A Gringa No Brasil

Last week I got back from a two-week vacation in the States. Two weeks of running water, hot showers, delicious food, great friends and family. I spent Christmas with my family in New Jersey and New Year’s in Los Angeles with friends and ruggers.

I had a bit of culture shock when I landed in Houston for my layover, much worse than when I visited in May. I was very overwhelmed by all of the signs in English and restaurants offering food that I had forgotten existed. I kept speaking Spanish without thinking, and the majority of the people I interacted with probably had no idea what I was saying. I found myself reverse translating from Spanish to English. My brain was a mess. But somehow I found my way through immigration and customs and continued on my way to Newark.

It was great being able to spend Christmas with the family. I enjoyed last year’s Christmas with friends in Honduras, but afterwards it was like Christmas had never happened. There were none of the usual traditions that mark the day. This time around it was back to everything that I know and love about Christmas – the Christmas Eve church service, presents under the tree, enough food for 100 obese people, and SNOW. I was not expecting snow, but NJ got dumped on the day after Christmas. Two feet of snow was definitely a shock to the system given that I’ve been avoiding cold weather ever since I left Ithaca. It was pretty to look at from inside the house, but made traveling very messy so I missed out on seeing some friends that were in town. It didn’t stop the family and me from making a day trip into NYC, though, to see Time Stands Still on Broadway. Thanks Mom and Dad!

On the 29^th, I said goodbye to NJ and headed to LA for the second half of my trip. My awesome (former) teammates picked me up at the airport with a burger from In-N-Out (mmmm) and we headed straight to meet up with other teammates. Friends and food - that about sums up my trip. I spent my week there meeting up with friends and stuffing my face. Good times! And thanks to Bobby and Carly for cooking me dinners! We had to mix it up on New Year’s Eve, though, so we got dolled up and headed to Las Palmas, a club in Hollywood (props to Sis and Stephen P for hooking that up). It had been forever since I had gone out dancing in a dress and heels with my girlfriends. So much fun! On our way home, we asked the taxi to go through the fast food drive through so that we could continue the trend of friends and face stuffing. I think I gained about 50 pounds over the course of the trip.

I took a red eye back to Honduras on the 4^th/5^th, but before I went to the airport, I got to swing by rugby practice. I didn’t play with them since I’m way out of shape and had a head cold at the time, but I miss it so much! Wherever I live next, they have to have a women’s rugby team in the area. That’s a must. Tackling people is way more fun than going for a jog or exercising in my house.

The trip back to my house in Honduras was loooooooong. I flew into San Pedro Sula instead of Tegucigalpa to save money on the flight, but that meant a 6-hour bus ride after I landed. Ugh. Thankfully, a friend of mine offered me a ride from Tegucigalpa to Cantarranas so I didn’t have to spend the night in the city. When I finally got back to town, I was thoroughly exhausted and more than a little depressed about vacation being over, but to cheer me up and welcome me home, my Honduran friends had a surprise welcome back dinner waiting for me :) It was so nice being able to come home to a room full of smiling faces instead of an empty house. It was great visiting friends back in the States, but I’m blessed with an awesome group of amigos here in Honduras too.

And I’m back to wearing tank tops and flip flops! No complaints there!