Grateful

I'm very tired and I should probably be going to bed, but I had an incredible night with the other volunteers and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to write about it while it's still fresh. I have a lot going on in my mind and so many things I want to share with all of you! So, this blog post will be very random, but if you know me you're use to it :).

Tonight we had our first reflection as a group and it was wonderful! But, before I get into all of that... I want to tell you about some random things that have happened in the last week:

-The other day as I was walking down the road a man weaved (in his car) across the street towards me. At first I thought it was a taxi seeing if I wanted a ride, but then I noticed it was a regular car. Well the man rolls down his window and says "You look good" to me in English. HAHA I was cracking up! I mean we get cat calls ALL the time when we walk into town, but most men say something dirty in Spanish or they say "Hey Mame!" It's just funny to hear the few English phrases some people know here. They probably get it all from the television that they do watch or the American songs they listen to. Which brings me to my next little story...

-Yesterday morning when I got on the bus "Slow Hand" by the Pointer Sisters was playing, AHAHA! I get onto the bus and hear the words "I want a man with a slow hand, I want a lover with an easy touch". I couldn't believe that song was playing on a school bus, but then I realize most of the kids have no idea what's being said. Hopefully none of them use that as an English phrase to repeat :)! Some other random 80's songs played as we continued on to school, and then when we were about 3 minutes away "Eye of the Tiger" came on -- PERFECT! That song always gets me so pumped up, so I was definitely ready to start and conquer my day!!

-After school on Tuesday there was a torrential downpour here. It's rained everyday since I've been here, but this was CRAZY! It started pouring around 6 and by 7 the streets were like rivers. There is so much trash and glass everywhere that it was scary to walk through because you had no idea what you could be stepping in. I was out grocery shopping with Michelle, Maki, Jeff, and Andrew and we just starting running home. We quickly realized we were going to be drenched no matter what so we slowed down a little bit and just laughed about it. Michelle, Jackie, and I live the closest to the store we went to, so Maki, Jeff, and Andrew popped into our house for a little bit so we could take a picture of how wet we all were. When we got to the house we saw immediately that it was flooding. We had water coming into our living room and into Jackie's bedroom. Jeff grabbed a broom and just started sweeping water out of the house. Once we got a handle on the water coming in we decided we should make the most of the awesome water pressure and wash our hair. I had so much fun! It reminded me of a time I showered with my sisters in the rain when we were little. After we all got our hair washed Jackie and I went to take some pictures of the water levels. I've been posting my pictures to Picasa because Facebook won't allow me to upload anything for some reason. If you click on my "pictures" tab on the left hand side of this blog it will take you to my Picasa page. You'll find an album there titled 'Honduras'--check it out to see for yourselves how high the water got. We have a side walk that has a decent step that leads to our front pavement area. The water got so high around our house that you couldn't even tell a step was there. CRAZY I tell you! Oh, I almost forgot -- the school flooded too! Jeff, Lacey, and Andrew had to go help sweep the school out. When I arrived at school yesterday morning I had about an inch of water on my floor. That was after a team of about 15 people had been sweeping it out the night before. Luckily by 10 my floor was completely dry again :).

-Maki taught us this hilarious game where you stick a quarter in your 'cheeks', clench onto it, and then waddle over to a cup and try to release the quarter into it. HYSTERICAL!! Maki, Anne, and I were on a team against Dan, Jeff, and Andrew. Of course we dominated! Check out Picasa for the funny pictures.

-Last night we had the cutest little mouse run through our house. I screamed when I first saw him because it scared me to see something small running through our living room. Then I realized how cute the little guy was and I named him Fievel. Michelle was too scared to get down from her chair, so Jackie and I chased him into the kitchen, where he escaped under our back door. Hopefully he won't come back because if he does he's dead -- we put poison down right after he left.

-On the way into town yesterday afternoon I saw a monkey!! Yes, a little monkey lives in top of someone's house. I assume it's their pet, but I can't be sure. I named him Maurice and I can't wait to see him again. I called to him but he got mad and went under the tin roof and starting banging on it with his little hands. My goal is to get a picture of him the next time I see him. I want to look up what kind of monkey he is.

-Today during lunch one of my students said "Prevencho Miss" and just stood at my desk looking at me. I had no idea what prevencho meant and why this girl wouldn't go back to her desk to eat. So I pulled out of Spanish to English dictionary and looked up the word. Come to find out it means "Enjoy your meal". Hondurans say this to each other ALL the time. Someone told me that when I first came here but I completely spaced it. Once I understood what it meant I said "Oh..gracias, prevencho tambien" and she just smiled and said "Thank you miss" and went and ate her lunch. How sweet!! One of my kids offered me her smashed bean sandwich today, which I politely declined. Then five minutes later a little girl offered me a chips ahoy cookie, which I gladly accepted :)! YUM!

Meeting:

All of the volunteers have been having a hard time in their own ways adapting to Honduran culture. Some people discussed doing a reflection/prayer once a week. I really wanted to get that rolling so I asked Jackie and Michelle if we could do it at our house. They both really liked the idea and Michelle even offered to make jambalaya. So this evening we had all of the volunteers and Carlos over for dinner and reflection. It was wonderful to eat with everyone and reflect on how we are feeling so far. It was exactly what I needed! I think the world of the other volunteers here with me. Everyone in our group has amazing things to offer. It made me feel better to hear how hard the transition has been for other people. We talked a lot about bugs, problems at school, and trying to live in a third world country. But the things that stick out the most from the meeting are our support for one another, how much we have all been blessed with in our lives, the support we have from our family and friends back home, the joy our students bring to us, and the things we hope to accomplish this year. Carlos thanked all of us for leaving our families and friends to come to Olancho to teach. He talked to us about the people here and the many struggles they face. We make $200 (4,000 lempiras) a month and the Honduran teachers get 5,500 lempiras -- but, many of the Honduran teachers have two, three, or four kids to support as well as pay their rent. We live in middle income homes without running water, but we have electricity and internet access. There are millions of people in the world who don't have any of those things or even a house to live in at all. When I'm at home I live in such a bubble. I get so swept up in money and I never feel like I never have enough. I don't know if any of you have ever read the book "If the World Were a Village" or seen a video on it, but it's very interesting, I really encourage you to click on this link and watch this short youtube video about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNnbO8x4JAY

We are BLESSED beyond words to live in the United States of America!!! In comparison to the rest of the world I am a rich person! It's hard to remember that when I'm living in my bubble of money at home. I know I'm in debt with my student loans, but at least I had the opportunity to take them out in the first place. I'm happy that God made me able bodied so I can work hard to pay those loans back! Carlos talked to us a lot tonight about education and how important it is. Without education people don't have the opportunity to make better lives for themselves. That is something we don't typically go without in the U.S. But in many countries around the world not everyone receives an education. In Honduras education is only mandatory until the 6th grade and that's insane to think about!

Everything just clicked for me tonight and I know this is exactly where I am suppose to be at this time in my life. God is so extremely good and I should never doubt that he always has a plan for me. I really can't say thank you enough to all of you who support me! It always makes me cry to think about how much I've been given in my life and how much I'm loved. It just blows me away!

THANK YOU!!!!!

"In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices."
— Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)