We arrived in Honduras in the middle of the rainy season, so the first thing I regret is not buying waterproof hiking boots. Everyone I talked to before hand said that it will be so hot that I will only wear my sandals. That is not true. Coming from Charleston, this is cold. It is usually in the 60's and sunny in the morning, raining in the afternoon and night. It is also very mountainous, so it is always cold at night, but very beautiful. I have been trying to run every other morning before class. There is so much less oxygen here than in Charleston that it hurts a lot to breathe, so I don't even try to run every day. But usually a few people in the group are willing to play some soccer or basketball after classes, or go for walks.
My host mother, Gimena, also said she would like to go for walks, maybe every Sunday afternoon if it is not raining too hard. She is 21 years old, with two children. Marcela will be 3 in August and Andres is about 1 and a half. Gimena's mother and 15 year old brother Samuel live right near by so they are over a lot. I love when Samuel comes over because he talks to me the most, which helps my Spanish. He is very interested in my music and pictures and will listen to stories and help me with homework. If I can figure out how to put up pictures and videos, I could add a video of him break dancing! He is pretty good and loves to play American music, his favorite song seems to be Walk It Out! I also got him hooked on Hootie and the Blowfish, so I am constantly explaining what those lyrics mean in spanish!
Last Sunday was the first birthday of a group member. Chris turned 24 so I got poster board from the PC office and made him a giant card that everyone signed as a surprise. We also surprised him with a cake and going out to pizza in a little town close by where we all live. Before we had that birthday celebration, we went zip-lining in the canopy of the mountains! It was my first time zip-lining and it was so fun! We were way in the tops of the trees and had great views of the mountains. That was a very fun day. Tomorrow we have plans to go see Harry Potter (in English!) and go to WalMart! We are not allowed to travel outside of our little town alone, so we convinced the PC staff members to get permission to come pick us up, drive us the hour into the capital city, watch the movie with us, and bring us home! We are all excited to go to Walmart simply for the American experience. I for one am going to buy all the chocolate in the store; I am already known in the group as the chocoholic.
Then Sunday should be laundry day. Laundry is interesting... We have to do it by hand of course, using the water in the pila outside. So there is a giant cement basin called a pila that collects water, and it has a slab of concrete on the side with a drain to the ground where we wash dishes and clothes. I have only done laundry once, but it definitely gives my arm a work out. Showering is also an experience. We collect water in big barrels and bring them inside to the bathroom, which has a hole in the concrete floor for the water to drain in. We then use a smaller bucket to pour water on ourselves. That is showering. It is freezing cold, but everyone else in my group said I should heat water on the stove first and mix it, so I am going to start doing that. I got a cold last week, and I honestly think it is from pouring freezing water over my head. And the toilets don't have a flush, so we have to fill a bucket and aim just right in the toilet in order for it to flush. Quite an adventure! But I came to the country with no expectations, so this is all fine with me! I'm having a great time so far!
We are broken up into different levels for Spanish classes, and seeing as I don't know much Spanish, I am in the lowest group (but not the lowest level!) They have Novice, Intermediate, Advanced and Superior. Then in each of those levels is Low, Mid, and High. I am Novice-High with two other guys, and we are learning fast! We are not allowed to speak English in the class, and honestly, it is a ton of fun. Spanish classes are the best part of my week. We have them Mon-Thurs 8am-12pm. Then we take an hour break for lunch, go home and eat. Then we all return to the center of town to have technical classes, like safety and security. There are 15 people in my group and we are all together for the afternoon part. Then on Fridays the staff picks us up and drives us into the capital city Tegucigalpa where PC Headquarters is located, and we have other technical classes and guest speakers all day here. That is why I am only able to access internet on Fridays when I am at the office, because I have no internet in my house. We will only be living with these families for the first 3 months of training, until September 22. Then we move out to our real location with a new family for the next two years. They say we can buy a modem with an internet plan, but it is not worth doing that right now, since the best internet in this location might not be the best internet in our next location. Too expensive to be buying different modems.
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