Friday, January 2, 2009

Christmas Cofradίa Style

I’ve been waiting for the past couple of weeks for some mind-boggling realization to hit me so that I could bless you all, yet again, with a little taste of personal reflection … but nothing’s struck, and I assume many of you are curious what I’ve been up to over Christmas break. I’d love nothing more than to fill this blog with stories of wild bus rides, beautiful beaches, and lush green mountainsides; unfortunately, for that you’ll have to look back at my emails from Costa Rica. I’ve spent nearly the entire break in Cofradίa with the exception of a brief, boring trip to Belize.
Shortly after the preceding blog, I joined six of my fellow volunteers as well as the owner of the school’s property, Ben, on a three day excursion to San Ignacio, Belize. Ben’s daughter, Larissa, had just finished her first year of high school there, and he needed to go collect her. His trip just so happened to coincide nicely with the time when many of our visas would soon expire, so we piled into the giant, yellow van that quickly acquired the name of Big Bird and set off for Belize. It was a long, complicated trip full of various border crossings, smuggling Ben across the Honduras-Guatemala border (his visa was far past due), insurance issues with Big Bird, lunches at adorable Guatemalan huts, gas station ice cream stops, and hours of uncomfortable naps. We arrived in Belize around 8:30 Friday night and went out for pizza and burgers. The next day two of the other girls and I spent the day wandering San Ignacio “downtown,” which got boring rather quickly. Later that night we went out to a local club with the other volunteers and then stayed the night with a friend of Ben’s – a medicine man of sorts, Marcos has a delightful little place right along the river about 20 minutes from town. Diede, Carla, and I slept in an open, elevated hut covered by a bay leaf roof and woke up the following morning to the sun reflecting off the beautiful, clean river and birds filling the fresh morning air with music. It was really nice, and I would have loved to stay longer. But, after a quick breakfast, we jumped back into Big Bird and made our way back home to Cofradίa.
It was certainly a different Christmas this year. Not to say that it was bad; just different. I spent Christmas Eve baking cookies and fudge to take with me to Norma’s house, which made me feel strangely like my mother. That night Carla, Jeremy, and I went to Norma’s house for tamales, arroz con pollo, fireworks, and good company. My parents called me from my grandparents’ house, so I got to have a short Christmas conversation with some family on Christmas Eve. They also were lucky enough to be serenaded by Sofia and Emily to the tune of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Later that night I met up with a local friend to set off more fireworks. The tradition in Honduras is to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, eat tamales, set off fireworks, dance until some 5:00 in the morning, and then spend all of Christmas day sleeping; I, however, decided to call it a night after fireworks.
On Christmas day I went over to the other volunteer house for a delicious meal of Greek pasta, green salad, Spanish espinacas, stuffed green peppers, cous cous, grilled potatoes, and chocolate stuffed mini bananas. It was fabulous to have good food that wasn’t cooked in the saturated vegetable fat that they insist on using with every dish here. We spent the rest of the day drinking, playing cards, listening to music, and simply enjoying each others’ company. That evening I was able to talk to more family when my parents called from my uncle’s house. As I was unable to spend the holiday with my family, it was really nice to at least be able to talk to them.
New Year’s Eve was rather similar to Christmas. We had another scrumptious meal of Greek salad, pasta in marinara sauce, spinach and feta stuffed empanadas, bread with Tzatziki, and white wine. However, instead of spending the rest of the evening at the house, we decided to wander down to The Rocks for the “party” that was supposedly to be held there. After an hour or so, a few of us decided that an evening filled with drinking awful Honduran beer and dancing either with fellow gringos or with the large selection of 12-year-olds present was an insufficient way to welcome 2009. So, Diede, her sister, one of our local friends, and I decided to go to a local dance club, CableSol… which was, likewise, a mistake… or so it seemed at first. Apparently the New Year’s traditions here are as different as the Christmas traditions: no one does anything until after midnight at which point they all go out dancing, again, until some 5:00 in the morning. So, needless to say, there was no one at CableSol. For about an hour it was only the four of us dancing across the empty dance floor to the beat of either reggaeton or merengue. At midnight we went outside to enjoy the fireworks and decided we would give the dance club another hour… besides, it only seemed fitting that we at least stay up until my New Year’s Eve. After midnight the locals started to trickle, and eventually flood, into the club. So, eventually New Year’s was a lot of fun. It just took a little while.
Perhaps my most significant accomplishment of the past weeks was accomplished on January 31st: I completed my LAST graduate school application!!! Now that I no longer have applications or essays to work on, I’m not quite sure what to do with my new-found freedom. But, considering I haven’t read a book purely for enjoyment since I started college, I’m hoping to get some good books in during my remaining two months. I moved into the other volunteer house yesterday and now have a pleasant selection of used books at my disposal… as well as consistent running water; a larger, less stuffy room; and a more comfortable house that is considerably closer to The Rocks and, therefore, to free food. I’m rather pleased with my move. :)
School starts up again on Monday. My plan is to continue teaching through the end of February and then spend my last week and a half or so traveling primarily in Guatemala, which means I really only have two months of teaching left. I can’t believe how quickly my time is passing here. I’m not sure I’m ready for this experience to be over! But, at the same time, I am so looking forward to what lies ahead in 2009. It’s so exciting to think that I have absolutely no idea where I will be this time next year… well, besides in graduate school somewhere. I submitted applications to San Fransisco, San Diego, Boston, Seattle, and Athens, Georgia. So, it seems I will be living somewhere more or less coastal. I can’t wait to find out where!
So, in two more days I will be working with 5th graders doing my best to pick up where Miss Betsy left off and fill their heads with some sort of knowledge over the next two months. Wish me luck! I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going!

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season! Love you guys!