I have been here more than a week without Thalia, and while
I’m getting along fine in the Spanish language department without my walking
talking Spanish-English dictionary, our room is very lonely without her… and
the girls are definitely missing her.
However, this past week I have felt insanely blessed as the girls are
showering twice as much love on me because I’m now the only volunteer. Also, with Thalia not being here… I have more
to do, so I’ve been kept busy, whether it is preparing for my English class (a new
module just started), teaching the extra review session in the afternoons,
taking all of the girls shopping instead of just half, facilitating study every
night, or doing whatever the sisters ask me to do (making woven foam heart
pockets for mother’s day or being a sub for gym class – yes, I was a gym
teacher today).
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| Yesi's house |
This past weekend I went to Yesi Karina’s house, and let me
just say that her family is absolutely AMAZING!
Her parents are so incredibly kind, and she has an older sister who is
21 years old. Additionally, although all
of the other girls’ families have a farm in which they grow coffee, they all
live in a small town and they have to travel somewhere around 20 minutes to get
to their farm. Yesi, on the other hand,
lives in the middle of her family’s land and it was incredibly beautiful. They live in the mountains. You can look out from her front porch at her
family’s and other family’s coffee farms with interspersed banana trees among
the mountains… it is exceptionally beautiful in the mornings when the mountains
are still slightly shrouded in fog. I
took a couple of pictures, but they don’t nearly do it justice. It was so peaceful there! In addition to farming coffee, Yesi’s dad has
a couple of bee colonies from which they collect honey when it isn’t coffee
season (which I was informed was in November – which means that I probably
won’t be able to bring any home which is a real bummer because the coffee that
I get at the girl’s houses is actually good.
I don’t typically drink coffee and this stuff is great black with only
some sugar). They even game me some of their
honey in a gatorade bottle because they didn’t have an jars on hand… it is
really good.
On Saturday, I traveled with Yesi, her boyfriend, her mom,
her sister, and her sister’s boyfriend to San Pedro de Cópan, and a couple of
other small towns close to where she lives to run some errands. There really isn’t a whole lot to report on
the day, but it was fun nonetheless.
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| Yesi, her boyfriend, her sister's boyfriend and Mary Lou |
Sunday we briefly celebrated Mother’s Day at Yesi’s
grandma’s house, which is absolutely beautiful.
Of course we were fed – as always happens when people go to other’s
houses. You are literally not allowed to
go to someone’s house without eating food.
I told Yesi’s aunt that I wasn’t hungry (for breakfast Yesi’s mom
basically gave me three meals) as did a couple of the other members of our
group, so she goes “so then 4 meals, 5 and 6” – there were six of us and, of
course, out she comes with 6 plates of food.
But it was cool seeing her family get together in a way that was similar
to family gatherings at home. It seemed
to be more planned with family as opposed to people just showing up at
someone’s house like what usually occurs.
We traveled back to Santa Rosa later on Sunday… every time I
travel I seem to experience a new method.
This time I was in the bed of the truck again (this time without
cushions like when I traveled with the sisters) with 5 other people – which
means we were able to sit down – but it also means that I now have quite a
lovely bruise in the middle of my back along my spine. Oh well, such is life. And as I told my dad last night… of course
the beds of trucks here are fully equipped with seat belts, full body armor,
and helmets.
On a slightly different note… it is said that people from the Midwest are
exceptionally nice and friendly… I just
want to put it out there that Hondurans have us beat about 100 times over. It is crazy traveling with them because no
matter where you go, they always run into someone that they know… even if you
have traveled and hour away from their house.
You would not believe how many times we were stopped by someone who Yesi
went to school with at some point, or someone who knew someone that she was
related to. When you drive past a house,
if anyone is outside, the driver honks the horn to say “hi,” and someone else
always comments on who that person is related to and what they are up to now…
it is really cool how everyone knows everyone.
But I’m sure that there are no secrets here… everyone knows everyone’s
business. It has a small-town feel, but
that small town seems to cover all of Honduras.
Loves to everyone at home!
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