Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Despedida

Before I knew what was happening, my year has come and gone here in Honduras (time passes just as quickly here as I’m sure it does back home). I apologize for not keeping my Blog updated, for falling out of touch with some of you, and for never being in touch with others—my only excuse is that the year itself was so full of activity, filled with work and discovery that required more of me than I knew I had to give. It’s been a year filled with many joys and sorrows, many successes and even more failures. The only thing I’m sure of is that it has been an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I am sorry that I haven’t passed on more of the stories/adventures/tales of some of the more memorable exploits of the past year: going to the beautiful tropical island getaway of Roatan for New Year’s with my family (belting out the lyrics of “Build Me Up Buttercup” at 3am, zipping through the canopy past iguana-filled tress, glimpsing an underwater world teeming with color and life) and visiting it’s beaches again when C-Mac, Giff and his ladyfriend came to visit (*material edited for mature content*); accepting the fact that no matter how many times I explain the fact that I’m Japanese (and even after sharing a homemade delicacy of curry with friends from the community) that I people will always refer to me all aspects of Asian culture as ‘chino;’ deciding for some horrible reason with Jose that it would be a great idea to see who could go the longest without shaving (dubbed the “Weird Beard-Off,” the deal was that the leader would have to grow a rat tail… through Divine intervention (visit from Joe’s family and an interview for yours truly), after 6 weeks we peacefully cast off our beards in an effort to return to ‘striking good looks.’ Don’t worry, we have documented evidence of the entire thing); discovering how a doll-sized t-shirt fit perfectly onto our pet cat Scarlth (newly named, deriving originally from ‘Prince Carl’ (just seemed to fit), changed to ‘Scar’ (in honor of Mufasa’s brother in the Lion King after he got into a particularly rowdy fight with another cat) and finally adding an ‘l’ and ‘th’ (which, along with the beginning ‘s’ and ‘r’ are the hardest sounds to make in the English language (don’t worry, we didn’t name him that just to give our neighbors a hard time in pronouncing his name. We really just call him ‘gato’ mostly))), and how when he’s wearing the t-shirt, he looks, moves, and acts absolutely ridiculous; how someone who shall remain nameless locked the keys in our car when we were up in an aldea (hint: it wasn’t Melissa or Mike) and we somehow managed to pry the door open using sheer force, wedge it with chunks of wood to create a gap through which we inserted a crudely shaped chicken-wire hook and ordinary stick to slowly but surely rotate the handle to lower the window enough to the point when we could finally unlock the door (all credit for ingenuity and handiness on this occasion must go to none other than a certain M. Dubiel); the candid shot we took on the ancient Mayan ruins in Copan (me laying in a prone position on an ancient sacrificial table, arms stretched out and screaming towards the sky as Mike swings downward with a large, blunt rock towards my head) which was accidentally observed by a local tour guide, who, rather than get angry, greeted it with one of the most hilarious laughs I’ve ever heard; and of course, most recently, being in a country in the midst of a military coup (I will say this, I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would wake up one morning to a country without a president… or that the US would almost beat Brazil in futbol. I don’t know which is crazier…).

Please, please ask me about these and many of the other stories that I haven’t shared yet (many include pictures and video footage that is sure to make up for even the most mediocre storytelling). Like I said, the year was an amazing experience and something I wouldn’t want to keep from anyone. I haven’t been intentionally secretive, just accidentally lazy.

A big thanks for everyone out there who helped make this year possible, either through making a donation to the Passionists, passing on encouraging words of wisdom during some of my tougher moments, or simply keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. I could never say enough thanks, but your support has meant more than you know (I will most likely be continuing to need this support over the next couple of years of medical school, so any thoughts, prayers, and financial contributions you want to send my way would be very much appreciated (and very well spent)).

As scattered and strange as this year has been at time, it changed something in me, giving me a new perspective and a new outlook on life. With my return to the states fast approaching, all I can say is that I hope the next couple weeks will be as enlightening and rewarding as those that came before them. As much as this experience has meant to me and as grateful as I am to have been here, I can think of no place I’d rather be than back in the states with friends and family. I hope to see you all soon, and will leave you with a quotation I think particularly fitting:

“In a sense, it is the coming back, the return, which gives meaning to the going forth. We really don’t know where we’ve been until we come back to where we were—only where we were may not be as it was because of who we’ve become, which, after all, is why left.”
-Bernard from “Northern Exposure”