Lets be honest. Honduras, on paper, has it rough. It is the most violent country in the world, with 87 homicides per 100,000 people. In San Pedro Sula, which recently blew by Ciudad Juarez as the most dangerous city in the world, the rate is close to 250 per 100,000. That means you have a 1 in 400 chance of getting murdered every year, and there is a 10% chance that your or one of the 39 people closest to you will be killed each year. GDP per capita (adjusted for cost of living) is under $4500, making Honduras about a tenth as rich as the United States. Wealthy Hondurans aspire to many of the luxuries enjoyed by lower-middle class Americans. You can't drink the water, going out at night can be dangerous, and power outages are common. You can't flush the toilet paper; it goes into a wastebasket next to the shitter. But hey, at least the toilet flushes sometimes.
So why the fuck am I here?
To teach, essentially. I am in this lovely place to teach english to pliable young Honduran minds. I may not have the moral drive of Hilary Swank (in Freedom Writers) or Edward James Olmos (in Stand and Deliver), the inventiveness of Robin Williams (in Dead Poets Society), or the happy-go-lucky cuteness of Zooey Deschanel (in anything), but I do believe I have the potential to be a good teacher. Along the way, I hope to graduate from pigeon spanish to can-kind-of-express-himself-in-a-gringo-accent spanish. I'm also here to soak up all the joys that come with traveling and embracing a different culture. And finally, I do genuinely believe in the importance of aiding those less privileged than yourself.
I don't know how this blog, or this year, will turn out. Ideally, I will find my real self, have my worldview forever changed, get paid to write a deeply moving memoir, have my best-selling book adapted to the big screen, and become a millionaire. More likely scenario: I get authentic joy from teaching, along with some significant headaches. I also flirt between bemusement and depression over my bug-infested apartment and the unending quantity of beans I consume. I make some great new friends (already happened really), and I enjoy the year even if I have no desire to repeat it.
I am going to try and post pretty regularly and be humorous, but don't be surprised if I fail on both counts. I am going to keep the blog anonymous at least for now for safety reasons, so please acknowledge that if/when you write comments.
Hasta luego- friends, family, creepy strangers.
