Ketchup Addiction

I think I have a ketchup addiction, among many other things. Every day I am served beans, tajadas (friend platanoes) and tortillas with a side of ketchup. Some people are sick of the food, but I love it, until we ran out of ketchup. For 2 days the food was bland...and I realized that I have a ketchup addiction.

Today Jimena told me with tears in her eyes that she is going to miss me so much when I go home and that a little piece of her heart is going to come with me in my pocket when I go. She has a new obsession with Liana (my 4 year old cousin in Rockford) after seeing her on video chat today. She can't believe that Liana likes to draw, color, run, ride bikes, and play with toys just like she does! She is sure that when she comes to visit me when she gets bigger that Liana is going to be her best friend! I showed her pictures of sand castles that Liana and I made together today and she said "But Alison, she isn't your little sister right?" and I said "Nope, she's my cousin" and she said "Oh Phew! I'm your only little sister then!" (A bit of jealousy going on :)

Also, Jimena wore pink leggings with a little jean skirt today, and when I saw her I said "Wow Jimena! You look SO cute today!" and she turned to her Mom and very dramatically said "Oh Mom! Why didn't you put this on me when Isaac was here?" I don't think I have ever laughed so hard, which made her put her hands on her hips and say "What?!"

I went to a Catholic Mass today with my Aunt and her Mom who is dying of cancer (she was given 2 months to live), and the Mom (Doña Teresa) wept during the church. It was a very sad but peaceful thing to see. I don't understand everything about catholicism, but there was also a teenage boy who wouldn't get off his knees in dedication to the Virgin Mary until his prayer request was granted. He crawled and knelt for 2 hours while sobbing his heart out, and his family stood around him supporting him and praying.

21 more days and 21 more New Things

1. Jimena learned the secret of the middle finger. She whips it out ALL the time!
2. Garlic and Salt is not the same thing that you put on bread. It is Salt with a hint of Garlic. We ended up scraping the bread after it was all done because it was so salty!
3. We found Jimena's secret stash of letters to Isaac under the bed. All 59 of them neatly folded in little squares ready to be mailed....she hid them because she found out we were throwing them away!
4. The Internet went ka-put for a while...now it is just back to being picky.
5. The lukewarm showers turned to ice water.
6. The sunsets are prettier!
7. Whoever said November would be a cooler month is a lier!
8. My phone service has not failed to text message me every morning this month at 7 am, before I need to wake up.
9. Although I didn't think it was possible, Jenga is not fun anymore! It has worn itself out!
10. Jimena only has 3 more blank pages in MY notebook to "do homework" with me...I am going to have to be creative for these last few weeks! For some reason her notebook are definitely NOT as cool as mine!
11. The new Colombian TV show is called EL CAPO, and it is VERY intense.
12. Our favorite dancer won in a show similar to Dancing with the Stars, and my family pranked me into "talking" with the winners grandma, which was actually a recording. At least it was funny for them.
13. Spending the entire day in the back of a pickup truck is VERY fun until 2 days later.
14. The dogs.....enough said.
15. The walk to school was long in the beginning, short in the middle, and now every day it seems a bit longer.
16. Jimena just realized that my Mom and Isaac don't speak Spanish...she was devastated!
17. Andre (my brother) is on vacation until February (like our summer vacation). This means he has a LOT of free time on his hands that he fills with trying to scare me. The other day, I was walking up the stairs at 10:30pm after a long day, and he scared me so bad I almost ran all the way back down the stairs.
18. I went on an official ant hunt. I killed over 200 small ants (they are the only bug I kill), and woke up the next morning with the ants swarming my toothbrush. I then planted traps around my room, and when the long line of ants started coming from the ceiling, I plugged the holes. Still didn't work but it was pretty fun.
19. My hair is officially long again.
20. I know longer care when ants crawl out of my laptop, because I know they are burning inside.
21. I will miss my honduran family a lot, and I am praying for the right words to say when I have to leave, especially with Jimena. I did not expect it to be this hard.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A bit of culture shock...

I have the house to myself because my family went to a school presentation, but I have class in an hour so I couldn't go. I had forgotten what a bit of peace and quiet felt like!

My host Dad came home while I was on vacation, so when I got home I met him again for the second time. That means there's money in the house, so my 11 year old brother got a sweet cell phone, my host Mom got her nails done, and my little sister got a bushel full of toys. On Saturday morning, we went to a beauty salon to get Andre's haircut. I had a bit of culture shock, as all the ladies getting their hair done gossiped about everyone they knew. They talked about my Aunt, my host Dad, my cousin, the other exchange students from Calvin, the newest girl who got pregnant, etc. I had no idea how they knew everything about everyone, and I felt a bit out of place as they were saying some pretty inappropriate things that I didn't feel comfortable knowing.

Saturday afternoon/night we went to a carnival type thing, which are very popular in Honduras and they last several months. There are mini roller coasters, ferris wheels, games, food, dancing, and lots of drinking. I played the babysitter role for a while while my host parents drank lots of beer and I took the kids on some rides and games. My host Dad gave me a fist full of money, so we rode the Worm roller coaster 6 times, did bumper cars, and won some cheap prizes at the games. (It was actually pretty cold, so we all wore sweatshirts and jackets!)

We left the house at 3:00pm and got back at 1:00am, but stayed up talking until 4:00am with one of their family friends named David. Each of the adults had bout 12-13 beers, so things got pretty funny. David is a biologist and a very smart man, and he kept giving Yaqui advice about her life, and Yaqui kept arguing back. I ended up being the mediator because they always ended the argument with my advice, and whatever I said went. I enjoyed talking to David because he has different opinons than my family about the environment, consumerism, racism, etc.

On Sunday we headed to Phanie's house for her little brothers 1st birthday party. A party would be an understatement..picture a teeny house with about 25 kids under the age of 11, with all of their parents, all talking and screaming at the same time, with twinkle twinkle and mary had a little lamb music blasting in spanish. Then picture pin the nose on the clown, and as a child is trying to pin the nose on the clown, there are 25 people huddled around screaming up, down, left, right, right there, stick it on!!!!! in the child's ear....pretty overwhelming and I was just watching!

Then there's the piñata. A big piñata attached to the electrical wire, and each kid gets 10 smacks. After the first little piece of candy falls out, all the kids dive to the floor and start fighting for the candy. Then, a parent gets up and starts shaking the piñata until the candy starts pouring out. The electrical wire breaks and the piñata falls, but it doesn't matter. All of a sudden confetti starts coming out like a blizzard, and there are 30 kids in a space the size of a car are screaming and throwing confetti everywhere.

Then there's the cutting of the cake. A candle is lit, and about 10 different versions of Happy Birthday are sung, with kids sticking their fingers in the frosting about every other word. The cake is cut, pieces are served, and everyone leaves. Apparently the cutting of the cake signifies the end of the party.

Needless to say, I am taking advantage of this hour alone in the house to start writing one of my many final exam essays for the semester. The pictures are of a Mariache man at the carnival, Jimena on one of the rides with her winter jacket, and my family eating. I also tried to put a video of the three of us on the Worm roller coaster, but Im not sure if it uploaded.

North Coast Road Trip

Destination: The North Coast
Budget: $200
Plans: none, avoid tourists
People: Elena, Phanie, and me

We decided against going to the tourist trap Roatan and instead decided to tour the North Coast with basically no plans. I was in charge of the budget and keeping track of who owes who, calling the hotels, making reservations, and finding the bus routes. Phanie was in charge of contacting an ONG to get a school project out of the way, and Elena was in charge of....bring a phone charger.

We randomly met a lot of very unique and fun people along the way, and got a lot of connections and free lunches :)

Saturday: Left at 6:15am and arrived in Tela before noon. Found our hotel Mango, did a short photo shoot on the beach, and headed off to the central park to people watch. This is where we got our first phone number from a random guy...no worries, Phanie had her pepper spray in hand.

Sunday: Spent the day at the beach, and looked for a restaurant on top of a large hill for dinner. On the way there, we got a little lost and ran into Roberto, a local Garifuna artist. He showed us where to go and invited us to his gallery the next day. We ate at a gorgeous restaurant with a beatiful look out, but didn{t realize that taxes were not included in the final price, and didnt have enough money to pay. Thankfully, we realized on the bill that the tip is optional, so we left the money and Phanie explained that we weren{t leaving the full bill because we honestly didnt have enough money.

Monday: Walked 30 minutes to Roberto and his brother Cruz art studio. Cruz talked to us for about 2 hours about his philosophies of life, beliefs, and culture. It was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. We then took a bus to La Ceiba.

Monday afternoon: Arrived at Hotel Olas del Mar (ocean waves resort) and got a bit dissapointed. Although I was told twice on the phone that the price included breakfast, the cafeteria was under construction. And it was raining, so we were all a bit depressed that day.

Tuesday: We woke up early and got in a mini bus to head off to Sambo Creek to take a small boat to the Cayos Cochinos Islands. We were a bit confused as 2 older men got in and started arguing and making a big fus with our driver. There names were Bud and Grover, 2 old men who own a house on the island. Just our luck! They chatted away with us and explained that they had been waiting for 4 days to get to their island but it has been raining so they couldnt leave. Grover sells large garage doors, and Bud is a retired mountain hiker guide. Talk about 2 funny weird old men. Needless to say, they lent us a plastic bag so we wouldnt get our stuff drenched on the boat ride, and offered to let us eat lunch with them in their island house. We dropped them off on their island, and took our own tour. Our tour guides name is Exon, and he is a Garifuna man who knows everything. We snorkled in the second best barrier reef in the world, and I cannot even begin to describe the ocean floor. Vibrant colors, huge fish, Baracudas, all kinds of incredible animals. The pictures will describe more than words.

For lunch we met up with our two new friends, where we laughed histerically at their stories and ideas. They served us tuna salad with red wine. They offered us to stay there the whole week, but we didnt bring anything with us so we turned it down. The last part of our tour was on an island called Chachauate with a Garifuna community, where Phanie got 2 marriage proposals. We were offered a hotel room for the night as well. We also saw pink boas, which only exist on 2 of the Cayos islands in the whole world. Pretty sweet.

Wednesday: We visited a Garifuna Justice ONG that fights for Garifuna rights in Honduras in the afternoon, and then we spent 3 hours at the bank trying to figure out Elena{s bad credit habits. :)

Thursday: We arrived at the Quinta Real hotel for our last night. We spent the day lounging at the pool and ocean, and went out for fresh fish at night. We slept so good that night in huge comfy beds without ants or other insects or wierd smells.

Friday: Woke up to a bit of a rainy day, but had a huge free breakfast (finally). We walked the beach in the light rain and Elena and I had a big ping pong match. We met a man named John from New Mexico who just built a resort in Roatan, and he offered us a free weekend trip there. So many connections! We took the bus home friday afternoon and arrived home about 9pm.

All in all, we got to see 3 cities and visit different communities in the Cayos Cochinos Islands. We met a lot of interesting people and got to see a lot of incredible things, wihtout falling into tourist traps and english speaking people.

Now its a few weeks of class, a week trip to Guatemala, and then I{ll be home!
I hope to post pictures on facebook before Monday!

Cute story

Jimena was sitting on my bed with me, her sandals kicked off just like me, her legs crossed just like me, and studying hard just like me. She occasionally looked over at me just to check what I was doing, and about every 5 minutes when she heard a good song on her cartoon show, she would run out, sing to it, and then run back, jump on my bed, ruffle everything up, make a mess, and smile sweetly at me as she tried to copy my homework. About every 3 minutes she says "te quiero" or "I love you" and gives me a kiss on my hand or my cheek.

A few nights ago as this was all happening (as it does every night) I asked her if she was going to miss me when I left. She thought hard for a minute and said "No, not that much because you told me that I get to visit your little house in Michigan when I'm bigger, and I am very big right now." I said "Yes thats true, someday you will get to visit me in my little house, but not until you are bigger than your brother." She said "Well I'm not that sad because you are going to call me right?" And I said "of course!".

Then about 10 minutes later she looked up at me with tear filled eyes and said "But hermanita (my little sister) I AM scared because you have to fly all by yourself in an airplane, and I am scared of airplanes!" I gave her a little hug and said "Guess what?! I get to fly with Phanie, I don't have to fly all by myself." She asked "And Elena too?" And I said "Yep! I get to fly with my friends the whole way!" She got a big grin on her face and said "OK I'm not scared anymore, and skipped off to watch her cartoons".

Now she asks me almost every morning if she is big enough to visit my little house in Michigan, especially because she is big enough to go to Kindergarden next year..... :)

The picture is of her "studying" with me on my bed :)

44

There are 44 days left of my semester in Honduras, part of me is ready to go back and part of me never wants to go back. There are things I miss about both sides, and now that I am used to my life here it will be hard to adjust back to my other life.

This week is a normal week (if normal exists) and we are finishing up some projects and preparing to leave Saturday for our vacation! Phanie, Elena and I are planning on touring the entire North coast. Tela, Ceiba, Cayos Cochinos, maybe Utila, and maybe Trujillo. We are all ready for some serious relaxing time and time with just the three of us. We are going to play it by ear and stay at places we like and move on from places we don't like.

I have a cold this week and feel like it should be cold outside to accompany it, but it continues to be warm and sunny almost every day. The temperatures have cooled down a bit compared to when we arrived, and supposedly December is a cool month. I am very ready for cooler temperatures.

I am sitting on the windowsill with my computer looking a beautiful sunset over the little mountain next to my house. There are 2 dogs in the street that were nuzzling each other but it broke out into a fight. 3 of my cousins are here making a ruckus downstairs playing soccer and tennis. My little sister Jimena is watching cartoons upstairs by me and about every 5 minutes she runs to check what I am doing :) My host mom Yaqui is cooking a scrumptious Honduran dinner and is probably still concocting some sort of medicine for me because my nose is continually running and my voice sounds a bit bad. She has encouraged me to skip class for the past 2 days and couldn't believe that I actually though I was well enough to go.

And I just received the dinner call, so Im off to eat some beans, rice, and tortillas!
Que Dios les bendiga!

Fotos: My brother Andre had a school presentation, and one of the fotos shows his school project. Then there were soldiers that came and did a little show, and shot off VERY loud guns which sent my sister screaming and crying. The other picture is of my host mom, my Aunt, and Jimena at my brothers school.