Felicidades!

So, I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to be the first one of us to celebrate my birthday in Honduras, pretty much Thursday through Saturday. Thursday at school, we were celebrating the birthday of one of my classmates which was a lot of fun. We (the girls) decorated the classroom by blowing up a ton of balloons which were promptly popped as the birthday boy entered the room. His parents came in and video taped the fiesta and brought us tres leches pastel/3 milk cake. After we all sang for him, Profe Carlos made the class sing to me since I wouldn’t be in school on my actual birthday Friday. Then he told the whole class of 40+ kids to hug me/attack me, I’m not sure what the exact command was, but either way I thought I was going to suffocate. All this was still being videotaped, and was apparently put on the evening news that night. We don’t have a TV, but many random people have wished me happy birthday saying that they had seen me on TV, and Sean informed me that he had seen me on the TV at his family’s house and that I looked pretty awkward, which I can understand.
For my actual birthday, we decided to take a trip to Valle de los Angeles, which is a small touristy town about an hour from here, and from there headed to Tegucigalpa. Valle is a cute town with tons of little shops that sell souvenirs and different artisan type things from Honduras and neighboring countries. Many of the items were beautiful, but I didn’t actually buy anything, because there were so many things it was a bit overwhelming. It’s also different now to remember that I’m living on a budget of $100 a month, so that plays a big factor as well. I enjoyed our trip, but was a bit disappointed to find that Valle was definitely not the welcoming and friendly town Talanga is. The people there who lived there didn’t really talk to us, probably because they’re used to white people coming as tourists and not understanding the language- not that I really understand the language, but I enjoy attempting to talk to people at least. After a great lunch of pizza we headed to Tegucigalpa. Tegucigalpa is crazy. The roads, all the cars, the people, everything is crazy. We headed to the large mall in town though, and the guys watched the Batman movie while Lauren and I wandered the mall. Overall, it was overwhelming. I’ve been in this country for exactly a week, but being in this big town, and huge mall with their McDonalds, Subway, Payless, TGI Friday’s, etc. was strange. It’s hard to explain, because I wouldn’t have thought twice about any of these things a week earlier, but seeing them now is different. I guess in a way I’m already used to the Talanga-type Honduras. The small buildings and homes with no windows, people and animals everywhere in the street, toilets that don’t flush and sinks without running water, street vendors and small food stands along the road and friendly people greeting you constantly. Tegucigalpa as a whole is not a high class place by any means, and I know that comparing Talanga to this one mall we visited isn’t very reasonable, but it’s just surprising that a 45-minute car ride is all that separates the two worlds. The differences in the people you see in each place are most noticeable. The one thing that stuck out to me, was walking by this one family in the mall. The mom and dad were so happy looking and well-dressed, and he was carrying their son who was in a karate outfit on his shoulders. It’s a stark contrast to the kids we encounter daily at home in Talanga. We have a number of kids that stop by our house regularly, because we have many children’s books and run a sort of book exchange from our front room. Every day these kids are sent out of their homes in the morning to do as they please. Many don’t attend school, but instead walk around Talanga, play games in the street, and stop by our house to visit, read or play. I can often recognize them in the same clothes as the day before, and most don’t wear shoes. Karate class is definitely not in their schedules. I’m doubting very few have time with parents in their schedules, and if they did, likely not with both parents. I really have little right to talk about privilege though, because despite the fact that we’re living here in a 3rd world country, we can’t deny the fact that we’re still the privileged Americans. We live simply, but not in uncertainty like many here. We know we have a home to live in each month, we have a set monthly income, and we will have food at our table each day. It’s not uncommon for random people on the streets to ask us for money, gifts or anything for that matter, and I guess it’s something we just have to accept as unchangeable. I know the same holds true for parts of the US as well, but I guess I was just surprised by the1st world parts of Honduras.
Saturday night we had a nice fiesta at our house after church J. We invited those “5 key players” I mentioned, aka our adopted parents while we’re here, Padre Miguel and some random people showed up too, so with about 20 or so people here, we had a good time. We had delicious food that was made by a woman down the street who apparently enjoys cooking for us as long as we purchase the ingredients and bring them over to her. We had chicken tacos and catrachos (tortillas with beans, cheese and red sauce) and some amazing homemade chocolate cake made by Lauren. Luis brought his guitar, so we had singing and dancing (yes I danced, scary I know.) Needless to say everyone here is amused by our awful gringo dancing skills…but thankfully we’re all equally unskilled. We were given a few pointers on how to dance to their type of music, so hopefully by the end of the year we’ll be able to bust a move the Honduran way.
But anyway, my birthday was fun, and I enjoyed taking part in some of the Honduran traditions. I thought I was going to be lucky enough to avoid a certain tradition that everyone kept telling me about, involving an egg, flour and my head, but due to the fact I’m gullible and often unaware of what is going on around me, Sean and Mike were able to pull this off while Lauren took photos. Either way, I’m happy they set the standard for birthdays the rest of the year… plus I always enjoy revenge.