The Yellow Wallpaper, Fresh Tortillas, and the Case of the Missing Pajamas

To begin with, this is a shot of the chapel/multipurpose room. When the electricity went out this past Sunday, we opened the window you can see behind the podium to provide light. The subdued light (I think) made it one of the more reverent meetings so far!

This week passed by as it were unto us as a dream. We continue to find new creatures nearly every day, for sure every week. This week, we found a purple-legged centipede-the legs were really very purple (deep lavender).

Henry: The electricity went out at Church, just before we were to begin. We got a maid who makes our bed every day and sweeps. Her name is Miriam and she used to work for our friends the Packs before they moved to Ecuador. At school I was in the English-language spelling bee. I got 2nd place because of “poison.” I am going to go to Tegucigalpa for the English spelling bee. It is verbal, not written [in California, the spelling bees are written]. I tried baleadas, which are a typical Honduran food. They were very good, except for the platanos. We invited some friends from Church over to eat lunch with us. I am doing my science fair experiments using paper airplanes. I will see how wind will affect different designs of planes.

Aspen: Didn’t report anything this week, though she is bright and beautiful and happy. Aspen is as imaginative as ever, which does require the need to urge her on, sometimes, to get the essentials done. But she is a good, tolerant, generally peaceful 7 year old. She is getting ready to be baptized and is quite excited about that. The font here is outside, and the (untreated) water is pretty cold. It is also above-ground, which is interesting and new. A eucalyptus tree hangs over and so we regularly have to clean leaves out of it. That is where Abraham found his big tarantula last week.

Abraham: Didn't report anything this week, though he is regularly getting candy in his preschool class. He always saves one for his little sister, Calla, at home. Great boy! This cute, little blond boy in Honduras is a hit with the Young Women at Church. However, Abe is as uninterested in them as can be. He is regularly mobbed by people at Church, which is difficult for this sensitive 5-year old. I taught him to use his elbows defensively and to say "NO,", I was also trying to think of short words that would communicate something useful and came up with "Dejame!" ("leave me alone") and "No quiero." We practiced and he did assert himself more this past Sunday, which was helpful and good. But people are not so easily dissuaded, and it seems that the notion of "No" really meaning "Yes," is present here. Occasionally intervention was still required. Hopefully, progress will be made from both sides as we live here longer.

Jack: I won the spelling bee in my class this week. The electricity went out at our house and at Church. I got 18 bags of skittles for my science fair project. They cost 13.30 lempiras each. I was sick for 1 day of school.

Stuart: Last week people got sick—a virus, I think—that has finally made its way through everyone. I was the last to succumb on Thursday night and am about 90% today (Sunday). This the 2nd time this has happened to us in about 6 months, but had never happened before. I lost my phone on Monday. While it was very inexpensive ($12), it had a lot of numbers on it I had acquired over the weeks. I got a new one on Thursday when I was in Tegucigalpa on Thursday.

I was in the capital at the US Embassy to attend a “required” State Department security briefing as a requirement of my Fulbright award. The information provided there was quite interesting! Mostly, it was scary and for a few days made me very concerned about staying here longer. I am better now, though lingering thoughts still persist. The embassy was very pleasant to be in. It was very relaxing and considering going back out into the city where crime is so rampant was a serious letdown. I just wanted to stay there longer. To be sure, Zamorano and environs is a safe place compared with the capital. Just like S. Central LA is not a place to go hang out and visit without being very alert and aware, the LA outskirts are quite pleasant and generally peaceful. My mission was more preparation for this trip than I had imagined! Besides the language, I had plenty of exposure to MS13 and 18th Street gangs (which were exported to C. America, with the same names).

Friday night Ranae and I went on a date to the pool and reclined in fine pool chairs under the coconut palms, gazing up at the star-filled, tropical, evening sky. In that circumstance, how could I be nervous about anything! There were so many stars, if you weren’t careful or hadn’t seen the constellation, Orion, you might not have been able to pick it out! It was so relaxing, I could actually feel the muscles in my back and neck getting less and less tense. It was truly idyllic.

Ranae: I’ll be honest. Life with five young children in a developing country that is ranked as the homicide capitol of the world is not all fun and games and tasting tortillas. After Stuart came home from his meeting at the Embassy, we both were sobered by the statistics and instructions he heard. Our sense of security was toppled. They reassured him that Zamorano is an island in this country, a little bubble of serenity and safety. Still, we do think we’ll keep our trips into Teguc to a minimum. Our prayer continues to be that we will be safe from harm, that we can be at ease when all is well, and that we’ll have a clear sense of danger if and when necessary. Faith is trusting that that prayer will be answered.

So now we have an employee, a maid. Such is the stuff of luxury and something we definitely couldn’t afford in America. The fact that we can afford help here reminds me that our middle class in America is upper class in Honduras. We are very blessed.

Miriam is fantastic. She is industrious and cheerful, patient with my Spanish, and willing to correct my mistakes. When we talk, I always have my Spanish-English dictionary handy, and we often write down our words so we can understand each other better. Having fresh tortillas, on demand, hot and ready in a tidy towel-wrapped packet, is luxury. Every day is clean bathroom day. Every day is mopped floor day. My house sparkles! I am not used to this! It is nice.

The other night Stuart and I were getting ready for bed and he couldn’t find his pajamas. We finally found them, neatly folded and tucked under our tightly-pulled-up sheets on our bed. Henry and I were treated to well-scrubbed tennis shoes, which now are white again. If we can pry it away from Calla, Miriam will give her doll a bath. Miriam makes lunch and chops veggies for dinner.

But there is a but. Miriam is fantastic, but what do I do now? I have a new understanding of women in the Victorian age, who had servants to raise their children, keep their houses, and do their cooking, and who had very few opportunities for engagement outside of their homes. What did they do? They had social clubs and philanthropic ventures, organized picnics and learned French. I can understand the discontent and even insanity some of them felt at not having work to do that is daily, demanding, and satisfying. (Did you read The Yellow Wallpaper in high school English class?)

The older four children are in school, and my common household chores are passed off to someone else now. What do I do? Visit the neighbors and volunteer at the school, organize dinner parties and learn Spanish. Calla and I take walks around the compound and find bugs and sticks and palm branches to play with. But if I do not do something that requires labor, I will really go batty. Either I have to have some work, or I can’t have Miriam come. I am confident that I can figure something out. The Spanish immersion and fresh tortillas are worth finding a way to shift things around in my schedule and make room for Miriam.