If there’s one thing that we are being forced to learn in
our Honduras living it is adaptability. And if you know me, there are few
things I love more than making a plan and sticking to it. However, life in a
developing country is teaching me that planning, although it has its value, is
not all it’s cracked up to be. I am
learning to plan less and “go-with-the-flow” more often (just reading that
still makes me grimace).
Let me give you a few examples of times when my
well-developed plans have been forcibly abandoned.
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| Enjoying the biggest waterfalls in Honduras. |
Last night we were supposed to play in a volleyball
tournament put on by the local public high school. We had created a teachers
team and were excited to show off our mad skills to the Honduran youth. We
gathered at the park right outside our house to walk up to the school together.
Within a minute of us all meeting up, the town’s electricity suddenly went out.
Within a minute of the electricity going out, an unexpected deluge of rain
drenched us. At which point we had a team huddle and decided that since the
volleyball court was outdoors and was lit by electricity, we should abandon our
plan and run for cover.
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| Len and I tried to adapt to rowing on Lago de Yojoa. That never happened, so we hired a rower. :) |
Lenny and I were not too upset about this arrangement since
by the time Friday night rolls around, we are typically exhausted, and –
speaking for myself – I don’t want to see any school-aged children for a long
time, even if we are spiking balls near their heads. So we happily hopped in
bed and began watching a movie on my laptop, with the rain continuing to pound
on our roof. All of a sudden, the sky opened up and an indoor waterfall formed,
landing right on…Lenny’s crotch area. Without warning, his shorts were soaked,
our bed was soaked, the floor was soaked. Soon there was a straight line of mini-waterfalls
all across our bedroom, as the seam between two of the sheets of tin roofing
had decided it was sick of holding out the water. We quickly scrambled to
relocate our bed, try to save some of our electronics (my Kindle might never
recover), and put buckets, garbage cans, pots and pans all around to catch the
water.
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| Me, adapting to the joys of traveling in Copán Ruinas. |
We spent a good hour trying to mop up the water from what
Lenny now affectionately refers to as “our kiddie pool,” and so we were forced
to adapt to another unexpected moment. Oh, did I also mention that the
electricity was still out during this whole time, so we had the immense
pleasure of dealing with the indoor rain guided only by our head lamps? I am
now aware that this was probably a good thing, seeing as all the exposed wires
of our sketchy electricity set-up might have roasted us. And if you are
wondering, the electricity is still out… We are adapting…
Some other recent adaptation learning moments:
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| Lenny, adapting to being sick while traveling |
- Last weekend we went to Copán Ruinas to explore the Mayan ruins and get away from La Unión for awhile. On our way back, the first of four buses we needed to take back home left ten minutes EARLY (this is a Latin American miracle), and left Lenny and me behind, while all our friends were already on board. Let’s just say we were flexible and have now become experts at navigating the Honduran chicken bus system on our own.
- On our final bus home last weekend, a very, very, very drunk man started causing quite a ruckus at the back of the bus, where Lenny and I were sitting. Suddenly Lenny turned around to see the crazy man waving a gun in the air, to which Lenny said, “Woah, woah, woah!” and motioned for him to take it easy. I then started pleading with God to spare our lives, and in my head I began repeating over and over, “Lenny, don’t be a hero,” hoping he would read my mind. Luckily we survived, and I do not yet have to adapt to life without Lenny.
- I have recently planned some awesome videos and/or PowerPoint presentations for my classes, and have then had the power go out, leaving me without any back-up lesson planned. I am now an expert at coming up with new lessons spur-of-the-moment. You may start referring to me as Ms. Adapatability.
- One of my least favorite forms of adaptability involves showering. If it rains (which it does a lot right now, since we are at the pinnacle of the rainy season), the water that is siphoned off from some river up the hill and comes out of our showerhead turns brown. I don’t mean a tad-bit brown (it’s always a little brown); I mean mocha latte brown. I mean “you will be dirtier after taking this shower than you were before” brown. Even when the water is somewhat clean, it can turn off randomly. You can be in the middle of a shower, and the water just stops. And one of my personal favorites, the electricity also goes off without warning. Which, when showering, means that the bathroom becomes pitch-black and the contraption that heats the water in the shower head stops working. Dark and freezing. Not my favorite combination.
I like to think that all this adjusting and adapting is
actually making us better people. I can pretend all I want that I am in control
of what happens in my life, and yet it is a foolish illusion. At any and every
moment, I have very little control over anything. I think this is one lesson that God really
wants to hammer home for me this year. “Your plans are not in stone, your life
is not your own, I am on the throne.” (I seriously did not even try to make that
rhyme. I am just that amazing.) J
Cheers to another day of holding our plans loosely!
-Kara
