So whatcha doin´?

Well, here is my triumphant return to the blogosphere, after an inexcusable absence. The past months have been extremely busy for us, and it almost seemed like there wasn’t time to fully bring people up to speed. Here is some more background info to accompany Crystal’s photo essay:
Baseball Tourney: In May, the annual baseball tournament took place in Honduras. Although our team was unable to participate this year (we’ve been having problems getting support from our community) Crystal and I undertook a much more stressful position: Tournament coordinators. Instead of managing one ragtag group of 10 year olds on sugar rushes, we suddenly became responsible for nine teams of over stimulated youth from every corner of Honduras. We spent the entire time whipping around the capital in range rovers, delivering water bottles and lunches to stadiums, negotiating with hotels to prevent the horrors of last year’s accommodations (see last year’s tournament post), visiting army bases to borrow their color guard, posing for pictures and giving interviews to lecherous old men, settling disputes about official tourney rules, and trying to sell as many t-shirts as possible to augment our tiny budget. At the end of three 14 hour days, we stood exhausted and smiling, as an underdog team knocked off the reigning champs to take this year’s crown. After dedicating so much of our service to baseball, it was the ultimate reward to see this year’s tourney come off as wonderful as it did.

Brigades: One of the greatest things about being the gringos in the developing world is that we can pretty much walk into any situation and by granted deference to do as we please. Case in point has been our work with a couple of medical brigades that visited Las Vegas from the states recently. One fabulous group consisted of a bunch of dentists from the Pacific Northwest. We offered our services as translators, but quickly found ourselves wearing scrubs and gloves, digging in the decayed mouths of Las Vegas´ youth. It was fascinating work, once we got the hang of it, according to one dentist; we each received a year’s worth of dental hygienist training in the course of a week, everything from tooth reconstruction to fillings to pulling teeth. A couple of weeks later, a general health brigade came to town, and Crystal and I, along with our friend Delfo, were wearing lab coats and stethoscopes, being referred to as ¨doctor¨ by the inhabitants of Las Vegas´ surrounding villages. We were quickly taught some basic diagnostic techniques, and treated the less severe of the medical conditions presented to us. Where else in the world can you be a teacher, a doctor, a baseball coach, a dentist, a musician, and an artist in the same week, by having a Public Relations and a History Degree?

Wedding: Our pals Joe and Emily recently got married on the island of Utila, and graciously invited Crystal and I. One of the Bay Islands on Honduras, Utila is recognized as the best and cheapest place in the world to scuba dive. We didn’t quite get that adventurous, but we managed to snorkel over pristine coral reefs, log some beach time, and hang out with some of our favorite people in Honduras.

Teaching: Our school year is in full swing, and we are teaching a lot this year. We’re working on three different English classes, Crystal has been teaching art and music in the afternoons ( I tag along), and I have achieved the status of ¨god¨ amongst the boys of one of our schools by teaching basketball during phy ed. In coordination with Colgate, we are teaching some first graders basic hygiene skills, which you can see in the picture of my bald head below. And last week we started marching band practice, as we are gearing up for Honduras´ Independence Day on September 15th.

Its hard to believe, but our time in Honduras is hitting the homestretch. In roughly four months we be back in the states, ready to fully embrace whatever lies in the future for us. It’s a weird position to be in at the moment so aware of a coming change, so aware that our current situation, for all of its faults and advantages is fleeting. We are looking forward to all the people, places, and perks that are waiting for us in the states, and yet also trying to stretch out what time we have left in Honduras. Its bound to be an interesting transformation, we’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Simon

Sunday Morning

For anyone wondering what exactly goes on at our house these days, here is a pretty accurate look at the normal Honduran Sunday morning.



6 am: After a 5 am jog with the dog, it`s time for some coffee, a good book (today`s read:Harry Potter..thanks to Amber h. we can actually get caught up on the worldwide sensation), and some fresh flowers from our wonderful, sort of site-mate, Laura. Oh, and in the background is our house.




8am: A check on the zuchini plant. A friendly chat with our neighbor lady.



After showing said neighbor lady our zuchinis, she informs me that they cannot be eaten and are only good for drying out and using as a medicinal sponge for bathing yourself. What do you think? Zuchini...bath sponge...or both? We are still confused. This is a zuchini, right?



9 am: Time to wash clothes before it gets too hot out! Ever wonder how we wash clothes without a washing machine? Here it is, our pila. Also, during dry season we only have water a couple days a week, so we store every drop we can get in the pila (pee-la). It doubles great as a nesting grounds for malaria and dengue ridden moskitos, and also as a shower when there is no water inside.



10:30 am: After hanging the clothes, it`s time to play with our dog, also before the heat of the day kicks in. This is her playing with Laura`s kitten. We were kitten-sitting for the week and stella was beside herself having another animal friend in the house to lick and play with.

And that's it, really. A full morning.

Sunday funday.

Part 1 of 2. Hard at work!

Here are some things we`ve been up to as of lately.

Play Ball! (Umping a fellow volunteer`s baseball team in the city of Siguatepeque.)





A really great group of dentists from the states came to town awhile back in this medical brigade at our school.


This is our classroom, transformed into a dentist office. Our main purpose working at this brigade was to be translators between the kids/patients who only speak spanish and the doctors who spoke english. We totally got to pull some teeth, too. Well, we helped anyway. For the record: I was not cut out to be a dental hygenist. I passed out. Almost twice.
















Our daily view, walking home from school during the rainy season.














Simon being trampled by our tooth brushing class. If we let these first graders put the toothpate on by themselves, a disaster would be underway.






Check out part 2. Coming soon!