Chrysanthemum Drink

While perusing through our local “Super Jumbo” Karina and I stumbled upon, what just might be, the oddest beverage known to man.  I know that is a pretty hefty title for anything to hold, but I’m confident that chrysanthemum drink will hold it’s own against any contenders.

After discovering this I found that it completely occupied my full attention while shopping.  “How strange, this Chrysanthemum drink.  Why would someone create, let alone think up such an odd flavor of beverage?”  After a lengthy internal debate, in which I weighed opportunity cost and gain, I finally decided to conduct an experiment involving the properties and benefits of Chrysanthemum drink.

The first step was the purchase.  I placed the can in our shopping cart, gently hidden under a bag of tortillas, to avoid any premature skeptical interference from Karina.  The can went unnoticed, I payed the 10 Lempira and we were on our way.  So far so good.  My next set of tasks came just as easy as the first.  I was to chill the 11.8 fluid ounces  to, what I felt would be, a pleasing temperature at which Karina (the control) and myself (self proclaimed human placebo) could conduct our own version of a double blind study.

Next I felt it appropriate converse with Karina in order to create an environment appropriate for soft drinks.  Ufortunately the toilet seat had been left in an upright position, resulting in a semi-chaotic level of hostility between the two parties.

At this point I had to call a scientific audible, “Hey, you know what would take your mind off that lazy husband of yours… Chrysanthemum drink!”  Success.

Step three: taste test

Subject A, Karina: Flavor is similar to that of water mixed with honey.  In fact I am almost posotive that this is just honey water in a can.  Doesn’t this taste like honey to you?  Blahh this is gross.

Subject B, Clint: This is definitely organic.  It looks like pee but it smells like a garden.  Maybe we shouldn’t be drinking this… hey yeah, now that you mention it… I do taste honey.  This is just honey water.

Step four was our final phase of the experiment.  We focused on our evaluations and searched for any improvements that could be made.  After a brief review of the scientific method, consisting of a Wikipedia search, we learned that “Failure to develop an interesting hypothesis may lead a scientist to re-define the subject they are considering.”  Seeing as how we never really formed any hypothesis on Chrysanthemum drink we figured we would be better off redefining it as “Honey water,” while allowing it to maintain its title as strangest drink known to man, if for no other reason than the word Chrysanthemum.

I guess Chrysanthemum is good for circulation, helps acne and raises awareness, but (as far as this scientist is concerned) none of those medicinal properties outweigh the novelty of owning a can that says “Chrysanthemum drink.”

First day

Well well well, the sailors returned from shore leave and promptly reported to duty this morning.  Teachers were supposed to report to school at around 7:00 AM, but I was getting out of my shower at around 7:15.  The good news is that 7:00 Honduran time comes 20 minutes after 7:15 American time, so when I showed up at 7:50 I was right on time.  Not only did I show up at the appropriate time, but I was dressed to impress.  Thanks to Karina I had my dress shirt, tie and jeans all cleaned, ironed and ready to hit the streets.  I got some pretty good reviews from the students and I was the only teacher in a tie…

The day only lasted a few hours, so I wasn’t able to really milk the tie like I should have.  We started the morning off at a Honduran 8:00 with a formal greeting from the director.  After that the kids all sang the anthem, which lasts about 45 minutes, and said the pledge.  The administration tried their best to give the assembly a bit of a pep rally feel, but it didn’t muster much more than a forced applause from our groggy little crusaders.  Mr.Ramon, our resident pastor/English teacher said a prayer, Ms. Roxanna shared a few words and then each grade went off with their “guide teachers.”  This year I am the 8th grade guide teacher… I wonder how that is going to work out.  Last year I had 11th grade and it was a breeze, I have a feeling 8th grade will be a bit more of a challenge.

I was interested to see if I would have any new students, but instead it seems as though I lost a few.  This year’s enrollment is about half of what it was last year.  I’d say, on average, I lost about 3 to 5 students in each class.  The good news is that it weeded out a few of my problem students.  Some have been given yet another chance to shape up.  I guess they are expelled for good if they get kicked out of just one class…

Another bit of good news was my schedule.  After two weeks of the director avoiding any and all teacher’s concerns with the excuse of “Right now we are working on the schedule” the administration handed me last year’s schedule.  The only difference is that now I teach 6th grade phys. ed. on a Tuesday.  Other than that everything stayed the same.  I wonder how many 8th graders will show up for their old 7th grade double period on Tuesday morning.  I think I might end up with a few seeing as how they were greatly upset when they found out I only teach 8th grade Reading and Mr.Ramon will be teaching them 8th grade English.  “No, Meester,” They cried, “Mr. Ramon ripped up my work last year, he hates me! Did you know that?”

“He hates you?” I asked them.  “Yes Meester, he calls me stupid and makes me sit outside in the cold.”

At that point I knew I was back at school.  It felt good to be back, but it was also a bit stressful.  I expected mixed emotions on the way to school so I wasn’t surprised when the students were both happy to see me and eager to leave my class.  Likewise I was excited to talk with all the students, but I couldn’t wait till they left my room.  I think it was all the vacation working its way out of our systems.  Everybody was wild today, no doubt they were all working out the sugar cane and cotton candy they had for breakfast.  It is a good thing we only had a two hour day or else I would have had to tie a few of them down or splash them with cold water.  I guess I’ll save that for tomorrow when we start the full schedule.

So here is to the new school year at El Alba, remember:

my door is always open if you need anything.

Last call

It s officially the last weekday of summer vacation!  “Oh no, did I finish my summer reading requirement?” Luckily I haven’t had any flashbacks, nor have I woken up in a cold sweat, panicking over an unfinished project from the 9th grade.

Summer vacation was, and still is, sweet.  Other than the awesome trip up to the North coast, Karina and I have done some exploring here in Comayagua.  A few weeks ago we went up into the bell tower of the Catholic church.  It is great up there, you can see the whole town and its completely free.  If you’re ever in Comayagua you need to check it out.

In addition to exploring the city, Josh and I have been scouting out some locations for a movie we will be making.  There is a film festival up in NY that we will be submitting two short films to.  Last weekend we had casting and round two of casting will start next weekend.   It was a trip to see the local actors come in and show there stuff.  Some were great and others were horrible.  Production will be starting soon and I will keep you updated as things happen.

We also stumbled across some traveling hippies playing music in the park.  The majority of the group were alright with letting us film and take photos, but there was one girl greatly opposed to the idea.  She called us “paparazzi” and started a viscous torrent of curse words whenever we took out the camera.  Once Josh and I  got the footage we wanted we split and bought some ice tea.  Josh tends to have a bit more patience than I do when it comes to a loudmouth hippie chick telling someone what they can and can’t do.  He argued with her a bit about this and that, but even he lost interest after about a minute.  Regardless the others in the group were ok with the exposure and we took photos of them playing.

Banksy

Banksy is one of my favorite artists.  Check it out his new exhibit promotion, it’s worth the five minutes it will take.  His art is either “love it” or “hate it.”

Mel’s kink in the hose

I didn’t want to spout out about politics, but Julie made a comment that makes a lot of sense.  She helped me realize that the current political situation directly effects my family here in Honduras.  I have just a right as anybody else to speak my mind, so here I open the flood gates.

It is true that Mel Zelaya was causing a lot of problems at the border to Nicaragua, in El Paraiso last week.  He claimed that he would re-enter the country at the El Paraiso checkpoint and he showed up with a whole gang to support him on both sides of the border.  Because of the chaos, the military police beefed up their presence and cracked down on the curfew.  At one point the curfew lasted almost two days, from noon one day till six at night the next day.  Julie brought up a good point:

“…More strict curfews have hurt the businesses in El Paraiso. How can the stores make a living when they are barely allowed to keep open?”

This is true; I could see it first hand in my uncles, Tony and Carlos.  They are brothers who’s only income comes from their dairy sales.  They live in Tegus’ and transport their cheese and sour cream to El Paraiso every few days.  Last weekend, while Karina and I were visiting family, Tony and Carlos were absolutely exhausted from all their extra efforts in light of the road blocks and curfews.

The roads to El Paraiso, you see, were closed off to any incoming traffic.  That meant for one week any one with a business like Tony or Carlos lost time and money.  They literally had a truck full of dairy products sitting at a road block an hour outside of El Paraiso, and they had to turn around and drive an hour back to Tegus.

To make up for the lost profits they had been traveling back and forth every day for a week, switching turns at the wheel during the two hour drive through the mountains.  I was told that they were waking up at 4:00 AM to load the truck and get on the road, so that they could be delivering product by 6:30-7:00.  The early work hours, in combination with a drive home the same night and then making cheese for the next morning’s run, had exhausted both of them to the core.

Other local businesses suffered too.  Pulperias, waiting for their products, were sold out and left bone dry.  However, the curfews didn’t bother their hours, most shops are run out of the front of people’s homes and therefore stay open during curfews.  However, most people stayed in their homes resulting in a serious lull in business.

My brother, Jorge told me that his coffee house/ general store, usually filled with the local flavor, was empty for most of the week.  Even though the people move slower here in Central America, the economy is a living breathing animal and small business is the blood running through it’s veins.  When shops, like Jorge’s, can’t buy or sell products, like cheese from Tony and Carlos, everyone suffers.

I understand the need for a curfew.  The police want to keep innocent people from getting in the way and potential rioters from causing problems.  However, they end up hurting the Honduran community.  It is a shame that these pro-Zelaya pests are causing such a ruckus and provoking strict curfews such as this.

Luckily the curfew has lifted and Mel is now in Mexico for now trying to drum up some more support, so that means no more road blocks on the road to El Paraiso.  Unfortunately his supporters are alive and very active here in the capital city.  Yesterday a group of pro-Zelaya students caused a small riot in front of their college, breaking windows in a nearby Burger King and setting a car on fire.  The police were eventually able to break it up, but were blamed for unnecessary brutality.

The problem is that these activists are destroying their cities, with rocks and graffiti, and when the police come to stop it they are called murderers and bullies.  Call me old fashion, but those rioters deserve their beatings.  Here’s the way I see it; when the police show up in riot gear your eyes see the helmets and shields and they send a message to your brain to “get out now!”  The average person responds to this and they move to a safer area.  If you ignore these basic instincts then you are all on your own.  The police are paid to stop rioters, clubs and tear gas are their tools for the job, everyone knows that.

I understand that Zelaya supporters are upset.  Their president has been ousted and it’s unfortunate for anyone who was in favor of his politics.   The problem is that they are using violence to show their disapproval and that won’t win any arguments.  Causing riots only makes your side look like the bad guy.

However, it is easy to be on the winning team and go to a peace march, dressed in white, and singing songs about democracy.  It’s easy to shake your finger at the ousted government and say “Bad president!”  People for the new president, here in Honduras, have a spotless reputation because, let’s face it, no one will riot in favor of something that’s already in motion.

In the end I just wish these groups could organize a more creative way to show their disapproval, rather than just setting cars on fire.  That way they could gain some respect from outsiders like me.

Take it easy

Vacation couldn’t be moving any slower, so I’m happy.  The last of the family, Tom and Barb, left yesterday to return to the USA.  So now we are settling back into the “normal” life.  It’s nice to have time to get used to each other, especially after the busy schedule of the wedding and two families who spoke different languages.  We all had a lot of fun, but it feels like we both just sat down after playing on a jungle gym.

The Reyes-Holmes experience was one to remember.  Some interesting memories were made when my side of the family (Chris included) spent their time getting to know Karina’s family at Jorge’s pulperia.  The Spanish lessons for some of us were priceless, Seth and Julie learned how to say “the lunch,” and a few other popular phrases.  Watching my mom with Karina’s mom was fun too.  They are both about the same height, Alba is just a bit shorter than Linda.  Before meeting they both swore that the other would be taller, “How could she be shorter than me, I’m only five foot something/ a meter and something?”  The only difference was the system of measurement.

The two families got along great.  I was expecting them to mesh well, and I was certainly relieved when I saw them together.  Both sides wish they spoke each others language, but I saw a lot of communication going on that I never translated.  It all proved that the human spirit will always find a way to connect, and I guess it tends to happen around weddings as well.

So like I said before, Karina and I are just taking it easy.  I am dead set on enjoying the last few weeks of vacation before I go back on the inside.  I have seen a lot of my students in town and neither them nor I are ready to go back to school.  It will give me more topics to write about, since I would rather steer clear of politics.  They change too often for me to keep track of down here, maybe I’ll post some hindsight blogs when it’s all over and Mel stops trying to get into the country.  Until then Karina and I will enjoy our time together; today we plan on going to Comayagua’s local moving picture theater today to see a movie… I’ll let you know how that goes.

The Baleadanator

Here is a post for all the new baleada fans in the Holmes/Irvine/Chen/Ewel family.  After the wedding I had everybody sample some of Honduras’ choice snack and, needless to say, it was love at first sight.  I just had some for breakfast today.  They were good, but I had to wait 45 minutes to get them.  In light of the new Terminator movie I felt this video was appropriate.

What is a home without love?

Karina and I are back from the luna de miel and we have the cool garifuna jewelry to prove it.  I bought a necklace, but the shells gave my neck a rash so I had to take it off.  I think that is about as “un-cool” as I can get, but I’m married now and that means I don’t need to be as cool as I was before.  I hear that once I become parent  all my remaining cool goes out the window; I see this neck rash as a pre-game scrimmage, just preparing me for the super bowl of un-coolness.

Like I said, I’m fine with it.  The honeymoon was plenty cool for me, we stayed in quite a few breezy beach towns.  First we left Comayagua to meet up with tio Tom and tia Barb, in a little town called Peña Blanca.  If you are ever passing by La Guama, near the lake, Peña Blanca is worth a night’s visit.  Karina and I looked all over town to find a place to stay and finally settled on La Finca Hotel.  It was right on the main road and pretty comfortable.  There was no water in our room so the guy gave us a 50 Lempira price cut.  Peña Blanca is surrounded by tall mountains; Tom and Barb told us that they had explored some of the jungle in the national park there.  They both said it was clean and well taken care of.

After Peña Blanca we all piled into a bus and went to San Pedro Sula to catch a bus to Tela.  It was a couple long bus rides, on which Karina and I slept most the way, but we eventually got to Tela.  Karina and I checked into a pricey hotel, 450 Lempira a night, while Tom and Barb looked for something cheaper.  I guess at the cheaper hotel there were drunks singing and partying all night, outside their room.  Our hotel wasn’t quite as loud, but definitely not worth the 450 Lempira a night.  If your ever in Tela give me a buzz and I can give you a run down on all the places to stay; Karina and I must have checked rooms at every single hotel in that town looking for a better deal.

We ended up finding a place right on the beach and rented a room.  We spent the whole day back and forth from the beach to the room, swimming in the ocean and then washing off all the sticky salt water.  I hate the feeling of salt water when it dries.

We never ended up sleeping at the beach hotel in Tela because Tom and Barb called and told us they were in Tornabé, and that they had found a beach hotel for 150 Lempira.  So Karina and I ditched on our Tela hotel and took an 80 Lempira Taxi ride to Tornabé.

The hotel in Tornabé was a very simple concrete room, with only the bare necessities.  There was a bed, a fan, a table, a place to wash, a toilet and a bucket to flush it with.  I was happy there because it was cheep; Karina was happy there because we were right on the beach.  Tornabé is a nice town, because it is quiet and the beaches are clean.  We were also visiting during the off season, when tourists stay at home.  Not to mention the current political situation.  At night we were able to sit on the beach and we spent all the next day in the water.

I was content in Tornabé, but Karina wanted to move.  That was fine with me, all the beaches look the same so I’m happy wherever you put me.  She didn’t want to leave because she saw how much I liked Tornabé, but I told her that people from Buffalo will love any beach you take them to as long as it isn’t lake Erie.  So we decided to head over to Triunfo de la Cruz for our next leg of the trip.

At Triunfo we found a third little beach hotel with AC and it was very comfortable.  The owners were grumpy, but I’m used to that attitude when it comes to the North coast.  Karina said that they might not like seeing crackers and brownies together.  However, there were a few really nice people in the places where we stayed, especially in Tornabé.  What the Triunfo Hotel lacked in friendly service it made up for in location.  Karina and I were able to walk out to a big rocky point and take pictures.  After that we swam some more and then went out to dinner.

I think we ate fried fish the entire time we were on the honeymoon… I’m still craving a little right now.

After Triunfo de la Cruz we headed over to San Pedro Sula to stay with Fany and Alfredo for a few days.  Fany is Karina’s sister and Alfredo is her husband.  We ended up staying there until the next Monday, I think we were there for about five days.  It was nice being with family, but by then I was ready to come home.  I was starting to miss our house in Comayagua.  Karina said I just missed the Nintendo and she is partly right.

So we eventually made it back to Comayagua, the bus ride took us four hours, and when we arrived we both collapsed on the couch and passed out.  The honeymoon was fun, but it was a lot of ocean swimming and sun soaking.  I still feel a bit worn out.  Karina and I are thinking of taking a serious staycation to recover from the vacation.

Married

Well well well…  Karina and I are married and settling in to the home.  Mom and Dad took us out for some serious shopping and the old bachlor pad now resembles a cozy little home, fit for two.  We are both very happy here in Comayagua and in the next few days we will be going up north for our Honeymoon.  We are thinking of going to Tela, Triunfo de la Cruz or Tornabe.   I won’t be blogging until I get back.

In fact the only reason I am blogging now is because Karina is playing MarioKart…  But the only reason she is playing MarioKart is because I stole the computer away from her…  Any-who while we are off enjoying Central America take a gander at Julie Chen’s flickr page.  Julie is my sister in law and she took all of our wedding photos.  She did a fantastic job and really captured the life down here.  I will post a few stories in a couple weeks.  Just let me get settled into a nice rut and I’ll be back online in full force.  God bless!

“Karina, what does golpe mean? …Ohhh.”

So… just before our wedding you’re going to order a military coup?  Thats not cool on so many different levels, but at least we will have a topic to fill any awkward silences during the reception.  Karina and I are thinking of cancelling our honeymoon to Omoa and instead burn tires in the streets of Tegucigalpa.  She makes a great Molotov cocktail.

In all seriousness, most everything is OK.  However, It is hard for me to say, I’m staying in a small little coffee town and I am watching the same news you are.  The military presence is a slight difference and there is always the looming threat that Hugo Chavez will invade us and turn the country communist.  Lets hope for the best.  Right now I’m focused on getting my family tomorrow morning at the airport.

Once were all back in Comayagua I will let you in on some more updates.  Until then keep us all in your prayers and enjoy the summer.  Also – If you care to celebrate with us durring our wedding then give a toast at around 6:30 - 7:00 Honduran time, 9ish Buffalo NY time.  That is when the ceremony goes down, so tip a glass for your homies in Central America!  Peace out.