laugh til it hurts

While I have had my fair share of despedidas (goodbye parties) in Honduras over the years, none has made my face hurt as much as my recent despedida from the MCC team. Hurting from so much laughing, that is.

They made a tumblr-like rendition of experiences over the years that I attempt to share below. You will likely not find this as funny as I did, but I couldn't help but share it because it is so awesome.

I was unable to capture the other half of my goodbye: the 4 guys re-enacted small "scenes" with Charissa. The way I talk, the way I drive, the way I react dramatically to life...all on display. Humbling and hilarious, it was a great way to go out--laughing til my stomach hurt and I was in tears.

Can't hardly believe its the end of more than 3 years with MCC in Honduras. Through all the ups and downs, the team has supported me. I have been blessed to know such wonderful people and share this challenging, scary, tumultuous (often dramatic) time together. 

Titled: 

Charissa's liiiiiife: moments in Honduras

Cuando combinan tus zapatos, tu cartera, tu blusa, tu esmalte, tu maquillaje, y tus acesorios

When your shoes, purse, shirt, nail polish, make-up and accessories match:

Cuando por fin recibimos nuestras licencias

When we finally get our driver's licenses:

Cuando alguien te pregunta "usted no es de aqui verdad?"

Estas bromeando?

When someone asks you "you aren't really from here, right?"

Cuando algo medico menor requiere una injeccion

When a minor medical problem "requires" an injection:

Cuando un pastor te informa que has roto tus patalones en publico

When a pastor informs you your pants have ripped open in public:

Cuando alguien se mete frente a vos en la fila de migracion

When someone cuts in front of you in line at the immigration office:

When PlanWin finally replicates:

Cuando la persona quien estas esperando "esta en camino" 

Por que me mentis?

When the person you are waiting for is "on their way"

When Kathy Troyer's worms are too close to you:

Cuando por fin introducen Lotus Notes email

When they finally introduce Lotus Notes:

When you want to stop the guy from washing your winshield

or

signal that you don't need a taxi that is honking at you

or 

you want to deny anything

When people spell your name "Karictza"

Every day in Honduras:

new year

Hello blog-reading friends and family! Happy New Year!
It's been awhile since I have posted, but not for lack of things to share...there was a lot going on at the end of December with holidays and I haven't had much time to post.

A few days before Christmas I got some kind of bug and was pretty bed-ridden for a few days with fever. Thankfully it passed by Christmas but I was still weak and worn-out around the holiday. I was able to spend the 24th with Henry and his family (the traditional celebration for Hondurans is on the evening of the 24, not the 25) but fell asleep before midnight (even with all the fireworks and commotion!!)




I was able to skype with my family on the 25th and share in their time together in Ohio. It was hard to be away from them, but a blessing to be in touch. Then I went to Tegucigalpa for a few days to see my Honduran host family and spend time there--another great blessing in my life. It was relaxing to be in a familiar place with people who know me well.



For New Year's holiday I went to the North Coast with 2 really good friends (fellow MCCers) and we had a great time at the beach, doing some snorkeling and catching up. We topped off the trip with a New Year's celebration- Pirate style!! You just never know who you are going to meet in these parts...

All in all it was a busy vacation time but a much needed break from work and some much needed time to connect with friends and family. I am grateful to have such wonderful friends here in Honduras and the ability to travel to such beautiful places.

Now I am in the middle of a busy January schedule. We just finished our MCC team retreat and tomorrow my parents arrive in San Pedro Sula. I am very excited to take them with me to Santa Rosa and show them my life there. I will update when I can with more about their visit that is sure to be anything but boring ;)

recently

The past few weeks have been crazy and quite stressful at work. But as always, I still find ways to have fun and unwind. Thought I would share some pictures of what I've been doing lately.

Over Thanksgiving I made a new friend here in Santa Rosa and through her have met a group of girls that I plan to meet with each week to do a book study. I'm really excited to build relationships with them and have been blessed already by knowing them in a few short weeks. I was able to enjoy some turkey and celebrate Thankgiving with these new friends.

The last day of November we had a fundraiser at church for the worship team. The money is going to help buy some new cords for mics and fix the drum set. We made "sopa de mondongo" that Hondurans love. I am NOT a fan (mondongo is tripe or cow intestines) but enjoyed the hectic-ness that is any church event. It was fun helping out prep veggies, prepare rice and tortillas to accompany the soup, and--I sold 15 plates!

cooking the mondongo...yuk.

Last weekend I taught Henry how to make sweet and sour meatballs:

And just yesterday Henry and I celebrated 1 year since our first date. He bought me dinner at an Italian restaurant here in town. We both had stressful, tiring weeks, so we just needed to unwind a little bit :)

county fair

It's been a busy week and a half and I just wanted to share some pictures and updates.

The month of August is the annual fair in Santa Rosa and it has a lot of traditions. I was able to go the last weekend and enjoy some time at the fair with Henry and his family. I also took in a parade and a "carrera de cintas" or a "tape race" (ok, doesn't really translate).

It was fun to eat some good fair food, play the shooting game (yes, I rocked it, much to Henry's dismay) and take in the local tradition of an old-fashioned campesino horse race.

chuleta at the fair...complete with mariachi band serenade

i know, so pacifistic, right??

having fun at the shooting game

his "annoyed" face when I was doing better than him ;)

we won so many prizes! and they are all lame!

with Henry's parents at the fair

Henry and Oscar...about to enjoy the horse "race"

setting up the rope for the race...very official

there were so many horses from the campo...

setting up the rings on little velcro "hooks." The contestants take a running start
and try to get their "pencil" through one of the rings to win a prize.

its hard to catch good action shots, but this is much harder than it looks.

lunging for the prize

enjoying some cotton candy

All in all it was a fun weekend, though I was still battling my cold. I enjoy having new and interesting things to do that don't happen every day. The race with horses lasted several long hours...but at least it was some good clean fun in the pueblo.

Coming later...updates and photos from our MCC team retreat this past week.

to Guatemala and back

If you are following the pattern of my blog posts you might start to think that all I do is take vacation and visit other MCCers...and, you wouldn't be too far from the truth.

I just got back from another MCC retreat, but this time it was a bit different. We had the opportunity to travel to Guatemala for the MesoAmerica retreat of MCCers from the region (Mexico, Guate, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua & Costa Rica). It was a LOT of hours on buses to reach our final destination, Santiago de Atitlan on the beautiful Lake Atitlan of Guatemala, but well worth the journey.

We had time together as an MCC Honduras team, one of our last with the Stephens family who are leaving us shortly :( and we had a lot of time to meet other MCCers living and working in Central America.

The place we stayed was beautiful and provided some opportunities to do a little tourist-ing (of course mixed in with plenty of serious sessions concerning our work!)

So of course I only have pictures of the fun stuff--being touristy. But I also have some videos of our wonderfully gifted and spirited MCC Honduras team performing at the talent show. There weren't prizes, but I'm sure if there were, our rousing version of "My Favorite Things" (from the soon to be released "El Sonido de La Musica") would have been awarded first place. We are pretty clever. I'm surprised you didn't know that ;)

lake atitlan

team honduras

enjoy the video :)

 Here are the lyrics in case you can't fully understand the Spanglish...

Favorite things 

Mountains and beaches and Copan Ruinas

ceramica Lenca aves y leechas

gente amable que nos da amor, (kind people who give us love)

this is what I came to Honduras for.

Pineapple, mango and fresh avocados

frijoles, chuletas y ricos licuados  (beans, pork chops and smoothies)

baleadas abundan a diez lempiras (baleadas abound at 10 lempiras)

estas son mis cosas favoritas  (these are my favorite things)

Se fue la luz-- no viene el agua  (the lights went out! the water didn't come)

vienen ladrones ya!  (here come robbers)

I simply remember my favorite things

and then I don't feel "tan mal" (then i dont feel so bad)

¿Que onda loco?  -- Todo macizo! (what's up man, everything's cool)

Que barbaridad que no tengo pisto. (what a barbarity (?) i dont have any money)

Pucha, que basura, vaya pues, cheke leke, (dang it! what garbage! ok, it's all good)

these are a few things catrachos say.

MCM y Proyecto MAMA

donde trabajo cada mañana (where i work every morning)

ASJ, CODESO, ACDIM…

partners are some of my favorite things.

Huracanes,  inundaciones (hurricanes, floods)

team Giardia,

I simply remember my favorite things 

and then I don't feel "tan mal"

ode to Honduras

As you might remember from previous posting, I love lists!

On one of our "nights on the town," Elise, Allison and I found ourselves sitting on the patio of a Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins (note: this is after stuffing ourselves with expensive delicious sushi, a rare splurge! The ice cream may seem superfluous, but to us, a necessity :)
We always love to laugh and talk about crazy Honduran experiences, but we also reflect a lot about things that are such a "normal" part of life here that have required adjustment over time.

And so, in preparation for my pending departure from Nueva Suyapa, I would like to share with you not only a taste of our "You know you've lived in Honduras too long when..." list, but also our "You know you've been in Suyapa too long when..."

You’ve been in Honduras too long when…

You can sing along with more songs on the Latin Music awards than you can on the American Grammys.

You work hard to match your shirt, nail polish, eye shadow, shoes, belt, bracelet & hair accessories.

You’re not appalled by scrunchies.

You’ve started to wonder if your clothes are tight enough.

You can’t even feel comfortable wearing gym wear or a logo t-shirt in public.

You’ve had a meal completely made of carbs: rice, plantains, tortillas & potatoes.

You no longer ask for a knife to eat your hunk of meat.

You can eat soup with your hands.

You always work at having change and never assume anyone has change.

You don’t bat an eye at a bike helmet being used as a moto helmet or at seeing 4 people on a moto.

You no longer think the police are your friends (or you’re actually just afraid of the policia).

You know to monitor the gas station attendant to make sure he’s not robbing you of gas.

You expect the 2^nd question of a taxi driver to be “soltera o casada?” (single or married).

You guard your charger/cable/USB with your life.

You no longer refer to someone by their real name, only by physical characteristics i.e. big teeth, skinny one

You no longer differentiate between b’s & v’s and s’s and c’s.

You pride yourself in all the colectivo routes you know.

You walk into a store and don’t bat an eye when security guards have big guns.

You call people 7 times consecutively because they don’t pick up.

You wait for people to call you so you don’t have to spend your own saldo (phone minutes).

You know the best way to deal with customer service is to be rude & persistent.

You are much more rude to people than you ever were before. Mostly men between the age of 10 & 60.

Your tastebuds are dulled to the sensation of sweetness and saltiness.

Your conversation strategy revolves around family, food and relationship status.

The hardest words to pronounce are actually English words that require a Spanish accent: snickers, Gatorade

You give directions based on minor landmarks or buildings that no longer exist.

You’ve become fearless in asking questions.

You have no shame cutting in line…or you just get angry.

You know you've lived in Suyapa too long when...

You look both ways before you leave a house, not just when crossing the street.

You not only hide your phone/camera in a sock, but you also take out the chip and hide it in your bra.

You don’t even carry a purse because your bra has become multi-functional.

You interrogate the taxi driver if he really will take you to your house. The whole way. Really.

You have an urge to lie down in any green patch of grass.

You blame any illness on polvo (dust) or cambio de clima (change in weather).

You plan your errands around possible jalons (free ride).

You now think ambulance sirens and flashing lights are overkill because in Suyapa the police/medics just don’t show up.

You know to put arms and legs inside the vehicle when passing a wet spot so you don’t get sprayed by sewage water.

You’re content with dirty water in your bucket bath.

You have favorite buses & cobradors and you have more than 5 taxi contacts in your phone.

You base friendships/interactions on whether or not people have a car.

mas cumpleaños

Here are some photos of me with my coworkers (who are a little crazy, i might add)...

We were celebrating my birthday and Karina's birthday (lady sitting next to me).

no Honduran party is complete without a few 'dinamicas' or games...

we had to do this stupid egg on the spoon relay