A Brief Visit Home

Disclaimer: This blog post was published in April of 2014. I started to write this blog post about 10 months ago, but since I never finished and it seems strange to me to go back and fill in where I didn't complete what I'd wanted to say, I'm just going to hit publish and rely on google's tool that allows me to pick a time and date for when it should've been published.


Hola! I'm back in the states for a brief vacation!

For Hondurans, the school year runs from February to November.

You may be wondering how those two statements are compatible. Never fear, I'm about to tell you about it.


For those of us (the missionaries) who are teachers, it turns out that pretty much the only time available to go on vacation is during the school year.

That sounds vaguely oxymoronic, but well, here I'd like to give a shout out to the University of Notre Dame's International Summer Service Learning Program (ISSLP), a spectacular program run by those wonderful people at the Center for Social Concerns. The ISSLP pairs ND students up with international service organizations for a summer. We're one of those organizations, and we're quite grateful to welcome two rising ND juniors(?), James and Carolyn, to the Finca for the summer.

One of those two lucky individuals is currently down in Honduras trying to decipher my extensive and probably convoluted (but hopefully completely clear) lesson plans, and is well into his or her second week of covering my classes. Thank you kind and good sir or ma'am! You are a gentleperson and a teacher of scholars.


Going on vacation means stepping away from a project that I've been heavily involved in for nearly a year. I live where I work, and as the place is quite different from the states, my thoughts on my experiences down there can often feel very much like a dream. However, stepping away can give one a different and perhaps, better, perspective.

I won't go into terrible detail on all of my thoughts regarding the Finca, primarily because most of you would be bored. As a result, I'm pulling the ol' switcheroo and changing up entirely the direction it seemed I was going. I'll instead make two lists, one of the things that I really missed and/or talked about incessantly while at the Finca, and things that I miss about the Finca now that I'm back in the states. I'll try and hit all the cliches on the head.

List #1: Things I Missed (or at least thought I did) From The States
1. Shakes (half off after 8 pm)
2. Mexican food (sounds silly but true)
3. Hot (or even mildly warm) showers (First one in ten months!)
4. My pre-finca friends (this one's accurate)
5. The ability to watch a movie whenever I so desired (turns out I don't care that much about most movies anymore)
6.



I'm back in the United States for about a month! If you'd like to talk to me during that time, feel free to shoot me an email! I'm sure if you'd like to talk to me, chances are pretty decent I'd like to talk to you as well!