Cusuna

After a 14 hour bus ride on a yellow school bus we made it to Paradise. Cusuna is a Garifuna community (black community) who speaks Garifuna and Spanish. It is a rich culture full of music, dance, and food. We saw a program put on by the community and learned some Punta dancing moves. The Garifunas do not have a money system and use very few limpiras. Instead, they all work off of the land and produce everything they need and share everything, like a Utopia.

The community was very welcoming and loving and I enjoyed it very much. If you have time, research about the Garifuna history because it is rich and interesting to learn. It was also on the coast, because the Garifunas control a large area of the coastal land, so we swam in the ocean and found jelly fish and star fish. On the downside, it was about 100+ degrees there and many people were sick.

On Sunday we took Lanchas (a canoe-like boat with a motor) to a Garifuna church in a smaller community. It was an experience that I will never forget, as we sang and danced and sweated all at the same time. Picture your church, and then think of the opposite. ☺

We ate from the Garifuna people sometime and other times we went to restaurants, where I ate a delicious fish (head, tail, and all) and tajadas. We were supposed to make it to Cusuna on the first day, but the trip was longer than anticipated, so we stopped a dingy hotel for the night. Unfortunately, the electricity didn’t work with 35 people so there was no air conditioning and no fans. Each room was about 85 degrees (not an exaggeration), so I slept on the cement roof with only a sheet with some other people.

Today we returned to class at the University because the strike is over. Although many feel this is good news, I felt the strike was a positive thing I still feel unsettled because the government made an agreement that acted like a band aid instead of a sustainable solution. Today we also visited the Congress and heard presentations about the government system. Actually, I was more interested in the paintings on the wall, sipping my sprite, and trying to figure out the interesting ceiling and didn’t learn a thing about the government system. But, I did shake the President of the Congress’s hand.

There is a dog that lives at the neighbor’s house that has a problem with barking. Every 5 seconds, he barks 3 times in a row. Every time someone passes the street, he barks more. He also has a friend who is a bird that lives at the other neighbor’s house. This bird has a problem with skwaking all day long. If anyone has any ideas of how to get rid of them…. ☺

Cosas que he aprendido en una semana/Things I have learned in one week

-the sidewalks are stained with grapes that look like a beautiful mosaic but ruin your shoes
-at 8:00ish every night we go to the second floor of the house to watch tv. We don't go down to the first floor after that again.
-We watch Dolls of the Mafia every night.
-I play Memory at least 8 times every day.
-Walk quickly and look like you know where you are going (which I never do)
-The bathroom light probably won't work, so just do your thing in the dark quickly and then leave.
-It's hot.
-It rains almost every night which makes for good sleeping conditions, although you can count on hearing at least 8 dogs barking choruses all night long.
-Roosters start crowing around 4:30 am and don't stop until around 7:30 am
-The neighbors are never quiet
-One side of the family cousins are calm and fun. The other side is a crazy wild mess of 2 boys running around screaming.
-I taught my little sister how to "draw" and now she never stops. Draw draw draw!
-My brother loves to show off how smart he is and loves to help me with homework
-My host mom's friend is living in the house. I don't know why or for how long, but she is a lot of fun and is extremely dramatic.
-Yaqui is open and honest about everything. Yesterday she asked me why I had a zit on my face. I told her that I don't know, and she told me that I couldn't eat chocolate anymore because it is bad for your skin.
-Eat everything.
-Don't talk about butterflies. Yaqui doesn't like them.
-When someone says we are going to climb a little mountain, it means a big mountain.
-8:30 is actually 8:40/8:50 in Honduran time.
-There are always some kind of small bug crawling in the house, and sometimes ants. We just seem to watch them crawl everywhere and nobody wants to kill them or put them outside.
-If you have a chance to use a bathroom, use it because there might not be another one.
-If you live with Yaqui, be organized. If you aren't organized, don't live here :)
-It's hot.
-No matter how many times I try to teach my little sister how to count in english, the first number is always five, not one because that is what the tele told her. :)
-Learn how to find the quiet among all of the chaos.
-The mountains are beautiful every day and every day they change.
-Always bring an umbrella, for the rain and for the sun.
-It's really hot.
-I have never seen such beautiful clouds that are always changing. One minute they are white and puffy and the next they are black and stormy.
-My brother and sister are called by their middle names, not their first names. (Andrés and Jimena instead of Walter and Andrea)
-It's dangerous here, but get over it. Find the beauty behind the danger.

The pictures here are of the hike we took up the "little" mountain to visit the people who live in the rural zones. One foto is of the "road" that does not function as a road because the people cannot carry supplies up the twists, turns, and ruts. Also when it rains it becomes very muddy and slippery so that it is even difficult for motos to go on the road. The other picture is of me with the mountains (although that's pretty obvious) :)

El Agua

(English is at the bottom)
Este tiempo voy a escribir en Español primero, y entonces trasladarlo a inglés. En una semana, una de las observaciones más grandes que he tenido es sobre el agua. He escuchado muchos veces en los Estados Unidos sobre el uso de agua y porque es importante de guardarlo. He tratado de tomar duchas rápidas y parar el agua cuando afeito, pero siempre gana la Alison quien se quiere ser confortable.

Es diferente cuando se puede verlo directamente. Después de solamente una semana, yo sé que es posible lavar los platos con un vaso de agua. Es posible ducharme con agua frío y poquito. Es posible cepillar los dientes con menos de un “cup” de agua.

En Honduras, no hay sufficiente agua para toda la población. Entonces, el agua viene solamente en cada tres días (más o menos depende en el lugar). Por eso, muchas casas tienen un “tank” para guardar el agua en los días que viene el agua. Si el tank se gasta todo el agua, no hay agua hasta la próxima vez que viene agua. En vecinos pobres, no existe los tanks, y la gente tiene que guardar el agua en botellas pequeños de la lluvia.

Cuando pienso en las duchas largas que ha tomado en los EEUU, siento lastimosa. Recuerdo todos los tiempos que he usado mucho agua para lavar los platos o para lavar mis manos. Hablé con mi mamá sobre el agua y ella me digo que en el futuro, las guerras va a ser sobre el agua. También, sé que si yo estaba en su posición, y leería eso, sentiría mala para algunos días, y conseguir con el gasto de agua simplemente porque es más fácil y confortable hacer eso.

La foto es de viaje con familias a Picacho, que es un zoológico y una montaña que subimos por autobús. La vista fue tan linda! El aire fue tan fresco!

(English)
This time I am going to write in Spanish first, and then translate it into English. In one week, one of the biggest observations that I have made is about water. I have heard many times in the US about the use of water and why it is important to not waste it. I have tried to take fast showers and to turn off the water to shave my legs, put the Alison who wants comfort always won.

It is different when you see it directly. After only one week, I know that it is possible to wash the dishes with one glass of water. It is possible to shower with a small amount of cold water. It is possible to brush my teeth with less than a cup of water.

In Honduras, there is not sufficient water for all of the population. So, the water comes about every three days, depending on where you live. Because of this, many houses have a tank to save the water on the days that the water doesn’t come. If the tank runs out, you have to wait until the water comes again. In poor neighborhoods, there aren’t any tanks, and the people have to save the water in small bottles from the rain.

When I think about the long hot showers I took the US, I feel ashamed. I remember all of the times that I have used too much water to wash the dishes or to wash my hands. I talked with my host mom about water and she told me that in the future, the wars will be about the water. Also, I know that if I was in your position, and I was reading this, I would feel bad for a few days and then continue to waste water simply because it is easier and more comfortable.

The photo is from a trip with the families that we took to Picacho. It is a zoo and a mountain with beautiful sights! The air was very crisp and refreshing.

Mírame vos! (Hey you! Look at me!)

This is a video of my hermanita Andrea (if I could get it to upload). She is very cute and extremely smart. Yesterday while it was raining very hard, she looked out the window at the houses on the mountains and said "The poor people on the mountains, their houses might fall down because of the rain." (Which actually happens when it rains very hard). She usually says to me "Look at me!" and then proceeds to do something interesting to show off. She has woken up early every morning to see if I am awake yet :)

-The video did not upload, so I am trying to put it on facebook instead.

Este es un video de mi hermanita Andrea (si puedo hacerlo). Ella es tan bonita y muy intelegente. Ayer cuando estaba lloviendo mucho, ella miró afuera de la ventana a las casas en las montañas y dijo "Los pobrecitos personas en las montañas, sus casas van a cayer porque de la lluvia." (Este lo pasa en realidad cuando hay lluvia fuerte). Ella suele me dijo "Mírame!" y entonces hace algo interesante para attención. Ella se ha despierta temprano cada mañana para ver si ya me desperté :)

Strike/Huelga

Hola a todos!
After a very busy and scary day I am in my bedroom typing a blog post to tell everyone that I am safe :) My family is still crazy, but in a good way, and I visited my friend's family today and I like mine better. :) Today at the university we were going to have a tour at the hospital, so we left our bags (and everything else, money, cell phones) at the university and started walking. We began walking down the main street which was full of people because of the strike going on in Honduras if you havn't heard already by watching the news about Honduras. All of the teachers are on strike because they are not getting paid (there were 1,000s of people protesting on the streets), and the teachers began to throw rocks at the police. The police then threw tear gas and thousands of people began to run away to avoid burning their eyes, nose, and throat. The Calvin students got caught in the run and we all started running away from the gas, but I couldn't find Elena (another Calvin student) so I went back into the crowd to look for her.

I couldn't find her but by this time the tear gas was all around me. It felt like acid and needles in my eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. I kept trying to run/crawl and found the rest of the students among many Hondurans all yelling and running. I found the rest of the group but I couldn't see or breath. We continued to walk/run away from the crowds of people as more and more tear gas "bomb" were thrown at the people. The pain only lasted about 45 minutes, and we were able to find out that Elena was with other Calvin students and they ran into the mall and were safe. I had the most tear gas out of everyone but we are all fine. Many of the students are very afraid and many of them had panic attacks, so Phanie and I had to be "RA"s again and help everyone out.....we had all left our cellphones and bags at the university so my host mom was trying to call me and couldnt get ahold of me and was crying all day because she was so worried.

We were brought home by another host mom and I found my worried host mother waiting for me at my house. Needless to say, we are all fine, but not sure if we can go to school tomorrow or not and we will get a phone call in the morning from our professor about what the plans are. My host mom already told me to sleep in because she is not going to let me go to school anyways :) It may be possible that we have to come back to the US because the university has not had classes for a long time and if the strike continues it may become more dangerous....which is not what I want to do. Please pray for all of us, especially the students who are so afraid of almost everything. It was scarey for me because I couldn't see or breath for a while, but after a while I felt like one of the strongest people because it didn't seem like a life or death situation to me....compared to one girl who told me that she now understands what Rwanda was like (when in reality it wasn't even close). One of the girls on the trip has never left the state of Michigan in her life and the pobrecita was shaking all day long. Another girl is very sick right now and was crying and panicking, and 2 other girls had an asthma attack and panic attacks.

Tonight I met my host cousins and we played soccer in the house (in a room that is like a garage, but not really) and we at icecream with coffee. My little sister Andrea told me that she was jealous that I wasn't playing with ONLY her. I promised that I would play the Memory game with her later :)

It has rained every night here which means it gets "cold" at night....good for sleeping for me :) It is hot during the days but when it rains it cools down and so I have learned to pray for rain. The photo here is the view from the second floor of my house today while it was raining. Every night so far I have watched a TV show called "Las munecas de la mafia" or "The dolls of the mafia" which turns out to be a show about mafia men killing people and having sex with women who never wear any clothes. My host mom and her amiga seem to love it...I decided to just watch it with them to better my spanish and for nothing else....
I hope that after the chaos calms down I can keep my promise to write in spanish and english, but for now it's only english.
Hasta luego!

The crazy life

I am in Honduras all in one piece, although missing a few things from my luggage. I met my host family for the first time and the rest of the night was pretty much a blur. My host mom, who goes by “Yaquie” talks non-stop with slurred speech and an accent that I don’t understand very well. Her sister in law is always in the house who talks just as fast. Also, her friend is staying here for a while who talks even faster and with more expression. I definitely heard a lot of gossip the first day, and they are determined to teach me every idiom that they know because they want me to learn. (They just don’t quite understand that I can’t learn them all in the first day). I can understand all of the professors and other host moms that I have met, so at least this will be a challenge.

For the first hour, I chatted with the ladies and they assured me that there are no men in this house except for the 11 year old son, and that they are very open. Yaquie told me that if she has a problem, she is going to tell me, and if I have a problem, I had better tell her. After a few hours, they proceeded to take me to my room and unpack all of my stuff for me. I was forced into the shower to clean myself up and when I came back, my suitcases were gone and all of my stuff was put “away”. In the picture, you can see my room. Don’t be deceived. The big tall dresser thing is not for me. The other small closet has 5 hangers, which my host mom hung my shirts 6 deep on one hanger, and I have one small drawer. It’s a good thing I didn’t bring very much, although I sure feel like I took too much when I have so little space to store everything. I started to move things around a bit, but needed to go to the bathroom, and when I came back, everything was moved again. The most exciting thing of the night is when the women taught me how to “robar el internet”. There is one spot in my room that if I place my computer there, I can rob the neighbors internet. They thought it was funny and amazing that we could do this ☺ .

My little sister is 4 years old and never spoke to me for the first hour. Then she didn’t stop talking. Seriously. And if you have ever tried to understand 4 year old talk in Spanish on your first day in a new country, you realize how much I have been smiling and nodding non stop with her, although her mom told me “She speaks clearly doesn’t she!” I have played the memory game with her over 10 times and it is only day 2. But she is very cute. She is also the reason why this blog is not posted in Spanish because she is standing right here pulling on my arm with the cutest 4 year old look on her face.

Each wall in this house is a different color, and by color I mean Barbie pink and bright yellow and teal. Although, my walls are beige. My bedroom is next to the tv room and I laid awake most of the night listening to the women chat away. I also listened to the squawking bird that lives 10 feet from my pillow along with the constant barking dogs. But I was exhausted and I managed to fell asleep within time.

I woke up to banana pancakes and the most interesting drink….I won’t even describe it because you will gag. Picture oatmeal chunks in luke warm water going down your throat. We then went to the university for the first time and got a lot of tours and did a lot of walking. There is a strike going on right now in Honduras with every school, so there are hundreds and hundreds of people at the university. I thought I was going to get away from the noise for a while after my first night. The library was the only quite place all day.

Nonetheless, I definitely had the funniest stories to tell everyone today about my host family because it really is crazy. The other students couldn’t believe what my family was like compared to theirs. It is comparable if not beatable to my host mom in Spain. When I got back to my room today after being at the university, my bed was re-made, my blanket was gone, my closet was re-unorganized, and my shoes were all in a different place. But I am not complaining because it will never be boring around here and I think I am going to learn a lot more than the other students who have calmer host moms who don’t talk as much.

The funnies story yet (and it’s only been 2 days) happened this morning. I woke up to my host mom yelling something or other, sat up, and sneezed. She came running into my room from the floor beneath me with a cream to shove up my nose. I assured her that I have allergy pills and even showed them to her, but she shoved her finger up her nose first to show me and then shoved it up mine to assure that I wouldn’t be sneezing…..it’s a crazy life!

Well the lights just turned off because of the storm going on right now so it is going to be interesting around here. Picture 2 crazy women groaning because they can’t finish cooking and 2 little kids racing around in the dark. I hope to take a video of myself taking sometimes so that you all don't have to read through so much. The second picture is my bedroom (now there is no purple blanket) and the first picture is the room right outside my bedroom taken from inside my room (where I heard the chatting all day long). I hope to get more pictures up soon but that's for another calmer day.
Adios!

Preparation

Some of you have followed my emails on my trips to Spain and Cambodia, and now I invite you to follow me to Honduras (this time for a little longer). This time, instead of sending out emails every time I wanted to update, I am keeping a blog. This will make it so that you can see pictures and post comments if you want to. Read and share with others what you want to and don't read or share with others what you don't want to. Feel free to give other people you know my blog address if they are interested as well. For those of you who don't quite understand blogging and how to become a follower or how to find my blog once you have accidentally xed out of the window, I find it easiest if I bookmark the blog or add it to my favorites. This way it is easily accessible and you don't have to go searching every time you want to read an update.

The title that I chose for this blog in Spanish is "La unidad hace la fuerza", which in English means "In unity there is strength". I chose this title because I think it has a lot of truth, and I believe that God did not intend his world to be separated with borders and police who ensure that people stay in their own countries. Unless you are a native american, we are all immigrants to the United States and I cannot justify my existence in this country over someone from another country. Anyways...I chose the title to remind me that my presence in another place will hopefully bring unity and strength to others.

I received these two photographs of my host family a few weeks ago. The daughter Andrea is 4 years old, the son Walter is 11 years old, the mother Yaquinet is 46 years old, and the father Walter is 39 years old (last name is Cantarero Galeano). I am excited to meet them and spend the next semester as a part of their family.

As I learn more and more about injustices across the world, it pains me to know that i have suffered so little yet still do not feel content. I am going into a new country where I know nothing of my host family's past, nothing of their daily struggles, nothing of the community of which I will spend the next 4 months. I hope that little pieces of what I learn and experience can be shared with you, to humble yourselves and to remind you that God's world is much bigger than we assume.

The goal of the semester is to learn Spanish language, and I have added another goal of learning as much as I can about Honduran culture. Because it is an intensive language program, and we are required to only speak in Spanish, I have decided to try to post my blogs in Spanish and English. (I hope some of you have fun trying to read the Spanish and trying to remember those high school Spanish lessons). Although I realize most of you won't read the Spanish, and for those of you who do read it and understand it, forgive the mistakes, I am determined to learn as much as I can and am going to try to limit my time spent writing or speaking in English.

I leave on August 18 and return on December 16. My neighborhood is called The Residencial Plaza. You can send snail mail to the following address:
Apdo 30676
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Central America

This is a word of advice about sending packages: "Large packages from the U.S. have often been delayed by months and are very expensive to mail. Please limit any care packages to what fits in a large manila envelope and just send them more frequently. I will pay at least 5 lempiras for large envelopes and packages."

Congratulations! You made it through the first post, and hopefully you will enjoy the ones to come. I would now like to give a special shout out to my Opa who is turning 80 this month. HAPPY BIRTHDAY OPA! I love you! I hope my whole DeRooy family enjoys the well planned birthday party for him this coming weekend in Canada.
Alison

En Español
Algunos de Uds. me han seguidos a mis viajes a España y Cambodia, y ahora se invito para seguirme a Honduras (este tiempo para un poco mas tiempo). Este tiempo, en vez de enviar correos electrónicos cada tiempo que quería poner al corriente, voy a hacer un blog. Este sería más fácil y así que se puedan ver fotos y poner sus comentos si quieran. Lean y compartan con otras que quieran, y no lean y no compartan que no quieran. Puedan dar a otros personas que conocen el link de este blog se ellos están interesados. Para Uds. quien no entienden los blogs y como ser una seguidor o como encontrar este página después de exigirlo, creo que es más fácil de hacer un bookmark y añadirlo a mis favoritos. En este manera es más fácil de encontrarlo y no se tiene de gastar tiempo cuando quiere leerlo.

El título que escojo para este blog es “La unidad hace la fuerza”. Escojo este título porque el declaración tiene mucha verdad, y creo que Díos no intentó su mundo de ser separado con las fronteras y la policía quien asegura que las personas se quedan en sus propias países. A menos que es una americano nativo, todos nosotros son inmigrantes a los EEUU y yo no puedo justificar mi existencia en este país superioramente a alguien de otro país. Pero…escojo este título para recordarme que mi presencia en otro lugar va a traer la unidad y la fuerza a otros.

Recibí estas dos fotos de mi familia en Honduras algunas semanas pasadas. La hija Andrea tiene 4 años, el hijo Walter tiene 11 años, la madre Yaquinet tiene 46 años, y el padre Walter tiene 39 años. (Apellido es Cantarero Galeano).Estoy muy emocionante para conocerse y pasar el próximo semestre como parte de su familia.

Has aprendo más y más cuando leo libros sobre las injusticias en el mundo, me causa mucho dolor para saber que he sufrido tan poco pero todavía no siento contento. Iré a un país nuevo donde no sé nada de la comunidad de que pasaré los próximos 4 meses. Ojala que algunos partes de que yo aprenda y experimenta se puede ser compartidos consigo, para se humillan y recuerdan que el mundo de Díos es más grande que asumamos.

La meta del semestre es para aprender la lengua español y he añado otro meta de aprender a lo más que es posible sobre la cultura Hondureño. Porque es una programa intensiva, y estamos requerimos a hablar solamente en Español, voy a hacer mis correros en ingles y español. (Ojala que algunos de Uds. divertirse de leer el Español y que se tratan de recordar los lecturas de la escuela secundaria). Aunque realizo que muchos de Uds. no se van a leer el Español, y para Uds. quien lo lean y lo entiendan, perdonar los errores, soy determinado de aprender a lo más que es posible y voy a tratar de limitar el tiempo pasado de hablar y escribir en ingles.

Salio en el 18 de augusto y regreso en el 16 de diciembre. El vecindario es La Residencial Plaza. Se pueden enviarme correo a:
Apdo 30676
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Central America

Este es consejos sobre enviar correo: "Large packages from the U.S. have often been delayed by months and are very expensive to mail. Please limit any care packages to what fits in a large manila envelope and just send them more frequently. I will pay at least 5 lempiras for large envelopes and packages."

¡Felicidades! He terminado la primera correo, y ojala que divertirse en los restos que vendrán en el futuro. Ahora me gustaría dar un grito especial a mi abuelo quein tendrá 80 años este mes. !FELIZ CUMPLEANOS A MI ABUELO! !Te quiero! Ojala que mi familia DeRooy entera se disfrutan con el partido muy bien planeado para él la semana que viene en Canadá.
Alison