools combined only had 6 that wanted to play so we decided we would give them Jake (he wanted to shoot at all of his teachers anyway).  The others were worried this would be unfair because it meant that the La Union team had 6 girls and 1 guy while they had 5 guys and 2 girls.  Lets just say that we shut them up quick and while we let them win a couple we dominated in the rest.  This was my first time paint balling and I had blast; I even came out with a nice battle wound bruise on my leg where the ball hit and bounced off, not breaking.  After our domination they let us go back to the hotel and change which was good because I had also gotten shot in the head a few times and had paint all over my hair, so I was able to shower.  We then went to a Mongolian type restaurant and had a great family style meal.  The food was great including a curry, rice dish, beef in oyster sauce and chicken in peanut type sauce. 

After dinner the group was going bowling, but the La Union teachers decided to go back to the hotel.  We wanted to keep with our Friday night traditions of watching Downton Abby, so we took a cab to McDonalds and got McFlurries then cuddled up and watched an episode of our show, retiring a little early to bed. 

This is Otis the Owl, Kara and I deliberately acquired him from a special place and he spent the rest of the trip traveling around with us, this is just one of the many pics we got with him around Teguc.
Saturday morning we ventured out of Teguc to a place called valle de los angeles which is a tourist town that has lots of shops selling local artisan crafts, pottery and other goods.  We wandered around a bit and finished our Christmas shopping.  We then headed for the mall where we had our choice for lunch as McDonalds or Quiznos.  I ate at Quiznos and then headed straight for Wal-Mart.  I filled a cart with practical items that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else, powdered sugar, febreze, brown sugar, some wine, granola bars, Christmas lights…all the good stuff.  After the shock of WalMart wore off I ventured through the rest of the mall, but didn’t find much that caught my eye.  We had a late lunch so at dinner we just ordered a bunch of appetizer sampler plates and shared those before we all headed to the movies.  Some people went to see the last installment of the Twilight series but I went with a group to see the new James Bond film and I was quite impressed.  I liked the movie a lot and was happy to be in a real theater with comfy seats and it only cost me like 4 bucks!

Sunday morning we left the hotel early to catch the 7am direct bus to Santa Barbara.  Of course as plans go, the bus we thought left at 7 actually left at 8:30 so we spent some time waiting around.  We eventually arrived back to La Union safe and sound but tired from traveling.  I unpacked and went to bed early arriving at school the next day a little unprepared but I didn’t worry much because the break was all worth it.  Little did I know though that this week would be crazy…I’ll explain this weekend with some pictures of the fun things my students have been doing in science class. 

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