Thursday, April 15, 2010

Where would we be without the internet?

I haven't had internet in my house for the past few days. It has something to do with a confusion regarding the payment of our last bill. Not really the end of the world, and yet the way I haven't quite known what to do with myself in the evenings would suggest that I'm more than a little bit dependent on my online connections. I can't call anyone because I don't have skype. I can't search for lesson ideas in my spare time. I can't just waste hours on facebook or reading blogs or writing emails. Which, I'm forcing myself to realize, is a good thing. But tonight I had to come and get connected a some friends' house. And it made me stop to realize that what we do with our free time nowadays is the internet. I could walk into any teacher's apartment right now and I guarantee that everyone who is not cooking dinner is probably using their laptop in one form or another; perhaps talking on skype, streaming some tv show, chatting with friends, or facebook stalking.
What in the world did we do with ourselves and all of our free time before the internet and "social networking" (perhaps the biggest irony of our day!) came and took over!?

I hope our internet problem gets solved quickly. But, in the meantime, maybe I'll start knitting again.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Semana Santa.

Holy Week. Here in Honduras, some things really are still kept holy. Not like in the States, where somewhere along the road we abandoned our "old fashioned" conviction of taking a Sabbath day to close stores and be with family. Many places don't even close on Christmas anymore.
But here, as I walked the abandoned streets and blocks and blocks of closed-up store fronts, it was refreshing to be amid a culture that takes this holiday seriously. Our savior is alive! Yes, even though the very Catholic observance of Holy Week does seem to skewedly focus on the death over the resurrection, the fact that they take the time to focus at all is nice. And although it may be frustrating that there are hardly any buses or taxis on the roads, making it difficult to get around; and although I'd like to take these days to visit some places I haven't had time to see, but they're closed; I am still pleased by the simple fact that everything is closed, and I'm forced to relax. Which, after my fun trip to the beach, I'm happy to do. :)