La Navidad con tamales y torejas

left to right (Copan Ruinas (the second time I went when Katie and Laura visited!), pods of a sweet plant, beautiful view from the rooftops of Copan, the brillance of flowers here, and a quaint cafe where coffee is so fresh and so stong.




























Happy holidays. Hope you all had a relaxing Christmas. Sounds like weather is freezing but here it is a breezy day. There has been a bit of rain here in San Pedro Sula but I´ve definitely enjoyed the heat. I´m still sweating but I enjoyed my chill Christmas here.
My two great friends Laura Swick and Katie Copeland came to visit me the week before Christmas. It was so refreshing to be with them again. I felt like I could express myself and they really understood me! Finally. And we went to Copan Ruinas again and it was fun to see how much I had grown and how much more spanish I now know. All of that with the knowledge that I know so little in the sceme of grasping this language and it keeps me humbled every day. We had a really fun time trying new foods and just sharing a relaxing time together. Why don´t we, as Americans, just relax more together? It was blissful. They were a blessing on my host family, who was excited for them to be there even though it was short. Their presence also made me miss so many wonderful people in my life but it was the perfect Christmas gift just to see them.
For many in this world, Christmas is not a time to relax but to work. On the 24th, I went with my host mom Teresa to work at her tajaditas (plantain chips) business. We started early in the morning to pack the chips into small and big bags. We fried two huge barrels of plantains. The business went well that day but it got hot sitting inside this building when the electricity and water was off for most of the day. Teresa was so good to me, always offering fruit juice and water to me. She offered the best that she had.
Christmas day was quite tranquil. I watched Titanic with Diana, Carlos, and Daniel (my host siblings). I also lost in a 45 min game of monopoly. That was a record loss for me, as the capitalistic game did not even last an hour. However, it seemed so indicative of how capitalism can really encourage greed, as Daniel complained about paying 25 dollar amounts of rent after I shelled out thousands of dollars on his hotels. Haha.
They served nacatamales. This is a specific type of tamale that has a corn based masa, chicken, a red masa, olives, and red beans. It is tasty, especially with hot sauce, but it can sit heavy on your stomache. I could only eat one. Also, torejas are a special dessert here. They are basically fried eggs surrounded by bread and coated in dark sugar cane. Fairly nutritous. With torejas I could also only eat one but I enjoyed it.
The day after Christmas we were back to pack tajaditas. Teresa really appreciated my help and kept giving me juice and water to keep me hydrated. My mom also travels in the buses, selling her products in the local towns. This is hard work and can be quite uncomfortable, as the buses rock and drive really crazy. However, I am always amazed at her generosity as she gives bags of tajaditas to my friends that visit and anyone else deemed a visitor. It is an exhausting life to pack tajaditas all day and then return home to cook dinner for about an hour and fall asleep to her soap operas on tv. Women here have some serious stamina.
I´ve really been amazed also how she seems to live day to day. Talk about asking for daily bread... She goes to the local pulperia (local store run out of ppl´s houses) to buy just the exact amount of sugar, eggs, and manteca she will use to cook that day. And each day in her work, she fries and packs just two barrels of plantains. It seems to give her no security at all and no time to ever be sick. Daniel and Carlos are working to find jobs around the town. When American groups come in , Carlos works to sell various things to them. Daniel went to work to pick watermelon and beans for a while. It´s all seasonal work and only allows them to work for weeks at a time. Diana has no cares in the world except to support her team Olympia (one of the club soccer teams from Tegucigalpa) and to win as much Uno as she can.
I finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and it really made me want to plant vegetables. I don´t get much of those here. When Teresa heard that I liked veggies she decided to make a veggie stew but ended up putting an entire stick of butter in. That kinda defeated the purpose of why I like vegetables. As is true to the Honduran manner of cooking, I´ll bet she added some sugar. Overall, I feel very grateful for the food that she makes and it makes me all the more aware that I am another mouth she needs to feed and that she does it with grace.
I missed so many of you this Christmas. Hope you are eating lots of pepernuts and chocolate covered things. That book also made me realize how eating should be a spiritual or sacred experience. So many people don´t have the options that we have. We need to choose well and eat slowly. Kingsolver also talked about supporting locally because it really is more effective than buying foods that are shipped over miles and miles. It makes me convicted about bananas. It really sucks that bananas are so abundant here and so many Hondurans do not get a fair price selling them. It makes me not want to buy them in the US because of this injustice. Really so much of what we do is based on what we are used to and the habits that we establish. If we can break our habits to create a more just society, than what is this small sacrifice really?
This book also really made me want to just take in nature. Just marvel in what´s around me. Sometimes the trash here can be distracting but Honduras really is a gorgeous country. The natural beauty is overwhelming, the brillance of the flower and funky shapes. The birds also have amazing songs that they never stop cooing. There is so much life here and it is abundant, despite human attempts to trash it, relocate it, or destroy it.
I´m heading up to Utila for New Years. This is a bay island on the north coast of Honduras. I´m excited to see the beaches but everything will be more expensive because it is a well-known backpacker spot. Really it won´t be super expensive in US terms but after living with my monthly allowence here and understanding typical Honduran spending its a bit humbling. I´m working to spend money well and give generously while living simply. Its quite the balance actually.
Anyways, we´re traveling to La Ceiba today and then off to the island. Should be a good adventure. There are a lot of those here. I just love how easy Hondurans are to talk to. They seem to always want to know where I am from, are my blue eyes real, and what I think of various Honduran dishes. May you all be well, take in the winter world around you (wherever you may be) and breathe in a bit deeper. Remain in love.

Diverti en Tela, la playa!

Hey! I just got back from a number of adventures! We had our team meeting in Tela, which is the beach. I didn´t take too many pictures because it was raining a lot. I did get a nice morning barefoot run on the beach. That was marvelous and I enjoyed pan de coco (coconut bread) and a fresh plate of crabs. It was refreshing to see the team again and hear what´s been up in their lives. I think most of all this was such a great break from the orphange. I really analyzed why I am here to work with the kids and what sacrifices God is asking of me here. I have been sick more times than I can count and I think my health is definitely one of those things. Overall, I realized what other amazing people are with me to serve here in many capacities.
I just finished baking banana bread again with my family and friend Gaby last night. It was tasty but reminds me how much butter and oil are used here. I said how much butter to add and they said to add a bit more to be ¨safe.¨ haha. My host mom is always disappointed that I don´t eat enough!!! They are a wonderful family and I am enjoying their joyous attitudes!
As of February of this past year I have been sponsoring a child from Compassion International. It was a real pleasure to visit him in Linaca Tatumbla. We saw the Compassion project, which teaches the children bible classes and gives them nutritional supplements to their diet. We also went up to his house, which was higher up in the mountains. Rony is a wonderful boy, and pretty shy. He is 7 years old and when he recieved the soccer ball I broght he had no words. It was an amazing experience to share. His father was especially grateful.
In Montana de Luz, things are wrapping up and it is almost time for the kids to go visit the family that they have. Many of them live close by in the departments of Olancho, Choluteca, and a few in Tegucigalpa. However, the ones that live on the north coast are going to take a trip with our director to see their families. They are excited and this is a much anticipated trip. The directors will end up in Roatan in the north and stay there for about a week before returning to pick up all the kids they drop off along the way. It is good to keep the kids connected to the grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other family that they have.
I am learning a lot of patience teaching these youth. Many of them complain and they aren´t pushed often so when I ask them to do something challenging it seems to be more than they can bear. I am working on being joyful in these situations. Yet, slowly I can see progress and various kids have finally learned their alfabet. It was shocking to me at first how many of them were around 10 or 12 and can´t really read. We have leappads, which are little computers that help them read, and its been really fun to watch them get excited to read with them. Teaching p.e. is still fun. We just finished playing a version of capture the flag. They all get really excited and of course find someone that is always cheating! haha.
The weather is changing again up here. It was pretty hot for a bit and now the wind is flaring up again. The kids are getting sick again, which only means....its comin for me again. O well. I´m ready for it by now. And lights are being put on a couple houses. My host sister Diana and I are going to make some decorations for the house this Sunday. The brick house often makes it challenging to stick anything to the wall. Hopefully tape will do. I´m excited to see what Christmas will be like here. A couple Hondurans I have asked have told me about the following traditions-


- posadas, where people go around to others houses each Sunday (I think) and sing Christmas songs and eat together, theres just such great community in that!
-tomales (dulces y con arroz, papas, y pollo) sweet tomales and ones with rice, potatoes, chicken and other things inside
-some kind of egg-nogg? I´m not so sure about that one
-also Diana was telling me that everyone wears their new clothes on Christmas day! I have some work to do for that one


I am excited to give my sister a soccer ball for Christmas. The one we are playing with now has a hole and is deflated.
Theres a new book about the US and the history of banana farming here. Yikes. It might be an interesting read. I´m about to embark on that one soon.

Hope you all are well and I miss you. Enjoy all the Christmas music for me, even if it is played a thousand times on the radio!

Pensamientos

Como les va a ustedes? Les extrano muchismo pero estoy contenta aqui. Hows it going for you all? I am keeping on here in the midst of a busy vacation time for our youth. They got off school about 2 weeks ago and have Christmas vacation until mid-January. I have been tudoring more kids now, which is an extra challenge. Many of the kids don't believe in themselves and often end up in tears because they feel incompetent. I've been working mainly on encouraging them and walking them through various exercises. This is what life is all about, coming alongside these kids and supporting them.
Lets see, things have been going really well with my host family. My host mom Teresa is such a servant and is so willing to make me meals, even if I happen to leave at 6 am at times. She always asks me what I am thinking of different flavors and laughs that I don't eat tons of butter on my food. We have really connected and have baked banana bread and french toast together. I described bierocks and how my Goering family makes pizza in the states. They are really excited for me to try these receipies. This past Saturday I attended my host sister Diana's 6th grade graduation. It was really long but afterwards each family had a separate table and celebrated it with a dance. This is such a dance culture!! My host brother Carlos just graduated high school and is ready to study at the University for an electrical engineering career. The most affordable and close university for him is in Tegucigalpa, which is still an hour bus ride each day. This can be for really long days because the transportation is not always consistent or at convient times.
I've had plenty of game playing time. I think I've lost and won at so many card games I can't even remember what they were. I also was happy that I successfully explained the games "rob the balls" or "capture the flag" and ultimate frisbee to the kids. Its been really fun teaching p.e. and actually its all really about conflict management.
In my spare time, I've had a lot of time to run, bike, and read. I've been running along the highway, which isn't always ideal. Somedays the constant "encouragement" from fellow male travelers can be frusterating but I am learning to be creative with my responses and seek for how to love them in these situations. Also, I just took a 5 hour bike ride with a Honduran that lives in Nueva Esperanza. We biked to Yuscaran and it was pretty uphill. This ride was definitely a challenge for me, but he was in great shape. He was quite patient with me and waited until I huffed my way up. The view was out-of-control gorgeous. I just can't get enough of the mountains here. We walked around the town a bit, learned some history of a creol family that was buried there, and had some guayaba ice cream. The fruits just can't get any better!
As far as reading goes, I finished the Twilight series. They were fun books about vampires! So many people laughed at me for that....I wonder why. Now, I just finished Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. It was such an inspiring read. I think I walked away from it wanting to be more creative in my response to politics, government, and how I really love people who are poor in material, social, emotional, and relational areas of life. Here is some great quotes from his book that have really made me think:


"People sometimes ask if we are scared of the inner city. We say that we are more scared of the suburbs. Our Jesus warns that we can fear those things which can hurt out bodies or those things which can destory our souls, but we shold be far more fearful of the latter. Those are the subtle demons of suburbia. As Shane's mother says, "perhaps there is no more dangerous place for a Christian to be than in safety and comfrot, detached from the suffering of others."

"Love is a harsh and dreadful thing to ask of us, but it is the only answer." -Doris Day

"You cannot follow Jesus socially (in relation to your enemy) if you are not following Jesus economically."

"This great planet isn't just a boring lump of secular earth but a divine miracle, a creation! Any Christian politics that doesn't presume this is missing out on God's gift."

"We should be more concerned about identifying the radical spirit of love that must permeate every disciple's journey than about making a list of koser Christian jobs."

"Our hope is that the postmodern, post-Christian world is once again ready for a people who are peculiar, people who spend their energy creating a culture of contrast rather than a culture of relevancy."



You guys rock. I appreciate your support through many ups and downs that I have already had here. Thanks for the emails. Nothin like personal written notes either! May you all live to the fullest in this day.
"Let us pray that God would give us the strenght to storm the gates of hell and tear down the walls we have created between us and those whose suffering would disrupt our comfort. May we become familiar with the suffering of the poor outside our gates, know their names and taste their tears." (p.293, Claiborne).