Missions Accomplished!

Well, it didn’t take us long to take advantage of our Hiper Paiz purchases. On Sunday afternoon once we returned to Comayagua, Jenny and I decided it was time to open the can of pumpkin! Let the cookie baking begin! We found a great recipe for pumpkin cookies with caramel icing, so we went for it! I noticed that the recipe called for pretty large quantities of ingredients, however, it said “Yield 3 ½ Dozen” so I figured that seemed like a good amount. Since we don’t have an oven or range, (just two plug-in burners, see photo right) we have learned to make things many things, cookies included, in our toaster oven (see photo left). After we whipped up the batter, we were able to bake the cookies in the toaster oven 6 at a time. It was weird, it seemed like we just keep baking, and baking but we never seemed to make a dent in the batter. About halfway through the bowl of dough we hit 3 dozen baked cookies - that is when we realized we were in for a long night! 4 hours later and approximately 85 cookies later, the bowl was finally empty! Our toaster oven definitely stood the test of time and produced baked the cookies to perfection! Jenny and I both had stomach aches and sugar highs from all the cookies we ate during the process, but it was definitely worth it. The cookies were seriously AMAZING! We took a good portion to school with us today to share with our fellow coworkers…however, we still have at least a couple dozen left! (Email me if you want the recipe!)

Greg arrived back in Honduras on Monday morning. His initial plans for a ride from Tegucigalpa to Comayagua fell through, but fortunately he was able to jump on the military bus. He got back to our apartment around 5:30pm and we didn’t waste anytime before starting dinner. We fired up the griddle and went to town preparing the batter for our highly anticipated blueberry pancakes. They turned out fabulous! We topped them with a touch of butter and honey and downed the whole batch! DELISH! It is fun to take pleasure in the ´little´things in life! So, although we do not have scrumptious North American restaurants here, we do our best to create our own tasty treats…and dream of the delicious food back in the states!

Viaje to the Big City!

Friday after school Greg, Jenny, and I all hopped on a bus bound for Tegucigalpa. We arrived in the capitol city around 5:00pm and were greeted by our friend, Laurie (a fellow Norte Americana). She picked us up at the Esso Gas Station then we headed for her apartment. She lives at this really, really nice place! It was hotel that is now building an addition of brand new, fully furnished, top of the line apartments. Complete with a flat screen TV, wireless internet, air conditioning, an oven, granite countertops...you get the point! It is nothing like I have ever seen in Honduras before! :) Another thing this place has is a double sink. Double sinks pretty much do not exist here, which does make it more challenging when doing dishes. (Dish washers? Yeah right!) So, we have actually enjoyed doing dishes here, totally different experience with two sinks.

After we arrived at Laurie's place, we dropped our bags and realized that we were ready for dinner! There are several American chain restaurants here, so we were totally pumped for some good old USA grub. We decided on Fridays. The food was pretty good, however, the service was quite lacking (not to complain, just sharing the reality of the experience). You see, most restaraunts (even the American ones) already include the propina (tip, usually about 10%) in the check, therefore, often times servers don't feel the need to be overly helpful or even just plain accommodating. We were prepared for that in advance, so we tried not to let it sour our experience! Overall, we had a good meal and good fellowship, can't ask for much more! Afterward, we pretty much crashed back at Laurie's place. We had to get up early on Saturday to get Greg to the airport for his 7am departure to Los Angeles (for his lacrosse game on Sunday - his second of the season http://www.lariptide.com/).

Once Greg got off okay on Saturday, quality girl time began! :) We hit the mall around noon for some more American eats. I had an awesome salad from Quizno's - so good! Then we walked around and did some shopping. I have literally gone clothes shopping twice since I have been in Honduras (this trip included) since last August - that is HUGE for me! We each bought one thing, I got a dress and Jenny bought a jacket. (See us modeling our purchases, left) It was fun female bonding time!

Later, we hit up Hyper Paiz, a Wal-Mart like department store (it is actually owned by Wal-Mart). They carry a lot of the Sam's Club and Equate brand items and Wal-Mart quality products. They do have a really great grocery area though, which was awesome! I made 3 food purchases that I was super pumped about. First, Sweet and Salty Chex Mix (Honey Nut flavor). I am pretty much obsessed with Chex Mix. Once in a while I can find the regular flavor at gas stations or occasionally at the super market in Comayagua, but never different varieties. I typically only purchase it for road trips (Chex Mix is road trip staple for Greg and I, mainly me) but this time I made an exception! And, as you can see from the photo, the bag is already empty! I shared, I promise! Next, I was able to find canned pumpkin! Yeah, that is a super random ingredient, but it has been something I have been on a mission to find since Thanksgiving! I don't necessarily need it right now, but, I was so excited to see it, that I splurged, spent the $2 and bought it. Every once in a while I have a craving for pumpkin cookies, and now I can actually make them. In fact, I might fire up the toaster oven and make some this week! Finally, my most exciting discovery and purchase at Hyper Paiz....FRESH BLUEBERRIES!!!!!! They had a fabulous produce section, I was truly in fruit and veggie heaven! I picked up some yogurt too, and on Sunday we had granola, yogurt, blueberries and honey (that comes in a water bottle!) for breakfast. So tasty! Greg and I plan to make blueberry pancakes this week...my mouth is watering just thinking about them! I can't wait! We were also able to use a donation we received to pick up some toothpaste, toothbrushes, and deoderant in bulk (at good prices) to deliver to the orphanage back in Comayagua. Hyper Paiz was definitely 'bringing it' on Saturday!!! In the evening, we put Laurie's great kitchen to use and made BBQ chicken sandwiches, corn on the cob, broccoli, pasta salad, and 2 kinds of muffins. It was awesome to cook with state-of-the-art appliances!

Later that night, the Honduras National Futbol Championship Game was being played, live from none other than Comayagua. A team from San Pedro Sula and one from Tegucigalpa played for the title. Olympia from Teguc ended up winning 1-0 and the live footage showed people going nuts, partying, setting off fireworks, etc. all in Comayagua. Jenny and I were glad we opted to stay another night with Laurie in Tegucigalpa because we probably would not have gotten any sleep. Besides, one more night in the lap of luxury? Yes, please! We had a very relaxing, refreshing and fun-filled weekend here in the big city! It was fun to feel a little more 'connected' this weekend too, with access to the internet and modern conveniences many of which are not available in our quaint, colonial town. As great as city life is, I am actually looking forward to returning to our tranquil and calm hometown this afternoon! Of course, after we soak in one more bit of American culture....lunch at Ruby Tuesdays!

Our Barnyard Friends Visit Comayagua

Tuesday is trash day in our barrio (neighborhood) so the morning air is usually filled with a pretty rotten stench. Well, on this particular Tuesday morning the smell was so bad that it was overwhelming our apartment! Greg and I kept sniffing and moving through the house in attempt to find the odor´s source, but we could not find the cause. It wasn´t until we stepped outside that we discovered the root of the disgusting smell...

In Comayagua on trash day, everyone just drops their bags outside their front door on the sidewalk for the garbage men to pick up. Since there are no front yards or lawns, the entrance to a house is basically only like 2 feet from the street (right off of the sidewalk). Therefore, the stinky rotten waste smell often creeps into the house uninvited. It is even more intense when the garbage men don´t collect the bags until the afternoon because the trash just bakes all day in the sun!

Back to the story---So it was only about 6:40am and the odor had already overtaken our apartment, something was definitely unusual! Much to our surprise when we opened the front door we were greeted by none other than a donkey and a horse, standing their munching on some of the waste. Apparently the friendly duo was taking our street by storm and hitting the garbage piles one by one outside of each house or apartment. The smell was so intense because the animals were ripping the bags open, sorting through the scraps they wanted, and leaving behind those that they did not scattered all over the sidewalk and street. Greg and I could not believe our eyes as the tag team trotted proudly from one pile to the next, eating what they wanted then moving on to the following stack. They proceeded from house to house as if they owned the street! They hit the jackpot when they discovered an uncovered metal garbage can! Needless to say, Greg and I were a little late to school that day as we followed our animal friends around to take photos as they paraded through the neighborhood...it was definitely worth it though! I don´t know what ever happened to the two pals after that day as we haven´t seen them since. But, I venture to assume that they are two of the fattest and happiest animals in the area!

Chapel Hikes

Occasionally during our stay here we have had the pleasure of going on hikes with the chapel on base. Before hand they raise money to purchase food, then on the day of the event, we fill our backpacks and deliver the items. Last Saturday we went on a short 3 mile hike (I say short because on the previous hike we were told it would be 5 miles, and it ended up being almost 12!) to a village outside of La Paz – a neighboring city to Comayagua. We delivered an estimated 4,000 pounds of food, about $900 worth (which goes a long way when buying rice and beans from the marketplace!)

This particular hike was different than the others as we had some distinguished guests accompanying us…none other than CNN! Reporter Barbara Starr and her camera crew hiked alongside us while taping video footage of the event for an upcoming story. She interviewed participants and filmed the scenery as we hiked. It was really funny it just so ‘happened’ that every time Barbara was recording a segment, my friend Crystal and I ended up right behind her! Apparently the coincidence worked to our favor because Crystal, her husband Kyle, and I all got some face time on CNN´s web video clip. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/05/01/starr.honduras.food.cnn?iref=videosearch

Throughout our several hikes, it has always stifled me how many of the people to whom we deliver the food, willingly accept our gift however they seem to forget to offer a simple thank you. I am sure though, that is must be pretty humbling to have to accept food from strangers in order to feed your own family! And as Greg said, we aren’t doing this to receive praise from others, our purpose is to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus. I agree completely, and know in my heart that the people appreciate the supplies and hope they see them as a gift from our Creator.

The people’s outward lack of appreciation caused me to do some personal reflecting. It made me realize how many blessing and gifts God gives to me each day. Many of which I don’t even recognize (some of which I even expect!) let alone extend a mere ‘thank you’ for! I also thought about how much he must love me in order to continue blessing me abundantly when so often my gratitude is lacking! Which led me to my next thought…How long is someone willing to continue “doing” for someone else that is ungrateful? I don’t want to find out….I realize that I really need to start identifying my blessing and glorifying the Lord in return, everyday! Now I don’t have any kids yet, but I have a feeling that is what moms go through a lot too. Lack of appreciation for all they do for their family. This probably won’t make up for my 27 years of neglection, but I’ll try anyway: THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING MOM! I LOVE YOU!

So at the end of the journey, as I was grabbing all my gear to head back to the bus an elderly woman approached me grabbed my hands looked me in the eye and said, “thank you so much for all of this, please share my appreciation with the others too.” This was the moment that ‘made the day’ for me. I soaked it in for a minute, then, thanked the Lord for the opportunity to participate in the chapel hikes. It really is a pleasure and a gift.

Crystal and I posing with the ´famous´Barbara Starr!

The rest of the photos included in this blog are shots from the hike!
Oh, and yes, that is toilet above, and yes, I used it.

Not Your Average Science Fair

On Friday, our school had its annual science fair. Classes were canceled and instead, the kids displayed and demonstrated their projects from 8am to 12pm. Of course, the first bit of the morning was quite chaotic (as to be expected) - there weren't enough display tables, some of my 4th graders had to relocate their displays up to four time after they had already set them up, and half of them forgot their materials! After some tears, phone calls, and direction from leadership, everything was finally ready to go around 9am. The 1st and 2nd graders did class projects lead by their teachers, then from 3rd to 11th grade the students were on their own to work individually or in groups to develop an experiment. I wasn't really involved with helping the kids, since I only teach Language Arts, but I was pretty impressed with some of their projects. One boy in my class made hair gel (a staple in any man's toiletry kit here) in a variety of scents and colors, then sold it to classmates after the event (business man in the making). Another group made electricity using clorox, salt, water, and vinegar, others showed how and why things flot in salt water, and yet another demonstrated how gravity works. However my 2 personal favorites or maybe I should say, the most shocking experiments that I encountered, were both done by elementary students and they both involved alcohol! The 2nd graders whole project was actually making and an alcoholic beverage - Kahlua! I was pretty much surprised at that alone, but when they started handing out samples of the stuff blended into smoothies and baked into a cake (which I tasted by the way and it was delish!) I couldn't believe my eyes! Let me tell you, it was quite a popular booth amongst visitors! Then, take a short walk to a 4th grade group and find a booth with a bottle of Honduran moonshine sitting on their table! The girls' project actually did teach a good lesson, but still, it involved moonshine - at school! The purpose of their display was to show the negative effects of consuming alcohol on the liver. The girls placed a piece of cow's liver (that they picked up at the local grocery store) in a glad bowl and poured the moonshine on top. As the liver absorbed the liquid and began to filter it, it turned white and became discolored. It was a good message, however, bring alcohol to school - questionable! Wow, chalk it up to cultural differences again - that is what we do when we can't figure out something here. Overall, the science fair was successful and there were many impressive projects. Neighboring schools came and toured the booths and the local news even visited and filmed the event. I didn't see anyone stumbling out of the school at the end of the day, so I will consider the 2008 School Science Fair a winner!