tela!

We didn’t have classes on Mon the 25th so having a three day weekend meant I was going to travel. Lauren and I decided that we wanted to hit up the beach, as well as everyone else in our group –LOL- so we all went to Tela which was about an six hour bus ride. The weekend was amazing! I love traveling! Lauren and I got tons of snacks (since I was on vacation I wasn’t being picky about healthy foods) so we got Oreos, trail mix, M&Ms, and chips. Our Ipods were charged and we just hung out, slept and talked of course. She is so amazing! Ella me cay super bien. So there were seven girls who was in “my group” I got chosen to be team leader. Which was prob cause Lauren didn’t want to be and she and I speak the best Spanish from our group of girls. We stayed a super cute hotel in the city and I got a bed all the myself. Hehe. On Saturday we were at the beach all day which was great. The water was soooo warm! I got a lil pink but now I’m pretty much tan. Don’t worry Mom, I def used lots of sunscreen, the part that burn was my left shin which I forgot to put sun screen on, haha- im such a dork. On Sunday we went to Punta Sal (the guys came with us that day) so we got the cutest guide and all 12 of us took a boat to the island. I love boats now. I felt like Cameron Diaz in Charlie’s Angles in her cute gold baiting suit except I wasn’t driving the boat. We got a tour around the island and saw monkeys and exotic birds. Then we got to go snorkeling! It was really cool, I saw all these amazing fish. God was so creative when he made animals. We also hiked around the island and had fish for lunch which im sure were caught that morning and I got to drink coconut milk from a real coconut but to be honest it wasn’t the best. Haha. That night we hung out on the beach and enjoyed being on vacation. That night we went out for a “nice” dinner but since everything was cheap it was like 15 bucks. I got this amazing tomato, garlic shrimp and rice and beans and a pina colada. YUMMY! The restaurant was right on the beach and it was soo beautiful. You guys have to come to vacation here. My three day weekend including everything, bus ride, food, hotel and fun things was less than 100 US bucks. HOLLA!
Here are some photos from my beach weekend. ENJOY
Miss you all!
xoxox

Highlights from this past week! (Feb 18-23)

This week we were able to go around the area and see and talk to diff people. Some of the places we went were public schools- to learn about education. The hospital to learn about health. We talked to a priest to learn more about religon. Many other places but here are some thoughts.

We got to visit a public hospital on Wed and talk about health and Honduras. How being a third world country affects that way people live and are. I learned things about malnutrition (like how pregnant women do not eat veggie so they don’t get enough folic acid in their diet and they babies are born with problems due to this. Also the fact that clean, portable water is hard for many people to get. The government does not spend the money it should on health care. The rooms are over crowed and there are not enough nurses and doctors. Walking around the hospital I felt sick. It was kinda dirty and loud and it smelled like sick people, I could never do the medical thing- props to those who do. Though I did feel like I was part of an episode of ER or Grey’s Anatomy : ) Also another thing that seems important in regards to health is sex education. There are many girls getting pregnant at such young ages. Birth control seems like it is a hassle for girls and its hard to get, especially if you are poor. I know World Vision – Honduras has a program which they are going around to the campomentos and doing sex education, along with STDS which a huge!!! problem among people there but incorporating Christian values – love it!

We also visited the Congress so I posted some photos from that visit! That visit was cool-we had one of the diplomats for Honduras talk to us and she was very outgoing, outspoken, and liberal. It was interesting.

week update Feb 12-17

Highlights from this past week

1) On Thursday about ten of us went to this cute outdoor café/bar thing for a concert. The band playing was called Pez Luna and it was an acoustic set. They were amazing and I had so much fun. The weather was in the upper 70’s (aka perfect) and being outdoors was refreshing.

2) On Friday we went to Nuvua Suyapa which is about 15 min from our University but a very poor community. We spent about three hours there talking to some of the local community leaders and learning more about projects going on in the town. One guy talked about a loan program which women can get involved in. They get together with about seven other gals and can get money for a small business or to purchase a cow. They money comes from loans for the States. The gals have to put money back in “the pot” every four months or so and so they are earning interest on it too. This might not have been the clearest explanation- sorry, but it seems like a cool idea and if you want to know more about it email me.
3) We also got to walk around the town and talk with some women who had been victims of domestic violence. This was so powerful and amazing. There was a support group called Mujers Valiente (Courageous Women) which was started there by a couple about five years. The program has touched many women and it was amazing to hear their stories. These women usually do not have a partner now and have many children but still there are happy and blessed to be alive. For example, they only get clean water every 15 days and the day we were there was one of the days so everyone was washing clothes, cleaning up and filling old water bottles to store up for the next two weeks. Can you imagine that? I feel so spoiled….

4) I tried Pupusas for the first time here. SOO GOOD! (They are a type of food that I believe originated from El Salvador- google it)

5) My sister loves playing games so we played Sponge Bob Square Pants Monopoly, Uno, and Bingo this weekend. Mono was fun but she totally plays by different rules, since the game is in English and she can’t read it so like made up her own rules. It was quite interesting.

6) I brought my straighter down here and Dani loves that! So on Saturday I straightened her hair. I love having a little sister…. Okay so she is 10, not that little, but she always makes my life more interesting which I adore about her. She made me the cutest card on Valentines Day and gave me some candy.




7) And finally movies I watched in Spanish this week and weekend. We watch a lot of TV here…But its ok cause im working on my Spanish :)
- Sweetest Thing
-Ella Enchanted
-Scent of a Woman 
- Are We There Yet
- Step It Up
- A Lot Like Love


And my highlight from this week was going to the local market on Sunday and I bought carrots and peeled them making my own “baby carrots” for my lunches this week. I had gone two weeks without eating raw carrots!!!

This weekend we went on a retreat to the mountains. We left Sat morning around 10 am and cam back around 4pm on Sunday. It was about 2 hours above from Tegus. It was the Parque Nacional La Tigra. It was beautiful! We stayed at a little cabin place who are used to travelers from all over. We had a time where we got to share our stories with each other, which was a little scary! But it was good to get to know each other better and learn each other’s pet peeves. Hehe. On Sunday we went on a 2 hour hike up to a water fall. It was amazing! Here are some photos from the weekend……



Anna, me and Katie in our cabin.


What coffee beans look like before they are roasted. We tried some, they are sweet and a nice snack.


On our hike, there was this random horse who ran down the hill and was being chased by a dog.



Me and Chrissy


Me and Katie


Me and Sara (she is my “cousin” here)






Our group!

details!

I am having a blast! I really enjoy my teachers and I have met a few girls who I have totally bonded with. In my neighborhood, there are two other girls Karen and Sara who live down the street from me. All our moms are sisters, so we’re all like cousins . The food is been fine. My family always asks me if I like what were gonna have. I told them I am not a big fan of fish and I don’t like fried stuff – and they were ok with that. I LOVE THE FRUIT HERE. Everything is super fresh and yummy. I have had watermelon and cantaloupe for breakfast every day. I have really enjoyed my sister Dani (she is almost 11). After my first night here, she wrote me a letter saying how much she liked me and was excited I was living with them. My mom is awesome, in the evenings we will spend time doing homework at the dinner table or taking in the living room while the TV is on of course. Her brother (my uncle I guess) lives in the house too. He is super nice but has tons of friends, and works and a girlfriend aka is never here. I feel at ease and can be myself here which is great. I have my own room and bathroom! I love it. But the showers are on the cold side so I have decided better to take them in the morning so I don’t go to bed cold and get sick. Classes start at 8:30am and I walk to school so I end up leaving here around 8am. We have Spanish first then a development class. At 1, we all go to the cafeteria or across the street to the mall for lunch. The café sells typical food like chicken, rice and black beans. The mall has everything from typical food to Subway. There is also a market, like Vons or Ralphs but smaller and there I can buy bread, cheese and ham to make my own lunch if I want to. They also sell a lot of American things – everything from shampoo to syrup to nail polish.

PS- Out of the 20 people here, I’m prob in the top 5 students who know Spanish. There are three other students who know the grammar and stuff but there pronunciation is awful! Hahaha. Everyone loves the way I speak  Thanks Ecuador!!!

PPS- If spelling or pucuation is off, sorry. The keyboards here are all weird.

first day

I arrived here great-tired but good. There are about 20 students with me. Classes havent started (they do manana). I am enjoying my famaly a lot! I have my own room AND bathroom which is realy nice. There are 6 girls that live in my nieghborhood so we walk to school together which is like 15 min. Everything is great!

Besos!