...when I have a lot to tell you over just a few days

Edit: Go ahead, read my blog first, and if you find you still have time to spend reading blogs, go to my friend Kristin's blog and read her great post from today and be sure to watch the youtube video she links to. Or read hers first and revel in the time you didn't spend reading my wordy prose.

I've been lazy. Very lazy. Not "Oh, you're working hard so you deserve a break sometimes" lazy, but "Why don't you get off the computer and take a shower you slob" lazy. Self-satisfaction is very low. Motivation for planning is nearly nonexistent. I can hardly blame it on the craziness of the flu closings backed immediately by the Zelaya crap, because I was headed in this direction 3 weeks ago. Honduras needs prayer, certainly, but I need prayer for more reasons than tensions in my city. I need to find motivation somehow, and I'm really not sure where to look.

So, updates on Z-Liar (pronounce it like a Brit and you should get it). To recap: he arrived early Monday and has been holed up in the Brazilian Embassy ever since. His supporters (both legitimate supporters and anarchy-inclined folks who just like breaking things, especially if they get paid for it) have occasionally demonstrated, though depending on who you ask, those demonstrations were either peaceful and then broken up by police which turned them violent, or started violent and then broken up by police. Rumor has it another demonstration is in the pipes for tomorrow.

Curfew was instated by the current government at 4pm last Monday, and stayed in effect until mid morning on Wednesday. (Curfew was in effect basically to discourage folks rallying and demonstrating, I think.) It was lifted then for 10 hours and reinstated Wednesday evening, to allow people a chance to go buy food and take care of things they may not have been able to take care of since there was very little warning when the curfew was first imposed.

A side note: School was obviously canceled Tuesday and Wednesday, given that no one was allowed outside of their houses those days (we didn't know the curfew would be lifted Wednesday, but still school would have had no hope of running that day).

Given that no one knew how long the curfew could last after it began again Wednesday evening, basically the entire city of Tegucigalpa was out and about to stock up on food. We teachers were among them. It's hard to keep a lot of extra food on hand, so even 40 hours left our supplies dwindling, and water was truly a problem. We resorted to boiling a good amount just so we had water to drink. The school sent a busito around for us North American teachers, and we went to La Colonia, a grocery store chain. By "went" I mean it was a drive that should take 15 minutes and tool us an hour and a half. We actually got off the bus in the middle of the street and walked to the store.

When we got inside, the place was packed. There was no hope of obtaining carts; most people had poached plastic flower pots from the non-grocery section to carry their purchases, although empty cardboard boxes or the large plastic flats that typically hold bread were also put into use and carried by mothers and fathers through the crowded aisles. I saw men carry carts over their heads and over the crowds just to move them to a different part of the store. Everyone stayed calm and were actually quite helpful in general; there were just so many people that the entire shopping trip was a disaster. Lines for the registers stretched through aisles, basically to the back of the store. We teachers got what we could and got into line quickly, but the lines hardly moved at all. Noon passed, then one o'clock, then two. Curfew would be back on by five, and we legitimately were concerned we would not be out of the store by then. I finally gave up on waiting in line - I had very little that was actually necessary, and I began feeling socially anxious and decided that getting out of that store was preferable to the slight stockpiling I'd accomplish through waiting in line four hours. So I dropped my stuff and three or four other teachers accompanied me out of the store. As we passed the registers, we could see families buying sometimes two cartloads full of food - undoubtedly more than many of them could afford to spend on food at one time, but given that the curfew could be imposed for days once again, these desperate times called for desperate measures. I frankly couldn't have cared less about my food supply at that point. I was more concerned about the actual amount of food in my belly at that instant.

Across the street was a restaurant called Big Baleadas (a baleada is a typical Honduran food consisting of beans spread on a tortilla, sour cream-type stuff, some kind of meat optional, and possibly some other topping depending on where you get it) and we went there just to hang out and more importantly satisfy our hunger. The baleadas were great, and certainly big. We stayed there until all of the other teachers were out of the store. All told, it was a pretty unsuccessful shopping trip, but an experience I don't regret having.

But the hassle was all for naught, since the curfew was lifted again during the day on Thursday, along with the urge to return to jobs (reports say that every day the curfew is in place it costs the Honduran economy $50 million), rendering the panicked stockpiling unnecessary. The curfew has been in place every evening since, and lifted every morning since, and we can assume this will be the case until further notice.

However, the craziness of the week is not yet exhausted. School was canceled for Thursday as well early Wednesday evening, but upon the announcement of the lifted curfew for Thursday, we received an e-mail from the school saying that there actually would be school tomorrow after all! (This was at 8:45 the night before, mind you.) Just a half day, though. Most of us were very upset by this news. Half days are not very practical for teaching.

But at 6:30am Thursday morning, the bus came around and we were all aboard. The teachers of IST were there, "ready" for a half day.

But only about half the students were. Big surprise. Late notice + political tension = half the student body. I had my students free write. And I wrote myself. It was not a productive day, but it was nice to just have some time with only some of my students. It was an interesting, solidarity-building day.

Friday was also a half day. Nearly all of my students were there that day. We still didn't do too much more - free reading and some looking ahead at hopefully gathering up what's left of this marking period, which only has three weeks left in it.

Saturday was a respite of sorts - no responsibilities, no curfew - so two other teachers and I went to the mall. For all we could see, life looked normal in the context of the mall. It turns out our trip was maybe ill-advised, as public places of any kind are liable to be venues for demonstrations, but everything turned out all right and we had a nice ride with one taxi driver in particular where we all bonded over listening to Michael Jackson on the radio. It was a rare moment of true happiness over the last month or so, when I could almost viscerally feel the deep human connection that spans culture and language - and it's all thanks to the King of Pop!

And today I've been lazy. We have another half day tomorrow, and we're on a day-to-day basis regarding schedule. It really stinks. I knew teaching in Honduras would be a very different experience, but none of us knew how different, or what sort of factors would make it so different.