Weekend Happenings

HI!

All right, sorry it's been awhile since I've written, things have been pretty crazy. Let's see what all have I done....

Well a couple weekends ago, we took a five hour ride on various buses to get to San Pedro Sula for a Honduran futbol game. The first half was not quite what we were expecting .... couple things happened: 1) there was some tear gas when some people got a little too roudy waiting 2) they accidently made double numbered tickets so a) there were twice as many people there as usual and b) people were not getting the seats they paid for because someone was already sitting there 3) the crowds were absolutely ridiculous. People were completely squished together and as we got closer it just got worse and worse. At one point I had a little girl next to me with her family and she couldn't breathe because her face was being smashed into the person next to her and it was too tight for her to move. That was a little scary, but we pulled her up into the air and then they let her go inside. So. That was standing in line the two hours before the game started. When we got in, there weren't any seats because of the ticket mix up so we watched the first half on a tv in the vendor area. Second half we managed to find a spot right in the front row and it was FANTASTIC. Totally made up for the first half. Honduras scored 4 points total and won the game, the crowd was crazy and I LOVED IT. It definitely made me a futbol fan for life. We had jerseys and facepaint and went all out. It was great.

This last weekend we went for an 8 hour trip to Tela, which is a beach on the shore of the Gulf. Let me try and describe the bus system in Honduras.... it's insane. We may start at a bus stop in a school bus with a few other people, but along the way we pick people up at other bus stations or on the side of the road and by the time we reach the next town, there are three people to each seat and sometimes people standing in the aisles. Then we get off and as a group of American girls, we are immediately surrounded by 8-15 men yelling and grabbing us and trying to get us to get on their bus for the cheapest price. So we'd eventually find a bus and start the whole process over again. Like I said, insane. Oh, another thing that we discovered on buses is that people are constantly trying to sell things. We would stop to pick passengers up and people would swarm the bus and try to sell you food and drinks through the windows. Some people would even get on the bus and try to squeeze through the aisles to sell their things. One of the creepiest things I experienced was two 20-something-year-old men dressed up as clowns that would do an act and then go up and down the aisles asking for money. blech. Even better, in the last two weeks the exact same two clowns have been on THREE of our buses. yuck yuck yuck. Anyway, there's a picture of the bus for you!

This weekend we had Monday and Tuesday off - one day to celebrate Dia de Maestras (Teacher's Day!) and one day for Honduras's Independence Day. Five of us girls went to the beach and had a wonderful, relaxing time. My friend Sarah and I actually spent more time in our air conditioned room with our cable tv because we didn't really want to get sunburned but.... that was just about the kind of vacation I needed. :) We enjoyed the pool and the beach at night though! It was a great time to spend with all the girls and not just the ones I live with. We also met up with a couple girls that work at the school in La Union. They work with a British organization that places people in various countries. Renska is from Holland and Laura is from Scotland. It was so fun to hang out with them and get to know them! The whole weekend was wonderful. My two purchases were some sweet tennis shoes for $12-- to better play futbol :) and a hammock for about $7. Our house is looking wonderful and homey so we're going to try and find a place to hang the hammock up.

School started again today (16th) and it's really nice to have a 3 day week. I really missed my kids this week though so I was actually pretty excited to go back to school this week. I have a whole wall covered with pictures that the kids draw me, although I think I caught one of the girls drawing one today during my math lesson and after telling her three times to put it away, I took it away and didn't give it back until the end of class and ... I did not get a picture from her today. :) Today we rode down into town on the school bus which is always an experience. Today I had a crowd of kids wanting me to sing songs from Music- I love that all the kids know who I am and like the songs we do. Today they wanted to sing "I had a little turtle", "The Bumblebee Song", and "Apples and Bananas". So good. So funny.


This weekend we are probably just going to sit around the house. My birthday is on Monday (!!!!) so we might celebrate by going out to eat or to the hot springs, but nothing too crazy since our last couple weekends have been pretty full! I'm excited to see what the rest of the week is like. I can't believe I've already been here a month!!!