Off to the presses ... soon

I haven't heard from my newsletter editor yet − :-( − but I unveiled a draft of the newsletter in the final layout to our patronato president and a couple of neighbors today.

Wow! I got just the reaction that I wanted. Eyes bugging out. "Que bueno!" "You did this?" "When can we send it out?" "We should do this every month!" We NEED this to keep the neighbors informed!" They were very, very impressed with La Gringa. El Jefe had mentioned it to the president the day before and I think he thought it was going to be in English. Heheheh.

One neighbor asked, "Who translated this for you?"

"Google," says me.

"Who?"

"Google."

"Eh?"

The others explained to her what Google was and everyone was incredulous that such a thing can be done on the internet. I'll have to admit that I was pretty amazed myself about what a good job Google did. Of course, since I haven't heard from my editor, it may not be quite as good as I thought. I do a lot of reading in Spanish and it looked good to me, other than the few corrections that I made. We'll see.

The president has to finish one article on a subject of which the current status is a bit fuzzy to me and another neighbor has to give me a few details about another matter. I hope they come through tomorrow. I can't wait to send this out! I don't think any colonia in La Ceiba has anything like this.

I also spent about two hours explaining some financial matters and giving some of my ideas to the president − it seems the treasurer never tells him anything! He was very appreciative and liked my suggestions. He started getting excited about some of my ideas.

Man! My brain hurts from thinking and talking in Spanish.


(Heheheh! Reading over that second to the last paragraph, I think I should clarify that I was referring to the president of our homeowners association, not Mel Zelaya. If only Mel would listen to me! The world would be a better place. ;-D )

La Gringa [censored]

Bird on post

By popular request ~

I woke up this morning to the usual bright, warm, and sunny day. I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth but the [censored] was [censored]. After happily making due with a dry toothbrush, I dressed and went downstairs.

I really wanted to make some delicious Honduran coffee but the [censored] was [censored], too, so I had a yummy pineapple juice!

I then went outside to be heartily greeted by my Honduran dogs. They watched eagerly while I filled their bowls, happy to drink bottled water since the [censored] was [censored] and besides the taste of the tap water is [censored] even to them. Even the chickens were treated to bottled water today!

I settled down at the table in the cool shade of the terraza to read the Honduran newspaper. La Prensa is my favorite newspaper. This morning I read about [censored], [censored], and [censored]. The photos of [censored] and [censored] were really [censored] and [censored]! When I finished, I went outside the walled garden to pick up [censored] that had been [censored] everywhere by [censored]. We have to be understanding about this sort of thing because people just [censored] know any better, do they?

Later on, while I drove into town, I had plenty of time to gaze around at the scenery because the road was [censored] by [censored] who were [censored] about the [censored] Thankfully, it hasn't rained much today so I didn't have to [censored] about the streets [censored] as they so often do.

I did some grocery shopping and was pleased to be able to find most of the things that I was looking for. I even found coffee and sugar at the first store! I was also pleased to see armed guards around all of the stores and banks which is a wonderful service since the [censored] situation has gotten so [censored].

Deciding that I still needed the caffeine jolt, I stopped in at Espreso Americano. I love the frozen coffee drinks even though the price has [censored] in the past seven years! I was grateful that Espreso Americano has a generator so that they can operate even when the [censored] is [censored]. Lucky me!

We went with my mother-in-law to try to help her get her identification card corrected. As could happen in any country, an error was made when typing her name on a renewal application approximately [censored] decades ago. I'm sure that they will get it corrected soon. Another option would be for my mother-in-law to change her name. It might be easier in the long run. No need to be so rigid about such things! After all, it's just a name, and she'll have to hire an attorney in either case.

At almost 70 years old, she's not too excited about having to travel (twice!) to southern Honduras to apply for an official copy of her birth certificate and then again to pick it up in order to prove who she is, but she should look at the bright side, I say! There are worse things than 12 hours (each way!) in chicken buses.

Oops, in another minor bureaucratic glitch, it seems that all of her children have the incorrect mother's name on their birth certificates, too. We're going to really get to know those folks at the RNP, aren't we? We might just have to give them a gift for all the trouble we are causing them. Oh, but wait, we can't because they have been on [censored] for [censored] weeks and even when they aren't on [censored], they unfortunately do not have [censored] to print on, or [censored] to print with or the system is not [censored]. Well, maybe one day! Always positive, that's me!

She told us that someone [censored] the [censored] from my sister-in-law's back yard. B was only gone for a couple of minutes to the corner store. You really can't blame the poor for [censored] from their own neighbors. After all, they don't know any better.

She also said that nephew A still [censored] been able to find a [censored] so he's thinking of going to work on the cruise ships. That will be an exciting adventure and I'm sure he won't mind working [censored] hours per day [censored] days a week for [censored] dollars per month. After all, he will be able to come home to visit his family once a year for two weeks.

We went out to lunch and I was so excited to see ABC on the menu. I happily asked for that but the waiter said [censored]. "Never mind, FGH sounds good. I'll have that!", I exclaimed. Again, the waiter said [censored]. "Oh, well, how about XYZ?" "[censored]," he replied. Always flexible and easy to please, I said, "Can I have a baleada?" It's sometimes the best bet anyway, since the food in some of these small restaurants is not always [censored] or handled [censored] and could cause [censored] or [censored] or even [censored]! I love baleadas and could eat them every day.

I stopped by a neighbor's house on the way home. Unfortunately, her armed guard would not tell me when she would return. I'm sure that I must look like a [censored] character so I don't blame him a bit for not giving me any information. I noticed that she has new [censored] around the top of her concrete walled garden. I wonder how much the electricity costs. Talk about a jolt! It looks nice and shiny and I'm sure that she feels much better now since she was [censored] a few weeks ago.

We've been getting wonderful soaking rains lately. I can just see the garden perk up after the long dry spell. More flowers are blooming. I love rainy season.

Later in the evening we watched Channel 10 news. Just to keep you informed of what is going on in Honduras, we learned about [censored], [censored], and [censored]. The teachers are on [censored] again for the [censored] time so far this year. Oh, well! Kids love a week off, don't they? [Censored] were held in Comayagua, Tegucigalpa, and Olancho today. Only [censored] people were [censored] this weekend, so it looks like the government is doing a good job with the [censored] situation. I'm sure they will find where that [censored] million dollars went to, also, and put it to good use. Always willing to give a second chance, [censored] criminals were released on their own recognizance today.

We have a nice breeze tonight, so the sleeping will be good in the fresh air.

Ah, a day in the life....

Reminds me of the US

By special request: Guava fruit tree repeat
:-D

I have been busy, frustrated, overworked, and stressed with all my patronato work!

Bad things: No water, black water, possibly insurmountable water problems in the future, stress, trying to communicate when I don't know the right words, trying to do my "job" when people won't cooperate, no time to read the newspaper, ALBA.

Good things: Rain, cooler weather, exercising my newsletter writing/designing abilities, Google*, a part-time maid who has been semi-dependable, clear water when it does come out of the faucet, the patronato won the dispute!, my sweet El Jefe who is so understanding.

I remember feeling stressed and hurried every day in the US, mostly self-imposed. Now I know that I can be a half an hour late to a meeting and still be the first one there. ;-)

Makes me appreciate the simple life even more.



* Google: In order to get all my ideas down for the newsletter, I had to write in English. I popped it into Google translator and I can testify that Google translator has improved exponentially over the past couple of years. It's still not perfect but it saved me about a zillion or vingtillion or billardo hours! It mangled a couple of sentences and a few words were not translated correctly but I fixed those and have a neighbor who is editing it to perfection right now. When I tried that two years ago, it was almost more work to fix the translation than it would have been to translate it manually. Way to go, Google! Ain't** the internet grand?


** Spanish speakers: This is another word you should not say and certainly should never write. ;-D