I'm trying not to be too sad about it because it's just a material possession, but man I loved that thing!
I was getting a travel size bottle for Kandice to take on her trip -- when I grabbed the bag it caught my camera and before I knew it I heard a big clunk! Now the lens won't come out and the camera just makes a clicking sound when I turn it on.
I'm hoping by some miracle it'll work again, but I troubleshooted for a few hours and nothing has worked. Luckily, enough of the volunteers here have cameras that I can borrow one if I need to. I just want to make sure I have something better than a basic point and shoot to take with me to Costa Rica, which is eight short weeks away now :).
that I could borrow for my trip? Or that you're trying to sell?
I can't afford the over $400 price tag on this one, but something more in the $100 range.
If anyone had one I could borrow Theresa could bring it down with her and then back to the states. I have two memory cards so I wouldn't need any of that -- just the camera itself.
I would love you forever! My life just doesn't feel right without my camera!
Hoping for a better tomorrow...
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference" -- Reinhold Niebuhr
I have SO much to write about and update all of you on, but I'm just too tired to do much updating this week. Maybe over the weekend I'll find some much needed blogging time and get you all caught up.
But in the meantime...
I HAD to write a brief entry to thank my mom and my friends Heather, Ashley, and Amanda for their awesome care packages -- that I received on Valentine's Day :). I wanted everyone to see how excited I get when I receive a box so I took a video of myself opening them for the first time. Amanda, Heather, and Ashley - I had a GREAT video of me opening your box, but sadly I realized after I recorded it that the sound wasn't working :( -- what a bummer! So I thought about posting it anyways, but you honestly can't tell what's going on. The good news though is that Wendy came in when I was recording so I had to stop and then record my last little bit. That part does have sound :)! So without further ado...
Amanda - As you can see I love the slim jim's -- AHAHAHA! Heather - Oh my gosh -- the perfume is amazing! Muchas gracias :) Ash - Thanks for the grande peanut butter and getting me hooked on sweedish fish :)
Mamasita - I can't tell you enough how amazing you are! I love that you send me packages and when we talk it's always the highlight of my week :)! I love you oh so much!!
Peg - Thanks for donating to the cause! You're the best!!!
I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentine's Day with the people you love!
"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls" -Audrey Hepburn
HEATHER ROSEMARY SCHMOLL IS COMING TO HONDURAS IN MAY!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!
I had to share! Now on to my original post...
Yesterday we didn't have school so that we could have an OAF (Olancho Aid Foundation) retreat. The day was spent at a retreat center right down the road from Santa Clara. There are over ninety people working for OAF currently and all of them came to spend the day together. It was absolutely wonderful!
When I arrived to the grounds in the morning I was greeted by this large turkey...
I honestly don't think I've ever seen a turkey that big! He was not a happy bird while we cruised past him. Some of the teachers stopped in their tracks because they were scared he was going to attack them. He was making that "gobble, gobble" sound and everything!
Once we got past the wild turkey we were all put into groups based on what our name tags said. My group was the "Lempira" and I got to be with Ella who I adore. She is this loud/opinionated/joyful woman who loves to laugh and have a good time. Just my kind of person :)!
Rosita was sad we weren't in the same group, but since we're right next door to each other every day it was good to be in separate groups. She is absolutely insane, but I still love her! She's trying to learn more English and her two new favorite things to tell me are "Get out of my life Bridgy" and "Don't bother me". AHAHA..Hysterical!
Me and Rosita - Maestras de primero grado
We headed outside to create the OAF letters after playing some human bingo and participating in some other contests. Carlos had my camera and didn't get any shots where you can clearly see all of the letters, but he has a program he's going to use to merge the different shots he took. Should look pretty cool when he's finished with it.
I'm part of the A
After discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the foundation we had an amazing lunch of rice, salad, beef, and chicken. Yum, yum, yum -- It was so good!
Yohely and me during lunch
When lunch was over we celebrated a beautiful mass together. On the way into the chapel I was attacked by a sheep. This same little guy attacked Jeff and Karol earlier in the day. I guess Karol took off running and the thing charged after her. Well I didn't know that previously so when it kept coming after me I took off and it chased me down too. I was leery to take a picture with it and sure enough it tried to eat my shirt!
I was cracking up that our day started with a wild turkey and ended with a crazy sheep. Usually it's cows and chickens, so it was a nice change of pace :)!
The little chapel where we had mass was perfect...
I loved the ceiling!
Todos - Ninety some people (Crazy!)
The day was filled with laughter, lots of hugs, and a few tears...
It was great to spend a day gathered with people who share in a similar passion. I love OAF and everything it stands for. I am so proud and honored to be working for such an extraordinary foundation!
"You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist" - Indira Gandhi
Andrew, Jeff, and Lacey hosted the 2011 Super Bowl party at their casa.
Before heading over to their house I heard my little neighbors screaming "Gringa, Gringa, Hola Gringa!" and as I'm combing my hair in the doorway to my room I can see a little hand sliding back and forth under my gate...
Soon there were three little people under there...
Haha..they're so cute! The funniest thing was their aunts were sitting in front of our gate in platic chairs just watching them lay down by our gate. So Kandice and I layed down on the other end and talked to them for a minute but then I had to head over for the party. As I was walking down my road one of the little boys screamed "Gringa, donde va?" (White girl, where are you going?) It cracks me up that they always call me gringa when they've asked me what my name ten times now.
Guests arrived at 5 for the party and shortly after we were all in the house we could smell burning plastic. Just as we were wondering what it could be Andrew comes into the house and says "there are some kids burning a barbie outside" (read this with an English accent for the laugh factor). So I HAD to get some pictures...
Poor barbie didn't have a chance in those flames...
Oh the weird things these kids do for entertainment...
Lace is from Wisconsin so she was pumped for the game and got decked out in her green and yellow attire, complete with the Greenbay G...
Anne also heavily rooted for the Packers because Aaron Rodgers is from Chico, the same city she's from.
Most of the crew was really into the game, but Maki and I -- not so much:
But after a lot of screaming and excitement I decided to jump on the bandwagon -- I know, I know I'm not a true football fan...
Andrew whipped up some nachos and some manwiches for the big game...
I live for the manwich! YUM!
During the fourth quarter commerical breaks Jeff provided us with some hand shadow puppet entertainment:
Whoo hoo Packers! It was a close game but Lacey's team came through for her!!
I wish we could have these kinds of parties every night. I love having everyone together!
"Pro football is like nuclear warfare. There are no winners, only survivors" ~Frank Gifford
Yesterday Jeff, Anne, Carrie, Kandice, Lacey, and I headed to Catacamas to hike to a waterfall with Oscar. We got up early so we could catch the 8 o'clock bus out of Juticalpa. There are two different bus companies you can go through when traveling the 45 minutes to Catacamas. The "chicken bus" which is a big yellow school bus that is always packed, or the Discovery bus that costs the same amount of money but is a much nicer ride and doesn't stop to drop people off along the way. Since it's the same price we decided to go the Dicovery root. We arrived at the bus station at quarter til only to find out that the bus had been delayed and wasn't going to come until 8:30 a.m. We took a group vote on whether to stay there or head to the chicken bus across the street. Since we had already missed the 8 o'clock chicken bus we decided to stay at the discovery station and wait for the 8:30 bus to come. But of course everything has to be harder than it needs to be, and by ten til 9 the bus still wasn't there. We were all super frustrated and anxious to get to Catacamas to start our day -- so I suggested that we demand our money back and run over to the chicken bus station. I don't know enough Spanish to have that kind of conversation so Carrie graciously agreed to do it. While Carrie went to get the money back Lacey and I ran over to the other bus to grab some seats and have the bus driver wait for everyone else. As soon as we got onto the bus I was doubled over in laughter because there was a man jammin on his guit in the middle of the aisle! I had a great time dancing to my seat and right away I knew the bus wait was worth it! I was bummed when the man finished his song a short minute later and then exited the bus, but much to my delight and horror two Honduran clowns climbed aboard. Check these guys out:
They started walking up and down the aisles screaming stuff back and forth to one another and then they performed this weird little skit for everyone:
After all was said and done they asked people to give them a lemp or two for their services. They rode with us for the first twenty minutes and then they got off. After that it was just a normal bus ride -- bummer! I was hoping for some more eclectic people!
When we got to Catacamas to we walked to Oscar's smoothie shop and ordered some burgers and fries to go before heading out for the day. Oscar had this sweet hat that I got to wear :).
Jeff, Kandice, Me, and Lace
Shortly after we started on our waterfall journey we came across a GIANT snake. It was the biggest snake I've seen in a nature setting. Kandice and Lace were screaming "Snake!" and I was so exited to see it I started to run towards it, which I guess wasn't the smartest thing since I wasn't positive yet if it was dead or alive. We discovered pretty quickly that it was dead though and Oscar pick it up for a picture. It was so long you can only see about half of it here:
Oscar hiked in jeans and carried a bottle of coke along. Oh Hondurans!
The trail was beautiful...
Jeff spotted this little guy, who blended in almost perfectly with the leaf...
We hiked for two hours only to discover the path to the waterfall had been blocked by a large rock, so this is where our journey ended...
But boys being boys couldn't stand not to climb it, so they figured out a way to scale the side of the large hill and made their way to the top...
SUCCESS!
While we waited for the boys to climb back down, we took a picture of all the girls...
Jeff was really excited to be back...
And here's the whole group...
After we got back home Kandice and I hosted a birthday party for Jackie!
Jackie and Andrew
The guys wanted to take some knive pictures...
Jeff, Andrew, and Dan
I felt left out and wanted in on the knife action so I grabbed my machete and jumped in, but I definitely don't look mean enough for this kind of picture. I'll have to practice my mean face!
Andrew spilt some of my raspberry lemonade on his shirt and I think this is the funniest picture of the night...
After a few rounds of Catchphrase, Apples to Apples, and some Liars Dice (A fun new game I'll have to teach all of you when I come back home) it was time for birthday cake...
Jackie was super pumped to get her cake!
Getting ready to blow out the candles
Make a wish!
Happy Birthday Jackie!
"It is with the heart that one sees rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye" - The Little Prince
