Lost & Found

Why does it seem we must leave what we know

to discover more of who we are?

Ten Things I'm Thankful For Tuesday

1. The crazy class. 

I used to have a pastor who told the story of his (now adult) daughter as a small child. He said she was so much fun, he couldn't wait to get home and play with her. In fact, he would sometimes wake her up to play for a while if he came home to find her already in bed!

One of my class sections is like that daughter. I'm always glad when I know that group of students is on its way to my room. 

2. A growing ability to hear what Spanish-speaking Hondurans are hardly saying.
Here, like probably everywhere, people can tend to slur words together, drop the end off words, and otherwise speak in a manner that's comfortable for them and perfectly intelligible for countrymen...but impossible to understand for those still attempting to master the language.

Honestly, there are times I hear speech around me that makes me doubt Spanish is really what's being spoken! Thank heavens for the slow-growing ability to grasp what previously would've been lost in the rapid rate of speech or swallowed vowels and consonants of the locals here.

3. The teenager who has changed my name to "Mister-Can-I?".
Every day, this young person has a lot of things she would like to be allowed to do. It comes close to wearing me up sometimes, and the answer she hears from me is frequently NO! But she also has the kind of personality that kinda makes her a star the hearts of her classmates and teacher, so she has endeared herself to all of us without even trying.

4. People back home who are clearly ready for my year away to be over.

5. The privilege of being able-bodied.

6. The re-opening of my go-to restaurant for empanadas.

I had to pardon its progress for a period while it was being renovated. 

7. Times when I'm able to bestow the gift that's just right for what someone needs.

8. "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry.
This novel that I found for my students to read is turning me into a World War II buff. The book tells the story of the effectiveness of Denmark and Danish people seeking to help almost the entire population of Danish Jews escape the Nazis and reach freedom in Sweden. All my background research and planning has left me fascinated - the history of WWII has so many compelling pieces and players.

9. Willing models.

Sometimes I find people willing to let me use them as models for my photojournalism-style photography hobby. It's interesting to me the way photography allows me to show people the beauty I see in the world and sometimes the beauty I see in them.

10. Mushrooms - a food ingredient whose fabulousness I only discovered in recent years.

Should I Stay Or Go?

The foreign teachers have two weeks to decide our plans for next year. Staying or leaving.

What'll I do?

Ten Things I'm Thankful For Tuesday

1. The presence of people in your life who think you're worth a dime...or cool...or not crazy (when all you feel is sucky, or uncool, or nuts).

2. Random acts of kindness. 

They're just fun. Especially the anonymous, secretive ones.

It's kind of like feeling the rush of sneaking around and getting into mischief, but getting into mischief is replaced with benefitting someone else.

2. Corinne Bailey Rae. 

I first noticed her a decade ago because she had a guitar and was cute. Right away, I liked the sound of her vocals and later realized she's from England. Maybe you know what I mean when I say her English accent gave her 500 bonus points in my heart.

Someone put her debut album on my iPod back then, but only now am I discovering its merits. The album is like one of those frozen drinks from Sonic on a warm day - refreshing. 

3. "Mercy, Mercy Me" by Marvin Gaye. 

This is THE pivotal piece of music for me. Changed things forever when I heard it as a teenager. The combination of utter soul and a lyric that has a social conscience was for me revolutionary.

4. Good t-shirts. 

One of my favorite things!

If this makes me sound like a geezer, so be it:

back when I was growing up, even things like t-shirts were made with much more quality. These days, t-shirts usually seem thin and cheap, so I'm thrilled anytime I find a good one. 

5. No line at the bank.

It's a beautiful thing since I live in a cash society now and visit the bank every week.

I came across this aerial photo of the center of town. It's a place where people like to hang out, but sometimes it's empty like in the picture.

6. The nice gentleman who somehow has access to sweeter pineapples than other fruit peddlers in town.

7. Friends I've had since before puberty. 

One of them just texted me a goofy video of concert footage he captured at a recent Boyz II Men show. Probably some of the people reading this note aren't old enough to know the name Boyz II Men, but I guess that ends up being part of the beauty of friends who do go back ions in your life experiences.

8. Jobs that include free housing.

9. Times when my students see me smiling at some memory in my mind and proceed to ask me who I'm thinking about.

10. The golden glow of natural light that illuminates my apartment on weekend mornings.

(No idea what the sun looks like in my apartment on weekday mornings - I'm a school teacher!)

Sometimes You Just Gotta Squeeze

On the way to lunch, I walked past my colleague standing in the doorway of her classroom. In her hand was a small pink ball with Disney princesses on it - the stress ball I bought for her to squeeze whenever her students are making her crazy.

Guess she was having one of those days!

Breakin' The Law

As you can see, detention was a blast today.

Perhaps these two will think twice before breaking the rules again in class.