thanks for everything-

Today concludes Thanksgiving weekend. For a country that does not celebrate the holiday, I feel remarkably like I would at the end of a really wonderful Thanksgiving weekend in the states. I am tired, well fed and not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I am putting off lesson plans and grading papers,and instead looking over pictures of the weekend, listening to the new Jay Z album my brother sent me and admiring my new Oregon sweatshirt!!! I love Pete and Stef! Today is kind of like Christmas!

Let me backtrak a little bit. Last weekend, moments after my last blog entry, Quinton, Julie and I found ourselves in the Parque Central hanging out with teachers from another Bilingual School. We sat in the sun and enjoyed the afternoon. It was great gringo time. I feel like these other teachers are becoming our real friends. Catherine and Amanda and I are planning at trip to Costa Rica over Christmas seeing that all my co workers have elaborate plans that don’t include me. Anyway - we made plans to loiter in the Parque in Comayagua on Sunday. I am totally into these Parques that are designed for the sole purpose of hanging out. In Comayagua we met up with Oscar and Luigi who were in Comayagua at Oscar’s house and on their way to Siguatepeque. Oscar and I drank watermelon liquados and talked for a few hours while the others explored the town. Talking with him makes me so happy that I am at a precarious place in my life where I don’t have to make any life decisions. He reminds me a lot of Ethan (Rio)….a lawyer who hates his work and wants to do something different. I think Oscar is going more of the Park Ranger route with his plans to go back to school for a Master’s in environmental something or another. But in the meantime he is a lawyer and is working for our school to get us gringos work permits to stay in Honduras.

The week was spent getting getting ready for our Thanksgiving feast and getting stuff done so Oscar can take our work permit papers down to Tegucigalpa. For that we had to get our Honduran criminal background checks (4 months here and I still have a clean record - whew!) and a physical. My heart is still beating, my lungs move air and my blood pressure is fine. Now I just have to wait for immigration to make sure that I am okay to stick around this country.

For Thanksgiving Quinton and I planned a shindig for the teachers at school. We really just wanted the day off from school and the best way to get that accomplished was to host a feast for the teachers at school. Principal Khalila called a half day on Thursday and excused Quinton and I from school so we could cook our little hearts out. The day began with mimosas and washing the turkey. On the menu for the feast was: Turkey with peach marmalade glaze, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, brocoli and cheese, garlic butter green beans, macaroni and cheese, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, pumkin pie, apple pie and chocolate cake.

We invited all the teachers and their kids so the guest list was right around 30 people. Needless to say we had a lot of food on our hands. By 4pm the Turkey was done and everything else was ready to go. Once everyone had eaten (for most of them this was their first Thansgiving, and they LOVED the nuevo comida) we went around and said what we were thankful for. Most people were thankful for God, their families, their health and a lot of people were thankful that Khalila had created the school and provided them with jobs. I said I was thankful that everyone here has taken such good care of me and made me feel so welcome. (Also thanks to the guys that built our house - better late than never, to Saul the bus driver for getting us to school everyday and not freaking out too much about the bus, and to Khalila for catering to all of our needs). Vice principal Mr. Reynaldo was so moved by the whole thing he was too chocked up to speak, which of course made us all teary.

But enough of the sappy stuff. After giving thanks and eating desert the dance party began . Mr. Byron, who lives just a few blocks away, brought over his big ass stero system and we danced the night away. One day I will figure out this rhythm and will be able to shake my booty with the best of them. The party broke up around 9pm (enough time for everyone to get home, go to bed and be ready for school the next day) and I washed some dishes and had a great talk with Saul about life, love and the persuit of happiness. It’s great to hear about this things from a Honduran perspective.

Friday was an obvious hard day for all the teachers. We were buzzing all day about the fun we’d had the night before and can’t wait for another reason to get together. They all say Christmas.

Saturday Quinton, Olivia and I went to Cofridia for yet another Thanksgiving Dinner. Mel and Toby, my Australian friends who are volunteers at a Bilingual school, were having a Thanksgiving at their house, hosted by their American roomate. As always it was so good to see Mel and Toby who I always have such thoughtful conversations with. The dinner was great and it was nice to meet all the other volunteers in the town.

The sun was shining the whole way back to Siguatepeque today and I dozed off while listening to This American Life on my ipod. I felt connected to home as I listened to Ira Glass introduce thought provoking stories of Cat and Mouse while at the same time connected to my new home- seeing familiar sights pass me - women selling fish to the bus passengers from the windows, drunk men passed out on the side of the road, women washing clothes at the pilas in their yard, little children in their underwear diving into waters I would never approach. As we moved into the mountains I felt a little homecoming. Lago de Yojoa was such a familiar sight bringing me closer and closer home to Sigua.