New eyes

My brother, Mathew, has come to visit! The trip has been long anticipated, by me, by him, and by my students. When I told them that my brother was coming, they literally cheered. Then when he arrived, they were just so excited to talk to him. They don't see a lot of guys like him. He's tall, first of all...Hondurans in general are pretty short. Just to put that statement in perspective- when I'm standing in a group of Hondurans, I'm usually not the shortest one. But also, he has a lot of hair. When he first arrived, he said a few words to introduce himself and then I asked my students if they had any questions for him. To this, Javier raised his hand and said, "You are very hairy." Mathew and I both cracked up. He went to go watch their P.E. class, and he literally came back with three little seven year old girls hanging on him. It's been awesome having him at school.

But in addition to that, in addition to him being at the school, it has been so refreshing to have him here because he provides entirely new eyes--an entirely different way to see and to appreciate my life here. He is so staggered by everything. I still feel staggered by things, but it's different for me. It's not new. Having Mathew here makes me so excited to show him where I live and what I've been doing. It's made me so proud to live here and lead the life that I'm currently leading.

We started our week by spending a lot of time on buses. He arrived on Saturday, and on that same day we went to Copan. The trip took approximately five hours... a long time for him, after having traveled from the US, and for me, after having traveled from Gracias.






We only had one night and one morning in Copan, but we were able to eat some amazing baleadas and some ridiculously delicious breakfast (eggs, plantains, avocado, tortillas, cheese and coffee for $2.50/plate) before heading back to Gracias.

As I remembered, the ruins were amazing. Before we even saw any ruins, though, we saw some amazing wild macaws in the trees, as well as a gopher type thing that we couldn't really identify.




And then we looked at, climbed, and danced on some really, really old rocks.








The town of Copan is really beautiful also. It was a good way to introduce Honduras to Matty.




As I said, though, we only spent one day in Copan. Then we hopped on three more buses to get to Gracias on Sunday evening. Mathew kept expressing awe over everything. He couldn't believe the mountains, the school, the children, the wildlife, the silence, the smells. I loved seeing his reaction, and it validated what I already thought...that I live in paradise. Every time he voices his amazement at something, it rekindles my own amazement. It's awesome.

Mathew's being here has also made me question, once again, my decision to go back to school next year. He is a film and video major at RISD, and he's talking about going all around the world to make documentaries... and I really want to do that too! I think I'd be great at telling people's stories, and the idea of sitting in an office in the states for the rest of my life makes me feel very unsettled. I just can't see myself going to Ohio State (barf) for law school next year. I want to go to South America. I just wish I could find a productive way to travel, one that I feel would further my long-term goals. Traveling and teaching are both awesome things, but I know I don't want to be a teacher. It's so stupid... I'm two years out of college and still don't know what I want to do with myself.

For right now... I don't know what I've done to deserve the life that I'm currently living, but I am just going to do my best to enjoy it. Honduras es amor.