Once you have looked into the eyes of people in a foreign country, you realize you all want the same thing:
food on your table, love in your marriage, healthy children, laughter, freedom to be. – Erma Bombeck
Spanish Word for the Month: Gracias ~ Thank You [Pronounced: graw-sea-us]
November 17, 2002
Dear Family and Friends,
Tonight as I write the wind is blowing lightly through the trees, a sign that the rainy season is ending and the dry season beginning. Our little neighbor girl calls it “the winds of Christmas” memorizing the seasons by weather conditions instead of by calendar months. The draft coming in our house makes me feel a bit chilled, which I should not admit to anyone back home in Minnesota since it is 7:00 PM and still 79 degrees outside. But, this is the coolest it has been since last year and we are enjoying the change in climate. It is a perfect night to be sipping my lemon-grass tea, one of simple pleasures I have come to savor. Our neighbor brings us fresh lemon-grass from his plot of land, which we boil to make a great lemon scented tea. Generosity is one of the strongest attributes of the Honduran culture. Something we hope to adopt and bring home.
I think our iguana must have gone to bed as I no longer hear him crawling nor dragging his tail in our ceiling. About three months ago a three-foot iguana moved in between our ceiling tiles and adobe plated roof. At first we were not sure what type of animal was living above us. All we knew was it sounded quite large and apparently used claws to scrape or crawl. Recently we discovered the identity of our friendly reptile friend while he was basking in the sun on top of our roof. It was a relief to learn that he wasn’t a large rat making a family nest in our rooftop. Our neighbors tease us saying we should catch him and make “gorobo” (Spanish for “iguana) soup, which is actually considered a delicacy here. We haven’t felt the motivation for such an endeavor as of yet and are living rather amicably as neighbors. As long the iguana doesn’t fall through our ceiling we will all be happy.
The change of seasons also means that the school year is ending, which runs from February through November. For “summer” vacation we are going to lead an English Club once a week in the library to continue language learning for next year. A highlight of our teaching efforts occurred last week as Shawn and I were going for a morning walk, and two students riding by on horses stopped to say, “Good Morning. How are you?”. We were encouraged by their initiative as one of the most difficult things to teach in learning a second language is boldness and confidence. Small victories have become our measure of success, as we have been quite disheartened with the school system and its lack of dedication to education.
We volunteered to teach the English classes at the high school for 12 weeks until a permanent teacher could be hired. In the 168 classes we had scheduled we were actually able to teach 76 total. That is over 55% of lost class time. Reasons to cancel class included: a going away party for the senior class, a mix up in the schedule, teacher’s strike, all-school assembly where the students decided to leave early, Independence Day holiday, choir practice, Teacher’s day, vacations, Kid’s day, end of the year so the director decided the students could leave two weeks earlier than planned and our all time favorite excuse for canceling classes is Teacher’s Pay Day. All of the teacher’s have to take the bus (four hours) to Choluteca to pick up their checks. No one knows which day of the month this will be as it always seems to change. Therefore, when the district calls to announce “payday”, the teacher’s send the students home and take the day off to retrieve their checks. I guess I don’t blame them, at least not for wanting their paychecks. I just don’t understand the system. In the 76 classes that we did teach, I did not include how many of those classes were five to twenty minutes in length depending on other schedule conflicts. It was rare that we would actually have our students in class for the allotted 40 minutes.
From our last letter a couple of people wrote back with ideas and questions. One person suggested having a Spanish word for the month or Spanish lesson to practice. You will note at the top of our letter we have included this idea in our heading. In the next eight months of our service we will try to include 8-15 new Spanish words or phrases for you to review. It may be basic, but for the person just beginning, this might be a stepping stone to seek out other methods of learning i.e.) practicing with a friend, listening to tapes in the car or signing up for a community education class. Spanish is the fastest growing language in our country. Even the basics (if you have the courage to experiment with them) could cheer a native Latin American speaker who is impressed with your spirit to greet them in their “first” language. It is a wonderful gesture to welcome people. An added perk is that learning something new or as a hobby has been noted to help relieve stress and add to better life satisfaction. Have I convinced you yet? I guess what I am saying, is it can not hurt!
Another friend wrote asking about cost of living and transportation. About 2% of the people in our town own a car. The main forms of transportation include bus travel, horses and getting places by foot. We earn 3000 Lempiras each per month which is the equivalent of $180.00. This is a similar salary to that of a high school teacher (one of the more prestigious and higher paying jobs in our town). We would be considered middle class with our earnings. However, keep in mind that there really isn’t a middle class in Honduras. Many items that we buy in the larger grocery store in Choluteca are similar in price to the U.S., if not more expensive, because the items are imported. Such items include: peanut butter, syrup, butter, Lipton ice-tea mix, and frozen chicken breasts. Things that are less expensive include local products such as: 1 lb. bag of rice $.50, 1 lb. of sugar $.50, a dozen eggs $.81, cornflakes (big box) $2.15, fruit-1 banana $.03, 4 grapefruit $.30, oranges (5lbs.) $.65, most veggies $.06/pound, and our best deal is shrimp at $1.00 per pound!
The saying is true: there are some things money can’t buy. One of the most rewarding missions we assisted with a couple of weeks ago was a medical brigade visiting from the United States with a team of about 20 dentists and doctors. Shawn and I served as translators for the dentists. People who had never received dental care in their life visited to have teeth cleaned, filled and pulled. Some villagers would ask to have all their teeth pulled as a preventative measure since it would be highly unlikely that they would ever see a dentist again. The people would rather have no teeth than the possible pain of cavities or infections. The dentists however would not allow this and encouraged the patients to select which tooth was giving them the most discomfort explaining that the other teeth would still serve them in eating for many years to come.
The doctor’s who saw patients found reoccurring cases of migraines and spine compression injuries from women carrying heavy baskets on their heads and men hauling firewood on their backs and shoulders. The children’s cases centered around diarrhea from parasites and malnutrition issues. If you are interested in seeing photos from the brigade please visit our website where we added a special page dedicated to this project.
I read (taken from Who Switched the Price Tags? By Tony Campolo) of a sociological study that surveyed 50 people over the age of 95 who were asked one question, “If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?” Three answers constantly re-emerged and dominated the result of that study…
1. If I had it to do over again, I would reflect more.
2. If I had it to do over again, I would risk more.
3. If I had it to do over again, I would do more things that would live on after I am dead.
With the holidays approaching and the new year not far behind, I found the above study worth contemplating. I do not believe it is ever too late to start reflecting, risking or doing what we dream. Maybe this is the year for all of us to start a new hobby, learn a language, take a week-long trip to a different country, volunteer for something that interests us or pick up a good book to read with a cup of lemon-grass tea. Whatever we choose may it be enjoyable because we never have a chance to do these moments over again.
Good Night,
Jennifer, Shawn and the Iguana