Weekend in Tegucigalpa

Faye, Kristina and I woke up early Saturday morning and hopped on the bus to Tegucigalpa, apparently the third most dangerous city in the world. And I have to admit, I was a bit nervous.

After a four hour bus ride, our friend Fernando picked us up where the bus dropped us off. He told us he had a couple things planned for our day.
It was obvious we needed a little cocktail after that bus ride, so he took us to a little place called Tito Aguacate for a drink that translated to the word "cramps". He described them as a mixture of gin, some wine liqueur, sugar and lime being poured into mayonnaise jars (sin mayo), shaken up and served in a glass. They were phenomenal. After our drinks we went for a walk around the center of Teguc, and my only impression of this city was how gorgeous it was.
We went to Valle de Los Angeles for lunch, we had papusas, an El Salvadorian dish, a tortilla with cheese and pork baked into the center. After lunch, we walked around this little colonial town, bought a few too many souvenirs and had wine overlooking the mountains.

We then decided it was time to get to our hotel and get cleaned up for dinner and a friend of Fernando's birthday party. We were planning on staying in a hostel, until we decided to see if we could stay in a really nice "Classic Honduran" hotel for about the same price. This place was absolutely gorgeous.

We got ready and headed to a local restaurant, Había Una Ves, for dinner. We had fantastic salads and bruschetta and were ready for the night.
We went to a birthday party of one of his friends and could not have been more impressed. Not only was the house gorgeous, the people were amazing and so great and welcoming.
We woke up the next morning to our breakfast buffet and the pool overlooking the mountains. It was one of the best weekends I'd had in a long time.

Solamente un poquito, por favor

So for the past couple weeks, I've looked at the ends of my hair thinking maybe I could just take some scissors and chop off the crazy broken ends myself.... Maybe I should have.

My roommate walked through the front door tonight looking as you should when you get your haircut. So refreshed, with fresh ends and a big smile on her face. I asked her where and how much and ran out the door. My first thought as the door slammed behind me was "maybe Faye should turn around and come with you, as you know no words from the hair stylist world in Spanish." But I told myself that I could handle it, "necesito cortas mi pelo, solamente poquito", while gesturing just a little bit, showing about an inch with my fingers.

One girl sets me up in the chair. She hands another girl scissors. (Mind you, I like to be clear with my hairdressers, only a little bit, less than an inch if you can, it's been about six months since I last...) nope. Not here. The girl takes my hair and ziiiiippp! Cuts layers around my face. I gasped. Um no, solamente poquito!!!!!! But, she has already done my left side so I may as well let her do the other side. She hands the scissors to someone else and she clip, clip, clips my right side and I'm almost in tears. I have never cried at the hair salon before but these girls were testing me.
Then she hands me a mirror and voila! Chops the back off.
Welp, when in... Honduras. At least it feels fresh. Buena suerte to the next person that gets this job, you're going to have some evening out to do :-/
After my tragic experience, we had family dinner. A bit of a twist as we had the principal of the younger grades of our school over, and we decided to speak completely in Spanish. I practiced speaking spanish probably more tonight than I have in the months that I've been here. But we had a great time, and too many laughs, pulling our vocabularies together between those of us who are not fluent to hold conversations.

Faye, Kristina and I are headed off to Tegucigalpa in the morning for a quick weekend trip! Hasta en el futuro! ( as my roommate Kristina tells people around town) :)

"I like nonsense"

As always, it's been awhile since I've posted. Since my last post, Kristina's mom and Faye's friend Kate have visited. Two weekends ago, Kristina, Matt and I went away to Tela for the weekend.

It was soooo nice to see the beach. We got there on Friday night, just in time to see the sunset. We had an amazing dinner at the hostel we were staying at and hung out on the beach for the rest of the night. We spent all day Saturday on the beach. And Sunday afternoon we took our time leaving.. It was so relaxing and fun to just get away, just the three of us.

Last weekend, we celebrated The Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo! We actually had a Tres de Mayo celebration as our family dinner was Mexican themed, we drank margaritas and had a piñata. Saturday morning we started off with an egg casserole and mimosas as we picked our favorite horses. As soon as the casserole was out of the oven, the power went out, which of course meant no Internet, resulting in no way to watch the races. We packed all of our stuff up and went over to the boys house to carry on with our celebration. I ended up picking the winner of the last two races, Wise Dan and Orb! Which resulted in the losers taking shots of whiskey and me getting a Monday afternoon off school. Hurray for me!! (My roomies don't seem too pleased with this, but a bet is a bet) ;-)
I think I'll choose the last Monday of classes. Which is now two weeks away.

You know that "two weeks notice" feeling? Well, I like to call it the "two weeks notice" feeling. It's that feeling you get and the way you act once you put your two weeks notice in at a job. It goes something like this: you start to notice and think about all the things you're going to miss, but you cannot help but think of all the things you're looking forward to.

You'd think I'd be looking forward to an abundance of things; air conditioning, a haircut, REAL FOOD (pizza, sushi, Sassys BBQ, anything Budweiser), a reliable-non-electrocuting shower, etc. All I really really want is my bed. And snuggles with my puppy and to be in the same place as Shep again. But I am going to miss these kids of mine so so much.

It started out as a good day, turned into an "I can't even hear myself think so I'm going to scream over all of you" kinda day, which slowly turned into "if you're all going to bang on your desk, I'm going to bang on mine even harder". Wish I knew how to post this video of my Omarito (as everyone likes to call him) banging on my desk and singing to me, but a picture will just have to do for now.

It felt REALLY nice to join in on their craziness. I think I'll be doing it more these next few weeks. :)


"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells" -Dr. Seuss

"..it's beautiful all the same"

My mom and dad arrived Wednesday afternoon with Phil and Linda Hohler. We went to the super grocery store on the way home and they got to see my reaction to this amazing place. I was so overwhelmed I was shaking.

The next day, I had school but met up with the parents and Matt afterwards to go to Pulhapanzak waterfalls. We decided to do the waterfall tour. Matt, his parents, my dad and I all ventured down to a gate leading towards the falls. Linda was terrified the entire time and was trying to talk herself out of it, but we didn't let her. We were instructed to hold hands the entire way and Linda immediately attached herself to the tour guide.

We got to a little pool and Matt, Bogey and I all jumped right in and climbed out on the other side, eager for the adventure. Little did we know it would be like hurricane winds on the other side. We had to keep our heads down and hold tight to one another. We went under a small part of the falls and tucked behind it, some of us thinking this would be the extent of the whole thing. Nope. We kept going underneath the killer force of the water. It was soooo worth it. Being under the huge fall and being able to look up at the bottom of it was breathtaking. When we were done, we crawled into a tiny dark cave, turned back around and went back out. We were all so proud of Matt's mom for doing this while shaking uncontrollably and hugging the rocks.

We went to the D&D for dinner again and planned the rest of our weekend. Our parents decided to do a bird tour in the morning and come to school when they were finished. My parents got to meet my class and see what it was like to cram and study for 4 subjects in two hours with 19 seven-year- olds. Not easy.

We visited the orphanage in town after school and everyone fell in love with the smiling faces of those adorable children. I got out my stickers and we had a blast watching them pick their favorites and stick them all over each other. =)

Saturday morning we went to visit some of the girls from our school at their house. Their family consists of about 15 girls from ages 4-20 something's that have been brought in by a woman from Tennessee. These girls have been given a loving family and a safe place to call home. They are the most beautiful and wonderful little girls with the most heart wrenching backgrounds and stories.

We ate lunch with the girls and stopped by the archeological park on the way home. I snuck away from everyone afterwards to go home and make a surprise cake for my dad (his birthday was the following week). I came back to the D&D and after dinner we lit his #60 candles and sang Happy Birthday to him! :)

The next morning we hiked the coffee plantation. It was a bit strenuous but really nice to get out and be active in the morning before they packed up and went to San Pedro. We showed them the cafe in our town and we all got delicious frozen drinks.

It was sad to see them go but so thankful they came to see where I've been living since January! They spent all of this past week in Roatan, one of the Honduran Bay Islands. They got a nice tropical vacation while I had to go back to school for exam week.

After meeting so many children with such tragic backgrounds, my parents couldn't believe how happy they were to have food on their table, (although in most cases it was just rice and beans), and to have visitors (although they couldn't understand what the other was saying). Linda put it best when she pointed out that even though we cannot speak the same language, when we visited the children in the orphanage, there was an understanding of what they wanted or needed. There was no confusion that these children just wanted to be friendly with us and, in most cases, simply cuddle for the time being.


"She hasn't started to make sense of the world yet but thinks it's beautiful all the same." -StoryPeople, Making Sense



Yesterday, Matt, Thomas, Bobby, his brother Matt and Rose and I all got tubes and took the freezing river down to the lake. It was so much fun. As I'm doing activities like these, I always have to pinch myself and remind myself this is real life. Matt and I went first down the river and had to dodge branches and rocks to get out to the river. Once we got out to the lake, some of us jumped off a cliff. I didn't go to the highest height because by the time I got to a point, I saw Thomas and Matt letting all of our tubes and belongings float away into the middle of the lake and I had to save my Havianas!

Today I'm going to do some yoga, catch up on my grading and catch some rays. Have a nice week!

Fear: a manipulative emotion

Two Saturdays ago, Matt and I left early to fetch Shep at the airport! It was soooo nice to finally see him again. We caught a bus to Sambo Creek to meet up with the others, Bobby, Faye, Kristina, Phillip, Thomas and Rose.

We got to the hotel that night and immediately jumped into the warm Caribbean Sea, grabbed a few beers and watched the sunset. Afterwards, we went to dinner at a place called Paradise Found, run by an interesting couple originally from Ohio! (The lady lived a few doors down from one of Matt's family members, small world.)

The next day we took the ferry from La Ceiba to Utila. Arriving in Utila was like stepping into paradise. The water was as clear as could be and the Caribbean feel was phenomenal. We walked to our home for the week, Underwater Vision and were immediately welcomed by our dive instructor for the week, Els.

The Bucks were playing and I, instead of thinking to turn on the tv next to me at the bar, sat by myself trying to stream the audio for the game with weak wifi. It got down to the last minute when everyone came back and Shep turned on the tv just to see the winning three to get us into the Sweet 16.

This began one of the best weeks of my life. I had some of my favorite people around me, enjoying the weather and the beautiful water. The next day we started our PADI Open Water Diving course.

I swallowed my fears of the ocean and the animals living in it and suited up. A couple days and an underwater O-H-I-O that will probably never be seen later, I was comfortable underwater and certified to dive on my own (with my buddy, Shepard of course.)

It was so nice to get away and spend time with everyone outside of school and our town and especially for everyone to meet Shep :-). I never planned on going further into the ocean than right off the boat to snorkel. I am so grateful that Shep came for this week and pushed me to face a fear I never even considered facing.

My parents came into town yesterday and I surprised them at the airport! We got to hang out and have dinner together last night and we have some fun things planned for them while they're here!



“The most often repeated commandment in the Bible is 'Do not fear.' It's in there over two hundred times. That means a couple of things, if you think about it. It means we are going to be afraid, and it means we shouldn't let fear boss us around. Before I realized we were supposed to fight fear, I thought of fear as a subtle suggestion in our subconscious designed to keep us safe, or more important, keep us from getting humiliated. And I guess it serves that purpose. But fear isn't only a guide to keep us safe; it's also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.”
― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

What a weekend :)

We left for Guatemala Friday after school. I was so excited to get out of Peña Blanca and be away with everyone for the weekend. I feel like I've been pretty good with the cars and buses here but I still took my Bonine and put on my C-bands. Nothing worked. About 45 minutes into the trip. I was getting sick out the window. This proceeded to happen until we got to the border of Honduras and Guatemala.

When we got to the border, it was closed. Picture this: 12 of us walking across the border of Honduras, over barriers to get our passports stamped as we left the country. We followed a man that told us he would give us a ride to Rio Dulce, and hopped into his van.

I put my head down and slept for the next two hours, trying not to think about or feel the movement of the bus.

We finally arrived at Hotel Backpacker and grabbed a bite to eat.

The next morning we woke up to a chilly, cloudy day. We ate breakfast and decided that despite the clouds, we would take a boat to Livingston, Guatemala, a cute little Port town.

As we hopped into the boat, the clouds parted and the sun came out. I put on my sunscreen, opened my carton of white wine and enjoyed the ride.

We stopped at a hostel that had fresh coconut drinks and you just had to sip out enough coconut water/milk to make room for rum. These were fantastic.

After about 45 minutes of riding down this beautiful river, we arrived in Livingston. This town has a wonderful Caribbean feel with beautiful people. We grabbed some drinks and went down to the sea. Phillip and Rose waded in the water while Kristina, Faye and I grabbed a bite to eat.

On the way home, we stopped at hot springs and sat in the warm water for a bit. The simple things these countries have to offer amaze me every day.

When we got back home, the hallway floor was soaked. I noticed it was coming from my room and realized the sink pipe was leaking all weekend. Rose and I mopped up a couple buckets worth of water from the floor. And by mopped, I mean swept up and transferred the water from a dustpan into a bucket and poured it out. What a disaster.
What I would have done for a mop that worked correctly.

I took a nap today and woke up to a WONDERFUL surprise. Congratulations to my best friend, Jaimee Rister for getting engaged today to a phenomenal guy and father! Love you both!!!!



"He loved her for almost everything she was & she decided that was enough to let him stay for a very long time." -Brian Andreas, StoryPeople "Mr. Right"

Exciting things coming up!

I have been quiet these past few weeks..


When it rains here, there's not much for us to do but sit around and watch movies. It's hardly an option to do laundry unless its hot because your clothes will take a few days to dry and you end up having to wash the dewy smell out of them anyways!

Last night Matt and I cooked family dinner with his girlfriend, Kelly. We made fajitas, nachos and chocolate covered fruit. Afterwards we all played charades and hung out.

I'm really looking forward to the next few weeks. We are going to Guatemala for the weekend. I'm in need of a weekend away as we have pretty much been cooped up in our house on the weekends because of rain.
Next Thursday is the Science Fair. Each class has 3-5 groups working on different projects. Each project will be judged in English and in Spanish and the best project out of the whole school, kindergarten to 8th grade, wins. My class is still trying to get their boards together but their experiments are coming along pretty well. We have Magnets, a Solar System, Magma inside a volcano, and Tornadoes. I'm a bit nervous for my kiddos, but I'm proud of the work they've done!

After that, we will be leaving for Semana Santa to go to Utila. I will meet Shep in San Pedro and we will be off for a week of sun and diving!

I promise to keep you updated on my exciting adventures coming up!