Three in One

Visitors of mine, Sheila and Josiah, just left yesterday to head to El Salvador and visit their son and brother, Josh. It was so nice to have people from home here visiting. It’s still a very surreal feeling though, like they belong to my other life, similar to what I felt when Bill was here. It was awesome though, they loved the Wendy’s and the pizzeria and the ice cream shop. They brought my kids a suitcase of books, and we had a class period of learning about the Mid Ages. We made shields and flags. Jorge had a lion on his shield and he named it “Lions of the Lord” and Santos’ named his “Eagles of the North.” We gringos were pretty impressed with the creativeness that came out in the craft time.


I have now been in Honduras longer than I have been in any other country. Maybe that counts for something. Today my boss told me, “You are pura catracha,” or pure Honduran. Considering that in two days, I’m dancing to a Shakira song for the kids at school, I’m something other than a normal American to them. Today I found myself listening to all kinds of pop latin music down here on the tele in order to see Shakira shake her hips and hope I can do something similar without making a fool of myself.
But I’m not pura catracha; the Italian in me comes out. My buddy Silvio recently introduced me to Luigi whose parents own the two Italian pizzerias in town. He basically manages one of them. Today I was hanging out at the pizzeria down town and Luigi gave me a free coke. We chatted about Italy, Argentina, and Spain. It might become a regular hang out place. We Italians (okay so I’m a half-Italian) belong in or around a pizzeria no matter where we are. I’m sure of it. It felt like a slice of my hometown.
And the American in me certainly seeps out every moment of the day. I’m trying to learn to take it easy – to not be so uptight about everything. To relax and realize that things don’t always have to go as planned, whether it be the details of my day or the details of school administration stuff. Life is meant to be lived, and even though it’s hard to be as laid back as the Hondurans, I’m taking it a step at a time.
So Friday is kid’s day which basically means there is a big fiesta at school. This is why I get to show off my dance moves. Then we’ll eat candy and popcorn and watch movies. This is a holiday the U.S. needs to adopt from Honduras. Independence Day comes around the following Friday which means no work. Some of the other teachers and I are planning a trip to the beach. After all the parade marching the couple days before I’m not sure we’ll be ready for more sun, but getting away for a bit will be nice.