year of self inquiry

I sit here now, on the floor of my bedroom. It's a rainy Sunday in November and I'm content. This morning, I ran through the streets of Juticalpa, took a cold shower and ate a warm bowl of soup. Now, as I sit down to plan the week's lessons, I realize that I need to write. It's been awhile. The past two weeks have been busy; I think my day-to-day schedule here has surpassed the level of flurry that I keep at home. There's a lot going on! Jessica and I have started to teach adult ESL classes to the parents of Santa Clara two nights a week. I'm teaching the second-level class and have about twenty-five parents in my class. It's fun to prep for these classes because adults are so different to teach. They're curious and excited to learn English, as it's a very valuable language here. However, trying to teach the language that I naturally speak is constantly challenging. Should the article a be pronounced "ayyyy" or "ahhh?" Is there a rule about when we use not and when we use no? How many words besides woman/women have an irregular plural partner? I'm learning a lot. We're teaching these classes for free, but the parents try to find as many ways to pay us as possible. I guess you could say that we teach for food- most recently, for tajaditas, baleadas, and mandarin oranges from someone's backyard.

Annie's birthday was last week, and a couple of teachers had a surprise party for her. I've never been to a Latin American fiesta before and seriously, this one was straight out of my high school Spanish textbook. We decorated the whole house with balloons and tissue paper trains. There was a piñata, salsa and merengue music, lots of dancing and birthday songs that were sung for five minutes straight. Hondurans know how to throw a party!

I've started tutoring Michael at his family's store one day a week and we're making progress. Working with Michael is both beautiful and challenging. I've never thought much about what it would be like to go through the world without sight, but everyday, I have constant reminder of what a struggle it is. Still, Michael learns quickly and reads beautifully. There are times that I find myself crying because I'm so proud of all that he is able to do. He is an amazing kid.

Annie, Kristi and I have formed a little school development committee and have designated ourselves the planning team for the future of Santa Clara. Since Santa Clara is still in its developmental stage, there are huge directional questions to be answered and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work on them. Right now, we're planning out the official curriculum, scope and sequence for each grade level. This is so exciting for me because this is exactly the type of work that I want to do when I return to the states.

In the past two weeks, I've also had the chance to go to the Juticalpa Ruedas (City Fair), journey out to Carlos's family's farm in Guarizama, take midnight motorcycle rides through the city and play some incredibly funny games of Spanish UNO. I've also learned a lot about the unfaithful-Casanova-style of Honduran men and how it's best to steer clear of adorable hombres altogether. I've also learned that mail from the states CAN make it to me in less than a month. Thank you Gretchen, Mom, Kate, Karen, Jane and Aunt Kathy for sending your love this-a-way!

This week marked two months in Honduras and in one month I'll be home for the holidays! It's really exciting to think about both of those marks in time. I like how Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love, calls her travels abroad a "year of self inquiry." I suppose that is what this is for me. I've never had the time, place or space to step away and to reflect on how the rest of the world lives. But, it is so good to do this. It really is.