Nothing bad is happening. Sometimes it just seems like my desired future is fading into the mists faster than I can make progress in that direction. This week has felt that way. I went to the dentist here yesterday. I need a root canal, and they didn't want to try it in the local office. I have a name and number of a 'specialist' in the capital to make an appointment with. No idea if she speaks any English. Ongoing adventure. I'm studying for my next certification, test to be taken also in the capitol (is it 'al' or 'ol'...?) and maybe I can combine the trips. Or maybe that is a recipe for disaster? Oh, well. I'm trying to clean up the apartment. I don't seem to be able to even keep up with a 2 room hotel suite (all furniture and such is mine), and I don't seem to be sending things back as fast as I'd like. I just run out of energy to do everything. Laundry is getting caught up, but ironing isn't yet. Floors need a good sweeping, and I need to finish packing the next Gorilla Box to send home. That's just tonight. But, life goes on. I'll try to get a picture of the afghan put up, it may be tomorrow before it hits the top of the on-going list.
Sunday, May 08, 2011
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Overwhelmed
I'm feeling overwhelmed with my current life. This happens every once in awhile. Usually when I'm on the cusp of major change again. Simple things on the to do list tie my stomach in knots. I feel like I'm moving through molasses. I don't know if it is that I"ve committed to going to the dentist in town on Saturday (arrive at 8am and take a number, no appointments...) or if I have daydreamed about life after I leave Honduras too much lately. I may dip below the horizon again for a few days, but I"ll be back. This isn't unusual for me, and I just have to ride it out.
Monday, May 02, 2011
My world
This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago to capture what I was doing at the time. The yarn for the afghan I was making was wound around the cables to my computer. I was Skpying with Turtle Lady. My exercise mat was out and papers I was sorting through were under all the other stuff. I finished the afghan and put away the mat, but life is still pretty much like that picture.
Ben asked why I'm still here if I don't like it down in Honduras. Well, I am primarily here for one reason, to pay off debt. Working outside of the US has tax benefits, in that I don't have to pay income tax on my earnings. That money all goes to paying off credit cards. If I was someplace I was having fun while paying off debt, that would be great. I don't hate it here, I'm just bored.
Another person wondered if comments made on older posts get noticed. Yes, I get an email with each comment when it's made, no matter what post it's made on. Someone else mentioned that they were reading all my posts from the beginning. That prompted me to do the same. It was kind of interesting to me to have the past few years of my life telescoped into a couple of evenings' reading. That is actually the primary reason for keeping this blog, to give myself a record of what goes on, and second to let any of my friends who are interested in keeping up with me a way to do it. I am glad that I have also gotten to know other bloggers who stop by here, but it is icing on the cake.
I'm trying to think if there were other things I wanted to mention that aren't worth their own post. Can't think of any more.
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Parade Pictures
Here are the pictures of the 1st of May Worker's Parade:
First was the Honduran flag carried by the two in front, then the band.
I tried to get some pictures of the banners they carried in case anyone can translate.
At least while they were forming the parade they still shared the road with the buses. The 'school bus' is a typical local bus. Some are painted up really nicely.
The lone picture of Che.
The only person on horseback.
And away they go, loudspeakers blaring.
First was the Honduran flag carried by the two in front, then the band.
I tried to get some pictures of the banners they carried in case anyone can translate.
At least while they were forming the parade they still shared the road with the buses. The 'school bus' is a typical local bus. Some are painted up really nicely.
The lone picture of Che.
The only person on horseback.
And away they go, loudspeakers blaring.
Update
Apparently the shopping center parking lot behind my hotel was a staging area for the 1st of May Worker's Day parade. They finally just filed past on the main boulevard and I stood up on the top balcony and took pictures. I didn't understand a word of the very loud and many loudspeakers ramblings nor did I understand any words on the carried signs. I was impressed with the number of people walking in the parade, seemed like most of the town. I did see one poster of Che Guevara, and I am surprised that I didn't see more of them. Probably just as well that I kept my Yankee a$$ up on the balcony.
Pictures later, really.
Pictures later, really.
Still here
There is not a lot going on, so not a lot of things to write about. Sorry for the 2 week lapse. I'm also having some carpel tunnel pain in my right wrist, because I've been playing a silly computer game for hours and hours this week. The reason I'm playing it is because I have these videos online that I need to be watching so that I can pass a certification test so that I can get a job after I leave here, which I really want to do. So, since I have these videos I need to watch I have started being hooked on this silly gave that really has no redeeming value. If you don't understand my logic, then welcome to my world. This would explain why at my age I am working in Honduras.
For some reason someone is either setting off firewords at 6 to 7am, or there is a small war going on out there. I'm betting fireworks since I haven't heard any sirens, and even here that many guns would attract official attention. It is interesting to live in a place where silly things like noise ordinances, litter laws, driver training before getting a license and such are unheard of. Luckily on the noise issue there really isn't much going on, if anything, after about 10pm, and a lot of the homes outside of the town don't even have electricity, so everything pretty much gets quiet.
I've been here 7 months now. In 5 more I can leave if I have a job to go to. My thoughts are much more on life after Honduras than in worrying much about what goes on here. It shows at work. I just don't care, which ironically is actually helping with team morale. So, I guess I should get to watching those videos. http://www.professormesser.com/ if you are in need of good videos for basic IT certs. Free is a cost that even I can afford to study them. If I just would, instead of doing everything but studying...
For some reason someone is either setting off firewords at 6 to 7am, or there is a small war going on out there. I'm betting fireworks since I haven't heard any sirens, and even here that many guns would attract official attention. It is interesting to live in a place where silly things like noise ordinances, litter laws, driver training before getting a license and such are unheard of. Luckily on the noise issue there really isn't much going on, if anything, after about 10pm, and a lot of the homes outside of the town don't even have electricity, so everything pretty much gets quiet.
I've been here 7 months now. In 5 more I can leave if I have a job to go to. My thoughts are much more on life after Honduras than in worrying much about what goes on here. It shows at work. I just don't care, which ironically is actually helping with team morale. So, I guess I should get to watching those videos. http://www.professormesser.com/ if you are in need of good videos for basic IT certs. Free is a cost that even I can afford to study them. If I just would, instead of doing everything but studying...
Saturday, April 16, 2011
26
That's how many pair of shoes I have. I'm fairly certain that I have all of my shoes with me. At least right now. As I pack the Gorilla boxes to send back I'm going through things and attempting to empty containers so that I don't ship back things I don't need to spend that money shipping. Did that sentence make sense? I have things that made the trip here because they might be difficult to obtain in Honduras that I can easily replace once I get back to the States. I am attempting to purge and get rid of those things that I don't plan on shipping back, and that I'm not using now. Last weekend it was belts. That is still on-going. I haven't counted those, but I'm guessing I have at least 40-50. Not changing sizes for 40 years (from age 12 to 50-something) meant that I had no reason to get rid of clothes and such. In the past 4 years I have, ummm, changed sizes. I'm working on getting back down to a middle ground. When I tried several of my belts, they didn't meet in the middle by several inches. Even the stretchy ones. So, I am slowly making my way through the belts to get rid of the majority of them. It's depressing to me. So, to cheer myself up on this journey, I pulled out all of my shoes. Yeah...
I have a couple of pair of shoes I wear to work and a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of water sandals I wear on the weekends. Mostly I wear these shoes to work because I can here. It was a major issue in a previous job that I never seemed to meet the dress code no matter how hard I tried, especially with shoes. Finding ones that met my boss's approval that I could actually walk in was not in the cards. That's one reason I have so many. It wasn't for lack of trying. So, here the boss is just happy when I show up in clothes that cover important parts of my body and aren't ripped up (some folks can't do this much) that he really doesn't care about my shoes. So, hiking boots it's been. Today I looked at my 26 pairs of shoes and thought about how I really do have some nice ones I want to start wearing. I'll weed out the ones that don't fit as I go along. Who knew that when one gains weight their shoe size changes too?
The co-worker who was accosted is now in the catch-22 of worrying about the guy he tackled (and who is now out of jail) coming after him with his amigos for backup. There have been talks among the guys about weaponry. We are not allowed firearms unless we have a residency card (I do, but have no plans to get any guns) and register them, which tells the locals what gringos have what guns.. It's all a lot of drama I really don't choose to participate in.
Weather is dry and hazy and hot. Not sure if the haze is a weather inversion, dust, or smoke. I can't see the mountains on either side of the valley a lot of the time because of it. Since I live and work in air conditioning I'm not feeling the heat as much. It does put any plans to walk/run/workout at the post on hold since the gym there is not air conditioned. Always an excuse.
I have a couple of pair of shoes I wear to work and a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of water sandals I wear on the weekends. Mostly I wear these shoes to work because I can here. It was a major issue in a previous job that I never seemed to meet the dress code no matter how hard I tried, especially with shoes. Finding ones that met my boss's approval that I could actually walk in was not in the cards. That's one reason I have so many. It wasn't for lack of trying. So, here the boss is just happy when I show up in clothes that cover important parts of my body and aren't ripped up (some folks can't do this much) that he really doesn't care about my shoes. So, hiking boots it's been. Today I looked at my 26 pairs of shoes and thought about how I really do have some nice ones I want to start wearing. I'll weed out the ones that don't fit as I go along. Who knew that when one gains weight their shoe size changes too?
The co-worker who was accosted is now in the catch-22 of worrying about the guy he tackled (and who is now out of jail) coming after him with his amigos for backup. There have been talks among the guys about weaponry. We are not allowed firearms unless we have a residency card (I do, but have no plans to get any guns) and register them, which tells the locals what gringos have what guns.. It's all a lot of drama I really don't choose to participate in.
Weather is dry and hazy and hot. Not sure if the haze is a weather inversion, dust, or smoke. I can't see the mountains on either side of the valley a lot of the time because of it. Since I live and work in air conditioning I'm not feeling the heat as much. It does put any plans to walk/run/workout at the post on hold since the gym there is not air conditioned. Always an excuse.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
It happened again
One of my co-workers was robbed/assaulted at 5:30 pm in the main park square last night. He is ok. In fact, after having a knife waved in his face (he was sitting on a bench with his local Honduran girlfriend) and tossing his wallet at the guy, he followed him and tackled him and held him down till the police got there. There are a more than a few things wrong with this. One, he was bitten. Chances of getting a blood test done on the guy are basically nil. This guy will not be happy when he gets out of jail, which he will if he's not out already. This is why I don't go out. You remember the pictures I posted of a park when I first got here? That's where it happened. At least this coworker wasn't sliced with a machete as the previous one was. That assault happened at 10:30 am on a Sunday. That person left the contract for someplace safer (the Philippines),
I go to work, I come home. The taxi drivers I use are mostly the same ones. Tonight one of the guys from work gave me a ride home. He has been here for a year and a half. He said everyone who has been here over a year has been robbed, and usually it happens at least once a year. He himself was robbed while waiting for the free bus to work. That is why I don't take a bus to work. He also said his Honduran girlfriend has been robbed twice in the past 2 years.
Mostly its the town where I live. I feel safe other places here. And the majority of the local people are wonderful, friendly folks. It's the random violence that I just don't want to deal with, so I don't go out.
I go to work, I come home. The taxi drivers I use are mostly the same ones. Tonight one of the guys from work gave me a ride home. He has been here for a year and a half. He said everyone who has been here over a year has been robbed, and usually it happens at least once a year. He himself was robbed while waiting for the free bus to work. That is why I don't take a bus to work. He also said his Honduran girlfriend has been robbed twice in the past 2 years.
Mostly its the town where I live. I feel safe other places here. And the majority of the local people are wonderful, friendly folks. It's the random violence that I just don't want to deal with, so I don't go out.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Debt
Some quotes:
From Walden by Henry David Thoreau
" It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live, for my sight has been whetted by experience; always on the limits, trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very ancient slough, called by the Latins æs alienum, another's brass, for some of their coins were made of brass; still living, and dying, and buried by this other's brass; always promising to pay, promising to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent;"
From Joe Diffie:
"They say debt is a bottomless pit where the devil likes to play.
I'd sell my soul to get out of this hole, but there'd be hell to pay."
From Queen:
"Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust"
Paid off the second credit card. Two down, two to go.
From Walden by Henry David Thoreau
" It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live, for my sight has been whetted by experience; always on the limits, trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very ancient slough, called by the Latins æs alienum, another's brass, for some of their coins were made of brass; still living, and dying, and buried by this other's brass; always promising to pay, promising to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent;"
From Joe Diffie:
"They say debt is a bottomless pit where the devil likes to play.
I'd sell my soul to get out of this hole, but there'd be hell to pay."
From Queen:
"Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust"
Paid off the second credit card. Two down, two to go.
Monday, April 04, 2011
Old Habits and Old Clocks
>Down here we don't observe Daylight Savings Time. So, I had to un-set all my automatic clocks (mostly on my computers) when everyone else up in the US went to DST a few weeks ago. I have one old alarm clock that I really like, have had it for 20 years, and the only issue with it is that it is hard programmed for the old DST weekends. It's made me late for work a couple of years when I wasn't expecting it to change and it did.
Well, I'm ready for work an hour early today because it got me again. I didn't look at another clock until I wondered why my 6 am alarm on my watch to warn me I'm running out of time in the morning hadn't gone off at it's regular place in my routine. Guess I should start working on my excuse for the other end of this fiasco when it makes me late an hour. How many years has it been since they changed the dates? And for no good reason... And I don't even live where we observe DST anymore!!!
Well, I'm ready for work an hour early today because it got me again. I didn't look at another clock until I wondered why my 6 am alarm on my watch to warn me I'm running out of time in the morning hadn't gone off at it's regular place in my routine. Guess I should start working on my excuse for the other end of this fiasco when it makes me late an hour. How many years has it been since they changed the dates? And for no good reason... And I don't even live where we observe DST anymore!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)