Yeah...

Yeah, I know this post is way overdue. My wife has been very patient with me as always. But it’s been hard to know where to begin (not to mention the fact that it takes a while to get things like internet set up in Honduras). The last two weeks have been huge. So, let’s begin with what happened today…something truly, truly amazing. So amazing that I still can’t believe it…

 

As you all know we are in Tegucigalpa, a city of well over a million people. It’s probably closer to 2 million actually, especially since about ten years ago Hurricane Katrina washed away thousands of peoples’ homes and most of them sought refuge in Tegus, creating slums that go on for miles. All that to say that a city of 2 million people in a developing nation like Honduras is not exactly the sort of haystack you expect to find a needle in. But we don’t exactly believe in luck, do we? So…

 

Elisa and I take a taxi to this little church we’ve been looking forward to visiting called the Union Church. It’s about 2 miles from our (beautiful and picturesque) apartment on the other side of our neighborhood, Lomas del Guijarro. We go inside and meet a few folks on the way in—mostly Americans because this is an English-speaking church (my Spanish has improved dramatically in the last two weeks but church would be a stretch at this point). We sit down; the service begins; we sing a few songs. Then out of the corner of my eye, I see a fellow in a pink shirt enter the room and slide into a seat. I pay little attention at first (pink, fuscia, tangerine and the like are far from abnormal colors around here). But something about his shape seems familiar.

 

So, across the room, from about 25 ft we make eye contact…and it’s Chad…my suitemate from college. Yeah, we lived next door to each other. Yeah, we went to the same tiny 600 student liberal arts college in the tiny mountain town of Bristol, TN. Yeah, we ate mashed potatoes at the same table in the same dining hall every night. Yeah, we watched the Dukes of Hazzard together in our lobby. Yeah, Chad. My friend from college. Right across the freaking room. In one of the most un-cosmopolitan metropolitan areas in the entire hemisphere…in the middle of a coup…Chad. I almost had a brain aneurism and gave birth to a Klingon in the same moment. I was speechless. No amount of verbage can convey to you how speechless I was. I’m still stupefied. So was Chad.

 

He’s an attorney and basically he’s there representing some big company that—big surprise—got screwed by the Honduran government. So, we spent the afternoon with Chad…and his bodyguard BamBam.

 

Also, here’s a short list of new firsts for me:

--first time I’ve ever blogged

--first time I’ve had a bidet in my bathroom

--first time I’ve taught at a school where the ousted dictator’s granddaughter attends

--first time I’ve been on a flight where passenger’s clapped when the plane landed

--first time I’ve seen a giant Jesus statue and a massive ‘HOLLWOOD’-style COCA COLA sign right beside each other on the side of a mountain

--first time I’ve had a friendly gecko living in my foyer

--first time I’ve had a neighbor whose 3 armed guards jump out of his SUV and run a perimeter around the garage when he pulls in from work every night (no, we haven’t met yet)

--first time I’ve been able to see my apartment from my classroom

--first time I’ve had multiple little brown people follow me around a department store to assist me in placing my desk lamp and power cord properly in the push cart

--first time my wife has ever pooped pink (no joke…and she’s a world class pooper)

 

Hasta luego!