Lost and Found and Waiting Around

It’s not that I don’t have a good sense of direction... It’s that I don’t have a sense of direction at all.  Those of you who know me well know that I’m not exaggerating.  I would get lost walking to the bathroom if the door wasn’t in eyeshot.  (Okay, that was exaggeration... sort of.)

So anyway, here’s my theory: The best way to learn how to get around is to first get lost...

So I decided Saturday morning that I was going to walk to town, wander around and do some shopping, get a little lost, somehow find myself again, and go home.

(Funny side story: When I went to leave, I couldn’t find anyone.  I didn’t want them to worry about me so I pulled out my Spanish/English dictionary and phrasebook—thanks, Em!—and starting painstakingly writing a letter.  Unfortunately I was far too slow, so right as I was about to sneak out, the pastor caught me:

“Where are you going?  (the town)  How?  (...walking)  Why?  (shopping, reading, etc.)  Who’s going with you? (no one)  Are you meeting anyone?  (maybe Lauren)  When are you meeting Lauren?  (I don’t know)  When are you coming home?  (for lunch?)... *long awkward pause* Okay.”

Sound familiar, Papa? :P

PS I took all my effort not to answer “When are you coming home?” with “Depends on how lost I get...”)

Back to the present.  I finally got permission to walk to town.  When I got there, I realized that I’m apparently even an early riser in Honduran standards... So I read in the park for about an hour waiting for the rest of the town to wake up and open some shops!  Besides reading, I also caught myself playing The Tourist Game (AKA “Find a Foreigner” with Libby or “Beetlejuice!” with the Olivers).  Americans being the tourists was an interesting twist to my favorite theme park game, but still entertaining.  (Most were pretty easy to point out, but I never could place the Honduran looking girl who kept walking past with a rolling suitcase in hand...)

Finally, sleepy Copan opened its eyes, and I could put Jane Eyre down and start getting lost... I mean, shopping.   Basically, if you live in Honduras and I know you, I saw you.  God bless this itty bitty town.  I love it.  This even included a girl from the English Bible study I went to, which was nice because she pointed out some good stores to go to for what I needed.  It also included people that apparently knew me even though I didn’t know them...

In the end, I walked around, bought some random things I needed, got lost, backtracked, and eventually found the park again.

Mission accomplished.

***

Tuesday, all the teachers at ABBA threw a surprise party for Grecia and her fiancé, Walter, who are getting married on good old Groundhog’s Day.  (It was originally going to be a bachelorette party, but there’s only one boy teacher besides Walter, and they didn’t think it was very fair for him to have a two person bachelor party...) Since I live with the family, I decided it would be more sneaky (and definitely easier) if I just went home with Lauren that afternoon after school and with her to the party.  So we went a little early to help set up, about 4:30 when the party started at 5.  Other teachers straggled in little by little until we were all hanging around, waiting patiently for the guests of honor... 5:15... 5:30... 5:45... Where are they?!  The story was that Dinorah (hosting the party) needed a wedding invitation for someone who was going out of town very soon, and could you please bring it over now before she leaves?  So when Dinorah called about their whereabouts, Grecia says, “We’re coming!  We just decided that we might as well drop off some other invitations on the way!”  So they had been driving all over Copan handing out invites while the guests devoured the snacks!  :P

Waiting, waiting, waiting, watching the door, and waiting...

 



Finally, we got the surprise them!  We played some games, like Pin the Shoe on the Bride and a Spanish version of Fruitbasket Turnover—which BTDubs, is a much harder game when you don’t know Spanish.  We also got to watch Grecia and Walter do really hilarious things like feed each other spaghetti blindfolded and eat grapes hanging from a rope blindfolded. 

 

One girl pinned the shoe perfectly!

Spaghetti Wars!



Best. Picture. Ever.

Lessons from Honduras:

The best way to learn how to get around is to first get lost.

I have decided that this applies to life to.  When you feel completely and utterly lost, maybe it’s just the prerequisite to finding your way.  Be patient and backtrack if you need to.  :)