The Missing Student

Last weekend I went to Tegu (the capital) with my roommates. It's only about 2 hours in a car. We ate Chinese food (nice break from beans!), I got a cell phone, we went to the mall (which is very modern!), and went out. Bottle service was about $12 per person for vodka and mixers! Gotta love Honduran prices. :) People were very dressed up like in New York...girls in short dresses, guys in jeans...I wish I had brought more going out clothes!

I survived my first week of teaching. It's been 5 days now. I have 29 students. One has yet to show up. Apparently his parents haven't paid his tuition so he's not allowed to come to school. My students are loud, rambunctious, and cute. 29 is a handful! Social studies is the hardest for me to teach. Right now, we're doing latitude and longitude. Ugh. They don't get it at all yet. Spelling is also very difficult for them. They love P.E. and art though. Yesterday we made fortune tellers. So far, I've gotten 2 pieces of candy as presents from my kids.

This past weekend I was sick with the flu. I spent all weekend sleeping and flipping between the Disney Channel and CNN, some of the only English channels. Yay for cable and Vick's cough syrup! My family's house is ready but they didn't move in because the husband had to work over the weekend. This weekend I am going to Tegu again (more to do, cooler weather) for a Honduran friend's birthday party. He's buying kegs of Honduran beer and there might be cake.

That's it from Central America! Stay tuned for the next adventure.

First Week Survival

I have now been in Honduras for 1 week! Juticalpa, where I'm living, has a population of around 40,000 but feels much smaller. The streets have names but no one her uses them so it's somewhat difficult to find stores. There is a park in the center of town with a beautiful white catholic church. Most of the stores are near this plaza. When I first arrived, I was living with a teacher whose roommate hadn't come yet while I figured out which family to live with. The houses have tile floors and several of the roads in town were paved recently. Some of the showers require you to plug them in to get hot water which is a little scary. Also, the stoves are gas but you have to light them with a match, which I hate. When it rains, usually at night (rainy season here is until March), it's much much cooler. The first day I walked to the school, we saw a dead cat in the road, black drool coming out of its mouth. The school is on a hill and it's a good 20 minute walk up the hill. Cabs are cheap (less than $1 u.s. to go anywhere in town!), which is helpful when it rains. My classroom is pretty small and dark and hot, and had a leak. I've started to decorate though so it looks much nicer. Orientation basically was going over the rules and procedures. The past two days, we've just been decorating, lesson planning, and hanging out. The food here is good. I haven't gotten sick yet. I am, however, starting to get sick of beans. Baleadas are the national snack food. They are amazing! They are flour tortillas with beans and something that is a cross between butter and sour cream. Sometimes they come with eggs, chorizo (sausage), or avocado. Otherwise, I've eaten lots of fried tortillas with beans, chorizo on a skewer, anafre (refried beans with Honduran cheese...very powdery and chorizo) that is kind of like a fondue....you eat it with tortilla chips.

I just moved a couple days ago to a new house with 2 other teachers, where I will be living until my family's house (which is being built) is done. The family will live two doors down from the teachers which will be nice. They have two daughters, one in 1st and 1 in 2nd grade. The father is in the military and only comes home on weekends. The houses are new and very modern. Theirs should be done in 2 weeks. They have hot water heaters so no plugging in water! The only thing I hate so far is that you can't flush toilet paper so the bathrooms all smell bad.

Most things are really cheap here like groceries, taxis, eating out (which is cheaper than cooking...most meals cost no more than $5 u.s. including a drink!) The currency here is limpieras and there are 19 to $1. They have coins but they are worth nothing so you end up accumulating a lot of bills. My debit card (I have Mastercard) doesn't really work here. They mostly only take Visa or the ATMs are broken. The internet cafes haven't had internet since I've been here. I'm at the school now. The electricity has gone off at least 3 times already, usually only for 10 minutes. Luckily I haven't been in the shower yet.

That's about it for now. I'm going to Tegu (the capital) this weekend, which supposedly has dance clubs that have bottle service and are hard to get into. We'll see. More updates to come. Keep in touch!

3 days until Cowboy Country!

# of days it took me to get my documents that I need to get a visa: approx. 60

# of flights I took between leaving New York and going to Honduras: 7

# of times I left my passport/laptop/important documents in a cab: 1

# of pills I had to take before I left: 5

# of pounds my bags were over the weight limit: 15

eating my last medium-sized Pinkberry (original flavor) with 3 toppings before I leave: priceless