Hope in Honduras

How often do you have that feeling of, ‘Wow, what a small world’? You just kind of laugh to yourself and think, ‘That’s bizarre!’ The world seems smaller when that moment happens in a city or state other than where your home is, but it gets even tinier when you are in a totally different country. One minute it’s completely mind-blowing, but then in another the fog clears and maybe you begin to understand why God put certain people in your life.  

I had that thought recently as one particular event blew the socks right off my feet and I was left dumbfounded at how coincidental life is! Jake (my boss) got an email from a college admissions counselor from Hope College saying that he was in charge of international recruiting and would be in Honduras for a visit. He wondered if there was any way to coordinate a visit with our school. Now, the craziness was not that a representative from Hope would be here, the unbelievable part was who the man was. It was none other than my very own admissions counselor, Gary Camp! When I was at the ripe age of 18 and beginning my college search I met Gary Camp when I applied to Hope. I do not hesitate to give him a large majority of the credit as to why I chose to attend Hope College. He is such an enthusiastic individual about the school and he was more than helpful with my search in general. When Jake asked me if I knew a “Gary Camp,” I almost fell of my chair! My jaw dropped to the floor and I said that of course I knew him; I knew him quite well (and he loves me)!

It was disappointing when the initial plans of a visit fell through once Gary realized that our particular school is out in the middle of nowhere. He would only be visiting San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa and we were not en-route to either city. A little while later I sent him an email asking if it was not going to work out to come to La Unión, could he at least offer some advice that I could pass on to our students who were applying to Hope? This time it became clear that we did in fact have a chance of meeting up with him! He was traveling with a recruiter from Michigan State University and she had family in Santa Barbara so they would be spending the weekend there. For those of you who do not know (which is most likely everyone) Santa Barbara is one of two cities that La Unión offers busses to and from. (Basically it’s one of our only ways to get out of here.) Can you feel the world growing smaller?

I emailed him at precisely the right time – a week before his arrival in Honduras. We jumped at this unique opportunity instantly. Unfortunately Gary was suffering from the flu so he did not think it would be good for his health to travel to La Unión, and would rather use that time to rest. Good thing we are nothing but adaptable here. Instead we started making plans to bring some students to Santa Barbara to meet him for an informational and conversational breakfast. There were a few factors working against us: the internet I was relying on to keep our email correspondence alive kept going in and out or getting killed, and he was traveling around other Central American countries so the emails I could get out were bounced back to me with an automated ‘out of the office’ response. I did not tell the students in advance because I didn’t want to get their hopes up only to destroy those, or ask them to give up valuable time that might be wasted. As the potential day drew closer, I was losing confidence in the meeting actually happening.

It came together at the very last minute and in a complete blur. Friday night I finally got a hold of Gary via telephone. We struggled through a conversation with poor reception and my even worse over-the-phone Spanish abilities (that failed me when trying to receive directions from his chauffer) but agreed on meeting up Sunday morning for a couple of hours. Saturday morning Jake and I wandered around La Unión trying to track down students and see how much interest we could accumulate. Some students were more difficult than others to get a hold of (they were not at home, some were at their homes which happen to be in other towns, and even others do not have cell phones to call) but eventually word got around to the right people and everyone we asked agreed to go. I found a truck to drive us and the next day I would accompany one 10^th grade, four 11^th grade, and six 12^th grade students to Santa Barbara.

It is the rainy season so we left earlier than usual just in case the roads were too muddy or something happened to the car. We could not all fit inside the truck so the boys had to ride in the bed; they were hesitant at first and even toyed with the idea of not going because they did not want to be rained on at any point. I told them to suck it up and get in the car, and they obediently listened. I proceeded to pray for the entire car ride – there and back – that the Lord would hold the rain off so that this trip would be sincerely worth it for every single student. How great is our God? The greatest! Despite the ever ominous clouds, it did not rain until the moment that we arrived back in La Unión and the driver dropped me (the last person) off at my house. How incredible is that?!

The day only got better. The breakfast was perfect. Gary did an excellent job of telling students all about studying at Hope and other universities in the States in general. Since this is our first graduating class, no one has ever ventured down this road before. He explained the differences between colleges and universities, and defined a liberal arts school (giving them an idea of what kind of institution they might prefer). Of course he focused heavily on Hope, but that painted a picture of what attending a college in the States would look like for them. He talked about how Hope is looking to grow its international population on their campus – especially with students from countries other than China, Japan, and Korea – and the fervor that the school has to bring them there (offering an instant scholarship upon acceptance and not requiring any test scores). Money was the biggest topic he discussed because all of these students would need some kind of financial help; he was honest about their circumstances but optimistic in how they could make it work. At the end he sat down individually with the five 12^th graders who were serious about Hope just to have a quick interview and really stick a face to their names.

The meeting was beneficial for everyone involved. Although Gary barely got to eat his breakfast because he was talking so much, the students were incredibly engaged. They came with information they researched about Hope and countless questions. The 12^th grade students got a stronger idea of whether or not they wanted to study at Hope, and how to narrow down their college search in general. The younger students were able to better decide if studying abroad is really what they desire and if the application process is worth going through for them. Essentially, all the students were much more informed on the process of applying and better understood what it takes to study abroad. Gary said that he loved meeting these students, hearing their stories, and seeing their passion for receiving an education in the United States. He gave me a few ideas to really encourage a few of them in their application process, to give them that extra edge; and the thought of them attending my alma-mater makes my heart beat a little faster. Knowing that Gary was impressed with them makes me very proud of who these students are and how they present themselves.

Gary and I got to catch up a bit too, which was wonderful. I truly enjoyed seeing a familiar face and having a taste of home in Honduras. My mind wandered back to when he first became a part of my life. Who knew that he would have this kind of presence in my life? He help shaped my future by drawing me to Hope, and now he gets to play a role in potentially bringing the students that I teach to Hope as well. There was a reason that Gary and I bonded so strongly 6 years ago. Of course neither Gary nor I could have predicted it, but I’m sure God smiled down on us as it clicked in our minds. There’s no telling where we will meet in the future, but I’m positive that our two, small worlds will collide again!

Please be praying for the students who are applying to attend a university in the United States. They are trying to figure out where to apply, and are even starting to turn in their applications. It is a daunting process since they come from a different country and don’t have fixed financial support, but God is in control of it. I know that it will become clear to them where they should study and their education will somehow be paid for. I wish I could instill this kind of peace-of-mind into them, but they need to find it on their own. Until then, pray with me that they are confident in their applications and chances of studying abroad. Going to the States is an enormous dream for them and I cannot wait to see it achieved and unfold before their eyes. 

Domesticated

Alright all you ladies out there, notify your sons, brothers, and grandsons because this girl knows how to cook! The (single and appropriate-aged) men in your lives should start lining up right now before a Honduran man sweeps me off my feet.

There are a few contributing factors as to why my culinary skills have blossomed:

                1) Honduras does not have a lot of variety in their cuisine which often leaves me yearning for foods I used to devour back home. Especially since I live in such a rural setting, the local grocery stores do not have a lot to offer. When I say there are staples – beans, rice, corn tortillas, cornflakes, and eggs – I literally mean that those foods are the foundation to almost any dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The amount of beans and eggs that I eat is startling. While the sight of those foods does not turn me off just yet, I am not always doing cartwheels over seeing chicken parts, beans, and rice served for lunch. It’s hard to make those foods anything other than bland.  I have taken it upon myself to make, from scratch, the foods I dearly miss from home. As I mentioned, my resources are limited so I cannot make everything that I drool over thinking about, but you would be surprised with what I have been able to make! (Thank goodness there is an abundance of flour, sugar, salt, and oatmeal here.)

                2) I am not so secretly concerned about my health while living here. I am thankful for the woman who cooks me lunch every day at school, because otherwise I would be completely malnourished. I am losing weight despite eating at least one pack of cookies a day. At least I can count on her meals to give me some much-needed nutrition. My body can only run for so long on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cereal, and nachos. In an effort to keep my nutrition levels from reaching extreme lows, I’ve explored how can turn simple ingredients to deliciously nutritious meals.

                3) Especially since this is my second year, I suddenly have a lot more time on my hands. I could probably contribute that to no tv, internet, cell phone, malls, movie theaters, etc. as well, but since I already put in a huge amount of time planning lessons and making worksheets and tests last year, I am lucky to not have to dedicate my whole life to that again. Simply put: I get bored. There is no quick way to eat a great meal; there are no restaurants or fast-food joints, or meals in cans or frozen and ready in 10 minutes. I have the time to learn and patiently prepare a meal AND wash all the dishes afterwards. (That’s right – I cook and clean! Double whammy.)

All of these factors have driven me to work on my future house-wife skills. I used to be pathetic in the kitchen, relying solely on my abilities to grill a cheese sandwich, pour milk into a bowl of cereal, and stir sauce into pasta. But now, I am impressive. Not only can I whip up delicious food, but I am creative with my cooking too! I can’t take all the credit – I’ve had some great roommates that come up with scrumptious ideas as we feed of each others’ imaginations. We like to collaborate and turn our meager kitchen into a 5-star restaurant. They say the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right? I will definitely be able to keep my husband’s belly satisfied.

I genuinely wish I had photo evidence of everything I have cooked, just to prove to all my doubters out there that yes, I did in fact cook these foods. But I do not, so please take my word for it, and maybe one day you will be lucky enough to stick your fork into one of my dishes. Here is the official list that qualifies me to be a fantastic, cooking wife one day:

-          fresh bread

-          cinnamon rolls

-          chicken puffs (despite not have crescent rolls)

-          roasted vegetables

-          French fries

-          cheesecake

-          curry

-          sweet and sour chicken

-          chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies (that bring the 12^th graders to their knees)

-          onion rings

-          apple sauce

-          berry crumble

-          corn bread

-          oatmeal banana muffins

-          deviled eggs

-          pretzels

-          pumpkin spice cake

-          pizza

-          fruit tarts

-          brown sugar papayas

-          brownies

-          chocolate pudding

-          omelettes

-          a variety of mouth-watering smoothies

-          baleadas (I have learned a few Honduran traditions)

-          plantains 

I’m sure there are few things missing from the list, but you get the gist. My delicate hands have created some amazing meals that have even shocked me. I am starting to gain some recognition and my treats are now in high demand. I have had help from recipes, specifically from a delightful book called the "Alpha-Bakery" (made for children, but with such simple recipes that Honduras can accommodate them). My roommate, Rachel, and I are considering our own cooking series: The Honduran Household - Cooking Through the Alpha-Bakery. Keep your eyes peeled and stay tuned for the exciting cooking endeavors ahead of us. So there it is. Eat your heart out men; I have become quite the catch with my new and improved cooking skills. 

(I hope while reading this, I did not convince you that I am serious about the whole 'house-wife' thing. To be a good, domesticated woman is not one of my life goals. I'm just really proud of my cooking skills. I know they will be put to greater use than filling the stomach of a man.)

BOOKS!

You get a book! You get a book! YOU get a book! Everyone gets a book!

I felt like Oprah Winfrey handing out prizes to her audience when our special delivery arrived. For those of you who do not know my mom’s church has been incredible with donating money to our school here. The church itself decided to give their yearly missions fund to the Abundant Life School (specifically) in La Unión, and more donations have been pouring in from individual members. I could not even begin to describe the gratitude and appreciation I have in my heart for this kind of financial support! Since it is my mom’s church, Jake decided that I should be in charge of the money and decide where, when, and how to use it. I agreed with the idea of giving a face, a representative, to the money, but that is still quite a large responsibility! I spent a small portion of the money on things for my classroom – decorations, books, and school and arts supplies – but then had to wrestle with a variety of ideas of what to do with the rest of it. I guess I should not necessarily say that I ‘wrestled’ with the idea because it was clear to me how I wanted to spend the money so that everyone could benefit from these gracious donations. I wanted to buy the one thing that every teacher should be able to rely on when no other resources exist: textbooks.

Background: we do have textbooks. Every grade is equipped with some various form of textbook possession. The issue has always been the quantity and quality of the books. Not every subject has a complete class set of the textbook used. If there are enough books, the number of usable ones becomes the next question. Most of the books have seen better days… 10 years ago. There are pages missing or hanging in by a corner, the covers are ripped in half or bent in every direction except for flat, and the dirt stains are startling enough to dissuade anyone from picking the book up in the first place. These less-than-desirable conditions result in many teachers being forced to make ridiculous amounts of copies of each textbook, requiring students to share, or relying on their handmade pictures or worksheets to supplement the ‘reading’ material. Our textbook situation just wasn’t ideal.

Unfortunately our administration in Tegucigalpa has not been the most helpful or crucial in acquiring our essential textbooks. Some classes either need textbooks to begin with or the old ones desperately need to be replaced. My time to spend had arrived. Jake finally got through to someone in the administration in Teguc to order some books, and once he got the list of what they would provide our school with I could fill in the holes by buying the rest. I felt like a superhero swooping in to the save the day. Except I’m not the one who deserves credit; if you have ever donated money to me or my school, YOU are the superhero (wearing the tights and flowing cape – dang, you look good)!

A mission group planned to come down at the end of October and they were going to be our mules. We ordered 150 pounds worth of textbooks to be delivered to their homes and then transferred down here. With this particular shipment came textbooks, teacher’s editions, test and quiz booklets, and keys for history (for Lenny), math (for Jake, Kara, me, and Mrs. Soto), and science (for my little ones). God bless those people for stuffing their suitcases and hauling that precious load all the way to our tiny town. I want to take this opportunity to just praise the Lord for those people – would you do the same? I am so thankful for the hands that brought them to us. They cannot know how grateful we are for finally having these indispensable resources and being able to teach our students properly. It was like Christmas watching them unload all those books from their suitcases; I almost cried from joy and nothing could have wiped the smile from my face.

One of the best features of books – besides the knowledge they store and are on the brink of sharing with curious minds – is the smell and feel they have when fresh out of the factory. If every book could just be preserved in that state, schools would have found perfection. We have all warned our students about how critical it is to take care of these new books. We have given speeches about how to appropriately use and keep them (no stepping on them, throwing them, ripping pages out, using them as toys, etc.), and threatened the students with death if they mistreat their book at all. My third graders stroked their books like delicate pets and carried them like precious silver plates. A few of my eighth graders decided to name their books after I told them that they had to care for their book as if it were their own child. The excitement of new books was contagious and could be felt in every classroom.

So here’s to you Chapel of the South Fork! Thank you from the covers of our new books to the bottoms of our hearts for donating the money that bought these beloved textbooks. Your money has not gone to waste. These books will surely be used for years and impact every student that studies at our school. My prayers are with you this week. You have been an incredible blessing. 

Fine Dining

Has anyone ever posed this question to you: Do you eat to live, or live to eat? 

If not, ponder it for a moment.

Someone asked me that back in high school, and my self-conscious self worried about what the correct answer was, and then shyly answered “eat to live” because somehow that translated to being of the ‘skinny’ mindset. Nowadays I would answer the other way with all the confidence in the world.

I live to eat.

I love food. It can easily turn the worst day ever into a brilliant moment. I look forward to what is for lunch or day dream about what I can make for dinner. And I absolutely love meeting up with a friend over a meal or some drinks. Food brings people together in the happiest of ways. I don’t save my money to spend it on the newest movie, gadget, fashion trend, or toy; I prefer to save my money and treat my belly to delicious meals. It genuinely has this drastic affect on my mood. Call it an obsession, addiction, disorder…whatever you like. I call it a love for the finer (tasting) things in life. I genuinely appreciate the infinite amount of flavors out there and how they can mix harmoniously in intriguing, exotic, and mouth-watering ways. In another life I would be a 300-pound chef with my own restaurant.

Honduras is not exactly a country that I would label as the “cuisine capital of Central America” or a “food-lover’s paradise.” I have acquired some unique tastes while living here out of desperation to maintain a full stomach or simply having no other options to eat. I have started experimenting in the kitchen and actually cooking for myself in an endless pursuit for a scrumptious meal. So if anything Honduras has really encouraged my passion for food because I constantly find myself drooling over imaginary meals. I am no Emeril or Julia Child, which is a huge shame that I can’t personally satisfy my taste buds on command. Instead, I have looked forward to long weekends to travel to bigger cities in search of delicious food. I critique each potential city and give preference solely based on what kind of food or restaurants I can find there. Please don’t feel bad for me or worried that I really am developing a serious condition; just imagine beans, rice, corn tortillas, and eggs every day of your life (more than once a day) and you would start admiring food the same way.

In anticipation of a recent long weekend I found myself weighing the pros and cons of a handful of cities, and trying to decided where was the best to go. Naturally food was at the top of my life. Molly and I settled on going to the Copan Ruins for our weekend getaway. I have already been there, twice, so there really wasn’t a need for me to go back. There isn’t even a need for me to blog about the city because there is nothing new I could write about the place. However, this time I will focus on one aspect of my weekend (with a few treasures peppered in there): food.

(If you are not interested in reading about all the food that I digested in a three-day weekend, I will not judge you and I encourage you to go ahead and stop reading. However, if you do wish to read on, proceed at your own risk: you may be drooling by the end of this blog. You have been warned.)

We chose to splurge a little and stay at this beautiful bed-and-breakfast hotel. We were the only ones staying there so the staff was particularly attentive to us. (And the owner mentioned that we looked like we were “from the boondocks” when we arrived, so maybe he felt a tad bit sorry for us.) We were greeted with ice cold water and tea – ice cold! Ice is not something every kitchen in La Unión has! For breakfast they offered buttermilk pancakes or scrambled eggs with cheese and veggies tossed in. Both plates came with a fruit plate, fresh-squeezed juice, and an endless amount of coffee and homemade bread with strawberry jam. Then every night they would turn over our sheets and leave a little chocolate on our pillows. We instantly fell in love with the staff. The hotel has an in-house masseuse who boasts “the best massage you’ll ever have!” We couldn’t just trust the words of strangers… we had to find out if the rumors were true! Molly and I both scheduled full-body massages. They lived up to our expectations in every way possible. That particular evening was heavenly as she worked out all my teaching-induced kinks, and then I lounged about afterwards drinking hot tea in a soft bathrobe. The tea was just the icing on the cake. The hotel was a great place to call ‘home’ for the weekend.

I, of course, had tagged some of my favorite restaurants from previous visits to Copan. One of those places is called Via-Via. We ate there for two meals. On the first stop I ordered chicken fajitas, Via-Via style. They stuff tortillas with cheese before cooking them to make something called a ‘papusa.’ Then they topped those with fajita-style chicken strips, onions, and green peppers. And a refreshing salsa, ‘chimol,’ to drizzle on top. I also indulged in a banana-strawberry smoothie. The second meal there I got the house sandwich with roasted potatoes. I’ve discovered that a sandwich is a very ‘American’ thing to eat. I don’t care if it was stereotypical, it was delicious.

An extremely close contender for ‘best meal’ goes to a lunch at Café San Rafael. This place will forever live in my memory as the wine and cheese place of Honduras. I would live in Copan just to get a weekly wheel of cheese from this place. Molly and I both ordered milkshakes with paninis. I sipped on an oreo and coffee smoothie, and savored a bagel with brie cheese, apple slices, bacon, and strawberry jam. IT WAS AMAZING. There are not enough words in the English language to describe how happy this sandwich made me. The entire wait staff watched as we eyed our sandwiches, let out gasps of excitement, and let drool dribble down our chins – we were a spectacle. I did not care, my eyes were on the prize. That sandwich will go down in history as one of the best that I have ever eaten. I will not even attempt to duplicate it because I do not want to ruin the memory of this brie-and-bacon dream.

The title of ‘best meal’ belongs to the 5-course, authentic Mayan meal we ate at Hacienda San Lucas. This ranch is tucked into the hillside of Copan and offers breathtaking views with exquisite experiences. The price of staying at Hacienda San Lucas was out of our price range, but we did drop the Lempiras to enjoy an evening at the ranch. Molly, Rachel, Kate, and I all decided it had to be worth it. We started with a yoga session in their pavilion that overlooks the whole valley. Our instructor was very patient with our uptight teacher bodies and immature giggles over the positions. She led a very simple stretch session to calm us down and release all the built-up tension harbored in our muscles. It was the definition of peaceful being surrounded by nature in its most beautiful state and relaxing my whole body. I am considering leaving the field of teaching to become a yoga instructor.

We changed out of our yoga gear and into something a little more feminine to enjoy a romantic dinner together. We sipped on wine while watching the night crawl over the town and all the lights come to life. Then we got in our ready positions for the feast:

The first course was a salad of cantaloupe, green beans, carrots, onions, olives, nuts, and cheese drizzled with Jamaica vinaigrette. It was sweet and tangy at all once. (I did not think that I liked olives but I decided to give them another try – it is confirmed, I do not like olives, green or black. One olive was the only crumb left on any of my plates throughout the entire meal.)

The second course was a maize soup. It tasted very similar to creamed corn, but a fancier version. I do not generally like soups but I can tolerate them if they are creamy. There was no need for ‘just tolerating’ this soup, it was quite yummy!

The third course was a tamale covered in mole sauce. They cook tamales in corn husks and with chicken hidden inside. The mole sauce on top really brought a typically bland food to life.

The fourth course, and main course, was the highlight. We were served the typical sides of rice and corn tortillas, but both were accompanied with delightful foods: there was this creamy chicken concoction cooked and presented in a corn husk, carrots sautéed in orange juice, and green beans smothered in sesame seeds. I have never tasted anything like this course so I cannot compare it to anything human.

The final course was the desert. It was a type of short or pound cake dipped in a ginger liquor sauce. On the side were bites of candied papaya in the same ginger sauce and cloves. (This was probably the group’s least favorite part, but I enjoyed it and was going to successfully say that I ate every single plate placed in front of me.)

I’m not sure how authentically Mayan the meal was because it tasted far too delicious for such simple ingredients. But I will not question the validity of it because I would recommend the restaurant and eating experience to anyone visiting Copan – it was simply to die for. It certainly was a lot of food but every bite was appreciated.

Are you wiping the drool off your cheek yet? Have I successfully shared my passion for great food and converted you to a “live to eat” kind of person? If not, well then I personally feel like you are missing out on one of the greatest joys life has to offer. I hopefully have at least convinced you that if you ever do find yourself in Honduras, do not despair, there is good food to be found!

On a more serious note, please be praying for the safety and peace-of-mind for my roommates and myself. This past week we had a visitor creeping outside of our house many nights. Since my window goes out to the porch, he mainly bothered me but there were a few occasions when he woke everyone up. We had to call the police and start putting a lock on our gate. So far we’ve been able to keep him away but I sincerely hope it’s a permanent change. I did not enjoy waking up to his shadow in my window, his hand coming in through my window, and the sound of him jiggling the door handle or trying to kick the door down. I had quite a few high anxiety and sleepless nights, and the added stress is the last thing this girl needs right now! I’m now uncomfortably on-edge whenever I hear the gate open or see a shadow pass by out front. Pray that he stays away from us and ceases to bother our house. I am confident that the Lord is constantly watching over and protecting us here.