Counting down the days...

The weeks are definitely going by a bit faster now which is good because it means I am settling in. I am completely happy with my home and social life, which does tend to overlap! I am also happy at the school although I still don’t feel like I´m helping much apart from amusing the kids at breaktime! So its really just life at the office where I could do with feeling a little more comfortable. However in May I am supposed to be teaching my 12 week course of English so that should give me lots to do and help me integrate more with the others and the local women.
May isn´t that long away really. Next week is Semana Santa and a public holiday for everyone so it will probably go by really quickly. We’re not going anywhere particular just going to have a few day trips out and go to the swimming pool. Basically relax so looking forward to that! Then I´m back at work for 1 week and then Dave is here for 2 weeks and we´re going on holiday! By the time he goes home it will be May! Crazy!

Last Thursday Carlota and I went to the cinema to see Benjamin Button. Not really sure how I feel about it but I can say it was very powerful. So powerful in fact that I completely forgot where I was and was more than a little confused when I was spoken to in Spanish afterwards and I struggled to reply!

Friday I left work early because Carlota, Chi and I got the (very nice) bus to Siguatepeque to stay with Chi´s daughter and family for the weekend. They have a beautiful house, two daughters, a puppy and three turtles. I have to say that Siguatepeque itself is lovely and I kind of want to live there! I cant really explain why I just felt comfortable in the peaceful and modern town.
On Saturday we had a big bbq (which was really tasty) and I met yet more family!
On Sunday we all went to visit La Esperanza, which was a more traditional rural town and whilst they had nice fudge and I´m glad I went, I have no desire to return there!
One of the daughters makes her own jewellery and I watched her make some earrings and was completely fascinated. She gave them to me as a present which was really nice of her. Unfortunately its made me want to do the same so I will have to go out and buy some materials, next week probably. I think the relaxed culture of Latin America has made me appreciate the value of chilling out and made me want to be more arty, just in writing this blog I have to be more creative. Did I tell you that Mina (the elderly woman I live with) is teaching me crochet also!

Yesterday after work we went to the mall with Carlota´s friend and they were taking the piss out of my tummy and saying im going to be brown and fat for when my boyfriend comes to visit. They weren’t being rude its just the culture here, most people get called fat, or if not then they’ll get called skinny. Its just like people here say ´give me a cigarette´or ´give me your phone´(as in show me your phone) and as long as they realise its not acceptable in some other countries then there is nothing wrong with that. It works here!

The laptop has arrived at home (with a webcam) so I am halfway to being in better contact with everyone. Just need to get the internet sorted. I am guessing it will be about a month before that happens. ´Give me internet!´

Allergies, pumas and strange toilet situations

It seems summer has arrived here in Honduras, its getting hotter and the selection of fruit to buy is amazing! If you buy fruit on the street to eat like there and then this strange dry mixture gets sprinkled on it. I think its salt and pepper among other things, anyway the end result is that it looks and tastes like it has been dropped on the floor! Having said that the combination is beginning to grow on me! Am I going to be the freak in England that asks for salt and pepper with her fruit salad? Maybe.

The school is all going well, I´ve spoken to ICYE to extend my time here so will be working for a few more weeks at least. There was an outbreak of headlice last week which so far I have managed to avoid, or have I? My head does feel a bit itchy now I think about it!!!

Not much to report in CEM-H either, but I did find out I was in the national newspaper the other weekend, and not because I had been murdered - which is always nice to know. There was a big photo of our information stall for International Womens Day and I am right in the centre!

Last Saturday there was an organised trip to a vineyard in La Tigre national park. It was good fun, we had a little tour then enjoyed a bbq with wine in the afternoon. The bathroom was interesting though. When I walked through the clearly marked door for the toilets inside I found a room with a bed and a guy asleep on it! Ok check, definitely the correct door, so where is the toilet...oh yes here it is in a little alcove on the other side of the room, mmm no door. I could use the toilet but then the guy might wake up and it would mean locking the door and subsequently us both in the room...mmm no thanks! I was taken to a different toilet later though so it was alright in the end!

On the Sunday we went to El Picacho which is a park on the side of a mountain overlooking the city. Had some awesome views!

Yesterday I got up really early as we (Carlota, Carlota´s friend and I) travelled to Choluteca down South. The journey is about 3 hours but very scenic. We stopped to have breakfast on the way and enjoyed a typical Honduran Breakfast which I love! It consists of tortillas, egg, frijoles (like kidney beans), platanos (basically banana), mantequilla (basically cream cheese) and a non descript peice of meat. Whats not to like? For some random reason there was like a zoo at the back of this place and we went to look around (not Carlota as she is afraid of monkeys!). They had parrots, monkeys, emus and pumas among other animals! When we got to Choluteca the heat was insane, but I liked it, we met up with Johannes and had a look around the town. We had lunch and bought loads of fruit as its locally grown and really cheap. Soon it was time to go back again though.

I didn´t go to work on Friday because I felt really rubbish. I´ve had this cold thing for the past few weeks and Carlota took me to the doctor. It was actually A&E but it was a private hospital so not many emergencies apparently. I had fun trying to explain the symptoms in Spanglish! It was diagnosed as Rhinitis, basically allergies. I now have tablets to take but they still insisted on giving me an injection. I hate injections anyway but they couldn´t find my vein so it took several painful, tearful attempts before it worked. Not impressed.

It was Andres´s birthday the other day and to celebrate he took a trip to London. I was looking at his photos and thinking how much I miss London and even felt a little proud and privilaged to live there when I heard he loved it. Am I becoming patriotic? No surely not!

So I´ve been here 9 and a half weeks now. I know its a long time because I had to buy a new notebook today for my Honduran diary. Just as well, I´d never remember all of the above otherwise!

Can I also just say thats its an option to have webdings font on my blog, I mean who would blog in webdings??? What?

"If I could only reach you, if I could make you smile, If I could understand you.....that would really be a breakthru!"

So this week has perhaps been a bit of a turning point, the food I almost hated at the beginning of my time here I absolutely love now and am even craving it! (well mostly - you can never love everything can you) I´m feeling more comfortable at both my projects and can get myself around (well mostly) and I´m finally feeling like I am getting somewhere with my Spanish. So all this equals a happier Kat.

Work at the school is still going well and I´m even learning braille (thats how its spelt in espanol anyway). Definitely one to wack on the CV I reckon! Although how much use it may be in the future is debateble. I am using my eyes though, maybe this is cheating but my fingers just are not sensitive enough to identify the letters. I also took some of the kids on a walk outside the school with another profesor. The roads and pavements here are dangerous enough for your average person, if you´re blind it could be fatal! There are these huge deep holes randomly scattered around the city, which Jenny once commented was where all the blind people must be sat because its rare to see a blind person out and about here. (As an aside even the food is dangerous here, just today I cut myself on my meat!)

Last friday I was working for CEM-H in the city centre. In celebration of International Womens Day we had a stall with information and we were selling products for the women in prison. It felt like the other volunteer and I were practically running it though which is a shame really. Apparently we were in the paper the next day! Must search this out in the library.
That evening there was a free concert in the local theatre where there was more evidence of lack of health and safety - there was small ledge the other side of the balcony where people were sat! Crazy!

Saturday and Sunday we had Johannes another volunteer staying with us as he lives further away in Choluteca. Sat evening Hayley´s cousins took us out to a bar with live music. Was good fun, a little dancing, a little drinking and a lot of talking in spanish! Genious!
I was supposed to be working on sunday too but in typical fashion that didnt happen due to a small lack of forward thinking.

This week I have mostly been working at workshops, basically doing Dave´s job of taking photos film footage, probably rubbish though due to my lack of experience! On monday I spent alot of time on the road, if you can call it that, it was really a dirt track. To say it was bumpy would be an understatement! I rather hoped it would have the same effect as a Power Plate but all I got were a few bruises! We randomly gave people rides in the back of the pick up truck.
Yesterday I recieved my valentines parcel from Dave.....36 days after he posted it! Its made me really happy because I now have loads of English tea and chocolate to consume! I have missed real tea! Ahh he is the best. Life is always better after a good cup of tea (and a cream egg of course!) ;-)

No hay internet!!

First I must apologise that it has been so long since my last blog. I have had trouble getting access to internet. I even went to the internet cafe and they said there was no internet! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

So you probably want to know how i'm getting along in the school? Well I've only been there 3 days so far but I am definitely enjoying it. The building itself is really big and everything is neatly packed away, obviously so the kids dont trip over, so it doesnt really look like a school - way too empty! (but the kids still trip over and bump into things although they dont seem to care!) There are only about 30 children and have to say they are all lovely and made me feel really welcomed. Everyone knows who I am, what days I'm working and what times! Probably even know my timetable! (yes I do have a timetable, makes me feel youthful again, although the timetable is only really a guide as to what might happen, I have discovered!) Some of the staff and teachers are blind too, I can't believe you can have lessons where no-one in the class can see, but amazingly it seems to work fine.
Now comes the part where I feel like I am on 'The Secret Millionaire' but i'm judging which project could benefit most from my time, not my money unfortunately. I think that although I have fun at the school, I am limited in what I can do to help there, where as in CEM-H they have said that I will be teaching English (ironically when my spanish is better). Perhaps the best thing would be to stay at both projects the whole year? I will wait and see.

Since I last blogged I have been to...

• a baby shower
• a freaking awesome birthday party with other volunteers and ex volunteers
• a different (but equally awesome) birthday party for a 5 year old girl. There was even a pinata*
• Valle de Angeles (a town outside of Tegus in the mountains)
• The museum in El Centro
• A club/bar in Tegus on a thursday night with some students - really classy but with a price tag to match :-(
• Hayley's house again (I found out her curtains get changed every week to match her bedding - um what??? That is crazy!)
• and the bank - to get my Honduran bank account! Now I just need some money...

* Pinatas - why I think they would never work in the U.K:

1. It promotes violence in children (because the idea is to beat this thing with a stick to get the sweets)
2. General health and safety issues would be argued i'm sure.
3. It would be considered unfair because some kids, the pushier ones, get more sweets than others (giving rise to further violence issues) In Britain we would probably make the kids put all the sweets together and divide them up equally!
4. Finally it would not be considered environmentally friendly becuase of all the packaging materials. And I'm not even going to go into the whole healthy eating thing!

In summary I am finding it slightly easier here but getting through the week is still tough. I guess thats no different from life in England really. No-one wants to go to work do they?

49 days till Dave comes to visit! Not that I'm excited or anything.... :-p