wow. its october!

Some days it feels like I have been away from home for a really long time...then other days (like today) I stop to reflect and realize A) its already Oct. 7! and B) I have been 'away' for almost 8 weeks....that's crazy! 8 weeks ago I did not know anything about what my new home would look like, who I would meet at work, and how I would get around. It's crazy to think that 8 weeks ago there are so many cool people that weren't in my life :) Each day I am more and more thankful for the way God has been answering so many of my prayers, and the hundreds of prayers that so many other people have offered on my behalf. I am really at peace about living and working in this little spot God had in mind for me. Not everything is perfect...there is good and bad stuff...but I am really content with where I am at the moment--and for me, thats a rare, but cool feeling.

Some times I feel like I don't have anything to blog about because I haven't been doing anything majorly interesting, or gone on many adventures. But--most days I'm glad there is nothing too earth-shattering to report...that's just fine with me!

Over the weekend my family took me out for dinner, which is the first we've done that since I've been here. We went to Pupusas Miraflores which was fun and delicious. Pupusas are really from El Salvador, but Hondurans like them too. A little hard to describe, but they are kind of like round pita bread filled with cheesy goodness. You should all come and try them :)

Also in family life, my 13 year old brother does not like to study! (Shocking, I know!). They all give him a pretty rough time because he's always into sports and never wants to do homework. Now that I am here, they have given me the great privilege of being his English tutor. He really hates English...and really doesn't know much...so...its a struggle. Also--I do not feel called to be a teacher. Thankfully, I've had enough Spanish grammar training that I can kind of convert it into English lessons. So, last night I spent a couple hours with him, crafting fill in the blank sentences and examples for him to practice. [To all my Messiah education friends, I think you would be proud of me]. I have another friend who wants English help too, so I might just borrow Axel's notes and teach her the same stuff.
*By the way...who the heck uses the passive voice in English? I was always taught to avoid that like the plague when writing essays...apparently teenagers learning a 2nd language need to understand this unfortunate grammatical construction. Just in case you cared.


Here are some photos of the family:

me and my host sister, Kati 

Josue & Axel

The only other news that I have right now is Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving! Since there is one other gringo in my neighborhood who is from the Great White North, his wife is throwing us a little Canadian Thanksgiving party :) I think we might even have turkey. I'm pretty stoked.

Oh, and in parting...Today is October 7. One month away from November 7. This should be plenty of time for a package to make it to my hot little hands ;) If you don't know why November 7th is important...well... check facebook.

settling in

hello blog-reading friends!
It's been a little while since I posted, so I'll try my best to summarize of of the happenings in my life here...

• I'll start with the most recent thing...last night I went with some friends and coworkers to a concert at the national theatre. It was a Taiwanese jazz ensemble...and best of all, it was free! It was really cool, and a very weird cultural mixture, as we were enjoying Taiwanese music, played by a group of people from Belgium, Japan & Taiwan, in a theatre in Honduras, with friends from Honduras, England, Denmark and the US :) But its things like this that make me love getting out and exploring the world
• work life... is good. I am getting to know people better each day, and have fun with my coworkers, as they are learning my sense of humor and know that I am not as serious as I look (i know, i can look serious, go figure!). I have a more clearly defined list of tasks, but I'm just not sure where to start tackling my biggest project. I am excited to help start a business training school, I just feel very inadequate for the job most days. So, praying for wisdom and grace with all of that. They also keep joking that I will have 2 years to do all of this (as the girl before me stayed 2 years) which is always a fun conversation when I don't know what to say!
• My family is doing well. We had lots of fun staying up late the other night and listening to music together while our youngest brother was demonstrating his dance moves for us.  This week is my host mom's birthday (thurs) so there will likely be some extended family festivities on Thursday night. Should be fun.
• On Friday I went to meet my fellow SALTer, Elise, for coffee after work. It was my first solo bus ride, and it went very smoothly. I was very glad for that. Little by little, I'm learning my way around.
• On Monday's we have an office meeting at work, and usually it's very boisterous, overwhelming, and a lot goes over my head. This week, I think I understood about 80-85% of what was going on. (Note: this is a big improvement. You should be happy for me.). Some days are better spanish days than others...but I'm learning all the time.

That's about all from here. I am feeling a bit under the weather today, so you can pray that that would take care of itself. I keep the fruit man across the street in business by buying oranges almost everday...for my health, you know :)
Hope all is well wherever you are.
Love and prayers
C

family fun...

So most of my weekend was spent at my house, hanging out with the family. We have a lot of fun together, as I make ridiculous mistakes in Spanish, then they try to learn English from movies on TV, and we all get frustrated with the 3 year old terror who rules the house.

For one thing, last week, some supermarket thought it would be a good idea to give live chicks to small children...probably in honor of "dia de los niños" or children's day. So, Joshua brought home 2 chicks to live in our house. Not only are they continually chirping and jumping out of their box, but one looks like its dying, and is whimpering in the corner. On day 2 of the chicken adventure, chicken little (with a gimpy foot) looked about dead, while chicken grande looked like his fuzz was starting to be shed for real feathers. By day 3, chicken little was running around like he'd been given a new lease on life. Much to our surprise, by day 4, chicken grande was found dead in the box! No one saw that coming...I suggested fried chicken for lunch, but no one made that happen.


So, we still have chicken little running around (Joshua wont name him...he just calls him pollito, which literally means little chicken). This thing chirps at 6am...all through the day...gets out of his box to join us in the living room when we are all watching TV...pecks your toes, crawls up my host mom's pant-leg...really, an endless bundle of joy and entertainment. I asked when they thought he would die...I guess they are catching on that I don't like that it wakes me up every morning with its pitiful cries for attention :)

Our other family fun was our weekend field trip to the mall multiplaza. I hadn't been there yet, and they were very excited for me to see their mall. It was rather impressive, and we had fun doing some shopping and eating Little Caesar's pizza together. Being that I live with 2 guys who can eat you out of house and home, one pizza was not sufficient. They also ordered Burger King combos and ice cream cones...but we had a good time getting out of the house and enjoying some time in the land of materialism together.

Sunday nights are a pretty big deal in my house too. Their favorite show, La Academia, is on and starting this week "Bailando por un sueño." The first is like Mexico's version of American Idol, except everyone is in a music school, so they dont go through the ridiculous audition process that Americans love to hate. The second show is Dancing with the Stars, Honduras-style. The catch is, La Academia only comes in clear on one tv in Kati's bedroom...so, we all pile in there on the bunk beds to watch together. All 6 of us, actually. Its quite cozy, and very entertaining to watch the boys sing along to all the songs, and decide which girls are the hottest and therefore deserve to stay another week ;)

In other news, the Colts were on ESPN for Sunday Night football...and being the great country that it is, the game is available in Honduras! It was pretty exciting. Especially cuz Peyton beat the pants off of his little brother, Eli. I am also trying to teach Josue, my host brother more about american football. He is a pretty big sports nut, so we frequently bond over our plates of bean and tortillas while watching ESPN. Oh, I should also mention hes a Yankees fan. I've tried to change his mind, but he likes them a lot.

There is so much more I could tell you about my time here...how much I'm learning about cultural differences and immigration issues and family dynamics...but maybe i'll save that for another more serious post ;) Oh, and I'll also try to get more photos of the family, too.

dia de independencia

September 15 is Independence Day in Honduras...pretty much everything was shut down on Wednesday for the parades, and the students (at least in my house) don't have school til Monday. Since I have been here in Nueva Suyapa, various high school 'marching bands' have been preparing for the festivities. It was not uncommon to hear the drum core practicing at 6am and continuing on and off until 5:30 or 6 pm! Lets just say I am glad that part is over :)

My job is part of MCM, which operates several different ministries in Nueva Suyapa. Our offices are housed in the Christian school that is run by MCM. On Tuesday, the school (El Verbo) had their own independence day parade down 'main street.' We were supposed to gather at 7am...of course, things did not get rolling til about 8:15...and the parade route, which I calculate to be about 1.5 miles uphill--took 2 hours and 30 minutes. It was pretty extensive. Thankfully, one of my coworkers (who I can barely understand) was driving a truck full of preschoolers in their costumes, so I tagged along in the cab :)

Since the office was closed Wednesday for the holiday, my host brother, Axel, offered to go with me to the big parade in Tegucigalpa. Everyone else in the family wanted to sleep in and watch on TV (I wasn't smart enough to know this was a good plan!). We left at 6:45 to get downtown...The parade was not over til 12:30!
It was a lot of walking and standing, but the general mayhem of the parade was entertaining.

The few pictures (above) are from the school parade in Nueva Suyapa...it isn't usually a good idea to go anywhere with valuables, so I left my camera at home for the big parade.

Later in the day, we went to a birthday party for my family's cousin. She was turning six, and all the cousins, from age 2 to 23 were pretty involved in the pinata.

This is a picture of me with with my host mom Lucia, and her youngest son, Axel.



That's about all from here. Have a good weekend, wherever you may be :)

the honduran bachelorette...

yes, apparently I was not aware of this at the time, but instead of signing up for the SALT program, I really was signed up for a reality TV show called "Soltera Catracha"...which basically means, the bachelorette of Honduras.

While often times in the US we are defined by our work, it is much different in Honduras. Your value and association comes from your family and your marital status....lucky for me--I'm single! This means there is an unending stream of willing matchmakers.

Take my first visit to church on Wednesday evening...
The pastor noticed there was a new visitor among the flock. So of course, she had to be introduced.

My host mom stood up and told everyone who I was and what I would be doing, and that I was staying for 10 months. The congregation gave me a round of applause. Then the pastor asked "does she speak Spanish?"..."of course!" answered my host mother, happily. I started sinking lower in my seat, hoping I would not be called upon to share a sermon. Then the pastor asks me directly "Soltera o casada?" ...which means single or married. So of course, I answer "soltera"...This also receives a slight round of applause. "well, do you have a boyfriend in the United States?" he asks. "No," I respond, turning a few shades of red. (This time, quite a rousing round of applause from the church).

"Well, there are many men in Honduras, in fact many right here in this church. Don't worry, we can have you married before you leave." Then--he called on special men or "hermanos" in the church to give me a "warm welcome"...I did not have to wonder if they were single.

This is only one of several matchmaking stories, though assuredly the most public. And this is only week 1!

in Nueva Suyapa

I am finally in my home in Nueva Suyapa...my neighborhood or "colonia" of Tegucigalpa for the next year-ish.
After a great MCC Honduras retreat this past weekend, 7 of us made the journey to Teguc. 3 of us from the SALT and YAMEN programs will be in various parts of the city, living and working.

My host family was SO incredibly excited to meet me and have me come on Sunday. They have been waiting for awhile to know who I am...I can only hope that I don't disappoint them :) They have hosted some Americans before, and the 3 year old grandson likes to play with the feet of the the gringos. He was very shy at first, but they other evening he crept into my room while I was on the phone and started imitating everything I did and then was playing with my feet....I guess this means I have been accepted!!

Other family members are my host mom, Lucia; oldest son Josue (22), daughter Kati (19 who is quickly becoming a fun friend) and younger son Axel (13). With the grandson of 3 years thrown in the mix it makes for a lively household. They have all been so warm and welcoming. They even compliment me on my Spanish frequently...which is pretty nice, because my Spanish is pretty bad at times (early in the a.m. and late at night).

Work has been pretty good so far...a little (ok, a lot) overwhelming. Not only is there a lot to learn, but its all in spanish! Thankfully the girl who is leaving the position I'm taking is still around for the week to show me how things work. Rachel has been a lifesaver, for sure. So far i have sat in on the meeting with all the loan officers that work here at MCM and 3 community bank meetings...i think tomorrow we are going to go visit one or two clients and see their businesses. It is really interesting and exciting. The one loan officer who I will be sharing an office with uses this incredible spreadsheet to track each of her community banks, and then each individual client's repayment history...it is pretty amazing. She is the only female loan officer here, and has a very different style than the men....much more relational. i love it :)

so far, it seems like I will be helping with possible training for the loan officers (dont feel totally competent here, but oh well!)....and, my bosses really want to get a business training school going, so i will likely be working on that too. They want to offer classes for the women on how to improve their businesses, so i will be organizing curriculum, promoting it, possible teaching the teachers how to teach it (!!) and maybe working on some kind of certification process. So...i'm pretty stoked about that...but feel very inadequate! 

That's about all for now. I appreciate your continued prayers as I struggle through the akwardness of a new home and new job, and as I learn the ropes of living in this particular neighborhood of Teguc.

love to you all.

~c