So...we went to the beach

This Thanksgiving, since the usual family get-together was impossible, in order to cheer ourselves up  (and catch some rays), we decided to take a trip to the north coast to the beach the locals here all recommended: Tela. We sped off towards our destination Wednesday exactly as school let out with our traveling buddies, Mike and Mavis. With  hearts singing, we enjoyed gabbing and talking about how glorious the beach was going to be after a long, long, long semester. Even the construction traffic of over an hour didn't zap our enthusiasm. We stopped for the night at one of our little motel spots on the lake. When we awoke, all we could hear was major rain. Surely it's not raining in Tela, we hoped. We drove through the rain, and arrived at our destination in the midst of the downpour. Maybe this will stop tomorrow, we dreamed.

This was on the way up--a bridge had been built right next to this one to replace it.

Our dream did not come true. It rained the whole weekend. There was a short break in the storm the morning we left, so we took a short walk on the beach, and saw some wildlife (below). The storms had brought tons of litter all over the beach. Not so much as one shell! Or even a dead jelly fish. I would have settled for the dead jelly fish. Or driftwood...

Buzzards await an easy day's catch. They kind of reminded me of the angels in "City of Angels" standing there with their black wings spread. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who thought so, but I was working on positive thinking.

We stayed at this fancy resort. We should have known why the prices were 50% off the regular. Rainy season isn't called "rainy season" for nothing. But we couldn't leave without going down this slide about 20 times. And so we played in the rain...we really did keep up the positive thinking. And we were really glad to be away from the city for a few days, rain or no rain.

This resort is called Telemar--all my students recommended it. The rooms were amazing. I was glad to share with our friends in order to have super comfy beds. The guys did a lot of napping on our rainy vacation, while the gals read books and talked on the porch. It's a good thing we all like each other.  There's not too many people you could be happy cooped up with in a hotel room on the beach front during two full days of rain.

Floods of water covered the road, but these Hondurans were quite used to it. Check out his boots.

Front yards? Most of the houses are built on stilts.

On the return trip, we stopped off at the lago again. There, we walked a 5K boardwalk where there were fragments of the Mayans over which to ponder.

We found such dense jungle on our walk. And mosquitoes. No me gusta.

Mavis and I in front of Lago Yojoa.

Some Hondurans enjoying a bit of fishing on the lake (there's no swimming in this lake due to pollution).

Mayan ruins. Apparently, this led to some kind of worship site (but this was all there was to see).

On the sunny ride home--which only took 2 1/2 hours from the lake. No traffic today due to the elections (which Colin's going to be blogging about as soon as we know the results). It was a fantastic drive. Bummer that the rain followed us to the beach, but we'll figure out something else to do for fun for Christmas break. It's only three weeks away!

Tegus is growing on me

Looking at the calendar, in just three weeks will be the year anniversary of our decision to take the jobs in Tegucigalpa. It's amazing to think that it was a year ago. And now here we are, in this troubled city, learning the culture and getting to know it's people. And some of them are just wonderful. This weekend we spent time with a Honduran couple, Mario and Soad (and she happens to be one of the most beautiful Hondurans I've seen yet). They had us over to their home, made a big Thanksgiving feast for us, and then we all swapped our comedic marriage proposal stories. Mario and Soad attend our church, and they are eager to be our friends. I'm so glad! In the midst of their obvious wealth, they have such humility and "down-to-earthness" about them. After church today, they even treated us with some cafe' at the nearby Expresso Americano (the best spot in town for the infamous granita cafes- a frozen coffee drink). 


We're getting more and more accustomed to our new home. It has really helped to have such an embracing church nearby. That community, while mixed of all kinds of denominations and mission purposes, believes that the body is one and acts in a genuine, loving manner towards each other. All pretenses are stripped. Being around this group of people has opened our hearts to their perspectives here in Honduras. However, I'm still working through the music we're singing as a "choir" for Christmas--eek... I think I sang something similar in showchoir one year. But hey, beggars can't be choosers! 


The weather is actually growing colder. We pulled out our sweaters this past week. Hondurans here though go the whole nine yards. They're selling down feather jackets in the department stores. Scarves, toboggans, and gloves are donned by our students almost everyday--and they don't even take them off when they're playing soccer during recess. It's definitely not THAT cold (maybe it's been in the 50's), but it's enough to want a little something to ward off the chill.


Driving around town is also less threatening now that we're used to where we're going (even though we still just go around and around our little bubble). We're in the mood for a car, but not in a rush. Our sweet neighbors lend us their car anytime it's available. And when it's not, we've got a faithful taxi driver, Marlo, who's always eager to pick us up anytime (and Colin always is over-generous with the price, but I married a tenderhearted man. I'm not complaining. He's just like my father-in-law--always wanting to make sure people are taken care of).


I miss home, but not because there's no TJ Maxx down here (although there should be). You can buy anything you need or want down here--and I've even found gluten-free crackers and cookies to satisfy my longings for Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. I miss my family and friends quite a bit. I often think about you all. Thank you for checking in on our blog. I'm heading up the blogs lately because Colin's hit a bit of a writer's block. But since I know most of our readers don't mind a little blabbing from me, and I don't mind blabbing, I have no qualms posting my random thoughts on a Sunday. 


We're working up the energy to suffer a SIX DAY WEEK at school this week. We're making up one of our missed days on Saturday. I've never gone to school on a Saturday before. Should be fantastic. Got any ideas to entertain the kiddos, since I know they're going to be so much fun to teach on their weekend day?? I'm thinking a game of Taboo all day--I teach English after all. Or maybe Scattegories if I can create it...I left the game at home. 

The product of not having carpet (Hondurans don't believe in it) and keeping your windows open all day. The foot-washing practice is necessary before bedtime...at least for Colin. I'm not as cleanly as he is, and so sometimes I (slight hesitation) forget...

Shout out to Twin Oaks...

So....today we had parent conferences in the middle (and high) school. Before it even began, I knew it was going to be a disaster. Our principal gave no instructions on how to operate these conferences other than: 1)Keep each conference 10 minutes, and 2) If parents get volatile, keep your calm and send them to my office to discuss matters further. Okey-dokey. He did promise to ring a bell (thanks Cathy Jones for that EXCELLENT idea), which he maintained only once....bless his heart. He doesn't have the best of people skills, which really makes me miss my former boss. I mean REALLY miss Mrs. Cathy Jones, and all my other cohorts in crime on parent conference days (I miss you ladies!).

Entonces, the students left at 11:00. We had an hour for lunch (and I hid in Colin's room because I saw a LONG line in front of my classroom). Then, the games began. I had a sign up sheet with 10 minute increments. That didn't last long. I had mostly English speaking parents, so the conferences were understood well enough (even here B's are from the devil...and I happen to be one consistent devil when it comes to B's and C's). Only four conferences were in Spanish. I mostly got what they were saying, and likewise they understood from my facial expressions and limited Spanish vocab what was going on with their kiddos. I kissed LOTS of people today. That's going to be a tough habit to break someday. I love that part of this culture!

The conferences were scheduled to end at 3:30 (what?! But hey, it was a positive thing that I didn't have to stay until late or come for a half day tomorrow. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that since I only saw like 40 sets of parents, the others will complain about the conference scheduling). I found myself still having conferences until 4:30. I was the last one to go home. And I'm surprised I have any words left to write. I guess I just wanted to say, I miss Twin Oaks. The conferences there made sense--in more ways than one. And we got free dinner...and good hang out time when we were free...and some grading done...and we really had an awesome middle school team (sigh). I miss you all. Almost a little too much, but hey! I can now say with you that my conferences are over!

This beautiful tree/flower can be seen on our walk to school.

We also see this. The tire is in the garbage "can." There are no dumpsters here, only the side of the road or in these lovely metal containers.

Yours truly. Ain't we a pair? Yo!