BRING IT! - Hannah Gets Carried Away

All right, so admittedly I've been a little peeved with Honduras for the last week. Waiting to see what happens politically and not really having any work has made Hannah a little bit frustrated. It just comes and goes, and this time it seems to have come with a vengeance.

In any case, last night after English classes I went to the gym because I hadn't gone in the morning. I also hadn't gone the day before, because we didn't have water and I wasn't entirely sure how I would shower, and didn't feel like spending the day really sweaty and uncomfortable. So, I get into the gym, and there are a whole bunch of teenage guys. GREAT.

I ignore them, put my Ipod in, and hop on the treadmill. Warm-up for 5 minutes and then start running. I really needed to run with all the pent-up frustration. Within minutes of me starting to run this 10 year old boy hops on the treadmill next to me. Mind you, there are four more treadmills open around me so there is no need for him to get on one right next to me.

Now in hindsight, I might have been imagining this situation, but I'm going to tell you about it anyways. I was convinced that he was trying to race me and show me up. Here's pretty much the dialogue in my head:

"Oh, great, he's getting on right next to me. Little punk.

Oh, now we're racing? BRING IT! :couple minutes go by:

Kid, I spend 1.5 hours in the gym almost every day. I hit stride after like ONE minute! You honestly think you can take me?? PUHLEEEZE!

:Hannah continues running ... like a champ ... Boy begins to struggle:

Can't keep up, eh?"

In less than five minutes the kid gave up. You know that champion yelling/gesturing that people do when they've accomplished their life dream? Yeah, I was doing that in my head. "Take that, BICH!"

So I continue running, totally fueled by my frustration and now I've decided I have to show-up Honduran men too. Men here continue to amaze me. I walk down the street and there's, "Hola gringita! Mi amor! Vamonos a los Estados Unidos!" (Hello gringita! My love! Let's go to the U.S.)

Recently, I've been fending off the annoying advances of men I encounter every day. There is absolutely NOTHING you can tell them to back off.

"I have a boyfriend."
"Oh, come on! He's there, you're here. He'll never know! I'm worth it."
"Yes, but he's jealous. He would kill you."
"Nah, man! It's fine. Come on!"

A family friend now harasses me inside my house, which had been my haven previously.

"Hello doll! I love your eyes! Aren't I handsome! We would make a handsome pair!" He tried to give me a picture of himself dressed in 80's striped shirt, aviator glasses and bright yellow cap. I politely declined, and now it's taped to the display case where my host mom displays her coffee and coffee liquour.

"I have a car. A nice house. I have a finca (farm) with a lot of coffee. We would live a nice life!"

"Good for you! Still, no thank you."

He's now getting closer to making physical contact, which I'm not too excited about. I just don't like the fact that my house has now been invaded by men asking to be my boyfriend/husband. And this is so normal in this country that no one defends you. My host family thinks it's hilarious that there is a "swinging-door" of men coming in to harass me while I'm eating breakfast.

So needless to say I have some hard feelings towards Honduran males. As I was walking to English classes last night it was raining, and I had my umbrella up. A truck full of guys came up behind me, and per-usual slowed down to a crawl to stare at me while I walked up the hill. I just pulled down my umbrella so they couldn't see me, because damned if I'm going to feel like I live in a fishbowl. That discouraged them pretty quickly and they drove off.

Honduran Men - 0 / Hannah - 1

Back to the story ...

So the little kid disembarks the treadmill and I am feeling ever so victorious. I pump up the music and keep running. Then two more guys walk in. One, I've never seen before, but the other is that typical gym-goer type that has to show off for everyone. Considering he grew up in a machismo society, this show-off quality of his is on mega-steroids. So they walk in and start making noise, immediately seeing that the gringa was there.

Unknown Guy gets on the treadmill, again right next to me and starts to run.

"B-R-I-N-G I-T.
I know your type ... Come to the gym with your cologne on, smelling all pretty. I'm here cause I'm PISSED! I WILL kick your ass. Count on it!"

That's just a short snippet of all the stuff that was running through my head. Man, you would have thought this guy had insulted my entire family they way I was talking shit ... to myself, I might add.

After a while he goes, "It's nice to run next to a pretty girl..." I just gave that smile, "Yeah right, pal!" If he only knew what I had been so obnoxiously saying in my head.

The awesome thing was, my Ipod seemed to channel my competitiveness and created the best soundtrack. Right after Unknown Guy hopped on the treadmill, "Bitch is Back" by Elton John came on as I began to talk shit again in my head again. After that, Lily Allen "Shame for You" played, which is another good musical example of how I feel here. I may have hit "replay" a couple of times...

So, that's my story of beating Honduran men all while running off some steam about the country in general. Oh, I beat Unknown Guy. He lasted longer than the kid and started to worry me, but soon enough he fell too. He kept taking breaks. That doesn't count.

I ended up running for 40 minutes straight at a good pace (big deal for me!). By then the guys were pretty impressed and I was feeling like I'd won a gold medal. Really helped me get over my frustrations.

Honduran Men - 0 / Hannah - 3

So, if you ever find yourself in a foreign country and a little perturbed, just challenge someone to a run!