One Month in Honduras!

Well, its been awhile since I´ve updated anyone. I am now in my second living place in a city called Talanga. Our whole Youth Development group is here for about 6 weeks...at the end of which (Sept. 8th) we´ll be finding out where we´re living for the next two years! After we leave here we go back to our first site for an additional two weeks.

My living situation is different...its taken a few days to get used to. I live with a family who has 3 children and a nephew living with them...all are adults between the ages of 35-26. They´re nice, but sometimes a little quite and I still am not very good at interacting with families. I often don´t know what to say to them. The house is nice; my room is detached from the house so I am woken up every night by the dogs barking outside my room...then the rooster starts in between 4:30 and 5:30am. There is no indoor plumbing so I have learned how to flush a toilet with a bucket of water. There is a shower, but water comes out in two small, unpressured streams. So they said its better/easier to just bucket bath it. Its really hard getting up at 5:30 knowing that I have to throw cold water on myself. Showering at night doesn´t really happen here. There are also no lights in the shower/toilet. Which both are seperate small stall-like rooms. The shower area is about 3*4ft...and the toilet even smaller. Like I said, its taken some adjustment. Its not bad, just different. :o) And tomorrow I learn how to wash my clothes by hand in the pila (like a large sink/water storage area).

Besides that things have been good...training keeps us quite busy. I´m trying not to get sick again...I got a bacteria about two weeks ago...and that was no fun at all. My spanish is (I hope!) improving. There´s a lot that I´ve forgotten, but its slowly starting to come back to me. I´m sure within a few months I´ll be where I should be speaking-wise.

I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It was a great book, but made me really miss all the opportunities that were in California. As of right now, I definately see myself going back there. I miss all the fresh fruits and veggies! Especially without worrying if they would make me sick or not. I love beans, eggs and tortillas...but its not the most healthy meal. My family does like to eat veggie soup...but I´m sure it has a decent amount of oil. They use a lot of oil, salt and sugar in their food. One reason why I can´t wait to live alone!

Unfortunately I don´t have any pics of the area yet. Maybe soon...
As far as packages, I don´t need anything yet. Amy and my parents are sending me some things...chocolate! Take care...Peace Out and Much Love!