To be honest there is not too much to put here, especially since if you read the other 3 updates you’ve already read 17 pages worth of my ramblings, but like I said in the beginning, I want these stories to be preserved. On a side note, that is such a great feeling. I never wanted to write about what I was doing when I worked at the pet store or the video store. Now, I want to have the memories in tact as much as possible. It is so nice to really truly enjoy what you are doing.
Alice asked me to include day of the mages. Day of the mages is considered to be the last day of the Christmas season here and falls on January 6th. It commemorates the day Jesus was given the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We had planned on passing new years day with our host family from training, but unfortunately our host dad had to work that day and our plans got moved to the 6th of January, or day or the mages.
Our host family celebrates the holiday every year as the proper day of gift giving, but we didn’t know as such yet. We thought we were invited over for a quiet evening to chat and catch up. We showed up fairly early, since we were cooking. We had told them we would teach them how to cook a turkey (since very few people here have ever had a roasted turkey it almost always goes over well, even if you ruin it). To be nice we also brought stuff to make a salad and mashed potatoes for what we thought was going to be 6 people.
When we got there the first thing we noticed was that the house had an addition. We had stopped by when they started added a second level to the house, but over the last 6 months they had managed to completely finish it. Our host parents moved upstairs and one of our brothers took their old room instead of being in the unattached bedroom outside. The new upstairs had a den for their computer and a deck with a hammock. I laid in the hammock with the most incredible view for two hours until the sun started to set and started hurting my eyes.
Alice had been busy preparing the turkey and informed me the tiny 8 pound turkey was meant to feed 18 people that night. Our salad and potatoes weren’t going to make it either, but our host Mom added some lettuce to the salad and had a few extra potatoes, so in the end we had just enough for everybody to have a small plate and most people really enjoyed all the food. Gravy was hard to make since the drippings contained almost no grease at all. I think our little 8 pound-er was a marathon runner, but no one noticed it wasn’t quite right, since none of them had ever eaten turkey with gravy before.
Before dinner we all crowded in the kitchen for the blessing, and while I always thought the kitchen was small, it only seemed to get smaller as more people crammed in. They wanted the picture to commemorate the event to have the food in it, so they had to pass the camera around the room and take 4 pictures in order to make sure everyone was in at least on of the pictures.
After dinner everyone who got to the house after we did wanted to see the finished addition, so everyone went upstairs. My host brother turned on some music and they had quite the dance party. Everyone made sure the little kids were dancing and then the feeling was contagious. I had to hide downstairs to avoid getting the fever.
The night was a great experience and we met all of our host family’s extended family. They were all nice and accepting and everyone thanked us for cooking repeatedly. At moments like that we feel like we have family here and it makes spending so much time away from out real families far easier.
My Mom and Dad took us on a cruise in January. This sounds like a really good way to go through culture shock, but in the end I never really had a hard time. It was interesting to learn the people who work on the ship actually make more money than I do. It was funny when I ran in to a Honduran from La Cieba. It was strange when my brother took me to the casino and I won what I make in a month. Overall, I think I miss my family more than I really care about culture, since as long as I was around them I never got uncomfortable. Also, the rock boat is awesome. Seeing that much live music made up for the fact I’ve not see anything better than street mariachis in a long time.
I don’t know what is going to happen yet, but my knee is not in good condition. It was diagnosed as having a partial rupture of the ACL and a partial rupture of the meniscus. It sounds like I need surgery, and I may spend some time in the states for that. Peace Corps will allow me to be in the US for up to 45 days for the operation and recovery, but after that I have to go back to country or go back to Tulsa. Most people my age take about 3 or 4 weeks for a decent recovery and then I just can’t play sports for 9 months. I am hoping it all turns out well, but we’ll keep everyone updated. Nothing is for sure yet though; I may just get a new brace that gives me better support and get the surgery in September.
Work is slow currently, since I cleared my schedule to build stoves and now my materials are delayed. I may get the materials the exact same time I go for surgery, so in that case Alice will have to help organize. Poor Alice gets dumped with my work since I am hurt. Wish I could help her out, but there really isn’t much I can do about any of it.
That concludes our little game of catch-up. Including this last one and without pictures, you poor folk have now been subjected to nearly 19 pages of me talking. Now let’s hear from you. Let me know what is going on in your life or at least leave a comment with your thoughts. I assure you will all hear an update about my knee and work as soon as I have one.
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