Dan Fixes a Mistake

Believe it or not, I'm usually a pretty responsible person. I like to be organized (Anah will say to the point of annoyance sometimes). I'm usually in charge of the keys, the money, the phone, and most importantly the PIN numbers to the debits cards. Anah might tell you also that sometimes I'm not the best at being sympathetic when she forgets something.

About two months ago I was less-than-responsible. I lost my wedding ring. I know I didn't even make it to our six months anniversary before I blew it. I was playing soccer (surprise of all surprises, I know) and in an attempt to be responsible I took it off and put in it my bag. Unfortunately when I put it in the bag it was bundled up inside a t-shirt that I later pulled out and (I think) flung the ring into some unknown area of the soccer field. Despite the best efforts of Anah and I the next day (it was too late in the evening when we noticed my naked finger) the ring was not to be found. I'm sure someone with a size 8 1/2 ring finger will be very pleased if they come across it.

Needless to say, Anah was disappointed (not mad), but has also been able to hold that over my head if I ever give her a hard time about losing stuff.

While Anah is gone this weekend I fixed my mistake. On Friday I was at the mall and with Jesse we took a look for a suitable replacement ring. The point was to find something I can have to keep back the single ladies (yeah, right) until we move back home and we can find a real replacement. Nothing fancy, nothing too expensive (given it will be replaced later).

First stop = success! Simple ring and with the exception of a different material and a little gold on the band its pretty similar to the original. Buy. Mistake fixed.

The old one. Oops.

The new one. Not too shabby.

Anah's wanted to get a ring back on my finger for quite a while and not I'm just happy to be able to surprise her when she gets home.

- Dan

Homelife: Anah is out-of-town edition

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

Anah is a great cook. Almost every night she makes a delicious meal that makes forget that I'm not actually a vegetarian. This weekend, however, Anah is in Copan with her friend Maria, leaving me to my own devices and meal preparation.

I was lucky enough to have dinner covered last night. Free appetizers from Applebee's (I know, lame) on the school's tab proved to be mostly sufficient.

But what about breakfast!??! Who to make the eggs, or pancakes!

I've got enough culinary skills to survive until the mid-day meal:



Cheesey egg, soy breakfast sausage, and a garlic bagel sandwich (yes... two, I'm a pig) with coffee (yeah I can make a mean cup o' Joe).

- Dan

The Train Set Dad and I Never Quite Finished

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

When I was younger I loved model trains (well I still do) and I used to go to those model train shows a lot in Madison. Dad and I tried to build a set in the basement, but time constraints kept us from turning it into anything immense. It was an awesome set with a great track, a few buildings, and a lot of nature. I guess I had always hoped it would look something like this:



- Dan

On Wisconsin!

Friday, March 20th, 2009


If you only get to catch the Wisconsin Badgers on TV once from San Pedro Sula then this was probably the game to see. Its March Madness (trademark: NCAA) time and that means Honduras actually gets to see some college basketball on TV. ESPN in the States has the bball all winter long, but surprisingly (not) its not a big ratings draw in Latin America.

No matter though because this is the time to be a fan. Down 12 at halftime to Florida State, the #12 seed Bucky forced overtime against the #5 seed Florida State. Fortunately/unfortuantely Trevon Hughes had the ball in his hands near the end of overtime and (surprisingly) hit the game-winning shot.

Even though he's probably the last person I want to see with the ball with time expiring (see Texas, 2008) I was pleased with a Wisco "W."

Oh and I think Michigan did something positive too (for once).

- Dan

Homesick Remedies #4645 (click here to comment)

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

Homesick happens. Its just a fact of living abroad. There's not necessarily rhyme nor reason to it. For Anah and I, its just been a particularly rough week at work.

How each person respond to homesickness is as varied as what prompts it. Anah usually calls her parents and that makes her feel better. Not that a good call home doesn't help me, but I tend to bury those sort of feelings altogether. Tough guy persona, you know....

At the end of the month two of our friends Amy and Craig are getting married in Austin, Texas, and despite our best efforts the timing (the weekend before spring break) and the cost ($600 per ticket to Houston... Chicago is only $300... WTF!!?!??!) was terrible. It was going to be classic. Many of the wonderful people that graced out own wedding will be out in force at Craig and Amy's and it would have been another opportunity to be on home soil with some of our favorite friends.

With those friends in mind, Anah and I cured just a little homesickness with a quick photo project. Its surprising how quickly one's spirits lift up when the ones you care about most are looking over you.


Just for the record... family pictures are on the fridge.

- Dan

Sunday Morning Sunrise (click here to comment)

Anah and I joke that San Pedro Sula is only beautiful when you look up and at no time was that more apparent than this morning as the sun rose.

Photo Sharing (click here to comment)

Honduras gives Anah and I a lot of great stories, but just as important are the pictures that we get down here. Always looking for something new to do with the blog I'm taking our "photo of the day" feature and throwing it up top.

Rather than write a post each day I'm going to upload the "picture of the day" to the slideshow part of the blog at the top of the webpage. Each day will feature a new photo from our adventures abroad. You'll be able to click a link to see the picture in full or explore the rest of the gallery.

Missed a day? That's OK... just click the arrows and it will take you to the days past pictures.

As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words" and if that can get me out of writing... I'll do it!

Fancy Pants

The time between Christmas Break and Spring Break is always a long stretch for teachers.  At this point you feel like you've been working with your students for such a long time, but yet, you still have so far to go until Summer Vacation.  You've been with them long enough that you feel like WHY AREN'T THEY BEHAVING??!?  but in their little minds they've been with you long enough that they feel like WHY IS THIS LADY STILL MAKING ME BEHAVE!?!?!?!?  And part of you feels like you really can't blame 'em...I'm a little sick of the sound of my own voice echoing off the walls of the classroom.  Bueller... Bueller?

So, in an effort to get that echo out of our heads and regain our sanity, we took off to Tela, a nearby beach town (yes, we've already been there). 

 We were joined on our travels by another couple, Sarah and Sava.  Sava is Dan's teaching partner in 7th grade and Sarah is the Middle School Guidance Counselor.  They are actually both from Madison, so many of our favorite places are places they also know well.  Originally we were going to stay in a budget hotel, as we normally do.  The budget hotels we tend to frequent are clean and have beds, but that's about it.  However, when we went to check-in we were surprised to find out that they were all booked up, as was their neighboring hotel.  Not knowing of many other options we did a team huddle, and came to an agreement- we were going to go fancy.  

Walking down the beach in search of paradise

Down the beach is a giant resort called TelaMar that looks like it was airlifted out of DisneyWorld or some such idyllic place, and plopped into the 2nd rate beach town of Tela.  We were a little wary of the cost, but decided if we shared a room with Sarah and Sava, it would be about the same price as if we had chosen the budget option and stayed in our own room.  As we paid for the room in the Main Building we were still a little nervous that the room may not live up to our ever-growing expectations. 

A little different than our normal "Habitaciones"

But, in a few moments we had our key and as we opened the door to our 3rd level paradise our expectations were surpassed.  The room was spacious, replete with two giant beds with firm mattresses (not the saggy, worn ones to which we've grown accustom) and covered by fluffy, clean, white comforters.  The wall was adorned with actual artwork, as well as a gigantic flatscreen TV.  Best of all, was the balcony; a large ceramic space which overlooked the 3 giant pools of the resort, bringing to our attention that one of the pools featured a "Swim-up" bar.  We had indeed gone fancy, and were happy that we would not have to go back for another day and a half.

Our travel partners in front of the luxurious pools

Swim on up...

In a typical blog post at this point I would fill you in on some adventure we had the next day.  But, there were no adventures to be had on Saturday nor Sunday- just pool time, drink time, card playing time and humongous flatscreen TV time.  And it was spectacular, every last fancy minute.  It was just what we needed, and today as we headed back to work we felt a little more tolerant and ready to face our days.  We'd gained back that last drop of patience that we just might need to get us through until we get recharged in full during our Spring Break.   

"Our Photos" of-the-Day (click here to comment)

Monday, March 9th, 2009

From Gracias

San Cristobal Fortress, Gracias, Honduras

The city of Gracias was founded in 1536 by Captain Juan de Chavez and the
original name was "Gracias a Dios". Apparently the Spanish conquistador had
spent several days in this very mountainous area looking for a place to
establish a city, and when he finally found an area flat enough to build such
city, his first words where "gracias a Dios que hemos hallado tierra llana"
(thank God that we have finally found flat land).

Today, the fort has old Spanish cannons that were donated by the Spanish
government and the tomb of Honduran governor Juan Lindo. From the fort you can
Gracias' three churches, the cemetery, and the Montaña de Celaque (in Celaque
National Park... where Anah and I spent a gruling day hiking) located behind the
fort.

"Our Photos" of-the-Day (click here to comment)

Friday, March 6th, 2009

View of the "ball court" at the Mayan ruins of Copan.

Copan is an ancient Mayan city that survived during the 5th to 9th centuries. Among the more famous sites of the ruins is the "ball court"

From the Mayans to the Aztecs, virtually all known Mesoamerican urban centers contained at least one ballcourt. The ballgame's rules are unknown and, oddly, ballcourts' shapes and sizes vary greatly. You can barely see two stone parrot-heads that served as ball-reflectors.  They are shown close up on the attached page of ballcourt sculptures. 

One of the facts known about the ballgame is that players were never to strike the ball with their hands or arms; the hips seem to have been principally used. It is widely believed that the losers of the game lost their lives, but evidence for this among the Maya is slim indeed.

"One of Our Photos" of-the-Day (click here to comment)

Thusrday, March 5th, 2009

Church of San Francisco (Antigua, Guatemala)

The order of the Franciscans in Guatemala dates back to 1525. In 1540 they had a simple monastery with five monks in Cuidad Vieja. In the new capital the monastery grew in number to eighty monks. By the end of the 1600’s, grounds owned by the Franciscans were very extensive.

Apart from the usual areas of the main monastery, there was also a hospital and clinic, and above all, its facilities for scholars.

The library was one of the most complete of its time; it had a productive publishing house, the second one to be established in the city; and the order founded the San Buenaventura School for theological and philosophical studies.

Destroyed in 1773, most of the ruins of this huge monastery still remain, and even some part covered with modeled stucco and traces of painted murals have been conserved. Its fountain is found today in the courtyard of La Merced in Antigua.

Apart from a chapel restored in the early 1800’s to shelter the remains of Pedro de Betancur, the church of San Francisco was not really restored, but rather reconstructed.

This aroused much controversy and vigorous criticism from historians and architects who want to see colonial monuments conserved in their original form.

The church was built by Diego de Porres and inaugurated in 1702.

"One of Our Photos" of-the-Day (click here to comment)

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

Two errie, face-looking anafre (pronounced: "ah-NAH-fre") pots.

Factiods!!!

In Honduras, anafre is a traditional appetizer served before the start of a meal. Essentially, anafre is a refried black bean and cheese fondue, served hot over coals in a clay pot. Often, peppers and/or chorizo can be added. Tortilla chips accompany the anafres for dipping.

Each "Photo of the Day" is from our collection of our time down here in Honduras. Check out more photos in our Picasa Web Albums.