If I asked you to tell me about Honduran food, assuming you, reader, are not Honduran, would you be able to? Would you say tacos? And if you did, would you expect the thing you get at an American restaurant? What else? Probably something spicy and doused in hot sauce and intense seasonings, no? Well, I am here today to tell you that nope, the Catrachos (Hondurans) do things a little differently here.
Timing, AKA isochrony, is a key part of producing (and perceiving) non-written language. In English, we time our speech by the stress on the words, usually smushing together the unstressed bits so that there is equal delay between each stress. English isn’t the only language to do this– German, European Portuguese, Arabic, and many more do, and for this reason are called “stress-timed” languages. Timing can also be divided by syllable, where each syllable gets an equal amount of time. These “syllable-timed” languages include Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, and more and are easily identified by their bouncy, consistent sound.
As someone who writes their thoughts and rambles on the internet, it makes sense that I would enjoy the thoughts and rambles of others who do the same. I personally do it for a variety of reasons: using it as a personal journal (admittedly, it’s very cathartic), documenting my experiences (for others and so I don’t forget details), sharing something I find interesting (because if my friends and family hear me geek out one more time they’ll probably lose it), and to stay active and creative in my writing (nowadays my writings are large, scientific projects, and I sorely miss English-class-type writing). It has become a no-pressure hobby of mine, something I add to when I have time or need an outlet, and I’ve managed to keep it up for some time. I mean, I switched over to this domain in January 2021 but I had been using my Weebly site for at least a few years prior, on and off.
Monday night I was put in contact with a school who was looking for a teacher to fill a last minute vacancy. Tuesday morning I scheduled an interview, and by afternoon I was given the job and told the school I was volunteering at immediately that I would be leaving. Wednesday morning I took a bus with one of the other teachers from the volunteer school and arrived in Santa Rosa de Copán. Thursday I settled in, and Friday I began teacher prep. Sometimes things happen quickly. My decision to leave Garden School Victoria was by no means an easy one, but as I reflect on it after, it was definitely the right one, and hopefully will continue to be the right one.