Little by little

So life is coming back to normal little by little. It's over a week now since Mel Zelaya returned to Honduras and has been camping out in the Brazilian Embassy here in Honduras. Yesterday also marked 3 months since all this mess began when he was ousted.

So, let me be honest, a week has felt like months! Let me give a quick recap:
Monday: Mel returns and we got on lockdown at 4pm
Tuesday: entire country on lockdown all day!
Wednesday: curfew lifts during day and we spend 5 hours in a supermarket fighting for food
Thursday: we return to school for a half day, curfew at 5pm
Friday: curfew at 8
Saturday: didn't go anywhere, stress had made me sick as a dog and curfew started at 6
Sunday: Managed to go to church, which was such a relief to see some of my friends, curfew at 9pm
Monday: curfew at 10pm! quite the change and a half day of school
Tuesday: half day of school and curfew starting at 10pm

So my life has consisted of sending emails alerting the North Americans, half days of school, pretty much going no where, and not taking public transportation at all. I think I'm ready to start braving it! You only have one life, might as well live it fully!

So tomorrow is Wednesday and we are suspecting to have a full day of school.

Why are things returning back to normal? Because Honduras is able to do things with it's constitution that other nations can't. The following articles of the Honduran Constitution have been suspended
for the next 45 days (until November 11, 2009):

Article 69: The right to personal freedom
Article 72: Freedom of Speech
Article 78: Freedom of Association
Article 81: Freedom of Movement
Article 84: The right to due process _

For the next 45 days, the defacto regime has stated that the local and
national police, at times to be assisted by the military, will arrest
individuals for the following reasons:

* Disobeying announced curfew, or appearing to engage in
suspicious activities
* Gathering in public without prior approval from police and
military forces
* Carrying out media announcements violating the law or government
resolutions , or offending human dignity or any public official

So basically anyone who wants to support Mel right now can plan on being arrested. That's the only thing that is bringing peace back around. It's only a band-aid to the problem; however, it's allowing some relief.

Check out this lady's blog for more info. http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/

Keep praying for Honduras and honestly, praying for me as two jobs in all of this has proven to be quite the responsibility!

Another day

So today has been unlike the others...thankfully. Last night at 8:30pm we found out after having already been told school was canceled that we would in fact have school. I was frustrated. I thought it was ridiculous. Who in the world would find out?

Well, more people than I thought would found out and chose to come to school. I had 13 out of my 24 students attend classes today. They were antsy after having been couped up too and not sure what to make of all this; however, overall it was good. It was good to be back to "normal". Normal crazy IST that is. :) It was good for not just them but me too. It was good to do something and not just sit and read the news and worry. Today was only a half day; however, it was enough. :) I was told that International School and the American School were the only schools in Tegus open today. Go figure! My entire life I've always gone to "that school" that never closes. :) Why would it change now? But let's be honest. IST closes a lot. I heard comments that many people in the city were pissed that we went back to school. They interpret it as our ignoring the problem, not caring, not showing true patriotism, etc. Pray that we stay safe along with our children school buses as they travel home especially in the afternoons.

Same plan for tomorrow. Half day.

Continue to pray for Honduras. These next few days are crucial in knowing whether this could get resolved quickly or this could be drawn out. Representatives of the United Nations are arriving tomorrow to discuss the situation either tomorrow or Saturday. I believe they may propose Zelaya returning to power with the stipulation that certain other leaders have to stay in their positions. He may accept this. If he doesn't, it may get interesting. There may be other options too that I'm not aware of. Today thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the UN office in Teguc to express their opinion. Seemed relatively peaceful.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3608336&id=686774273#/album.php?aid=145608&id=686774273

Keep praying.

Today I'm mad

Today I'm pissed. I hate that this is the situation we are in. No one outside of here truly understands what is going on. We are day 2 of no school. We actually had the curfew lifted from 10am to 5pm tonight. So, the school wanted to make sure we got out to get our essentials. We thought...woopie! Caged animals can finally escape! But the entire zoo of Tegucigalpa thought that too, not just the monkeys of IST I guess. I have never seen so many people in my life. There were lines miles long waiting to get gas. After an hour on the bus trying to get to the supermarket normally 15 minutes away, we entered into a supermarket that had lines wrapping around the entire thing. And I'm talking lines worse than on Black Friday's shopping day. We ended up being in line alone for 4 HOURS! I felt like I was going to faint. Some gave up. THe rest of us were ruthless and stayed with it. People in our supermarket were fortunately pretty kidn for the most part. Asking if people could pass things, saying excuse me once in a while, etc. There were no fights breaking out or violence. We actually even had fun chatting amongst ourselves at times. HOwever with my job, I get stuck on the phone a lot. http://www.elheraldo.hn/Secciones-Principales/Inicio There were too many people for carts and all the baskets were taken so people ended up using those orange plastic pots for plants or the crates that bread comes on or eggs come in. Allows for the people that are stocking up for 5 years to take all they wanted. People were buying 4 boxes of toothpaste, 6 bars of soap, pounds upon pounds of meat, bread, tortillas, bags of flour, 5 gallons of cooking oil, etc. It was madness.

So, last night a lot of vandalism was done to parts of town. People broke into supermarkets and swipped the shelves bare of everything there was. Broke into the ATMs taking 500 million lempiras ($26,000 in cash). It's chaos. Check pictures here. http://www.elheraldo.hn/Especiales/Honduras%20en%20contra%20de%20la%20ilegalidad%20del%2004%20de%20septiembre%20de%202009/Ediciones/2009/09/23/Noticias/Zelayistas-saquean-bancos-y-tiendas

The frustrating part is that there seems to be no end in sight. I predict no school for tomorrow and there is currently no end time to this curfew. The problem is however that when you tell people to stay home, they go crazy and they invent problems to make. Thus people have had time to make home bombs, etc. In all honesty, my neighborhood is really chill. We can't even hear anything from where we are.

So why am I here? Well, for starters I can't leave even if I wanted to. There is no exiting traffic and there are no flights domestic or international at this point. Also amidst my being completely pissed off that this is what my life has to consist of for right now, I love this country. Hate it's government and politics, hence I initially came here to teach the children that are the future of this country, to instill in them good Christian values as they will be the future leaders of this nation. I pray to God that through them change will come. But for now....here we are. This is my situation.

Please pray.

If you want to know more:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125373506454635023.html

And this just downright pisses me off. Thank you home country for doing just about jack shit to help us too except cause chaos.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204488304574427403985118892.html

Life is unpredictable

Isn't that the truth! We've just gone from 10 days off of school due to the flu. On Monday we returned to school for what would feel like the first day of school again. My kids were surprisingly well behaved. Well, I more so fought with them about getting their heads of their desks and to pay attention. "But Miss I no sleep until 4." I felt their pain.

Well, around lunch time things began to shake up a bit. The principal's assistant Roberto showed up in my room to ask for a child to go home. I asked what was up and he signaled for me to come to him. I had flashbacks from last year of when Mr.Greene came to my room to tell me my student David had to go home because his father died. Thankfully this was not the same news but still it was news. Roberto informed me that the ex-President Mel Zelaya had returned to the country and parents are coming by the masses to get their children. I had 4 kids leave. We finished out the school day unsure of what was to come and the kids were uninformed.

At 3:30pm my principal barged into our planning meeting to announce curfew was starting at 4pm and we all had to go home. As we're all rushing to get out, we had to pile into cars as there were not going to be any buses. Everyone is supposed to be inside. I guess you actually can be arrested for being out. Which makes sense because the purpose is to keep violence down and Mel's supporters at home. So Mel snuck into the country via El Salvador border at a blind spot. Spent all night driving in a car and found refuge in the Brazilian Embassy which of course is neutral grounds. Once he leaves, he'll have to be arrested. Him being arrested will upset the masses; hence the curfew.

So, we don't have school today. 10 days off...one day on...one day off with who knows how many more. So to top it all off, as I arrived home yesterday I hadn't even walked in my door yet when a neighboring teacher yelled "Kristi, Did you hear that the girls were mugged at gun point?" Oh shit. So with the cell phone network being down at the point I was limited on who I could call. I finally located them and after an hour of sweating and making repeated failed phone calls I located the girls and Ben who could get them. Here's the kicker. They had read my email about staying home and chose to go out anyway and just close to their home had their cell phone, a few lempiras, and their house keys stolen. The house keys was the new factor into the situation. So we had to get them to their house to get their things and all 4 came to crash in my apartment. They are doing ok emotionally. We all slept well and I am thankful their is no school for the fact of 5 sharing one bathroom in the am. So....what do I do now?

We're running low on food and water. Supposedly I can go out and buy it but not sure how or if stores are even open. We're under curfew until 6pm tonight! That's 26 hours of not being able to leave home so far! We have no idea from one minute to the next of what could happen.

Being here in Teguc we are in the thick of things. Where Mel is currently is on the other side of town from us thankfully, yet the highway to the south is in our neighborhood and many could be trying to come in to support him.

So, I've got cabin fever to the max! Another day of 'vacation' and I have to stay at home. Blah! I can't say we're excited about not having school. We're so behind as it is already. It's hard.

God is in control. I know he will protect us and stand by us. We have to rely on him.

So I'm home all day doing not much of anything. Give me a call. Send me funny links or new things to check out.

In his grip,
Kristi

A few surprises

An already planned Independence Day break pleasantly surprisingly so got turned into a 10 day break thanks to the flu going around. Thank you Lord for a much needed break. So 4 days turned into 10 days off. :) HEAVENLY!

So what have I done with my time since then....if only you knew.

First of all I had already had a trip planned to the island of Roatan located on the northern coast of Honduras. I had spent a week there during my semester here and just relished in being back there. I took a group of 15 others for a few glorious days of fun in the sun. We were able to spend an extra day there due to more days off, but with how hot it was we were glad to return home. So what did we do?

(Sorry these are in random order)
Pancha and her baby

Juanito and I First time I've ever held a monkey :)

Barnie and I

Two story dock that I jumped from…picture below :)

Group headed out for our day of a glass bottom boat tour, snorkeling, and day on West Bay Beach

Paradise

Pancha and her baby again

Barnie and I again

Jumping! WAHOO!!!! I continued to do so for a couple more times even though something stunk my wrist after jumping the first time.

Heather, Marnie and I doing our canopy tour. I’ve done it many times and still love it

Superwoman or as he said “Superchica”

The Marlin Fishing Tournament...this was our winner weighing in at over 500 lbs!

Heavenly

The dock on the back of our hotel. Many memories were made here: wishing on shooting stars, long talks, laying under the stars, getting to know my new friends better

Back rub loving time. Wonder who’s idea this was? hehe



Chillaxin in the sun




And I had thought these were big before I saw the winner! Either way…I don’t like the thought of those being in the same water as me. Thankfully I didn’t come upon them snorkeling. The other stuff I saw was big enough for my comfort anyway!


So a few days of bliss makes one happy. :)

I've been pondering a couple of other things lately. My mom always comments about my generation. I've come to realize she's right. Technology has advanced so that my world is smaller...hence I can say it's "my world". It's tangible to me. It's within reach. For example, I can communicate between nations in a day. I do so daily in fact! I can facebook a friend in Austria, talk to a friend in Honduras, talk to my friend in Nicaragua (love you Beth), talk on Skype to Beth in Seattle, call MI and talk to a friend in the Philippines. Yeah...our generation is a bit different I suppose and I thank the Lord for it!

I've also been pondering the thought of relationships. I've always thought that we should love everyone and be open to everyone. However, I've realized I get attached easily. Way too easily. I think God is asking me to evaluate those relationships and attachments lately. There is a part in Joshua where Joshua is mislead into making a covenant with the locals because he didn't take it to God. Do you have attachments to people or things that maybe you shouldn't because you haven't taken them to God? I'm struggling here with this. There are a lot of great people in the world...some I have more recently met than others. I also realize that with this I spend more time focusing on and worrying about those that don't love me back than those that do! Why is that? I'm open to input.

Love you all. Back to reality for me in a few days and it'll be working double time I have a feeling.

Thanks for reading. :)

I AM ALIVE!

Where is Kristi? Is she alive? What has she been up to? She left Michigan and fell off the face of the earth.

Well to inform the masses, I am alive. :) I left Michigan almost a month ago and I can NOT believe the whirl wind I’ve been living in. Let’s give you the 'condensed' version.

-Trip down went wrong in so many ways. Was told at two different connections that my flight did not exist, one of those connections being from the other flight not existing, which then ended me up in Miami for the night. Then I unfortunately somehow lost my camera there after playing tourist. 

-So having arrived two days later than I was asked to arrive, I began working the second I got picked up from the airport. I don’t know what time I did finally go to my new house that night anyway. Now what do I mean by working? Let me explain. This year I not only continue to teach as a 4th grade teacher, I am also a North American Community Coordinator. This position is a volunteer position that is designed to be a partnership or three person effort (as it was last year) to better serve the many North Americans that come down and facilitate their housing arrangements, social events, trips, orientation to the country and culture, and assist them through the year in those things. This summer, things got more interesting though, I found out that the man I would be helping who was paid for this position was moving back to the states. I knew the school would not hire anyone for this, therefore, knowing that all of his, mine, and teaching responsibilities would all fall and me, and they have. I’ve been in charge of 18 new North American teachers, 35 North American teachers total (the biggest group we have ever had), a total of 11 houses with three of them having been new to us and needing to have been fully furnished, etc. So upon my responsibilities previously listed, I’ve then taken upon pages of housing fix-its to communicate and check-up on, insurance, residency, banking, and every random question under the sun you can imagine, like “Kristi, how do I open this milk box?” With pleasure and now exhaustion I’ve been doing this. It’s been great and I’ve loved it. Some of the guys tease me and call me their ‘mom’, but they get the glare from that one since I’m only like a year older. 

-I’ve also started a new teaching year. It’s going pretty well so far. I’m cracking the wip hard core. I think a lot of us returners have less patience/know what we are doing/ aren’t going to put up with it. I love more than anything seeing my former students in the hallway as I still get attacked by them all daily. I love this because my new kids haven’t quite seen the really nice/lovable Miss Kerekes yet. As one of my professors always said “Don’t smile until Christmas.” I do love them dearly already, but of course I’ve got a few that demand more attention than the others and they are just reaaaaaallly slow moving at following directions.

-Also importantly I had my friend Rachel Goorhouse here with my for the first two weeks of arrival. She was such a great help in getting my classroom set-up, etc. It was unfortunate timing that we couldn’t do more, but it really was fun having her see my world here. It still hasn’t hit me that she was here. I knew it wouldn’t. I guess she is just a normal in my life and Honduras has become a normal. Those two combining wasn’t that weird somehow. It was great. 
Thanks to her and her camera, here is a glimpse of that time at AquaSplash and the crew that befriended us there, my classroom, my housing complex called the Green HOuse and I have my own apartment which you can see me in the doorway if you look. All the rest of it are also female teachers. We also got to go to dance class and dressed as twins. We also got to meet up a couple of times with our great friend Ezequiel and his wife whom we met 3 years ago when we studied here in Teguc.











-Tired from just reading this yet? I know I am. There’s an up side. As of this week, the school is willing to try to let my friend and co-worker Bobby Majano join me as Community Coordinator and that means he takes on all the responsibilities of Jake again. I think the new teachers are still too trained to come to me about anything and everything and that’ll take some time of undoing/may never happen. I’m thrilled and it’s such an answer to prayer to have him come along side me. I truly am whipped from basically doing 3 jobs for a month now and countless days of working 12 hours+ and sleeping 5 hours. No more.  (at least, let’s hope not)

-On another note, some people have been wondering about the political situation. For those of you uninformed, very, very short version. Ex-president Mel Zelaya was ousted from his presidency by a (to be debated) military cou at the end of June, was removed from the country, and has not been allowed back in since. I did lots of reading the news during the summer and asked friends how it was and was honestly a little nervous to find out how it’d be. It’s different. There is spray-painted graffiti everywhere. Fast-food restaurants have been targeted, as being supporters of the new temp-president). So the restaurant windows are now barred or boarded and a few have been burned down. What has it been like for me? I think I’ve had 5 encounters. The first one was the most heart racing. I was picking up the first group from the airport and as we were driving there, two military trucks full of soldiers and a water spray truck. I instantly said, “OH NO!” There was a march heading towards the airport, which has been a target, but it was peaceful and we, thank the Lord, got them all out in time and the masses were cleared when we came back for the second group. I’ve run into the car marches in the evenings too. One night I was in a taxi alone and we were really comfortable and talkative and next thing we now from the on ramp pulls right in front of us hundreds of motorcycles and cars waving red flags in support of the old president honking, etc. I started to sink into my seat and asked the driver as we had stopped, what was going to happen explaining the fact that obviously I am a foreigner and others feel differently now. He said, “Nada, es tranquilo”. (Nothing. It’s just a calm march.) And it was. Funny enough. The taxi driver is not making any money by sitting there waiting for them to pass by and follow slowly behind them, so he joined jokingly honking his horn. In regards to all of this, I’m more out of the know than I was when I was at home, but the United States is giving this whole situation a lot more attention again. Their idea is to bring President Mel Zelaya back in as president too and have him finish his term as the new elections are this Novemeber and a new president will be instated in January. The USA has cut visas to members of the current president’s party, has cut all non-humanitarian aid, and is putting more pressure on Honduras now. I hope things remain to stay calm.

-So amidst all that, what do I do in my free time? Free time does not exist. I’ve just had to made it. I’ve been going to my church group and church, dance classes, bible studies, and trying to hang out with friends.The picture included is from a murder mystery night birthday party for Lauren. I really am enjoying myself, the new teachers that I’m with, but I’m tired. So please pray for my load to be lightened. However, I will admit. It’s all been God. There is no way I am doing this on my own strength, and I have been so hungry for his presence and strength that that has been refreshing.

-Another side note, my grandfather passed away over 2 months ago now. I tried to be “present” in the situation and mourning while I was home, but I’m not sure I was, or I just don’t really know what that mourning process looks like for a loved one having never done it before. Let’s just say I’m still mourning. While my friend Rachel was here she was showing our friend her wedding pictures while at the food court in the mall. Her grandfather passed away a month before mine did but was able to be in her wedding as she was married a year ago. I sat there fighting tears that I was so surprised by. Fighting tears of sorrow and realization of that he won’t be there for mine. My last father figure won’t be there for my wedding some day. My dear friend Ben here also just lost his grandpa and as the funeral is a week and half after his passing, Ben is having to grieve without his family’s presence before he can head home. Pray for him too. But I think that too stirs up my grieving.
-Looking forward to a brief Sunday trip to the Christ statue and the following weekend taking the group to the north coast to either La Ceiba or Roatan, one of the Bay Islands. (I've been to both before and am hoping to return to Roatan for Independce Day weekend break.) Then that following weekend is the staff return which was so much fun last year!

-I miss you all dearly. I hope you are well. Please forgive my work-aholic tendencies and for not having called/written lately.

Love to you all,
Kristi

Where has time gone?

That is a good question. Where has time gone? It's been over a month since I returned to Michigan abruptly. I feel I've come up for air once and a while. Actually I am very much enjoying being home where honestly life is quite a bit easier. I have the luxury of a car and smooth sailing high ways so I cruise them almost daily to go see friends in close by cities. Let's be honest. Shouldn't I just live in Grand Rapids? Maybe someday I will again. Who knows? So I spend most mornings teaching exiting 3rd graders at summer school and then I spend Monday evenings playing soccer on a women's league and other evenings playing frisbee, riding bikes, rollerblading, comedy club, visiting with friends, and movies. I love life!

It is a little ironic that I have two homes and in ways two lives. I feel like I have split personality disorder or something. I live in two different countries. I am able to speak another language that I really don't think my family members have actually heard me have a conversation in. I have friends that many of my loved ones on both ends will never meet each other. But I love my life. Disconnected at times...yes. Not understand by some....yes. I love it. I try not to love one more than another and that's difficult. Yes many things are easier here. Things are just so different in Honduras and I think that's what makes it so exciting.

I'll enjoy a car at my disposal, being able to cheaply communicate via cellphone for now, use a vacuum once and a while, enjoy traveling with ease, having my independence and enjoying my invisibility by others for now, and enjoy having some friends and family close by. :) I'm thankful.

On a side note, while I'm here state side, I wanted to share something with you all that I was struck by while in Honduras. Have you ever been a foreigner before? Have you ever left the United States before, gone to place where you were different, didn't understand everything, and maybe were looked at differently because people didn't understand what you were saying and assumed you were talking about them or thought you just plain looked or dressed differently. It can be uncomfortable. At times in Honduras, I face this daily. There, I'm a gringa (white girl). I get hollered at on the streets, sometimes treated like I'm an idiot and don't understand things, and many times try to get taken advantage of financially because I'm white. However, those experiences make me appreciate the flip side so much more. There are so many people who have befriended me from school, church, and dance and many people who have opened their homes to me, invited me to dinner, and wanted to go to great extremes to make sure I'm comfortable. This is an experience to learn from. I do not present this in a pointing-finger attitude. I invite you to do self-reflection as to whether you can learn from this verse as I know I have. Learning to comfort others while in foreign lands or comforting those who are foreigners here in my home land of the USA. Do I take the stance toward Latinos of saying build a wall and keep them out or do I remember that Christ died for them too and loves them also?

Reflect on this verse with me:
“When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the stranger. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you. You shall love the stranger as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34)

Unless you are Native American, we all came over from foreign land at some point in history. What are we doing to make our strangers here not feel so estranged? Are we helping the problem or causing the problem? Think about putting yourself in their shoes especially if you never have before.