Last weekend I could feel myself getting antsy and excited..only a few more days until my birthday! I don’t know why birthdays are so exciting or special, but for some reason every single year when the end of September rolls around I get so stoked for my “special” day. This year was no exception; especially since I would be celebrating it like never before—Honduran style.
One thing I always love doing is making special treats for my birthday. Of course this year I wanted to keep the tradition and make something delicious for my students and friends. But every single time I thought of something to bake I had to rule it out. It is tough to come by baking ingredients in La Union. While pondering away, my sister Megan sends me a link from her pinterest. (NO I don’t have pinterest and I’m consumed with jealousy of those who have time to have an account.) This link just so happens to be a website full of recipes for cupcakes to die for. Of course there is a picture of each cupcake next to the recipe. That was it! I had had enough of day dreaming about amazing desserts. I became bound and determined to make something good. In fact, I was GOING to make one of those to-die-for cupcakes. Due to limited ingredients I had crossed off all of the cupcakes…except for one. Well banana cupcakes with maple frosting it was going to be. Now all I had to do was hunt down the ingredients.
Sunday I spent 7 hours at the school planning for the week ahead. The weeks before I had been staying after school working until 6 or so, but that was not happening this week, not on my birthday week! I felt exhausted but prepared for my busy week.
Immediately after school on Monday I went into La Union on my search for the ingredients. My first stop at the “mini-super” was very successful. They had all the ingredients I needed accept for one. They even had powdered sugar so I would be able to make my frosting from scratch. There was only one ingredient left on my list, and I knew this one would be tricky. Bananas. This may sound absurd since I’m in Central America and bananas grow everywhere, but it isn’t easy! They don’t always sell them at the normal pulparias that we shop at. To get bananas you have to ask people around town where to find them, and they’ll direct you to the house that contains the goods. This was also tricky since my translator Gayle wasn’t with me and my Spanish is atrocious. Well I had asked around, and I was directed to a little pulparia I had never even noticed before. I walked into the pulparia and of course no one is there. After a few Hola?’s later a man came into the store. I asked if he sold bananas there. He said something back which I didn’t understand, and then walked out the door. I stood there very confused what to do. Finally a lady showed up told me to follow her. She brought me to the back of the store which led to her back yard. Well it was a backyard/kitchen. All of the kitchen appliances were outside including a big cement patio. She brought me to these huge branches that had hundreds of bananas on them. My face lit up and so did hers—everyone likes making the gringos happy. I bought 20 bananas for 3 Lempira. Which in dollars would be about 10 cents?? I was stoked about the price. So as I’m about to walk out I look up and one of my students, Ana, is standing right there! She told me this was her house. I had just bought 20 bananas from her parents! It was so fun to see where she came from and connect with her parents. You should have seen their faces…beaming with pride.
I went home and made my banana cupcakes. Don’t worry Gayle and I tested them before I brought them to school..simply amazing. As I woke up on my birthday Tuesday morning, I opened my door to make coffee. Gayle quickly shouted “DON’T COME OUT OF YOUR ROOM!” The celebrations already were starting at 6:00AM. Gayle made me French toast, fresh watermelon, a cupcake, and coffee for my b-day breakfast. She had candles, balloons, and a birthday poem waiting for me at the table. Have I told you this girl is amazing? She ALSO blew up our coffee pot that morning, but that is a whole other story.
The minute I walk up to my classroom I was showered with hugs, kisses, and happy birthdays. When my students lined up to come inside they all started singing happy birthday to me. This continued to happen ALL DAY LONG. I have never felt so much love from so many people! I also don’t think I have ever had so many hugs and kisses all in one day! It made it easier to be away from my loved ones at home. There are people here that love me too! At the end of the day I played a game with my students and handed out my cupcakes. In my horror a couple of them didn’t even like it! I wasn’t too hurt—more for me. Most of them though said “mmmmm-mmmm, what is that in English?” Well of course, I taught them the word ‘delicious’. They have been using it ever since. (Funny because I taught my niece that word, and now she always uses it to describe good food.) One of my students, Carlos, and brought me a gift. I opened it..it was a pearl necklace. This maybe wouldn’t be a big deal but Carlos is one of our poorest students at the school. He lives in a dirt hut and probably has three shirts. But I accepted the gift—I figured it would be worse if I tried to give it back. Some other students informed me later that they would be coming to my house at 4 for a surprise. I didn’t think they were serious, since students have told us multiple times they are coming over and they never actually do.
I started walking home at 3:45. As I’m rounding the corner and going up the hill to my house I see a parade of my students. They were actually coming up to my house. When they spotted me they all started screaming and running towards me. They were holding a huge piñata! They had bought me a PINATA for my birthday!!! My students are amazing. Others were carrying bags of candy to put into the piñata, a 3 liter of soda, and birthday presents. Are these children really only in 3rd grade? How did they organize something like this? It still amazes me.
I brought them all into my house to begin the festivities. We filled the piñata with candy and searched for a way to hang it up. I randomly found some string on the street in front of the house—that would work. I used the string and hung the piñata up on my window; hopefully that would be safe. We all took turns swinging at the piñata, and with my final blow the candy fell to the ground. We went back inside and “enjoyed” some banana soda (that is sarcasm if you couldn’t tell) opened presents, and played some games. I was so overjoyed, I couldn’t believe how thoughtful and loving my students were. The best part was that most of these students are the ones that struggle in school. They are the students who barely speak any English. It was comforting to know they still care about me even though I know I frustrate them Monday-Friday 7:00-2:40 with my different language.
After my students left all of the gringos in town came over. We had a delicious meal and THREE desserts. As the lights were turned off, candles lit, birthday cake brought out, and b-day song started my eyes rimmed with tears. God placed me in such an amazing community. Why did I ever think I would be lonely here? Everyone here is so caring, so loving, and so supportive. I could not be more thankful for such amazing people that were placed in my life. I went to bed extremely happy. It had been a one-of-a-kind birthday, that is for sure.
This weekend I am headed to the Copan Ruins. We don’t have school on Monday—WOOOOOO—so we are taking a mini-vaca. I’m excited to do another adventure. So 5:00AM bus tomorrow morning, here I come.
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