Where to start?

Today was a really great day for me.  But it was also a day where the ugliness of living in the deadliest city on earth seemed all too real.  Don't worry.  I did not personally have any near death experiences.

Last night I was invited for dinner with my new landlord.  She and her husband and I stayed up until 11 p.m., getting to know each other better.  The nice thing is, the more I know them, the more I like them.  We have a lot more in common than I imagined.  Carlos likes a lot of outdoor things and Hermida is into health and exercise.  I am hoping to talk Carlos into helping me plant a garden in the spring.  Hermida and I made plans to hang out again on Saturday, but they made it clear that I am always welcome to visit.

Morning came quickly.  I slept well but it was cold!  One of those nights where you put your head under the blankets and you wonder if your feet will ever get warm.

At the Breakfast Program Lourdes and I designated a quilt, which we received as donations, for each child.  They are beautiful quilts.  We had over 100, which is good because today at the Breakfast Program we fed 95 kids.  Tomorrow we will have a Christmas/End of the Year party.  Each child will receive their quilt, a cup and a special meal which Jairo and I shopped for today.

I loved choosing the right quilt for each kid.  The quilts were different sizes and textures.  Jose is always dirty, so he got a darker one.  Lorenzo's quilt was my favorite.  Lourdes chose it, but I couldn't have chosen any better.  It is gorgeous shades of brown with one patch that had a red heart sewn on.  Lorenzo, the boy who can never get enough love, will now sleep with a heart on his blanket.  If his parents don't sell it.  I asked Lourdes if I can write Lorenzo's name on the heart.  Then at least if his parents sell it, everyone will always know the rightful owner.  I am going to tell him that the heart signifies the love that God and all of us at the church have for him.  I'm pretty sure he gets no love, or even any attention at home.

Lourdes corralled the kids into a "reunión" while the rest of us counted the kids and cooked and plated the food.  We ran out of cups and forks.  Since tomorrow is the last day of the Breakfast Program until January, we were trying to use up all of the food.  We were successful.  After all of the kids and cooks were fed, there was not a drop left.

Lourdes, Don Juan and the kids have been working on the garden a lot lately.  We got a big donation of ceramic animals.  Lourdes really enjoys painting them.  Crafts are not my thing, so I haven't been helping much except to tell them how wonderful everything looks.  Right now we have a burro, boats, giraffes, frogs, turtles, and I'm not sure what else, living in the garden.  They painted pine cones and put them in a tree.  As I left they were stringing lights.  We are hoping the animals don't get stolen before everyone has a chance to enjoy them.  They will be very tempting to grab on the way out of the church.

On the way home we tried to get tickets for Lourdes to go to a concert.  This morning she learned that one of her favorite musicians/poets is performing tonight.  It turned out that the tickets were sold out and being sold by scalpers at double the face value, so she didn't get to go.  She said she was fine with that because if God wanted her to be there, He would have made sure she had a ticket.  The concert started at 8 pm, so she figured it was probably wise for her to be at home and not out late at night anyway.

We stopped at a mall to see if the ticket agencies had anything left but they didn't, so we did some window shopping.  Everyone else grabbed some pupusas from the food court for dinner, but I have left overs that need to be eaten tonight so I just got a liquado, which is like a milkshake without the ice cream.  The man at the liquado place asked where I was from.  I told him the United States.  FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY it was explained to me why people are confused when I say I am from the US!  This has been happening since June and I could never figure it out.

Last night when I was talking with Carlos and Hermida, Carlos commented that I have a great accent.  I told him that is very funny to me because when I lived in the US, my friends who only speak English made fun of me when I spoke Spanish.  They said I was saying Spanish words but with an English accent.  I also told Carlos about the times Alexis Pacheco has complimented my accent, but I thought he was joking.  Last night, after talking to Carlos, it finally sunk in that my Spanish  might actually be pretty decent.  This morning I saw Alexis and told him that I had mentioned him in conversation last night.  When he asked why I told him it was about my accent.  He explained that most North Americans are not able to pick up the accent the way I do and that he loves the way I speak.  Then this evening the man at the liquado place said that he expected me to be from a different country within Central America, or possibly South America because my accent is "bien suave" (really soft).  Wow!  What a compliment!  He said if I spend another six months here I will be Latina.  :-)

I am surrounded by people who speak great English, but believe that their English is not very good.  I guess it only makes sense that I would believe my Spanish is not as good as other people think.

While we ate (and I drank my liquado) Jairo told me about Bismar's neighbor being killed last night.  At 8 pm, men broke into a single father's home tied him up in front of his 2 young kids, hung him so if he struggled he would strangle himself, then took gas and set fire to the house.  The man was well liked in the community.  He was never known to bring home any women or do anything but work and care for his kids.  Neighbors cooked for him sometimes, since he was a single father.  In return he would bring them bags of rice or uncooked food to pay them back.  Lourdes and I visited Bismar's house only a few months ago.  To have something like that happen so "close to home" is hard to hear.  No police ever came to the scene.  I asked Jairo why, thinking maybe it had to do with corruption.  Lourdes said that police will not go into that neighborhood.  In Chicago I worked in areas where the police and firemen would not respond.  Now I am doing the same in Honduras.

Jairo also told me that Bismar is really struggling.  Bismar has always been very special to me.  He attends a private Christian school about 3 hours away, which the church pays for with help from sponsors.  His father has been dying of cancer for a while.  The last time I was there he looked very sick, but I had heard he was getting better.  At Thanksgiving Bismar gave thanks for his father being healed.  Apparently that was more hope than reality.  Recently Bismar's uncles came to take his father home with them.  They told Bismar they have natural medicine.  Everyone cried as he left, knowing they would probably not see him alive again. But Bismar has been hiding in denial.  Today Jairo took Bismar to run some errands.  He told Bismar that Bismar needs to get used to the idea that his father will probably die.  He asked Bismar to consider what he will do if his father passes.  Bismar said that he will stay in school.  He understands that in the long run, that is how he can help his family best.  Jairo reminded him that if he drops out he will have no opportunities.  I am praying if/when the time comes, Bismar will stay in school.  I know it will be very difficult for him.

Bismar also shared something with Jairo.  He told Jairo, "I cannot go out on the streets and beg, but our family has no food."  His mother used to sell tortillas.  She is so distraught she is now sick and cannot cook tortillas to sell.  His older sister is fighting with the family and ran away.  Yesterday his older brother and his mother were arguing to the point that his brother almost hit his mother.  Bismar is the youngest.  He doesn't know what to do.  He is watching his family fall apart.

Jairo gave Bismar food from the church and money for some more food.  With Bismar, we know that the money will be used wisely.  I will try to find ways to help Bismar too.  I have never known such an exceptional boy, so completely devoted to God, his studies and his family.

Bismar and me when I gave him "The Places You'll Go"

Lourdes and I talked about how things like this make us look at our own lives and our families and truly thank God for the way we are blessed.  Sure, sometimes things are tough for us.  But when we look at our own lives compared to the burdens that others have to bear, we can't help but thank God and be grateful.

Oh, Lourdes also told me that I need to get a haircut before I go home for Christmas.  I had been hesitant when my hair was falling out.  But that seems to have stopped within the past 10 days.  I told her I agree.  I need to get a haircut because my Mom will have a fit if I go home looking like this.  She said good, because if I had said no she was going to force me to get a haircut anyway.  She has even decided what style would be good for me.  See how well I am cared for here?    :)