Don't shoot!

Here in Honduras 3 teachers share a house and about 4 houses down another 3 teachers share a house. I've been hanging at the big house because no one else is in my house yet and I don't have internet. I walk home at the end of the night. Except the other night was my first night to walk home by myself.

My directions were go past the three trash bins, turn left and that's your house. Ok. Simple enough. So I walk down with my flashlight and turn left. Easy enough except the houses look the same and I've only been living in mine for 1 day. How am I going to know which one is mine, especially from the back? So I walk down from the backyard and get a little confused. I thought my door was on the other side, that can't be mine. But that one over there doesn't look like mine either. So I walk back out to the street, yup, three trash bins. So I go back in the backyards and try to find something familiar. Here I am wondering around my and my neighbor's backyards trying to figure out where I live. I am literally traipsing all over the yards trying not to trip on tree roots or run into clothes lines. All I can think is please don't let someone think I'm trying to rob them and shoot me. I finally figure out that if I go to the front of the house I might be able to figure it out. I see big ceramic shingles all strewn about the front yard. Finally!! Something I recognize. Our roof is getting "fixed". I say "fixed" because I haven't seen anyone working on it yet. I have never been so glad to see ceramic shingles in my life!

Beginnings are Scary

Today is my second day in Honduras. Let me recap it for ya...

Headed out from Austin around 5:30 in the morning. It was hard to say goodbye to my family. Really hard. But as the plane engines started, so did my adventure.

In Atlanta I almost didn't make my connecting flight to Teguc because we sat trying to get into the gate for 40 minutes.

I finally get to the plane and the guy tells me in broken English that I'm the last one to get on. Great!! Made it.

Turns out there were lots of last people. One of them was one of the teachers I'll be working with, Daniel. We had no idea we'd be on the same flight.I recognized him from facebook and we got to sit together. How cool is that?

We go through customs and immigration alright. Five bags is a lot, especially when you have to carry it and the Hondurans just look at you like you crazy white lady. Naomi, another teacher I'll be working with, picked us up and helped carry my bags. She is from Australia and I love the way she says words like lamp (laaamp) darling (dahling).

We went to see our school and then went to see our houses. I'm in the smaller house with 2 other girls. One teacher has lived here and one is new. Both of them aren't here right now, so I've got the place to myself. Kind of lonely, but ok. Then we went to eat at a local restaurant and had a plato tipico. I also had my hand held by one of the parents at the school that knew Naomi. Awkward!

Then we went shopping. I got cereal, milk and sandwich stuff. Easy enough. We came home and played a few games and drank rum and coke. Not my fave usually, but with lime it rocks!!

Last night I unpacked (that took awhile!)showered and got ready for bed. In the kitchen I found a new friend. A HUGE gecko on the wall. I freaked for a second, then
realized my new Geico friend had a bug in his mouth. Good boy! I guess that'll be ok, then. You eat the bugs, I don't kill you, k?

Today I woke up, kind of a little sad, but not as sad as I thought I'd be. I thought, what am I doing here? Maybe it's because no one was in the house. And everything is different. My house isn't home yet, I didn't like the cereal I bought at the store and I have an awful fluorescent light in my room. Ha! These are not big things, but those are the things I thought of this morning. Then when I went to Naomi and Daniel's house, things got better.

We went into Teguc (the capital) to the mall and ate at the food court. I had Popeyes. Then we had some soft serve ice cream, Things are really rough down here, huh!

Went went to Hiper, I think that's what it's called. It's Honduran Wal-Mart. No really, Wal-Mart owns it. Then we went to Lacha--like a Hope Depot. Lots of cool things there.

That brings me to the driving. Kind of a shit show. Not sure what the laws are, but you have to be aggressive. I haven't even driven yet. In the words of Naomi, "The only law is to not get yourself killed." Awesome. Survive. I can get into that.

We ended that day by ordering pizza. Yes, we ordered pizza. It came to the house. We had to meet them at the gate and tell the guard we ordered pizza. By the way we have guards here. We live and work on a college campus. There are guards here 24 hours a day. Kind of weird, but safe.

Endings are usually sad

So last night was my "Moving to Honduras" party. It was great to see family, old and new friends and just enjoy this hot Texas weather. Ok, could have done without all that hot weather, but that's not the point. I felt so loved and special to have everyone I love in the same place at once. Oh, and the night ended in some pretty brutal water volleyball. What more could you ask for? Thanks to everyone who came out to make the day so awesome, despite it being hotter than the hinges of hell.

During the party I only cried a few times. I'm a sap and it's hard to say goodbye. I know it's not goodbye forever. Life has chapters. But, I hold onto those chapters. I get comfy with those chapters. I cuddle with them, buy them slurpees and watch movies in my night nights with those chapters. Then something changes and my life takes another turn--another chapter starts. I have a hard time getting into the next chapter, but I always love it once I'm in it.

I guess I'll title this next chapter, "Voy al cine". Mostly because that's what I remember from my spanish class in high school. I was a bit of a slacker in that class. When we were supposed to be holding conversations with our partners, my partner and I would just say, "voy al cine" every time our teacher would walk by. Then we would continue our conversations in English about some party that weekend or how lame the Birdhouse crew was. So, that's right. This next chapter will be called "Voy al cine". To all you English speakers, that's "I'm going to the movies."

New friend

Here's an update on what's going on with my new friend, ahem stranger, whom I accidentally invited to the party. His email (yes, it's a dude) as of late says, "It sounds like too much fun! Who cares about something so trivial about a forgotten "h" in an email. What can I bring to the party?"

Um. Pardon? Ex-squeeze me? Dude is either really committed to his jokes or this guy is really planning on attending. Time to stop pussy-footing around. Here's my response, "Given that I don't know you and that it was an honest mistake, I don't expect to be seeing you at the party. Sorry for any inconvenience!"

There. No room for misunderstanding. No response from him yet. And if he shows up at the party, so will the cops. Weird, right??

Signs

Instead of "You might be a redneck...." this post is about, "You might need a break..."

Today I looked over at my bookcase while on the phone with Angela. I saw some kind of foreign object on the second to the bottom shelf. At first I thought it was a shell. Inner thoughts: "Yeah, it's a shell. I don't remember that shell, though. No, it's a rock! It looks like a mushy rock. WTH? I better go touch it to see what's going on here." Upon further investigation I discovered that it was a bite of donut. A BITE OF DONUT!! We had some donuts from the garage sale on Saturday left over. I may have been eating one (or at least part of one) on Monday and gotten distracted or something. Guys, this donut may have even been from Saturday. I don't remember. I did eat part of a donut on Saturday then decided I didn't want the rest. And where do you put donuts when you don't want them? That's right. On the bookcase. Yet another possibility is that I'm sleepwalking again. Whatever the case may be I think it's safe to say that I got a lot going on here. Ha!


One of these things is not like the other.

Pretty popular

So, I leave for Honduras in a little more than two weeks. So excited and nervous!! In true fashion, we're having a party at the parents' house. So, of course it's time to send out the evites. I had to get an email for a friend's mom via text message. She sent it and all was good. Everyone had been invited. Even a stranger.

Yesterday I go to check the rsvp's, and my friend's mom has replied that she will attend. Instead of some sweet message, she has typed, "I've decided to catch a flight in from Washington state to attend your party, even thou I don't know you."

Hmmm. That's weird. She lives down the street from my parents. Why is she in Washington and pretending like she doesn't know me? If this is a joke, it's very cruel. Not her style at all! She was my second mom growing up. Odd.

Then it dawned on me. I had invited a stranger. And they were attending.

So I frantically check my text message. Yes! That's the one she gave me, what happened! Then I check her email on facebook. Whoops. The text message email was missing one letter. You see, it's not like google. "Did you mean 'movie theater'?" Email's a little finicky. You have to get all the letters right.

I totally uninvited the party crasher and sent them a breezy, non threatening email, just in case they're crazy. They do have ALL my information now, plus the party location.

Here's what I said, "Hey! Although I'm stoked that you (a stranger) are planning to attend the party, I hate for you to go through all that trouble. I got the wrong email...yadda, yadda, yadda. Take care!"

I still haven't heard back from my new friend.