Random updates

-My host-sister had her baby last Sunday AM at 2:15. She was home by 3 in the afternoon. Ironically, she delivered at the same hospital where my health project was visiting on Friday morning. If she would have been a few hours earlier, we may have seen her, as we were also in the maternity ward!

-I went to a soccer game here in town last Sunday, the semi-finals of 2 teams from Santa Lucia. It's amazing how much intensity and excitement there is with the fans and the players. On several occassions, fights had to be controlled. Interestingly enough, a lot of times it was the players stopping the fans from getting out of control. I can't wait until I'm able to see the national teams play in Tegucigalpa.

-Funny story...last Monday was a pretty rainy day. I hung out with my family, ate some dinner (Beans, homemade tortillas, spinach with onions, eggs...Oh and have I mentioned the popularity of manteca (lard) among Hondurans, and my family? The other day, my host dad gave me a breakfast of fried plantains with a heaping scoop of lard on top. It was pretty sweet. Unfortunately, I haven't reverted back to my childhood eating habits, so I put it all in a napkin when he wasn't looking. Ironic that I used to do that with my vegetables when I was little, and now that's what I want the most of!!) Anyway, after dinner, somehow the barrier between my host-parents' room and the chicken coop outside collapsed, and I spent quite a bit of time chasing roosters throughout the house...Picture two 65+ year-old Hondurans and the gringa (white person, basically...me) running around, in the dark (because apparently it's easier to catch them this way). Finally, they were apprehended, and the noise they made when caught can only be described as what it might sound like if a cat in heat were run over by a car, repeatedly. it was awful, but hilarious.

-My trip to the North Coast was canceled last-minute because there had been a ton of rain in the area, so roads were washed out because of landslides, etc. Instead, I went with my friend Laura (another trainee) to the departamento (equivalent of US state) of Santa Barbara, to a tiny tiny town called Concepcion Sur. We visited a Health volunteer who is finishing her service in 3 weeks. Her town was very small...she lived in a large house, by herself, with 3 extra rooms. It seemed like it would be a relaxing, slow-paced lifestyle but made me realize I would like my placement in a slightly larger area. One cool thing was that a family from her community invited us to have dinner with them Friday night. I would guess there were about 10 people living in the house, and from what I could see, there was only one bedroom area. This was a family considered pretty well off...they had a TV and a refrigerator, which most people in the rural areas do not have.

-When we arrived back in Teguc yesterday (we have to go through there for basically every bus transfer to get anywhere in the country) we went to a mall there to look for cell phones. In the area, there was a Baskin Robbins, TCBY, Burger King, Popeyes, Church's Chicken, Sbarro, Pizza Hut, Quizno's, Subway, TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesday, Dunkin Donuts and probably other American restaurants I am forgetting. It was a bit disappointing to see all the American crap food so popular in the mall, but not very suprising. It is very expensive here, though. Most people cannot afford to eat fast food the way Americans do, so McDonalds, etc here have security guards, very friendly service, and are super clean (This is what I've heard...I haven't eaten there).

I guess that's all for now. I have one week left in Santa Lucia, then all of us in the Health project will be moving to La Paz, in the departamento of La Paz, for 6 weeks of Field-based training. After that, we'll have one week in Santa Lucia, and then we'll find out our site placement for the next 2 years!! I can't believe how fast training is going by.

Oh yeah, I got a cell phone. The number is: 504 9817 2471