Conversations

Many times when something interesting or new happens, I think to myself "I have to remember to share this in my blog tonight."  Usually I forget.  But here are two things I remember from today:

When I was in the US, people teased me about my Spanish, saying that I spoke Spanish with a strong English accent.  One of the men from the church here always compliments me on my Spanish.  He seems very genuine and always says he loves my accent.  I find that hard to believe, after being teased all those years.  Tonight we had a conversation about it.  He asked how I learned Spanish with such a great accent.  Jose, Karla and I laughed because I always tell people that I learned my Spanish from Karla - the fastest speaker in the world.  When we told Alexis that I got my accent from Karla he said that made sense because we both express ourselves the same way.  We both are expressive and use a lot of emphasis when we speak.

Later, he was telling Lourdes about great my accent.  He said my accent was "bonito" (nice/pretty) but I misheard him and thought he said "unico" (unique).  I laughed and said, "Unique that's one word for it!"

I guess it's not as funny now but it seemed really funny then.

On the way home from the birthday party I rode with Karla and Jose.  Their daughter, Dana Sophia, complained she was hungry.  They asked why she didn't eat at the party since there was a bounty of food.  She said she didn't like any of the food.  (Really she had filled up on chips.)  It was funny, and sad, listening to their conversation.  I was raised being told that I should finish my dinner because there were starving children in China.  Then the next generation was told about starving children in Africa.  In Honduras it is different.

Karla asked Dana if Dana remembered the boy outside the grocery store who was eating cabbage.  Karla explained that the boy was eating leaves of cabbage because he has no food.  Karla asked Dana if Dana believed that the boy likes to eat raw cabbage.  Karla told Dana that she has the opportunity to eat plenty of good food, and if she chooses not to then she cannot complain because there are children at the grocery store who are starving and have no food.

China was abstract to me.  It was hard to comprehend.  I'm sure Africa was intangible to the next generation.  But in Honduras, for Dana Sophia, she sees starving kids when she goes to the grocery store.  Wow.  Life is different here.

Jairo's Birthday!

Tonight we celebrated Jairo's birthday

Joss, Marcella and me

Everything was set up outside

All of the meat was cooked on Jairo's new birthday grill

Jairo with Aaron and Joss

Jairo looks great in Lourdes' glasses.  This may be his new FB profile pic!

Me with Lourdes

Finally, after years of waiting I get to spend this special day in Honduras with Jairo!

Valery got the whole crowd dancing by the end of the night

A day at the mall

Today I had to go shopping to pick up a birthday gift for Jairo.  I had been thinking and thinking about what to get him.  Finally I thought of a great idea.  Jairo loves photos.  He likes to take photos, he likes to look at photos.  He often asks me to take photos of things for him, but until this point he has never used any of the photos he asked me to take.  He uses photos in PowerPoint productions that he makes when he speaks at conferences, etc.  Last week he told me he is using the same photos over and over and they are not recent.

That gave me an idea.  I decided to buy a USB for his birthday.  On the USB I will put any photo that I think he would like as well as all those he asked me to take.

My taxista dropped me off at the mall yesterday at 1:30 and picked me up at 4:30.  I had a fun little outing.  First I wandered into a fancy perfume and make up store.  Even my friends who don't have much are always talking about fancy perfume.  They say they have it at home, but they must save it for special occasions because I've never smelled them wearing it.

I have been thinking about wearing foundation.  Most women here wear full makeup.  I haven't worn anything but eyeshadow in my life and I got over that phase in 9th grade.  The lady at the counter asked if she could help me.  I told her I am trying to find the right color for foundation.  She had me wash my face, then she put three different lotions on me (apparently I am in bad shape).  Then she put on the foundation.  It looked okay, but didn't cover as well as I was expecting so I asked about concealer.  She put concealer under one eye and let me compare with the other.  Well, the eye with no concealer did have darker circles, but the eye with concealer looked grey underneath!  She told me how marvelous the products are and what they will do for my skin.  Then I saw the price.  The foundation was over $80 and concealer was almost $50!  She said I could use something cheaper like Lancome, but you get what you pay for.  When she saw my face, she told me that the three lotions were REALLY expensive.  I can't even imagine.

As the makeup settled in over the day, it did look more natural.  But not $130 worth.  And my face kept getting little itches.  By the time I left the mall I had probably itched off most of the makeup.  I went home and washed my face.  I don't think foundation is for me.

I did find a great deal on a USB, a teddy bear from Laura who will turn one soon, a card for Karla who also has a birthday coming up, and a file folder to keep all of my receipts in for taxes.  I also found chocolate frosting at the grocery store, along with sugar free pudding.  I am going to make Chocolate Eclairs for Jairo's birthday.  I figure that is better for his diabetes than cake.

Got a bunch of laundry done.  Had to do an extra load because a spider or something built a webby nest on my sheet while it was drying.  I washed the sheet again and then a bird pooped on it as it was drying the second time - a big, dark, poop on my pink sheet.  :(   I am really enjoying my new blankets.  I only need a few more long sleeved top and I'll be set for colder weather.  I tried finding some comfy every day shoes at Payless since I can't wear flip flops anymore, but they were $30.  I decided to wait until I get back to the states at Christmas and pick up some cheaper shoes and some slippers for the cold tile floors of my house at Ross or TJ Maxx.

Misael's Birthday!

Today was Misa's birthday.  In Honduras people go out and buy fancy cakes.  Not all as fancy as the one I posted of Josselyn's birthday, but cakes here are purchased, not homemade.  Marlin, Misael's mother, bought a gorgeous cake for her daughter's birthday and brought it to the Breakfast Program for a party.  However, I knew that funds were low in their house this week so I offered to make a cake.  I wasn't even sure she would want a homemade cake, but Marlin was very grateful.  Lourdes asked me to make two just to be sure there was enough to go around.

I searched in 3 stores and couldn't find food coloring so we used Coco Krispies
to write Happy Birthday.

Misael greeted everyone with an extra bright smile.  When we wished him Happy Birthday he responded softly, "Grashias".  He was definitely excited to turn four.

Misael and his mother, my friend Marlin.

Since it was his birthday Misael was allowed some special liberties, like lying on the kitchen floor when the birthday wishes became overwhelming.

And he took some pictures with my camera, which is normally off limits.

Lourdes wasn't there for the first group, so we decided to wait to have the cake until she got there.  By that point we only needed one cake which was good because Marlin took the other one home to celebrate in the evening with her family.

We had a difficult time lighting the candles.  It was a windy day.  But finally they were lit and we sang Happy Birthday in English to him!  In Honduras you always clap when you sing Happy Birthday.

Then he blew out the candles.

 

 

And enjoyed his piece of cake.

Happy Birthday Misael!