so I've been meaning to do this for awhile...
you know, internet being free and all...
Back in the Hond I had been thinking a lot about hygiene, germs, and health and stuff. I had pretty much come to the conclusion that I must have an immune system of steel. I mean, I saw a lizard just hanging out with half of his body submerged in our water supply. And we have been meaning to get these little pouches that you toss into the water so that all of the insect larvae floats to the top and you can get it out...standing water...who knows what we're breeding--but we haven't gotten around to buying them yet. I happened to see my housemate, also, drop a glass off the side of the pila into the pila and we had to fish it out...germ central. No sickness in my life. Case and point, right?
Well, until I enter American air or something because I'm pretty sure I was slammed with a cold before I even stepped off the second airplane. No worries, friends, because I didn't even notice right away. I was too blown away by everything going right.
Making plans to come back home was weird. Something so anticipated and welcomed caught me so off guard. There I was drilling "Up on a Housetop" into the kiddos heads, making musical instruments (biggest flop of my very short teaching career by the way--beans=EVERYWHERE. I spent all of recess piecing them back together so that we would have them for the Christmas program extravaganza!), and BAM why are you not packed? Friday night I actually got a little stressed about packing (not stressed enough--I HAD to finish cheesy The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks before I even entered my room...) and then I went and sat on my bed and realized that I have barely anything so that makes packing pretty darn simple (p.s. I ended up packing WAY too much, of course, but I did pack for outdoor winter activity involving snow which there has been none of). The Wilf (Don Wilfredo) took Anna and I to the airport in the morning and there was never that "Ok, now you're doing it" feeling. But a different feeling hit me at the airport. As I sadly hugged Anna goodbye before she boarded her plane, I realized that there was a very short amount of time when I was doing this alone. This being everything--the life/the job/el resto in Honduras. I said goodbye and left a beautiful community of friends in Grand Rapids, got on the airplane only to enter into a team only hours later that now has become another family. But I didn't realize that right away--probably because it didn't happen right away.
Anyway, back to the airport. I checked the TV and panicked when I didn't see Atlanta on the departure list...then looking more closely I noticed that strangely "Atlanta City" was listed. I didn't stress, but Anna and I thought it reasonably possible that I could end up in New Jersey by the end of the day ;) The flight to Atlanta City ended up taking off an HOUR late. I stayed remarkably calm despite the short amount of time between my arrival and my connection. I just kept thinking--you'll get there when you get there. Now where did you put Grace's phone number? Worst case I'd just chill in Atlanta for some hours and read or something. But then the flight attendants jumped into action. I've never seen anything like it. It was like something straight out of a movie. Before everyone had boarded the plane they were already yelling at people that hadn't buckled their seatbelts. Fierce is an appropriate word in this situation to describe them. We couldn't have taken off more than 10 minutes after I boarded the plane. We ended up in Atlanta only 15 minutes late. Then...immigration. I prayed that everything would work out smoothly and quickly so that I could book it to my next gate. The lines were very long and mine got held up by someone needing a translator. But they let me through with no problems and I rushed to my gate and boarded only 5 minutes after arriving. It was like clockwork! We pulled into GR just a little after when we were due and I was so excited that when I saw my friends I started running down the little hallway. We caused a little ruckus at the airport that night :) And since then it has been a dream.
To be continued...
Back in the Hond I had been thinking a lot about hygiene, germs, and health and stuff. I had pretty much come to the conclusion that I must have an immune system of steel. I mean, I saw a lizard just hanging out with half of his body submerged in our water supply. And we have been meaning to get these little pouches that you toss into the water so that all of the insect larvae floats to the top and you can get it out...standing water...who knows what we're breeding--but we haven't gotten around to buying them yet. I happened to see my housemate, also, drop a glass off the side of the pila into the pila and we had to fish it out...germ central. No sickness in my life. Case and point, right?
Well, until I enter American air or something because I'm pretty sure I was slammed with a cold before I even stepped off the second airplane. No worries, friends, because I didn't even notice right away. I was too blown away by everything going right.
Making plans to come back home was weird. Something so anticipated and welcomed caught me so off guard. There I was drilling "Up on a Housetop" into the kiddos heads, making musical instruments (biggest flop of my very short teaching career by the way--beans=EVERYWHERE. I spent all of recess piecing them back together so that we would have them for the Christmas program extravaganza!), and BAM why are you not packed? Friday night I actually got a little stressed about packing (not stressed enough--I HAD to finish cheesy The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks before I even entered my room...) and then I went and sat on my bed and realized that I have barely anything so that makes packing pretty darn simple (p.s. I ended up packing WAY too much, of course, but I did pack for outdoor winter activity involving snow which there has been none of). The Wilf (Don Wilfredo) took Anna and I to the airport in the morning and there was never that "Ok, now you're doing it" feeling. But a different feeling hit me at the airport. As I sadly hugged Anna goodbye before she boarded her plane, I realized that there was a very short amount of time when I was doing this alone. This being everything--the life/the job/el resto in Honduras. I said goodbye and left a beautiful community of friends in Grand Rapids, got on the airplane only to enter into a team only hours later that now has become another family. But I didn't realize that right away--probably because it didn't happen right away.
Anyway, back to the airport. I checked the TV and panicked when I didn't see Atlanta on the departure list...then looking more closely I noticed that strangely "Atlanta City" was listed. I didn't stress, but Anna and I thought it reasonably possible that I could end up in New Jersey by the end of the day ;) The flight to Atlanta City ended up taking off an HOUR late. I stayed remarkably calm despite the short amount of time between my arrival and my connection. I just kept thinking--you'll get there when you get there. Now where did you put Grace's phone number? Worst case I'd just chill in Atlanta for some hours and read or something. But then the flight attendants jumped into action. I've never seen anything like it. It was like something straight out of a movie. Before everyone had boarded the plane they were already yelling at people that hadn't buckled their seatbelts. Fierce is an appropriate word in this situation to describe them. We couldn't have taken off more than 10 minutes after I boarded the plane. We ended up in Atlanta only 15 minutes late. Then...immigration. I prayed that everything would work out smoothly and quickly so that I could book it to my next gate. The lines were very long and mine got held up by someone needing a translator. But they let me through with no problems and I rushed to my gate and boarded only 5 minutes after arriving. It was like clockwork! We pulled into GR just a little after when we were due and I was so excited that when I saw my friends I started running down the little hallway. We caused a little ruckus at the airport that night :) And since then it has been a dream.
To be continued...
posted by Sarah | 4:29 PM
1 Comments:
Hey there, I teach 1st and 2nd grade English in a bilingual school in La Ceiba! My experience just started in November, and is different from yours in a lot of ways, but I'm sure we'd also find plenty to talk about! Glad I found your blog!
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