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I’ve written in the blog before about how strange it is to live in Teguc and to be able to recreate many aspects of our stateside life.  We go to Costco (Pricesmart here), eat baked macaroni and cheese and buy Kraft parmesan, swing by Office Depot to pick up office supplies, have the option of having Dominos deliver a pizza (haven’t done so yet), and get local Denver stations on our cable TV (go Broncos).  When we lived at the Farm, even though we lived with lots of other American volunteers, we still were immersed in Honduran culture.  Here in the anonymity of the big city it’s much easier (for better or worse) to live much like we lived in the states.

One result of that is that Jacob may very well depart Honduras next summer not speaking Spanish.  We’ve put some thought into this and after about 6 weeks we’ve decided that the best thing to do is hire him a Spanish tutor.  The bonus is that his Spanish tutor also happens to cook, clean and help take care of the kids.  

Ok, so perhaps “Spanish tutor” isn’t the most accurate description. 

We have avoided hiring someone to help Erika around the house.  The truth is that Erika has a great handle on the house work, but it’s also true that by the time all is said and done it’s usually 9pm before we get a chance to sit down together.  Add to that the fact that I’m traveling at least 3 days a week for four of the next six weeks and that we really do want Jacob to learn Spanish (I swear that really is a primary motivation).    

Erika interviewed a woman today to be our empleada (literally: employee).  Her name is Manuela and she’s going to work for the next three days while I’m out of town to see how she does with the kids and how comfortable Erika feels with her.  The going rate here is between $120 and $180 a month for 40-hours a week.  It’s not a huge expense and will make a big difference in Erika’s daily life and by extension my life.  Erika is looking forward to having help around the house, some Honduran cooking, someone to speak Spanish with Jacob and perhaps eventually a chance to get out and have coffee with a friend without Maggie and Jacob in tow.  

While we’re very much looking forward to having the help it still feels a little wierd.  I’m not quite sure why.  We’re providing a woman with a good job at a good wage for Honduras.  We will treat her fairly and truly appreciate the work that she does.  It’s both expected and appreciated for Americans and other expats to hire someone to help around the house.  It’s not just international staff either as all of my Honduran co-workers have an empleada working in their homes and they’ve been suprised that we hadn’t hired someone yet.  I guess it just feels wierd that even though we’re paying a fair wage that we’re still getting so much for so little.  

There’s no real conclusion to this thought, just an ongoing reflection.  Living overseas brings many challenges, but in this case we’re grateful for the opportunity to have a little help around the house and, of course, have a Spanish tutor for Jacob.