Livin'

So many people have aphorisms about life, snappy sayings that sum it all up. Most of those I pick apart and find rather lacking. Life is so much more than a catching saying. 

I snapped some pictures recently...just some interesting observances from life here. Perhaps only interesting to me, but this is my blog, so....

We were practicing some futbol last week when Soren spotted these rather odd floating squares in the sky. You can see two of them here (if you blow up the picture...on either side of the palm in the middle) the other was out of frame. What were they? No clue. I presume some hot air balloons, but we just looked, remarked at the nice view, and went back to futbol. I decided Soren does not need an eye exam any time soon, and remembered that not everything has to make sense or be explained. Sometimes, you just move on down the road.

When the last group was here we were at the kid's with cancer ward playing with and praying for the children when I met Valery. I told her she was in good company with that name. For the process she is enduring, and I am not just talking about the medical treatments involved, her spirits were remarkably good. Meeting someone with the same name as someone you love in a dire situation in the hospital...certainly gives you an ever changing and different perspective.

I was running errands when I walked out of a store and there was a protest march right in front of me. My first reaction was... “ok, so to get to where I want to go, I’ll have to...” Yes, my first thought was not being upset or scared, or worried it would turn violent...I was just thinking how much of a detour I would have to take. I know protests are not a way of life for many people abroad, but they are here. You get used to them, you expect them, and while I am not planning on joining them, I understand the reasons behind them much more now than I did before...although there is always more to learn. This picture was taken on my detour. Ice cream salesman usually flock to these marches (captive market!) so I am not sure why this one was still on the bridge.

Just a few blocks from the bridge...Christmas decorations going up in the median. Colorful, nice, cheery...my first reaction here was “Wait...won’t someone steal those ornaments? Maybe the guards from the nearby buildings will watch over it.” Walls guard most things of value here that are not nailed/glued/cemented, I look forward to seeing how it fares over the next couple of months. 

On a side note...I did not get a picture, but picked up at the store I was visiting when I took this picture a several month supply of Life cereal for Valerie and the kids. Cereal here is not often cheap, and definitely Life is not normally available. So finding it for $2.65 a pound was a very special treat for them. I was surprised by that...and the remarkable amount of costumes (some quite objectionable) and decorations for Halloween there in a country that for the most part considers Halloween evil.

The kids near the aquarium at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Those are some very big fish in a relatively small tank. Did you know that Chinese food is extremely common here...very cheap (plates may be $7 or so, but that “plate” of cashew chicken, fried rice with meat, chop suey, etc. can be a meal for two to four people. We ordered two plates, ate our fill, and still had leftovers for the next day’s meal for all of us. Also, every Chinese restaurant I have ever visited here is owned and operated by a Chinese family, usually doing the accounting and cooking, with Honduran wait staff and/or guards. 

  

PriceSmart here has sold doughnuts for some time. I have never been tempted....until last week. I finally saw the price: $3.75 a dozen. Since we had already decided to have a snack with the kids that afternoon... I reasoned that a dozen doughnuts would be cheaper than any snack purchased elswhere for all of us. We picked the kids up from school that afternoon, we went to our dream spot for building a house overlooking the city and had a snack. I have to say...those doughnuts are brilliant. If you get a chance, I recommend those with the sprinkles. It was also brilliant to see the city (and from behind see the turbines near Ojojona generating electricity...it really is a nice view), feel the breeze, let the kids run with no safety worries, and day dream a little about a home that we could not afford.

So, remembering what I said to start, I guess my catchy saying on life for this post would be: Life is like a doughnut...you can focus on the hole, what is not there, or eat what you get and enjoy it, remembering not all have sprinkles and that we have in abundance so we can share.