Life as I now know it

It’s interesting how rapidly the mind adapts to new stimuli. Sometimes I feel as though I’m watching a cartoon… like my mind has temporarily suspended my sense of reality for the duration of my stay here. I was walking home from school yesterday passing middle-aged men on their porches with their T-shirts pulled up above their protruding bellies (as seems to be the fashion here) and half-naked children running through the trash that litters the sides of the road when a rooster stepped out onto the road and joined us for part of our trek home… and it took me a minute or so to realize how odd the whole thing was. Roosters are just one of the many things that have become part of our daily scenery. There’s also the bull that frequents the road to Ben’s house, pregnant stray dogs on every corner, machetes EVERYWHERE (men, women, even older children… but then, “childhood” here seems to end around 14), men with rifles strolling around the school grounds to ward off intruders... all a part of daily life. The oddest part of it all is that not only is this becoming normal, but enjoyable. I am truly beginning to enjoy my time here.
Before I left Boise I made comments, half-jokingly, about encountering machetes down here, but I had no idea how prevalent they would truly be. Although, they no longer instill the fear in me that they once did, because I’ve now realized them for what they are: a tool. Yes, they can be used in violence, and, naturally, that’s the only exposure we tend to have to them at home. But, here they are the most multi-purpose instrument you can get… they slaughter animals, prune trees, chop wood, and, of course, serve as protection. I’m checking into buying one before I come home. Odd, I know, but I think little would symbolize the lifestyle here better.
As many of you know, besides coming to teach, I had a second mission in my journey to Central America of lesser but, nonetheless, significant importance: dance. I had a dream of moving once again to a country, like Costa Rica, where dance was a way of life; a place where salsa and merengue dancers instinctively flocked like the salmon of Capistrano… as far as I can tell, this is not that place. We went out dancing on Saturday night to a local restaurant/bar called Coco Loco’s. We danced all night long with the creepy and (often) old men… practically none of which knew how to dance. NO salsa played. Bachatta music played, but no one knew how to dance to it and so defaulted to the basic merengue step. A lot of merengue played, and, while here they had mastered the basic step, they had little more than that. I think the most exciting point of the night was when they played Michael Jackson, no doubt, for the 10 gringos that had graced their bar that evening. It was still a lot of fun, but my goal of improving my dance skills is not likely to be realized in Cofradίa. I’m hoping to try my luck in the nearby San Pedro Sula soon.
Perhaps one of the most frustrating things that I’ve encountered thus far, second to the incredibly inconsistent water pressure, is an opportunity to better my Spanish. I knew that on campus Spanish usage would be infrequent since the primary goal of the school is to teach the students English, but I had higher expectations of the locals… though perhaps I shouldn’t have. It’s not that I’m not speaking Spanish, but, rather, that their Spanish is so poor that I fear mine may be getting worse from speaking with them. For example, one of the things that I struggle with most is verb conjugation, a skill that the people here seem to have disregarded entirely. I’ve been completely shocked by the number of times I’ve heard things like “no gustar” or “no entender” from both children and adults alike. And, since my last proper Spanish lesson took place in Costa Rica two years ago, I’m finding it difficult to remember the basic conjugations of a lot of verbs. It’s incredibly frustrating. But, hopefully it will come back. Either that or maybe I’ll have to splurge on a basic Spanish book.
Well, I suppose that’s it for now. I miss you all like crazy, but I am really doing well. I’m very happy with where I am and with all the experiences I’m having here… as odd as they may be. Oh, and one more thing – a short advertisement: if any of you are interested in teaching this spring, half of our teachers are only here for the semester and will, therefore, be leaving in December. We could definitely use the help. I won’t sugar-coat it and say it’s easy, but I can promise it will be a learning experience at the very least. If you’re interested let me know!