An Unfinished House

This past Saturday we had a friendly four-way tournament for the U-12 team as a way to close out last season's activities and present the trophies to all the teams that earned them. Last year in the U-12 category we only took fourth place and thus didn't receive a trophy but in the U-14 category we had taken second place and so after the tournament on Saturday one of our captains went up to receive the trohpy. The neat thing about Saturday's games was that it was an amalgam of players new and old. Some of last year's 12 year olds are moving up this year to play with the U-14 team but in that they had been part of last year's team they were given opportunity to play; we also had a host of young kids that made their first appearance on the U-12 team. It was fun to watch the veterans playing with and teaching the rookies in the midst of a tournament - we took second place by-the-bye. a pre-game shot of most of the u-12 players both young and old warm-ups i love the o...

We don't televeision have here in the house - it wasn't my mission to forge a brave new trail for these children of Laureles that have spent good portions of their short lives in front of old, fuzzy Zenith television sets from 1981. I like television as much as the next dumpy North American (though I have always thought that once I had a family I'd forgoe the t.v.), cable here is simply not an option and I really didn't feel like shelling out a few hundred dollars for a reliable set - so there we are, televisionless. It was an adjustment at first, especially for Cristian who loves cartoons but we've grown accustomed to it and use that free time for more edifying forms of entertainment. This past week especially with all the rain the boys became near-maniacal about playing various card games and puzzles. I've taught them Dutch Blitz, Egyptian Roadkill, Speed, Memory, Dominoes and Palace. I'm running out of games - I'm thinking of trying to teach them Rook...

Happy February from Honduras! - I hope this finds you all well and keeping warm amidst the ice age you all seem to be experiencing up North. We haven't had snow (that's an obvious statement) but we have had our fair share of torrential rains these past few months which has made it it difficult to work or get about...it's also induced rest. There's nothing like a good 3 days of rain to make you sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee guilt-free. These past few weeks have been unlike any others that I've experienced since coming to Central America; it's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride and sometimes a test of my patience and resolve but they've been rewarding as well. I've been recently finding it hard to put into words what I've been experiencing/feeling so you'll forgive me if this update lacks in coherency and all around readability. Anyway, I'll dispense with the awkward introduction I seem to have developed and get down to brass tacks; the f...

As I've mentioned before life for me has changed since moving into the community; daily activities, traditions, staples, all have been sporadic or put on hold - it's taken me a while to get back into the regular rhythym of life here. This past Saturday I was able to resurrect one such tradition that had been suspended since the beginning of December - "The Saturday Outing". For over a year now my Saturdays have been spent with a specific group of boys (Cristian, Sergio, Lauro, Duke, Chihua and occasionally 2-3 others); we take trips, go to the mall, hang out at the house or go downtown then in the evening we go to church. The church part has continued unabatted but since December I've been busy with sundry other responsibilities and we haven't been able to take any outings. This past Saturday was different - sort of. The night prior it had rained terribly and water had flooded into the church, that morning we got a call to come clean the church so I gathered a...

Is a funny thing - it turns kids into strange and absurd creatures...creatures you'd sometimes like to pummel. I myself at 28 & 3/4 am just coming out of adolesence and it hit me the other day just how odd and attention-seeking they/we really are. More than that, I realized that adolesence and all the nonsense that comes with it truly knows no cultural boundaries. In the U.S. we might like to think we have the market cornered on teens, their angst, their self-centeredness, their wide-eyed idealism couched in baseless, sophomoric emotions and the latest diatribe from Lady Gaga but I assure you dear readers, teenagers here in Hondie are just as foolish. Don't get me wrong, I like them and all, they make me laugh, they keep life interesting and one-on-one that can be downright mature-ish. In a herd though, they turn into mindless lemmings, blindly following the next half-baked idea handed down by the loudest and oldest of the crew and not thinking through the consequences of t...

I've become fanatical about keeping my floors clean...I should back up. I have OCD tendencies, depending on the season of life I'm in they can become weaker or stronger and take different maniacal forms. There was a time in my life where I couldn't sleep at night unless I was certain that all of my shirts and jackets were buttoned and zipped and hanging in the closet facing the same way. As a child I used to frantically pile all of my inanimate objects together at night; dirty clothes, shoes, towels, stuffed animals, so that they wouldn't be lonely, cold or stolen while I slept. As a preteen when we took vacations, while enroute to the shore I would organize the smaller Keiser and Girio children into work teams to clean and organize the inside of the car so that I wouldn't go insane from sitting amongst a chaotic mess of toys, food and books. Now of course my OCD has concentrated on the floors of my home and porch - nevermind that the walls have handprints all over ...

One of the most stressful yet exciting parts of the soccer season is upon us here in Los Laureles...the purchase of cleats. You may remember that from last year, in my innoncence, we trucked in upwards of 40 children to a local sporting goods store one fine afternoon to have their feet measured. It wasn't a disaster but I learned my lesson and this year I'm going about it piece-meal. Yesterday morning I took 10 boys from my U-12 to the mall to be fitted; today we have a nother 10 and tomorrow we start with the U-14 team. It's much slower going, especially since we have an extra 2 teams this year but it's much more manageable and almost, almost enjoyable. I do especially like taking the U-12 kids out because they so rarely get to leave the community and a simple excursion to the mall to have the feet played with for 5 minutes is a monumental event for them. chiro, one of our best players on the u-12 team and his brother chita who, at 9 years, old is barely eligible to p...

youth that are taking their future seriously this is just a fraction of the almost 20 youth from los laureles that we have enrolled in some form of high school. today was an introductory/prayer day for the students that are enrolled in the christian high school oh yeah, and today sarai turned a lovely and even 11 but that kettle shot from yesterday, well that corresponded to a pig we slaughtered in the wee hours. i took the two haunches and last evening my family and pancha's family, well, we ate like pigs.