December 23rd, 2011
Well
with all the craziness going on down here in Honduras at this time of the year
I have not had much time to let my mind wander around and let it roam free. It
has mostly been thinking about how to let everyone know what is happening down
here as well as what the best way to finish out my time here is. So
unfortunately all of my thoughts have been pretty focused on the topics of this
blog and who really wants to read about that… again. No one, not even me. So
with the idea that Christmas is coming up, though it does not seem like it down
here as it was 80 degrees and I was sweating walking up some small hills in my
site (this might have something to do with the fact that I am extremely out of shape
and am usually gasping for air at the top of said hills) and the Hanley family
Christmas tradition being to sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” every year I
have decided to make up my own Twelve Honduran Days of Christmas. I have a
sneaking suspicion that the other volunteers in Honduras will like this better
than everyone else because they will actually know what I am talking about but
what the heck, let’s give it a try. Here goes absolutely nothing…
Special shoutout to my friend Natalie for idea generation!
On the first day of Honduran
Christmas my true love gave to me uno fijese que[i]
On the second day of Honduran
Christmas my true love gave to me dos pointed lips[ii]
On the third day of Honduran Christmas
my true love gave to me tres leche cake[iii]
On the fourth day of Honduran Christmas
my true love gave to me cuatro power outages[iv]
On the fifth day of Honduran
Christmas my true love gave to me cinco tortillas[v]
On the sixth day of Honduran Christmas
my true love gave to me seis soccer balls[vi]
On the seventh day of Honduran Christmas
my true love gave to me siete old school buses[vii]
On the eighth day of Honduran Christmas
my true love gave to me ocho barking dogs[viii]
On the ninth day of Honduran Christmas
my true love gave to me nueve bucket flushes[ix]
On the tenth day of Honduran Christmas
my true love gave to me diez fireworks[x]
On the eleventh day of Honduran Christmas
my true love gave to me once baliadas[xi]
On the twelfth day of Honduran Christmas
my true love gave to me doce late arrivals[xii]
[i]
Fijese que is translated as well no one seems to be able to translate it exactly.
I like to think of it as “Can you believe…” and it is used by Hondurans before
just about everything that can be considered bad news. So for example, Me: Hey
did you prepare yourself for the presentation today? Them: Fijese que… I didn’t
have time because I was watching a telenovela last night.
[ii]
Two pointed lips is the way that they point instead of pointing with a finger
as that is considered rude.
[iii]
There is this really great cake down here that is called “Three Milks”
[iv]
Self-explanitory, power likes to go out.
[v]
Again self-explanitory, they like their tortillas. And so do I actually.
[vi] Hondurans
like soccer…
[vii]
Mode of public transit is old school buses from the states, most of which are
about to break down.
[viii]
Honduras has lots of stray dogs and they like to bark… all the time.
[ix]
Sometimes the toilet just does not flush, this could be due to no water at the
time, a lack of a toilet that flushes, or someone put toilet paper in the toilet
and clogged it. So you have to fill up a bucket of water and pour it forceibly
down the toilet aka bucket flush.
[x]
Fireworks are far from illegal down here and kids love to set them off at all
hours of the day. Christmas and New Years are supposed to be the loudest days
of the year. I will let you know.
[xi]
My favorite Honduran food, a tortilla filled with fried beans, eggs, chicken,
and cheese. So great!
[xii]
Hondurans seem to be allergic to showing up on time…
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