Christmas in California

We spend a glorious 2 1/2 weeks in California for the winter break. We spent lots of time with our family and friends, saw the Pacific Ocean, celebrated Dempsey's birthday early with some friends and had a great New Year's Eve.

4 of the 6 cousins

New Year's Eve dinner

Dempsey's "not-birthday" party at Expedition Island

Mary's Pizza after the climbing, zipping and swinging.

Thanks to all our friends and family who helped make an awesome break!  Can't wait to see you all next summer!

Who Knew?

As seen at the Guasaule border crossing, Honduras/Nicaragua.

We've used this border crossing many times... how we passed by this choice billboard without taking notice is beyond me.  Who knew Honduras was a world leader in ... I don't know what!?  Are we talking about good larva or bad larva...?

Our dear friends from Sebastopol (Selena, Steve, Talia and Noa) have ventured into Nicaragua for the next month or so and we rendezvoused near Poneloya, Nicaragua last weekend.  S, S, T & N had been brushing up on their Spanish at a language school before meeting up with us at Surfing Turtle Lodge near Poneloya. We have visited this place a number of times and thought it would be a great place to meet up with old friends.  Here the kids would be plenty entertained by: hunting small cats, playing in the waves, digging sand trenches, riding the tides that ebb and flow in the estuary and having sleep-overs in tents.  We were right... the kids were so happy to see each other that they left the adults alone so we could have plenty of time to catch up.

(Background:  For those of you who don't know Selena, we met over 8 years ago when our first borns were in our bellies.  I had an instant attraction to her in our pre-natal yoga class.  Don't get funny ideas here... I don't have a pregnant lady fetish.  She is simply a fascinating person with a wicked sense of humor, wit and intelligence.  It was destiny - I knew we would be friends... I just didn't know that she would travel with her family of 4 to Nicaragua 8 years later to have a chance to visit me.)  Who knew?

Noa and Linnea collecting shells in the estuary.

Dempsey and Talia givin' it to Steve

Sunset over the Pacific on January 22, 2011...                 and Steve, Selena, E and J

Celebrating January 28th a few days early.  Yes, we're having cake for breakfast.

Los Gigantes

This is how Game 5 looked at our house tonight...

We only have 1 tv in the house, and it's in the parent's bedroom.  Thanks to WNYW, we were able to see the Giants vs. Philly's game.  So we ate in front of the tv tonight, using the bed as the couch.

Dempsey's remarked that it's not very often that he and Grandfather 

are watching the same thing on tv at the same time.  True.

GO GIANTS!

Friday June 18

                                       

1 part Mother Hips

+

    1 part Hopmonk

= a really good time

Translation:

Mother Hips tonight at Hopmonk!

Ready to look at a Sunset

People often ask us what we miss about "home".  The things that come to mind immediately are the typical responses... family, friends, dog, community, Farmer's Market, our VW, blahblahblah.

But we have really been missing light reading.  We miss having our favorite magazines on the coffee table.  We miss plopping down on the couch and reading a little something for 10 minutes.  Sure, there are magazines in English here, but not really the ones we prefer.  One day, there was a Time magazine in my box in the office.  I have no idea who put it there, and it was about 2 months old, but I brought it home and put it on the coffee table and it was our reading candy for a couple of weeks.  In a dive shop on Roatan, I found a People magazine and read about Jen and Brad and how they have been spending time together and texting.  Whoooo!

So before my parents came here, I asked my mom to bring any magazines that she was done with, specifically, Sunset.  I love Sunset magazine  I love the gardening ideas and the yummy recipes.  I love the house remodels and garden make-overs.  I love the western states weekend travel spots and even the ads are fun to look at.  I love that there is a magazine that highlights all the great things about living where we used to live.  I was ready to read Sunset again.

I don't think I could have handled reading Sunset a few months ago.  To read about a Northern California fall with recipes for chili-roasted acorn squash, baked apples with cranberry molasses bread pudding and arugula, fennel and lemon salad would have been tough.   Even seeing an advertisement for a Subaru would have been painful.  The articles and images from "home" stirred up a lot of feelings about missing where we came from and the people there.  A few months ago, we were still adjusting to life here, at times asking ourselves "Why did we move here!?", thinking about Milo,  our fig and persimmon trees, our kid's sweet schools and our community.

But now time has passed.  Although this city and country still feel foreign to us, it is our home.  We have paid some culture shock and home sickness dues and we've come through to the other side.  Having our parents visit last month was a big pick-me-up.  They brought treasures like Trader Joe's hot cereal, Traditional Medicinal teas, a case of beer from Bear Republic Brewery (yes! a whole CASE!), Dr. Bronner's soap,  local honey, The Bohemian, a Sonoma West newspaper, good sunscreen, Sumbody sugar scrub and soap, and yes, Sunset magazine.

Thoughts on dogs

I though my dog barked a lot.

However... my dog Milo is a sweet, quiet, peaceful canine compared to the viscous beasts that live in our colonia.  Milo is the Marcel Marceau of dogs.  Yeah, High Street, take that.  I know you're thinking that you're happy that the black barker is gone, but do you know that he would be considered a horrible watch dog, a mute, by Central American standards?

The dogs here are loud.  They bark at all hours of the day and night.  No, I have not seen said beasts, but they have deep, throaty barks that only lead me to believe they are German Shepherds, Dobermans,  Rottweilers, or worse.  It's obvious when it's a foo-foo yapper making noise behind the wall, but when one of those 90+ pound dogs begins barking, you know it's a big dog.  

I have been missing Milo a lot lately.  He went to live with Kathleen, John and Shelby before we came south.  Our only collateral damage.  I am thankful beyond words that he lives with a great family that has a daughter that lets him sleep on her bed and eat cupcakes at her birthday party.  Well maybe she doesn't let Milo eat cupcakes at her party, but he sure did help himself to one.  And although I don't want Milo to be scaring any kids by stealing their cupcakes, I am glad that he in enjoying the pleasures of one.

This is a tribute to Milo and the 6 great years we spent with him...

Milo at his new home.

Milo in his old garden, literally laying in the garden bed.

Celebrating Milo's 6th birthday.  Yes, Milo is kissing him IN the mouth.  We really love this dog.

Linnea and Milo about 2 years ago.

Typical Milo.

Not so bad after all... (Happy Halloween)

After reading our last post I realized that it sounded like we were having a hard time down here. Well, just to put things in perspective we are currently blogging in our bathing suits at the pool at the Maya, drinking Imperial (I got tired of Salva Vida, too malty) and eating nachos. The kids are swimming, life is good! We are adjusting to our lives down here.

Adjustment to a new life is not inherently easy, this past week marked our third month down here. We have started missing certain things that we do not have down here, certain people and Halloween parties (Thanks for the crazy videos and pictures Mark!). Even though we are missing our Sebastopol lives we are developing a strange familiarity with this new place. We are even learning the shortcuts that avoid the traffic! (tip: follow taxis whenever possible)

Tonight our maid Yuliza will be staying at the apartment with the kids while we go to a costume party... Yeah we are really having a hard time of it!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Little Homesick

If you are reading this post now you are a privy to a very unique, time sensitive post. We are experiencing real-life, hard-core home-sickness. And minor culture shock. It really hit me tonight when we were driving home from the restaurant. Let me set the stage...

Last month we bought a car. After a few necessary repairs, the car is running great and I think it will prove to be a great vehicle to transport us back and forth to school and all over the country and beyond. One of the last repairs to be made was to replace the stereo, which went on the fritz on our road trip when we drove up to the coast. E has been wanting to get the stereo replaced, but, because we are in Honduras, it wasn't simple. After two days of driving around after work, talking to people, getting parts and then going to a shop where 7 guys worked on the wiring, we have a stereo!

Now, to the meat of my story. We were driving home tonight from Las Tejitas, our favorite outdoor eating place. A bunch of teachers were meeting there tonight. There is a play structure for the kids and lots of good food and drink for the adults and we always have a good time there. Driving on the way home with Colin and Elisa, we were listening to music on our new stereo. "Kamera" by Wilco was playing. This song seems to hold significance to all of us because we were all singing along or appreciating the song in some form or another. Such a familiar song with so many memories/connections/feelings tied together. We were driving back to our colonia up a street that has no name other than the street that leads to Las Lomas del Guijarro. We passed the rotunda in front of the American School and tears came to my eyes. Two months ago, this rotunda was so new; such a landmark. It was the center point of our new life and world. We came here because of our new jobs. We came here to teach. But of course we came here for reasons much more grand than that. We came here to grow, to learn, to expand our vision of the world.

So I was caught in a moment of awe where I was listening to a song that is SO unconsciously tied in to my old, Sebastopol, California life and my "new" surroundings that just a short time ago seemed so new, but are now so strangely familiar.

As I write this in my dining room, there are dogs barking, loud motorcycles driving by, music and people singing along from a party somewhere near our house and loud popping sounds. The sound might be the sound of a gun firing, or not... I hear them too frequently for them to be actual gunfire (that's what my rational mind says). But it's a loud bang or POW! sound and I hear it all the time. My point is that all these new and frequent sounds are such a part of my everyday existence that they are no longer novel.

I am in cultural limbo.

My apologies if you are still reading. This may have become a cathartic, self-serving ramble. I miss our family, Milo, our friends, the neighborhood, Sebastopol at large, and familiarity. Bottom line - I'm a little homesick.

Happy Birthday Nana!

Tomorrow is Nana's birthday and it may also be our busiest day yet since we've been here. Won't bore you with the details, but it entails buying a computer desk, 10 plants and an Open House that lasts for three hours.  In case we don't get a chance to call you on the phone tomorrow, this is your birthday message.

SO.....

Happy birthday to my mom and D & L's Nana. You are a bright shining star in our life and we miss you so much.  I hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane... I had to dig deep into the vault for some of these pictures.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be

We are exactly a month away from leaving and I have been thinking a lot about our move. So hard to imagine what our life will be like there. I can imagine what our jobs might be like (because we have had them here), I can slightly imagine what our home might be like (because we had one here), I can kind of imagine shopping for food and things at the market (because I have done that here). But all the in-betweens are really hard to imagine. The city of Tegucigalpa? Never been there - can't imagine it. Having to communicate in Spanish with someone who does not know English? I haven't done that in 12 years - a little nervous about that one. How we get around the city? I have always had a car and the freedoms that a car brings.

SO... where does that leave me? It leaves me feeling really nostalgic about all the comforts I am enjoying here. Bear with me, but I am going to brainstorm a list here of all the things I love about Sebastopol, in no particular order...

1. Farmer's Market on Sunday morning - Javier's goat cheese, Hector's honey, torpedo onions, kale, peaches, Paul's smoked salmon, heirloom tomatoes

2. Living within walking distance from one set of grandparents and a 10 minutes drive to another grandpa

3. My dog, Milo

4. Going to the market for a quick shopping trip and having it take a half hour because I keep running into people I know

5. My colorful neighborhood - Maureen's purple house, Rick's chili van, kids flying down the hill on a skate board, roller blades, or bicycle

6. Our great community of friends

7. The sound of a red tail hawk

8. My Friend Joe's

9. The smell of rose geranium in my garden

10. Lagunitas IPA

Feel free to add to the list, I am sure I left out a lot.

I guess my reason for getting all these things out of my head is to acknowledge them for the important and great things that they are and then realize that all of these things will have substitutes in Tegucigalpa. Of course, grandparents, great friends or a dog can never be replaced, but all those other in-betweens can. I'm sure we'll find a new favorite restaurant, place for coffee, new smells and sounds. But for now, I can only appreciate these things now and savor every last one of them before we go.