Today I did something I have never done before. I was riding home with Erik and Gerald. They decided it would be best to stop and get a new tire. I have never seen a tire like the one that was on Walter's truck. It had lots of metal threads showing and no tread.
The llanteria (tire shop) was 3 doors from Mas x Menos. I love the mantequilla there. Mantequilla is a Honduran condiment. It is in the dairy category, somewhere between sour cream and yogurt, but with no sourness. I use it on everything.
I asked Erik if there was time for me to run 3 doors down and get mantequilla. He said sure, you can go. But you know everything is so expensive there. I told him that's why I'm only getting mantequilla, nothing more. I'll admit. I was unsure about going by myself. Erik asked if I needed help. No, I didn't need help. But I have never walked down the street in the city by myself before. So I was very alert. I brought only enough money for the mantequilla. Nothing more. The only eventful thing that happened was I got whistled at as I walked back to the truck. Erik commented that I was very quick. That's because I hurried the whole time. I'm sure it was fine for me to walk that far alone, but I just never have.
I forgot to write about a conversation I had with Jairo yesterday. He told me that the summer has come in strong. I told him about our saying in the US, "In like a lion, out like a lamb." He said when summer comes in strong it means that the summer is going to be very hot and dry. This is especially bad because there is a horrible lack of water in the mountains. The city gets all of it's water from the mountains near my house. Jairo said the city took more than they were supposed to and now there is barely any water left for us. Jairo said the water doesn't normally get this low until April. This is only February! The rainy season doesn't start until June. He has never seen this happen before. But he has experienced times when they only release water in the mountains every five days. It could be even worse than that! I hope we get some rain soon. It rained all of December and most of January, but then it stopped. It's been hot and dry ever since. Normally it rains at night. We haven't had a drop of rain in weeks. If we only get water every 5 days I may get pretty stinky!
Friday, February 15, 2013
The Burning Bed
Today as we were coming down the mountain, Jairo and I told Joss the story about the man who found a bed for his wife. Jairo pointed out the neighborhood where they lived, where the man had gotten up early in the morning to search on the side of the roads for tin cans, and finally the huge dumpster where he found the bed and box spring for his wife on Wednesday morning. We told Joss how the wife had cried tears of joy and how the photos of them in the newspaper were awesome because you could see how thrilled they were about their "new" bed.
A few blocks past the dumpster where the man in the story found the bed is where Jairo buys his newspaper every day. As he approaches, he always beeps his horn. The newspaper man crosses into the middle of the street, hands Jairo a newspaper, and Jairo pays the man with exact change which he folds in the console at the beginning of the week to pay for a newspaper each day. (Everyone knows not to touch the little stacks of money for Jairo's newspaper.)
Today the headlines of that newspaper read that robbers broke into the house yesterday and burned the bed! At 2 pm yesterday the couple returned to their home to find it had been ransacked and their bed was burning. I was so sad for them! We were literally just telling Joss this sweet story and now their bed and some of their belongings were ruined. The lady was interviewed. She said each day her husband leaves early in the morning to search for things he can sell and for food from the garbage. She waits at home, hopeful that he will come back with food. Some days they don't eat.
The good news is that with all of this media attention, people have been reaching out to support them. The last line of the article said that they would really like to have their own piece of land where they could build a proper home. It gave their phone number in case anyone could help. This is the home where they currently live.
Lourdes is still not able to come back to the Breakfast Program. She is still very sore. She needs to go to the doctor, but she thinks he will tell her to go to physical therapy and she doesn't want to do that.
The Breakfast Program has gone smoothly all week. Walter has been around and the the local ladies help out in the kitchen as much as they can. Yesterday the kids had a LOT of homework. Some of it was over my head - science in Spanish - but we figured it out. Good thing Wikipedia is in Spanish too! Blanca Flor and I wrote a biography of some guy I never heard of before. I asked if she had read about him in class. She said no, she didn't have any book about him. I asked how she was supposed to write about him. She said she had to look him up on the internet. I am sure she is one of very few kids from Los Pinos who have access to internet. They don't have electricity, never mind computers or internet. How can her teacher expect the class to do this assignment? But Blanca did the assignment.
Every day there are more and more men in army uniforms on the street. Jairo says it's because there is "a situation", but he is not sure what the situation is yet. Whenever he tells me about something political he always say, "The situation is..." When we know what is going on with all of the army in the streets I will update you on "the situation".
Today we had an arm wrestling contest after all of the kids left. I was wishing it were a year ago when I was in the best shape I've been in years from going to the gym in the US and running every day. Now I'm extra weak, especially after fighting this cold for 7 weeks. Don Juan won all of the arm wrestling contests, although he is older by far than all of his competition. Yesterday was the first day I didn't cough once all day. Today I can feel congestion in my chest but I can't move it with a cough.
Tomorrow all of the jovenes are going hiking in La Tigra National Park. They are really excited! I may go too.
Blanca Flor gave me a Valentines Day card today.
♥ So sweet ♥ And so typical 13. As you can see, she can also write in English. She often asks me about songs she hears on the radio in English. Yesterday she sang one I could not interpret through her accent. She sings she sounds that she hears, but it is not necessarily English words. A few weeks ago she was singing very clearly, "WHO, WHO, WHO WHO, WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!" Even her barking had a Spanish accent. Did you know that barks and meows are completely different in Spanish? You'd think animals sound the same in every language, but they don't. Wednesday Blanca and Lolita asked me, "What does it mean, 'Boys will be boys?'" That's a fun one to explain to two almost teenaged girls.
A few blocks past the dumpster where the man in the story found the bed is where Jairo buys his newspaper every day. As he approaches, he always beeps his horn. The newspaper man crosses into the middle of the street, hands Jairo a newspaper, and Jairo pays the man with exact change which he folds in the console at the beginning of the week to pay for a newspaper each day. (Everyone knows not to touch the little stacks of money for Jairo's newspaper.)
Today the headlines of that newspaper read that robbers broke into the house yesterday and burned the bed! At 2 pm yesterday the couple returned to their home to find it had been ransacked and their bed was burning. I was so sad for them! We were literally just telling Joss this sweet story and now their bed and some of their belongings were ruined. The lady was interviewed. She said each day her husband leaves early in the morning to search for things he can sell and for food from the garbage. She waits at home, hopeful that he will come back with food. Some days they don't eat.
The good news is that with all of this media attention, people have been reaching out to support them. The last line of the article said that they would really like to have their own piece of land where they could build a proper home. It gave their phone number in case anyone could help. This is the home where they currently live.
Lourdes is still not able to come back to the Breakfast Program. She is still very sore. She needs to go to the doctor, but she thinks he will tell her to go to physical therapy and she doesn't want to do that.
The Breakfast Program has gone smoothly all week. Walter has been around and the the local ladies help out in the kitchen as much as they can. Yesterday the kids had a LOT of homework. Some of it was over my head - science in Spanish - but we figured it out. Good thing Wikipedia is in Spanish too! Blanca Flor and I wrote a biography of some guy I never heard of before. I asked if she had read about him in class. She said no, she didn't have any book about him. I asked how she was supposed to write about him. She said she had to look him up on the internet. I am sure she is one of very few kids from Los Pinos who have access to internet. They don't have electricity, never mind computers or internet. How can her teacher expect the class to do this assignment? But Blanca did the assignment.
Every day there are more and more men in army uniforms on the street. Jairo says it's because there is "a situation", but he is not sure what the situation is yet. Whenever he tells me about something political he always say, "The situation is..." When we know what is going on with all of the army in the streets I will update you on "the situation".
Today we had an arm wrestling contest after all of the kids left. I was wishing it were a year ago when I was in the best shape I've been in years from going to the gym in the US and running every day. Now I'm extra weak, especially after fighting this cold for 7 weeks. Don Juan won all of the arm wrestling contests, although he is older by far than all of his competition. Yesterday was the first day I didn't cough once all day. Today I can feel congestion in my chest but I can't move it with a cough.
Tomorrow all of the jovenes are going hiking in La Tigra National Park. They are really excited! I may go too.
Blanca Flor gave me a Valentines Day card today.
.jpg) |
| The front of my card |
 |
| Inside of my card from Blanca Flor She will turn 13 tomorrow It says Happy Valentines Day You are unique You are the best You are super You are my best friend I appreciate you I love you You are special I love you very much You are a very good friend |
♥ So sweet ♥ And so typical 13. As you can see, she can also write in English. She often asks me about songs she hears on the radio in English. Yesterday she sang one I could not interpret through her accent. She sings she sounds that she hears, but it is not necessarily English words. A few weeks ago she was singing very clearly, "WHO, WHO, WHO WHO, WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!" Even her barking had a Spanish accent. Did you know that barks and meows are completely different in Spanish? You'd think animals sound the same in every language, but they don't. Wednesday Blanca and Lolita asked me, "What does it mean, 'Boys will be boys?'" That's a fun one to explain to two almost teenaged girls.
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