I went to visit one of my lifelong friends, Shawna ('S'), down in Honduras. She has been working as a missionary there, teaching english to 2nd, 4th and 5th grade students. She's been gone for almost 10 months now! GO S! YOU ARE ROCKIN' IT, G!
I've always told S she's a star. She has that sparkle; that something that lights up the room when she walks into it. It was awesome to meet her teammates, fellow teachers and students - people she's loved and who have loved her throughout her time serving there. The glitter that came to their eyes when she walked into a room made it clear to me that they see the same shininess in her that we've always seen. They love her! If I went for nothing more, it was enough to sit back and see that S was living out what she was meant to be: a star, living with the confidence that we could expect a heavenly beauty to shine with.
While I was visiting, S and I had the chance to do lots of things. We seemed to find a good balance between her showing me around and teaching me about her new land, and me getting to remind her of the friendly comforts and jokes of home. We stayed up late talking, laughing, listening to our favorite CDs, and watching a movie we'd already seen (Sorry again that I didn't bring Napoleon Dynomite, S! You KNOW I would have been all over that, had I received the e-mail. I suck. I know you already knew that ;), but just the same, I am sorry). We also had the chance to read a book together. S, keep working on Lindsey to let us keep that one. :)
As for me getting to walk in S's world, I got to see some things I'd never seen, as well as some things that made me smile and wonder if we are really that different from one another, regardless of the places we were raised. It was a unifying experience to be able to laugh, play and learn with Shawna's students and Honduran friends, having a shared understanding and sense of humor regarding so much of life.
Visiting Shawna's school, it was easy to see, at just a glance, one of our cultural similarities: the recess social scene.
In this picture, you see a group of 4
th grade girls (and the boy in the back) practicing their routine for the big talent show. Does every group of 4th grade girls do this?! My class, the 4th grade class before and after me did! Did yours?
As the girl's practice was going on, boys played football in the far field. They had an intense game going on (as you can see, behind Mr. Freddie, the goalie had just made a nice save). Again I ask, does this not sound like the social terrain of every playground in the universe (well, at least yours :)?
On the playground sidelines sat several sets of friends having "tea" and talking, while others read books to one another, played house and jumped on tires. That is one part of their recess social scene that made for an imperfect parallel to my own. In my elementary school recess social scene, what I'll call the "fringe" group (which I was most often a part of) didn't jump on tires - we played tetherball.
As for things that were different? The stand-out cultural difference was the driving. I thought I was gonna die.
When Dr. Troy picked me up from the airport, one of the first things he said in his broken english accent was, "En Honduraz, we have two loss: First? Der are no loss. Two? Follow de loss."
When it comes to driving, he explained, they just don't the police to enforce rules of the road.
He smirked and said, "One of deh rules peple follow es: 'de one on ze right has de right (to pass).'" As I sat, squished in the back seat of his crushable pop-can-of-a truck, a chill of fear ran through me. My three-hour drive to La Esparanza promised to be an experience to remember - if not for the day I lost my life, for the longest solo prayer marathon I'd ever participated in.
Along the uphill corkscrew-of-a-trail, I saw drivers passing six cars at a time up its sharp curves. I saw one bus pass another into the face of visibly oncoming vehicles! The bus being passed calmly steered to the shoulder to allow him room so he AND the oncoming vehicles could both squeeze past.
At one point, Dr. Troy was trailing an uncomfortable tailgater's distance behind a police car. I thought Dr. Troy would notice how close we were following and adjust...the sooner the better, my gut feeling urged.
Dr. Troy did finally notice our rudely-close distance to the P.O. However, he didn't respond by backing off in the way my imagination and my back-seat driver's foot had planned it. Rather, Dr. Troy revved the engine and passed that inconsiderate law-abiding cop. We showed him.
Once we got to La Esparanza, there wasn't so much dangerous passing. Instead, there was honking. Pedestrians walk on the streets without right-of-way, making for some impatient drivers. Every morning outside Shawna's bedroom window, we woke up to the peaceful sounds of roosters crowing, and school busses honking the length of entire city streets:
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!
I tried to take it seriously...but really?! Is it necessary to hold down a horn that long? And hadn't the pedestrians who'd had it blaring behind them for 17 blocks had enough to WANT to get out of the way, just to relieve their ears from the pain?
I laughed about this each morning as I burrowed my head into my pillow.
I found it impossible to believe when S told me her school bus had hit a dog the week before. How? He had to be 100% deaf.
I observed, felt and experienced so many things with Shawna, it's hard to narrow it down here! We rode on an oxcart and a horse, saw a HUGE waterfall, ate green bananas, bought berries from a peddler, and ate coconut cookies on top of a mountain overlooking the city.
We lounged together on the patio of a beautiful cafe, reading a book about what Christ thinks of his church as Kenny Rogers sang, "You Decorated My Life" in the background.
I met the people who have made S's time there bearable and beautiful.
I laid in S's kitchen hammock to watch her make beans, rice, and something that she didn't even know what to call.
I heard Shawna speaking spanish around town with grace and ease! "Adios," she said to passers-by, instead of saying hello. "It's what you say when you want to acknowledge the other person, but you can't stop to talk," she explained to me. DUDE! That's MY GIRL! YOU ROCK, S! YOU SERIOUSLY STINKIN' ROCK!
I watched S living the Honduran life that's sure to change her life forever.
And, most importantly, I got to see S being loved and shining bright, like the star she was created to be.
