Average Day in La Union

FYI: This was written yesterday (Monday evening).  Enjoy.

My roommate Gayle moved in last Wednesday. It is so nice to have a roommate—especially one I like so much! She is from Michigan where she studied Political Science and Spanish. She knows Spanish and I “know” how to teach. We are planning to help each other out!

Just for kicks and giggles I want to share my last 24 hours. I hope it makes you laugh because I find my life a little humorous right now.

Yesterday the teachers all went to the 2 hour church service; I probably understood 6 words that were said. I have to remember to bring my Spanish-English dictionary next time! Then it was lunchtime and we made green beans, scrambled eggs, and sautéed tomatoes. We found the only pepper in the entire town last Thursday so our food has a little kick to it! In the afternoon we went on a run; sooooo not easy. Either you are running uphill or downhill. No in between.  Also during the day people have nothing to do so they literally sit or stand on their porches staring off into space, so while we are running by the men in the town are watching our every move. Ladies if you ever want to boost your self-confidence, just try running in the streets of Honduras! You might feel like the prettiest girl alive... or violated—either one. If only my dad was running with me here, he would give them one look and they would probably not look at me again for the rest of their lives!

Towards the end of our run it started to rain, so we quickly got home and took showers. I wanted to shower before there was a thunderstorm—when it storms our water turns brown. All the pulparias in town closed down because of the rain so Gayle and I had to be creative for dinner. We ate a whole cantaloupe and mini-cookies dipped in peanut-butter. Healthy and filling!  While we were eating a huge thunderstorm rolled into La Union and our power shut off. We shuffled to our rooms to retrieve our handy flashlights. Pretty soon we heard a knock at our neighbor door.

[Quick explanation: We live in a house connected to another family’s house. An older lady lives on that side and I think she is a little bit crazy! Gayle speaks excellent Spanish and can barely understand what she is saying. The only thing separating our houses is a door in our hallway, which is locked from our side. So I’ll call that the neighbor door.]

I opened the door and there are 5 little Hondurans speaking rapid Spanish to us. They brought us into their house and handed us candles and matches (so sweet of them!). I took the candles and matches back to our half of the house and the crazy Grandma is following on my heels. She starts grabbing everything out of my hands and talking to me in a Spanish accent I can’t even pretend to understand so I keep telling her, “No comprende Espanol!” Gayle came out of her bedroom to rescue me and thankfully figured everything out with her. The Grandma returned to her side of the house and we ate our dinner by candlelight..so romantic. Turns out it wasn’t ridiculous of me to pack a candle..(ahem..mom!). Electricity was on and off for the rest of the night, which didn’t bother me since I was sleeping by 9PM. Loving the early bed-time!

Today I woke up on my own at 6:50 not even tired. I think I’ll be a morning person by the end of this year. Can you believe it? We made our hike to the school which always ends with me sitting on a bench near my classroom catching my breath and wiping the sweat off myself. Today was hot. All I did was sit in my classroom writing lesson plans and sweat. When I decided I had enough stress for one day, Gayle and I wanted to check out the running trails that are near our school. They are quite the “trails”. Basically it is running up and down steep stairs for a mile. Despite the intense workout, the trails take you above the entire school giving you breathtaking views of surrounding mountains. I will never get sick of this view. 

On our way home, we stopped at the Manuel pulparia to get groceries for dinner. We found some vegetables there—big purchase! We think it may be squash, so we’ll see once its cut open. We came home to find our kitchen being overtaken by fruit flies. We made a homemade trap with vinegar and hand soap, but to no avail. We wanted to wash some of our dishes from lunch, but couldn't since the water from the sink was mud. I thought instead I would try to take a shower, but the water in my shower was mud as well. I figured smelling like sweat would be better than showering in brown water.

To pass some time, Gayle and I hiked over to the church to use the internet. Buttttt of course the internet wasn’t working there! The internet at the church has a cap on it, so when too much internet has been used throughout the day it doesn’t work anymore. The moment Gayle and I realized checking e-mail would be impossible we turned to each other and said, “Now what?” Too many options of things to do here it’s difficult to choose. That is when I decided to come back to my house and write a blog post, and where my 24 hour story ends. Until next time..Adios!