Almost one year at the Finca!
What have I been up to since my last blog post? Well, quite a bit given I haven’t written since April. Actually, that’s not true. I have half-written blogs a few times, only to have my computer restart and all my work deleted. And then the “later” in “I’ll come back to it later” becomes months.
So now I’m writing on a platform that autosaves my writing. We’ll see how far I get.
So what have I been up to?
In May, I got to take my yearly vacation and was back in the States for a month. While home, I was blessed to spend time with friends and family, to be a bridesmaid in a dear friend’s wedding, and to confuse acquaintances with tales of my life in Central America.
I saw howler monkeys in the wild. With our summer volunteers, the missionaries took a day to climb the Torres mountains, which can be seen from our soccer field. We started about 4:30 am, so that by the time the sun rose, we were about 50 feet away from the monkeys. They were completely unbothered by our presence, swinging from branches, feeding their babies, and howling (which sounds like a pig with a cold).
My second graders finished their toucan drawings with color changing beaks. Third, fourth, and fifth grade just completed paintings inspired by artist Joaquin Torres-Garcia, where they learned how to use a ruler to make a grid and identify symbols from their everyday lives. At the moment, fifth and sixth grade are doing a paper mache project inspired by ceramics done by the indigenous Lenca people.
The Finca has a new bunny! His name is Clifford, and he is perfect. He was given to us by a friend who saw how lonely he was without a bunny friend. In exchange for Clifford, she will get two baby bunnies when they are born (hopefully soon).
I got to submit artwork done by a boy at the Finca for a competition held by a non-profit. When I asked this boy if he wanted to participate, I expected to be dismissed. He was surprisingly eager, especially when he heard about the prize. The rules said I could only submit one, but I didn’t let the kids in on that; I thought the more participating, the better. The theme prompted the kids to draw someone who was an angel in their life. When I saw this boy choose to draw his dad in Minecraft style and focus harder than I had ever seen, I knew I would be submitting his drawing. In class, he normally yells, makes crude jokes, and scribbles through his assignments. But that day, I saw him color with precision, ask for help, problem-solve, and smile sheepishly when I told him how proud of him I was. Though, I haven’t heard back about the competition, I know if nothing else, he won some self-confidence.
I crossed a rickety bridge over a river and hiked up a mountain to stand under a waterfall. No words can adequately describe that experience.
After losing my paint for eight months, I finally found it and made some more progress on my mural!
The missionaries were invited to celebrate the birthday of a child who formerly lived at the Finca and now lives with their family. The family lives in a Pech community, which is a group indigenous to Honduras. Their grandmother J is a Pech artist, and I spent most of the birthday party nerding out and asking her a million questions about her artwork. The two bags I purchased from her were made from a tree fiber only found in the Mosquitia, the least developed, most jungle-dense region of the country. Once she obtains these fibers, she dyes them using natural colorants from plants, tree barks, and shells. She then weaves the fiber with only her fingers into what resembles crochet. She expressed to me how much she wants to pass this dying tradition onto her grandchildren.
I have become very popular in the missionary house by cooking German bierocks every once and a while. The Honduran missionary Alicia particularly loves them, and asks each time it's my turn to cook if I can make “those bread things.”
I got to see a coral reef! You may be picturing something like scuba diving in Roatan, but I’d like to paint a more accurate picture. A guy who sells beer and pop on the beach who has a boat takes us out about 15 minutes into the ocean, throws us each a life-jacket and a pair of goggles, and we swim around and see what we can find between deep breaths. It was stunning, and only one person got a sea urchin in the foot!
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