Me, Marko, Lyndsey
Eric, Pam, and Me...check out my legs...haha
Hi Geidy :)
Lynds and Me, commuting.Class was canceled today, as they are laying the cement floor in our school in La Thompson. After scrolling through pics on my camera from Honduras last night, I woke up feeling groggy and a bit nostalgic for Copan and my life there.
I tend to overanalyze and overthink things....a LOT. And when comparing and contrasting my time spent thus far on this journey and my life in each country, I find myself nostalgic for very different reasons.
For Copan, Honduras...it is laughter. We laughed A LOT in Honduras. And to be honest, I don´t think I have laughed as much or as genuinely in quite some time...and I am not really sure what is was that there was so funny.
Genuine laughter is derived from genuine happiness. Why was I so happy in Honduras? Was it the company? The young, fun intern couple from Boston, The sweet Irish lass, The tall quirky Australian gent? We had such a great time together. We meshed very well.
Or was it the comfort I felt living in the tranquil town of Copan? The few cars. The relatively quiet streets. The lull of the church choir´s music spilling into my room in the evenings when I was falling asleep. The early morning roosters as my alarm clock. My hilarious house mother: Loly and her beautiful home. The huge delicious and interesting homeade meals that she served me three times a day. Going to work early and finishing early, having the rest of the day to explore, write, drink licuados, relax. Retiring to bed before 9 and getting a great night´s sleep (this is a little lame....but there really wasn´t much going on AND we had to be up at 5:30AM).
Or maybe it was the school and the children that inhabited it´s classrooms. Our open air commute in the bed of a run down pick up truck every morning and afternoon, through beautiful mountainous scenery. The cheery blue school surrounded by palm trees and adorning a very abstract mural on one wall, painted by previous volunteers (my roommates now in Esteli).
And my kids...In the beginning feeling I would NEVER remember all 26 names of the 5 and 6 year olds that screamed my name endlessly everyday. I miss them. Blanca and her face making. Ruben, and his finger waving. Geidy and her ridiculously cute tiny self. Juan Manuel and his hesitantcy. Eric and his creative OCD artwork. Nolvia, whose name we never really learned how to pronounce correctly. (When attempting, it always elicited giggles from the entire class. I STILL don´t know what we were doing wrong???) Karen, who NEVER responded to my endless requests to PLEASE stay seated in HER seat. Pablo, who was way too advanced to still be in the primero grado. He taught us a lot.
And teaching with Eric, the 32 year old from Boston. I think we were a good team. Laughing a lot and not taking much too seriously. SUPER upset when we realized all of our kids failed their first test on vowels...after 2 1/2 weeks of exhausting repetition. But in the end...I think they all got it. Well...maybe not Jose Vicente ,)
I felt I could stay in Copan for much longer and was really sad to leave. My last night at Loly´s, I was called to dinner only to find that there was no plate at my place. Only a bottle of rum, a bottle of Fresca and two glasses. Loly poured me a small sip (a couple of times) and we talked. In Spanish as always, but this time it was different. And I could tell that she was also sad. She told me of her son again ( I believe she was trying to tell me about him on my very first day in her house...but my vocabulary was just too limited to understand). He is 28 and lives in L.A. and he and Lindsay are going to marry so that Loly and I will be family! Lindsay, I gave her your number.....sorry!!!! Haha. After too many rum, fresca, lime, and salt refreshers....she finally served me my favorite meal. The Gringa Taco. I scarfed it down and ran out (an hour late!) to meet Lyndsey, Marko, and Eric for one last hoorah!
We´ll leave it at that....
Pam, Eric, Lyndsey, and Marko escorted me to the bus station the next morning and waved until I left the lot for my 12 hour journey to Nicaragua.
I will reunite with Lyndsey and Marko this weekend when they arrive in Esteli to build stoves for a week before heading to Ecuador. It will be fun to have some more time with them!
So for now, I will look back fondly on my time in Honduras and hope to return soon...
Loly insists that next time I bring mi guapo novio and stay with her, of course.
Haha :)
Moving on....
I tend to overanalyze and overthink things....a LOT. And when comparing and contrasting my time spent thus far on this journey and my life in each country, I find myself nostalgic for very different reasons.
For Copan, Honduras...it is laughter. We laughed A LOT in Honduras. And to be honest, I don´t think I have laughed as much or as genuinely in quite some time...and I am not really sure what is was that there was so funny.
Genuine laughter is derived from genuine happiness. Why was I so happy in Honduras? Was it the company? The young, fun intern couple from Boston, The sweet Irish lass, The tall quirky Australian gent? We had such a great time together. We meshed very well.
Or was it the comfort I felt living in the tranquil town of Copan? The few cars. The relatively quiet streets. The lull of the church choir´s music spilling into my room in the evenings when I was falling asleep. The early morning roosters as my alarm clock. My hilarious house mother: Loly and her beautiful home. The huge delicious and interesting homeade meals that she served me three times a day. Going to work early and finishing early, having the rest of the day to explore, write, drink licuados, relax. Retiring to bed before 9 and getting a great night´s sleep (this is a little lame....but there really wasn´t much going on AND we had to be up at 5:30AM).
Or maybe it was the school and the children that inhabited it´s classrooms. Our open air commute in the bed of a run down pick up truck every morning and afternoon, through beautiful mountainous scenery. The cheery blue school surrounded by palm trees and adorning a very abstract mural on one wall, painted by previous volunteers (my roommates now in Esteli).
And my kids...In the beginning feeling I would NEVER remember all 26 names of the 5 and 6 year olds that screamed my name endlessly everyday. I miss them. Blanca and her face making. Ruben, and his finger waving. Geidy and her ridiculously cute tiny self. Juan Manuel and his hesitantcy. Eric and his creative OCD artwork. Nolvia, whose name we never really learned how to pronounce correctly. (When attempting, it always elicited giggles from the entire class. I STILL don´t know what we were doing wrong???) Karen, who NEVER responded to my endless requests to PLEASE stay seated in HER seat. Pablo, who was way too advanced to still be in the primero grado. He taught us a lot.
And teaching with Eric, the 32 year old from Boston. I think we were a good team. Laughing a lot and not taking much too seriously. SUPER upset when we realized all of our kids failed their first test on vowels...after 2 1/2 weeks of exhausting repetition. But in the end...I think they all got it. Well...maybe not Jose Vicente ,)
I felt I could stay in Copan for much longer and was really sad to leave. My last night at Loly´s, I was called to dinner only to find that there was no plate at my place. Only a bottle of rum, a bottle of Fresca and two glasses. Loly poured me a small sip (a couple of times) and we talked. In Spanish as always, but this time it was different. And I could tell that she was also sad. She told me of her son again ( I believe she was trying to tell me about him on my very first day in her house...but my vocabulary was just too limited to understand). He is 28 and lives in L.A. and he and Lindsay are going to marry so that Loly and I will be family! Lindsay, I gave her your number.....sorry!!!! Haha. After too many rum, fresca, lime, and salt refreshers....she finally served me my favorite meal. The Gringa Taco. I scarfed it down and ran out (an hour late!) to meet Lyndsey, Marko, and Eric for one last hoorah!
We´ll leave it at that....
Pam, Eric, Lyndsey, and Marko escorted me to the bus station the next morning and waved until I left the lot for my 12 hour journey to Nicaragua.
I will reunite with Lyndsey and Marko this weekend when they arrive in Esteli to build stoves for a week before heading to Ecuador. It will be fun to have some more time with them!
So for now, I will look back fondly on my time in Honduras and hope to return soon...
Loly insists that next time I bring mi guapo novio and stay with her, of course.
Haha :)
Moving on....
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