More random thoughts on Honduras.....

Things I still haven't gotten used to (maybe never will) in Honduras:

1) The gigantic and loud trucks and buses that plow through our street all hours of the day, usually at night and early mornings. Especially since my room faces the street, it sounds as if they're headed straight into my bedroom! Many of these trucks also conveniently have loudspeakers attached to them, blasting at ear-piercing octaves, various announcements, most of which you can't even hear because they speak too fast and their loud voices get all jumbled together. It reminds me of the announcers you'd hear at a racetrack, except for it's right in front of my house! We also have a speed bump literally in front of my window, so all the cars and huge trucks (which are many) that don't slow down in time, either step on the breaks really fast so it makes that annoying screeching sound, or they don't slow down at all, so they completely scrape the bottom of the car, which makes an equally lovely sound!

2) The extremely unpredictable weather. Sara and I, twice just this weekend, were at the beach laying in the warm sand with the sun shining down on us, with nothing but clear skies above. Then a second later, dark clouds roll in and with it comes strong wind which blows sand everywhere, and it begins to rain. Or other times (and this happens a lot) we'll be riding our bikes home, and then all of a sudden it will start pouring, and I mean POURING rain, and it always happens when we're quite far from home, so we always end up completely soaked, laughing out of shock the entire time!

3) HAND WASHING CLOTHES!!!! I absolutely dread it! Half the time I don't ever feel like I'm getting anything clean, more like I'm just swishing around my dirty clothes, in soapy dirty water. Not to mention how backbreaking this entire process is, hunching over in our shower and scrubbing my clothes the best I can. It takes me about an hour to do one small load of clothes! Oh, and washing our WHITE uniform shirts is special treat!

Then I get to hang dry them, which always means nice crispy, crunchy, hard clothes!4) The fact that no matter how many times I sweep my room or shake out my sheets there is ALWAYS sand and dust in my room, in my bed, and just about everywhere in the house.

5) The random moments when we have no water or electricity. At first we thought the electricity was only turned off during hard rain or storms, but we were quickly proven wrong! And the water has been turned off almost every afternoon, sometimes not turning on again until the morning.


Things that make me happy to be living in Honduras:

1) I know it sounds so cliche, but it really does make me extremely thankful for all the conveniences I have in the US that I so easily take for granted. It always takes me back when I realize how little people can have here, and how simply they can live their lives, and they are completely happy.

2) How friendly and nice everyone is here.

3) How gorgeous and unspoiled the beaches and countryside are. In practically every direction I look, I can either see white sand beaches and blue (and very warm) water, or bright green trees and hills.

4) The kids in my class. How welcoming they and their families are and how happy they are to have us here. Being able to teach them all day, and then when I'm not at school, hearing them, or their families call out "Ms. Dela Cruz" with smiling faces and waving, while I'm in town or biking around. It makes it nice to live and work in such a small town, brings it a step closer to actually feeling like home, instead of a random foreign place I'm visiting for 10 months.

5) About 2 weeks ago Sara and I started to volunteer at a day care in town. All of the kids come from very low income families and range from little babies to toddlers. We go usually twice a week before work. We love playing and interacting with the kids there, it's nice to get in some time with younger kids. Also, it's nice to be able to help out the other adults that work there, who are all very welcoming and thankful of the time we spend there. These kids are the most adorable kids you can imagine, and from the moment Sara and I walked in on the first day, they were all over us, touching and hugging us, and asking us questions all while pulling us in different directions.

6) We have a banana tree in our backyard! Yes, I know it's really random, but we were so excited to find a gigantic cluster of ripe yellow bananas, and all for us to enjoy, for free! To make things better, they weren't just normal bananas, they were a special kind called "manzana bananas." They were short and fat in shape and were deliciously not too sweet. We indulged in banana pancakes, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and an average of 3-4 whole bananas each per day! It was great! Where else would you be able to cut down and eat bananas from your very own backyard!

7) Cold bucket showers. This was of course on the"things I didn't like about Honduras" list at first, but after realizing how incredibly hot and humid it is here, I've grown to like them and even look forward to them. It's the only real time during the day when I get to cool off (besides going in the ocean of course)!

8) Not having any familiar American fast food restaurants, or anything American and familiar for that matter within an hour from Tela. Sometimes it does make me homesick, but more times than not, it's really nice not to ever see a Starbucks or McDonald's. It's hard to believe that in two months I haven't had a bite of fast food! Yay me!!