Musica

 We met a Honduran at Lake Yojoa that spoke English well and said that he learned it by listening to the American Top 40 by Casey Kasem. For those readers that are much younger than me, Casey Kasem was a disc jockey with a countdown of the top 40 songs in the US in the 1970s and 1980s. He had spin-offs of this program up until almost 2000. I am guessing that the Honduran was our age (in his 60s) although it was hard to tell. He could have been anywhere from his 50s to his 70s.

When I heard his method of learning English, I thought maybe I should try it for learning Spanish. I am certainly exposed to a lot of music in Spanish as my office workers like to listen to music of all types and most of the gatherings we attend have music as well. Sometimes they also involve dancing and even karaoke. We have had two occasions where after dinner karaoke was the main event. To coax us to sing, the party hosts let us choose songs in English. At these events we sang Carly Simon’s Close to You and the ever popular We Are The World which, I found out afterwards, also has a Spanish version.  After the last karaoke event, I mentioned to Allen that we need to be more prepared and step up our game. My goal would be to be able to sing a duet with Allen in Spanish and appear semi-practiced.  He is always willing which encouraged me to research.

I found several that I like and that seem appropriate for the audience. Here are my favorites:

Mi Casa y Yo - Tercer Cielo - Video Oficial - YouTube

Marc Anthony - Vivir Mi Vida (Official Video) - YouTube

Alvaro Soler - El Mismo Sol (Under The Same Sun) [B-Case Remix] ft. Jennifer Lopez - YouTube

The children in my hogar love music and the littlest one (6 yrs old) belts out songs while he is mopping. In particular, he likes to sing Lasso - Ojos Marrones (Video Oficial) Parte 1 - YouTube. The three oldest children in my hogar go to music lessons on the ranch and are learning guitar, drums, and even accordian. One of the volunteers is a music therapist and we have a keyboard currently residing at San Vicente (the volunteer house) which was quite popular when we had children from my hogar over for a Proyecto Familiar.

On a side note, it only recently clicked for me that the school year here is 4 months off from our school year. In the US a school year starts in late August/September and runs to mid-June with a long break in June, July, and August. In Honuduras the school year starts in late January and runs to early November with a long break in November, December, January. That’s why November is filled with all the ceremonies: graduation, quinceanera, baptism, first communion, confirmation. There is a “summer school” for the little kids during the long break and it is more like summer camp. There is also school for the kids that need extra tutoring. For everyone else, there are a lot of soccer games and other “actividades”.

Preschool Graduates
Beautiful Mural in the School Library

Picture in the School Library by the Same Artist as the Mural



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