Entre hurricanes

I discovered yesterday that Hurricane Felix, a potentially catastrophic category 5 storm, is heading straight towards the Mosquito Coast of Honduras. According to www.weather.com, it is supposed to strike Honduras about when our flight from South Bend is due to leave.




I don't know much about hurricanes, but I do know that no Honduran can forget the devastating impact of Hurricane Mitch, which, according to Wikipedia, killed 11,000 in Honduras alone. I have heard reports of as many as 17,000 killed. My understanding is that the winds were not the problem; the intense rain -- possibly 75 inches -- caused massive flooding and mudslides. Developing countries, with their lack of infrastructure, are not prepared for these super hurricanes that are becoming more and more common every year.

We will certainly track the progress of this storm to see what effect it has on our Wednesday morning flight. My guess is that it will be delayed, if not canceled. Our concern, however, must be minimal when compared to the people living on the coast of Honduras and Nicaragua.

T-3 days

Today was our sending service at church, and, let me just say, it was the best sending I can imagine. It was Assembly Mennonite Church's annual Labor Day hymn sing, so we filled ourselves to overflowing with wonderful four-part singing. We leave Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. from South Bend, with connecting flights in Atlanta and Miami before arriving in San Pedro Sula late afternoon.

Our goodbyes have been hard, as has been cleaning out the remnants of my pre-school through college memory boxes. It's hard to know what to keep. I decided that an object's value is a function of my sentimental attachment to it, and how badly I want my children to find it after I die. I decided against keeping my music theory notes, but placed my third-grade baseball card proudly on my mom's bedside table. I recycled my Bio World notes, but kept my fourth-grade report on Peru. I'm still not sure what to do with my playing card collection. Amanda and I laid out all of our clothes to be packed and made some final (tough) offerings to the Goodwill gods. It's humbling to think that all we need will be packed in two suitcases, two backpacks, and four carry-on bags. So far we don't know much about our first few months on location. We do know, however, that we will spend two weeks in Copán at a language school, and that Amanda and I will live with separate host families to aid us in our Spanish practice. We'll see how that goes.

For now, more goodbyes to say, more to pack, and a few more boxes of memories to sift through.

Starting to say goodbye

Well, it's all starting to feel very real. Yesterday was my campus wide farewell, which was fun, but bittersweet. In just two weeks we will be packing up our house and saying goodbye to our beloved cats. Then, we'll live out of a suitcase until August as we visit family in Albuquerque, NM; and attend MCC training in July. It's going to be rough, and Amanda and I are both stressed, but I'm sure we'll be ready to go when September finally comes around.