Los Aves

Hola todos!
This morning we went to the "Parque de Aves" or bird park. It was more like a bird sanctuary, because they take in the birds that police confiscate from homes and then release them back in to the wild once they are healthy again. It may have been my favorite part of this trip thus far. Here are a few photos (don't freak out mom, none of the birds attacked us :)

La Cultura?

Hola amigos! I have a few updates for you...things have been pretty eventful in these parts the last few days!

--Thursday we had "class" in the hot springs up in the mountains. It was the epitome of awkwardness to be with our teachers who weren't swimming while we and the Grad group were, but it still beat sitting in class talking about conjugations! The waters were weird. They were VERY hot, which makes since because they are bubbling out from the core of the earth. That was a new thing for me to see. But it was also very hot outside, so it was a little uncomfortable to be in the water. The mountain area was beautiful though, so we're all glad that we went!

--On Friday morning the three of us went back up to the Kindergarten to help out the teachers. It was Sam and Sarah's last day (I will continue to go next week) and we had been hearing that the "Reina de los flores" (Queen of flowers) was happening at the kindergarten Friday afternoon. No one had really explained what that was, but we knew it was going to happen. What we didn't know, was that school was canceled to prepare for it. So when we got there, there where a handful of little girls hanging around but the place was a ghost town compared to the usual 120 kindergartners (no exaggeration). Instead of teaching the teachers had us help with decorations. I pulled out my DI skills and expertly covered a gigantic cardboard crown thing with foil while playing 20 questions with the teacher in Spanish.
Have the students been practicing a lot? No (accompanied with a weird look)
Is the program a story? No, it's an event.
Is the event a song? No, it's an event.
Are all the kids in it? No, just three.
That's where I gave up. She listed the three for me, they were all girls. I later found out that each class (there are 4 kindergartens) had a few girls participating to make a total of 14.
Later, outside, we decorated a stage with flowers and such (mushrooms?) and then a dress rehearsal began. One of the teachers hopped up on stage and began to model walk across it. There was another girl standing next to me watching, so I finished my game of twenty questions with her, "is this a competition between the girls?" "sî".
So...we were at a beauty pageant. Held at a public school. For Five-year-olds. It was a quality cultural experience.
There were 2 rounds, sportswear (like, a sport. i.e. jockey, tennis player, etc.) and evening wear. There was a panel of community judges and a cheesy MC to tell us what color the dresses were. There were sashes and prizes and an excess of makeup and hoop skirts. There was 90s english club music (including, but not limited to "if you think I'm sexy and you want my body, come on baby let me know") There was a crowd seated in lawn chairs in knee high grass. It was straight off a TLC special.
Each little girl got a chance to speak into a microphone. They each said, with very slight variations, "Muy buenas tardes qerrido público Me llamo _____ y yo tengo cinco añitos. Yo pudeo bailar y cantar. Estoy muy emocionada para estar en este evento. Muchas gracias." (Good afternoon dear public. My name is (first name, middle name, second middle name, last name) and I am five little years old. I can sing and dance. I am very excited to be in this event. Thank you.) Now read that back to your self in a little girl voice yelling into a microphone a various speeds trying to be heard over the club music. It was crazy crazy crazy.


--Okay, moving on. Today the three of us went to Guatemala with a guide from the school (if I told you that I was going to be on the border of Nicaragua, I was wrong. This should not surprise you. We're on the border of Guatemala.) The guide's name was Tito and he was also the Host Father to Lochie and Meredith, the married couple of the Grad Student group (they left this morning...it was a bummer). EVERYone LOVES Tito. Apparently, he's going to run for Mayor next election. He also knows everyone and is very well respected. Unfortunately, we found that we did not really enjoy Tito's company so much. That made things in Guatemala a little awkward, but it was still interesting to go and see a different country. We walked through a market and went to Mass at a famous Catholic church (the church with the Cristo Negro--black Christ--if you happen to know what that is. It's just a famous iconic statue) We also at some chicken at a KFC equivalent that Tito loves and drove around various other parts of Guatemala. At one point, we ended up a some kind of a mall, which was random but kind of nice. They had a cajun restaurant there. Bizarre. I'll try to post a picture bellow.... Their sign said, in Spanish, "cooking the real flavors of Louisiana in Guatemala" Ha.

--Tomorrow we are off to the bird park in the morning and hopefully church tomorrow night. Then we have a final week of classes/working in the kindergarten for me before we head back! It's gone really fast, but I think we are all a little ready to be back home.

Las Ruinas

These are some of the pictures of the ruins. Pretty crazy stuff. Unfortunately, I can't really see the pictures until they are on the internet, so I can't label them for you, sorry! But they are definitely all Mayan Ruins. Except for the bird--that's a macaw.

Real Quick...

This is going to be a three minute update because that's how long I have before supper.

--Stuff with my teacher has gotten a little better...today she told me that I am "at the level where conversation is more useful than grammar instruction". Woohoo!

--Tomorrow the three of us, the three other students, and the three teacher are going to the "aguas terminales"...or hot springs tomorrow. We are going to "have class" while swimming in a mountain. Ha!

--I got a little sick yesterday, but I am totally fine today (ahem, parents)

--Next week it will just be me working at the Kindergarten. Sam wants to be able to go to Yoga in the mornings, and the teacher of the class that Sarah was in is a little strange. I'm a little nervous about finding my way back alone, but I can always just get a taxi if I feel lost!

That's all for now!

A quick note for mom and dad....I can always get your texts, but it hasn't been working when I try to text you back lately...sorry! You texts are cheap though, and I will just try to answer your questions here. Oh, speaking of which, I only have like 3 bug bits, so I'm fine. They other girls are like covered though, so it's weird that I'm not. And, yes, I think it was the food that made me sick. I ate some rice dish at the kindergarten (moms take turn cooking "lunch" for the kids) and it probably wasn't made with purified water. Sometimes it's worth being a little sick over being a lot rude. Love you guys! (how are the dogs? :)

Los Actualizaciones

Hola! Some quick updates for you all (yall, vosotros, ustedes) because I hear I have some worrying family members!

--We went to the ruins yesterday. How Cool! I had no idea how much cooler it would be than I thought it was (does that sentence make sense? I feel like my English is slacking with all this Spanish) The ruins were really interesting and old (obviously) but there were also a little sad...just very pagan. But an awesome learning opportunity. Pictures to come!

--We have gotten to spend a little time with the other group of three students that are currently here. They are lots of fun! They leave on Friday though, and we are a little sad.

--School has been...frustrating. I am having a hard time relating to my teacher and I was expecting more conversation and less skill and drill. The other student who has her in the mornings has the same frustrations though, so that makes me feel like it's not me. The other student is pretty much fluent too, so....it's just a bummer for us both. And I DO benefit from the skill and drill, and I have plenty of other opportunities for conversation. It is what it is. On the bright side...I have started to roll my "rr"s a little bit if I don't think about it! Five years later, woohoo!

--This morning we started working at a kindergarten (Jardín de niños--ha!) It was a ton of fun! I really enjoyed seeing the differences and similarities between kindergarten here and kindergarten in the states. The kids were fun but a little out of control--there are 4 kindergarten classrooms in this same building, with 1 teacher each, and 27 kids in each classroom. Woah. That's like every early childhood person's nightmare. But the teacher was doing a great job!

--On Saturday the three of us went to a hotel outside of town to use their pool. It was SO nice to take some time to cool off, and we had to whole pool to ourselves! It was a real treat :)

--Food! The food has been really awesome :) The house mother that Sam and I are staying with is so wonderful about cooking things that we like (unfortunately, Sarah is has more of a challenge with this). Today for lunch we had fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and broccoli and carrots. She loves to serve vegetables. Supper is always some form of egg, beans, and tortilla, prepared in various ways. That is the traditional meal in Honduras...and like most of Latin America. She also likes to fix us plantains. Those I don't like so much. I am used to like baked or fried plantains--like potato chips, but these are more mushy. I usually try to get them out of the way first, but she then she kindly reminds me that the "platano es un postre"--a dessert. Yuck. But the other day she set a bag of croutons on the table and fed them to us like chips! That just happens to be one of my weird habits :)
On a different note, the food culture is very different that I imagined it would be. People are more..free with their food. For example, in the school this morning they served a meal, and the kids ate some of it, and then really enjoyed throwing the rest of it around the playground. I expected them to have to culture of "eat everything, throw nothing away" It's just a little different.

--Last night (well, at like 4) we lost electricity. My house madre tells Sam and I never to leave at night without a flashlight because when the electricity is out it is unbelievably dark here. So needless to say, I never leave without my flashlight. Last night at like 8, my flashlight broke :(. The three of us were downtown when it broke, and had to feel our way back to Sarah's house...which was quite the task with the sidewalks here. Not fun. We made it though. I was SO glad that I had brought some extra batteries for that thing...but quickly found out that it is the light bulb that is broken, not the batteries. Time to buy a new one! And with absolutely no light, we had a wonderful opportunity to do some stargazing.

--there's probably a lot that I am forgetting. Sorry about that. Sounds like Sam wants to go to an internet café tonight to upload pictures onto her Blog. (She is very insistent about having pictures) so I will probably do the same.
Hasta Pronto! Less than two weeks left :)

El Hydrogen Peroxide

Today the three of us went horseback ridding in the mountains. The school set us up with a wonderful (chatty, chatty, chatty) guide who has been doing this forever. My horse was named Mariposa (butterfly) and was my typical headstrong horse. (Family, you can go ahead and picture our Colorado adventure except shorter and in Spanish.) We had a good time and really enjoyed the views.
When we were almost back, we did have a little mishap that ended with Sam on the ground and me itching to whip out my hydrogen peroxide.
Our guide guy wanted to take us through a short cut and so was yelling out directions (in Spanish) and we got a little confused. Sam and her horse went down a little footpath that apparently our guide didn’t want them on. The foot path was very close to the highway like thing that we were supposed to be walking on. While trying to turn her horse around on the narrow footpath to get back onto the highway, Sam’s horse found a quicker way. Rather than turning around, the horse decided to walk under on of those green metal highway signs. Needless to say, Sam did not fit under the sign. Instead, Sam crashed into it, broke it loose of it’s bolts (Praise the Lord for quality Honduran road sign construction), and then some how fell off the horse and onto the ground after taking no less than two metallic smacks to the face. Thankfully, she walked away (uh, got back on the horse) with just two small scrapes and only a tiny bit of blood--both on her arms. ¡Qué miraculoso! Our guide, however, fared much worse. He couldn’t stop telling us, in RAPID Spanish, how embarrassed and sorry he was, how this had never happened before, how badly it had scared him, etc. He has offered to take us on another ride on Saturday for free, but I think we’ve had enough horses for this trip :)
Now if you’re really looking for a laugh, you should picture the three of us trying to retell it in Spanish and Pantomime--not an easy task!
Sam has been sufficiently doused in Hydrogen Peroxide and bandaged up, and we are about to have our fist lunch out at “Llama del Bosque”!

Also, I got to talk to our school director woman yesterday about working. She has us set up to help at what is either an elementary school or just a kindergarten during the mornings for the next two weeks. I am very excited because as much fun as we have been having, things had started to feel a little too vacation-y for me!

Las Fotos!

Okay, a few quick recaps :)
That last picture is of the electrical wiring. Electricity goes out a few times a day for either a few minutes or a few hours. When there is no electricity, there is no water. Sometimes, when there is electricity, there is still no water (as in running water, we always have bottled water because we can't drink from the tap anyway). The electricity isn't that big of a deal, but it also means no ceiling fan (yeah Dad, I have a ceiling fan!) so that can be a bummer.

Also in the pictures are some of the pottery and Mayan sculptures that are in a museum here in town. We plan on going to the real ruins this weekend!

Today we took at motor taxi (a three wheel-ed thing that's open to the air. There are over 100 of the taxis in this itty bitty town. They're EVERYwhere!) up to this building at the top of the city--remember we're kind of up on a mountain. We're not entirely sure what the building was, but from talking with our host madre, I think it was some kind of military watch tower or maybe a jail? Now, it is used for weddings! It was beautiful and had a great view!

We started real school on Monday...and it's been interesting thus far. It's frustrating to be able to communicate and have conversations successfully OUTside of school, but then go INside and feel like I don't know any spanish just because all of my mistakes are brought to my attention...which is what I want...but it's frustrating. Hopefully, I'll get into the swing of school stuff soon!

That's all for now!






Dad--still no luck on the videos...sorry. I feel like there is a way for me to get them on here, but I haven't been able to figure it out. Also, tell mom that she can reach this blog from her blackberry if she wants to see/show Mamaw the pictures. Love you!

Los Animales

Most of you probably know just how well I handle bugs.  There are lots of bugs here.  Sarah currently has 27 large, red bug bites.  Praise the Lord, I am yet to be actually bitten, but I have certainly had a few experiences with bugs thus far.  And it is only day two.

The first night we got here, I was completely impressed at how clean my room was.  No bugs anywhere.  Even when I shined my flashlight under my bed (there were no monsters, either :)  After it got dark though, and I turned on my lamp (conveniently located six inches from my bed) there WERE BUGS.  Little black wasp-looking things. I killed nine of them before finally asking my host mother what was up.  My biggest issue was that for the life of me, I had no idea where they were coming from.  She and her husband explained to me that they were called “los animales” and that they don’t hurt people, that they only come out in the winter to look for light.  First, they look like they hurt people, they look like they could hurt a lot.  Second, “los animales” translates to “the animals” which only makes them seem bigger and scarier.  Third, this is winter?!  She gave me some spray that did a good job taking care of los animales and I went to sleep.

Then last night, I come in to my room after church to find a couple of the animals floating around, which I took care of with an impressively level head.  A few minutes later I got ready to take a shower, and then walked into my bathroom to a HUGE surprise on my floor.  I’m still not entirely sure what it was.  My best guess is that is was a cockroach, but it looked nothing like a Haitian cockroach (smaller, thankfully).  It was probably four inches long, had big wings, and a lot of long legs.  It was gross.  It was stuck on it’s back, so at first I thought it was dead.  No dice.  It took me three hits with my heftiest shoe to kill that thing.  By then, I was so grossed out that I had to get Sam to put it in the trash can for me.  She did a wonderful job.  Sam also willingly sat on my bed while I showered lest the big guy’s friends had decided to stage an attack.

Finally I crawled into bed, into my sheet-pocket like thing (to provide “protection” from the bugs).  While I was laying in bed, un animale crawled OUT of my sheet pocket and onto my neck.  That was pleasant.   

In other news, we have been having a wonderful time (especially in the day light, when the bugs aren’t as bad).  Yesterday afternoon we met the three other students that are currently at the school with us.  Two graduate students (and one of the girl’s husband) are here to learn some spanish before going to another part of Honduras to do research for the CDC.  While the married couple settled in, the other girl and the three of us did some exploring around the city, ending at a wonderful ice cream store.  Everyone says that the city is completely safe, and that we should have no problem walking around by ourselves.  So far, they’ve been right!  We’re being careful, but it does feel very safe.  Also the town is so small that everyone knows everyone else, which makes asking directions to “La Casa de Lorena” (Lorena’s house--our host mother) very easy.  It’s also a tourist town in disguise so there are “tourist police” all over the place, which makes it even safer.

After supper Sarah, Sam, and I went to church with one of the girls that Sarah lives with.  It was loud and difficult to understand, but I enjoyed it.  

This morning we got up to some panqueques (pancakes!) and more coffee.  Sam and I walked to meet Sarah and the three of us went to the bank to change money and then to a small café to drink more coffee and to play Rummy.  

We’re back in the house now for a siesta after lunch (Honduran Guacmole, which was more like an egg and fresh avocado salad, beans, and tortillas) and then we have to actually start school this afternoon.  We’ll take a test to determine what level we’re at, and then they’ll place us with a tutor and we’ll get started!  I think they want us to spend the first week just learning Spanish before they set us up with some kind of service.  So this week we have the mornings off the play cards and drink coffee (and eventually do homework) and class in the afternoons.  Next week we’ll start class in the mornings theoretically so that we can work and minister in the afternoons...but we’re still figuring stuff out as we go, so we don’t really know yet!

In sum, all is well in Copán Ruinas (except maybe the bugs) and I promise my next blog won’t be so ridiculously long!

Clara 

Hola!

Well we finally made it all the way into Honduras last night!  It is BEAUTIFUL.  And hot...but that part was expected.
The flights all went really well and I had the opportunity to warm up my spanish with my chatty and patient neighbor on the airplane.  He assured me that it would be no problem to find the mysterious and generic "Miguel" after we landed.  I didn't really believe that it would be THAT easy, but it was.  We found Miguel holding a sign that said "Sarah, Samantha, y Carol", which was close enough for us!
Miguel turned out to speak perfect English, drive a air conditioned van, and doubled as a tour guide!  We had a lovely 4 hour drive through Honduras and eventually up a mountain (when we all started feeling a little queasy).  But it sure was pretty!
We also drove through a lot of very poor communities, which is always hard to see.  I was surprised again by how similar poverty looks in different countries.  One difference I noticed as a lot of houses made of some kind of sod-like material in addition to the many corrugated metal siding that I think it pretty typical.  Miguel told us that while poverty is obviously a problem in Honduras, because of the climate even very poor people are able to provide food for themselves, and even raise enough chickens to have meat often, which is awesome.  He said that they don't have wealth, but that they are happy, which is true of so many people :)
In other news, we arrived in our town (Copán Ruinas) at about 6 and met up with Kathy, the woman who runs the school.  She got us set up with out host families and we were off!
Sarah is staying with a large family literally right next to the school.  Sam and I are together about a five minute walk up and down some pretty impressive hills.
Our host family is pretty small, we really only see the mother, but she is great.  She has been hosting students from this school for almost 20 years!  She is very patient with our Spanish and is working very hard to figure out the kinds of foods that we like and don't like.  So far we have had scrambled eggs, hot dogs, beans, platones, some kind of noodle dish, broccoli, and cucumbers.  And coffee!  The street we live on is actually called coffee street, which is kind of neat :)
Sam and I have two separate rooms right next door to each other.  We have our own bathrooms (with hot water!  Who would have guessed?), a dresser, and a bed.  I'll try to get some pictures posted of it in the near future!
This morning we tried to go to church with one of the young girls that Sarah lives with, but we were not very successful.  We arrived at church at 9:01 this morning and were the only ones.  The girl told us that we were a little early (church starts at 9).  So we waited about half and hour for Honduran time to catch up with us, but to no avail.  Apparently, the pastor was in Guatemala...?  We're going to go back tonight to see if we can have more luck!
I think that's about all I have for now.  Sorry for the disorganization...but that's just going to be a reality of this :)  I tried to upload some of the video things that I have gotten, but no dice.  I think it might be asking a little too much of my internet connection.  I'll try again later.

Hasta Luego!  Check Sam's blog for more...she's putting more effort into this than I am :)  

Non-Blog

I am not a blogger.  I love reading blogs, but never, ever, planned on becoming a blogger myself.  So, despite the URL, this will not be a blog.  Instead, this will be a way for me to easily update the lot of you while I am in Honduras so that you will know what's going on and that I am still alive! (That was a joke, mom :)  I don't know how reliable internet will be, but hopefully I will be able to share some happenings, pictures, videos, and even some Spanish with you here!

For Blog Newbies:
You can "follow" this by clicking the gray "follow" box on the left.  You'll have to create an account with Blogger, but it's really just a username.  Theoretically, they will send you an email or something every time something new is posted if that's what you want!

I leave a week from today!  Talk to you then!