a dixie cupful

i feel that updating this blog is like trying to pour water into a dixie cup out of a water barrel.

yesterday was el dia de amor y amistad. i suppose they add the “amistad” (friendship) to be more inclusive, or less emphatic on eros. in latin american culture, though, i don’t know why they bother. an interesting piece of information is that most couples here are not married, but exist in a common law arrangement or free union. it lends a definite degree of fluidity to the state of affairs. there are an inordinate amount of single mothers, which no doubt adds to the poverty, desperation, and struggle that exists in honduras. i am not one for statistics, but to know that 70% of the population lives on $2 a day or less is...well, unimaginable. yesterday we visited a neighborhood called Nueva Suyapa, one of the poorest in the city. we went to talk to some of the women who lived there, who were a part of a group called Mujeres Valientes (Courageous Women) who been abused by their lovers and left to fend for themselves and their children. their determination in the face of the impossible circumstances of urban poverty was inspiring and challenging, and left me wondering why my burdens in this life have been so light, while others are given such heavy ones.

i am becoming more accustomed to life here. my spanish is improving at a surprising pace. i’ve only studied it formally for two years in high school (which was about 5 years ago), and then off and on during short trips to latin america, but i never really practiced it or learned new grammar or anything. it is such an important key to getting along in a culture, though. i’m able to talk to my family here, get directions on the street, order food, and understand instructions. i don’t know how long it would take to become “fluent” but i hope i’ll keep improving back in california and so maybe someday i will be. also, the Queen of la Casa (my two year old sister) has become quite attached to me lately. i am not a “two year old” kind of person by nature, and at first her crying and spoiledness was hard to enjoy. but she has learned my name now, or a portion of it, and calls me “esi.” at first she would call me “aki” because jackie was the student from last year, or “ali” because that was the student from january. but now i am esi and i must supply her with a papel and a zapi (“lapiz” which is a pencil) so she can do homework with me and i must draw a gato and i must sit and watch “a high school musical” 98 times per week. yes, your majesty, i will do those things because you are so cute. absolute power corrupts absolutely.

we have been given spanish tutors that are in high school or slightly older, to help us learn and to give us a chance to make friends with some honduran. my tutor is a 19-year old girl named Líjia. she is pretty and kind, very shy and understated. she is studying computer science at college and lives in Nueva Suyapa. we meet with the tutors on monday at the university, which is in the middle of the city, and on wednesdays in Nueva Suyapa, where they all live. this past saturday we took them to AGAFAM, which is like the state fair of honduras, and gave me flashbacks of the Grape Festival. yesterday at Nueva Suyapa we played a game of fútbol, gringos vs. hondureños, the height of injustice. even though we did slightly outnumber them, our feeble and aggressive attempts at the sport were no match against their graceful skill, which i hypothesize is a genetic trait of all iberian descendents. the score was decently even until the end, when they decided to actually play. it was such a good time, though.