Fin de semana: the weekend

At first, Robin didn't think we did anything yesterday that was newsworthy...but then Loren reminded her that we successfully took taxis to and from the grocery store on our own, haggled with one of the drivers over the price (he wanted to charge us waaaay too much, AND he got lost!) and bought copious amounts of crackers, soup and Gatorade. Go us!

We sat around the rest of the day eating soup and crackers, drinking Gatorade and watching the rest of Pirates of the Caribbean 2...the little break in the movie was due to the fact that Robin couldn't stomach "octopus head" (Davy Jones) and got sick.

We've had quite an interesting few days, stomach wise. We seem to be on the mend now though! *fingers crossed* *toes crossed* *sign of the cross*

Speaking of...we went to church today! We attended the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the cathedral of the Diocese of Honduras. The bishop was there today as the celebrant, which was very nice. We really enjoyed seeing several women at the altar, including the guest preacher. We think she did a very good job...though, we only understood about 14% of what she said.

The bishop was kind enough to give some announcements in both Spanish and English. He talked about how there are going to be some big changes made in the diocese in the next few years. Right now there are no official parishes in the Diocese of Honduras...the churches all have mission status. The bishop has been moving around clergy and is hoping that 6 of the churches will have full parish status in the next 2 years (don't quote us on these statistics, we weren't taking notes). He said that, while he greatly appreciates all of the help that people have given the diocese, he hopes that now they will be able to start supporting themselves as much as possible. He said "don't give us fish...teach us how to fish."

After the service there was a fellowship hour (no coffee...it was too hot for coffee) out in a courtyard type area between the church building and the diocesan offices. Robin had cookies...they were good...Loren stuck to water. It was a nice time for people to mix...the congregation was made up of 1/3 parishioners, 1/3 visitors and 1/3 the girls from Our Little Roses.

While the service was wonderful, we were quite put out by the fact that we didn't get to sing "Marcharemos en la luz de Dios" We actually KNOW that one! The music was very upbeat and fun and we enjoyed trying to keep up.

We've spent the rest of the day reading, working on homework, eating soup and crackers and drinking Gatorade. We love Gatorade.

We're getting a new student tomorrow, but we're not sure if he's going to be in our class or in a more advanced class. We already love him, because his flight arrives in the morning which means that our class starts late and we get to sleep in. Hooray new guy!

We are planning a trip to Copan this weekend...we're excited! We're hoping that some of our classmates will go with us because A) the more the merrier and B) maybe our combined knowledge will help us to communicate in a coherent manner.

Below are some pictures from this morning. Enjoy. :)

A Jerusalem Cross given by the congregation of St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem

A mosaic above the entrance to the cathedral

An inside view of the cathedral

"Coffee" hour

Mmm...Gatorade.

We are living in an environment in which daily Gatorade cocktails are delicious...and necessary. Our delicate American selves were not built for days upon days of Honduran food and heat. Loren was a casualty early on...Robin did fine until presented with deep fried tacos with a raw cabbage dressing.

We're going to the grocery store tomorrow.

Today we had a nice adventure! Our class (see below...not a good picture of any of us) plus the other 2 classes (which each consist of one student and one teacher) went around the city of San Pedro Sula. We started off by going to the Guamalito market, which is an arts and crafts/souvenir market FULL of all kinds of really neat handmade items. Half of the market is souvenirs and the other half is foods. Belkis (another teacher, who is one of our favorite people ever) bought some pineapple and let us taste it...so yummy. After Guamalito we drove to the east side of San Pedro Sula and saw another market from the windows of our van (see below). Next we drove to El Centro (downtown). We learned that each Honduran city has a park and a Catholic Church at the center (again, see below). We wandered around downtown for a little while and just took in the sights...it was a very busy place! We walked over to the Hotel Sula for lunch and ate in an American style diner (complete with milkshakes...Robin had a chocolate one). Our classmate Brian generously paid for all of our lunches...hooray Brian!

It was an interesting afternoon...we learned a lot about the culture from Ariel, Belkis and Diana, the 3 Spanish teachers. We also learned more about the teachers themselves...we all thought Diana was married, but she laughed and laughed when we said that...turns out she is only 19. Age is an interesting thing here...everyone has thought that Robin and I are 24 and 22, respectively. Sweet.

We dropped the other students off at the Hospitality House, which is in a very nice neighborhood full of big, beautiful houses. We wondered who could afford to live in such houses, and decided it probably wasn't Spanish teachers or sacerdotes (priests).

We're planning on a quiet weekend...turns out the 4th of July party doesn't start until almost 9, which is almost our bedtime. So, the grocery store will be our main event tomorrow. Sunday we'll go to the Cathedral with the girls.

Right now we're going to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Arrrrg.

La clase de Espanol

La iglesia Catolica


El parque en El Centro

View of a market from our van

View of a street from our van

We have a magic toilet!

Si, nosotras tenemos un inodoro magico!

We'll set the scene for you: We came home late last night (10:45!) after watching The Pursuit of Happyness with the group from St. Alban's. We promptly headed to bed, as we were up a good hour and 15 minutes after our bedtime. Robin quickly fell asleep. Loren, who has a giant dip in her foam mattress, which makes it a little more difficult to get comfy, was almost asleep when *voosh* ...the electricity went out. All over the neighborhood. Robin stayed comfortably asleep, and Loren managed to catch a few Z's...but soon it became apparent that every ounce of cool air in the world was being sucked out of their room. Mucho calor. 4 hours later, Loren got up to go to the bathroom. When she came back in the room, Robin got up to do the same. Loren informed her that the electricity was off, and it was hot in their room. Robin said "um, yeah, I actually figured that out on my own." Robin checked outside and saw that indeed, the lights were still out throughout the neighborhood, as far as the eye could see (which wasn't very far, considering it was freaking dark out there). Robin then went to the bathroom (you're TOTALLY fascinated by all this, you know you are). At the EXACT moment that Robin flushed the toilet....the electricity came back on. Everywhere. All over the neighborhood.
MAGIC TOILET!!! Loren and Robin then laughed themselves silly and went back to sleep. With cool air. Hooray.

Anyway, class is going really well. We learned adjectives, and how to conjugate one form of the verb "to be" and we learned about possessives. We really feel like we are learning so much, and are feeling quite proud of our accomplishments. Today we held a 20 minute long conversation with a nice woman named Nelly (who works at the Hospitality House, where the other students are staying). She was very surprised when she found out it was only our third day of class. Hablamos espanol!

We were at the Hospitality House for a swim. It is a very nice house, with a very nice pool, with a beautiful view of the mountains. We really enjoyed ourselves, however we are glad that we are staying at Our Little Roses.

We realized this even more when we went to dinner this evening. We were joined by 3 of the girls who are students at the bilingual school. They helped us with our Spanish, and we helped them with their English, and we laughed a lot. Afterwards, the girls took us outside to play hopscotch (play here means to watch them play and to say "bueno!") Loren wanted to join in, but they said no. Sad Loren.

Later though, when Robin and Loren were studying in the courtyard, they changed their minds and one of the girls absconded with Loren in order to play soccer (Robin meanwhile was trying to keep another girl from absconding with all of her vocabulary flashcards). Having lettered in varsity soccer (yeah, Robin laughed too when she heard that) Loren was quite willing to go out and school these girls in the ways of futbol.


Um...well...at least she tried. She had fun!

Today our teacher invited our class to a Fourth of July party at his father's house this Saturday. It is held each year for local ex-pats, and there will be food, music, dancing and general good times. We are excited! However, our Fourth of July celebration is not totally postponed until then. Tonight we saw a nice fireworks show from the balcony of our building. "Ooo. Ahh. Clapclapclapclapclapclapclap."

Thanks for keeping up with us...and putting up with our random entries! :)

A mural in the Holy Family Bilingual School

A - E - I - O - U

11 hours of sleep paired with hot showers = Loren and Robin being ready for the first day of school!

But before class there was the great grape massacre of 2007.
Yes, Robin did eat these but they did NOT really look like this, they were actually quite lovely. (Though not lovely enough to make Loren eat them...she stuck with a granola bar). Just to be safe, Robin washed the grapes with purified water and then flayed them, only eating the guts. Mmm. They were yummy and did not make her sick at all...and we figured when they're not suitable for eating anymore, Robin can stomp on them in the shower and make vino! Bonus!

After breakfast we headed to our first Spanish class. We are with 2 other students: a man who is the rector of a church in Idaho, and a woman from South Carolina who recently completed her master's degree (and will be spending the next year teaching at the bilingual school at Our Little Roses). We spent the first few minutes getting to know one another while we repeated "Ah, Eh, Eee, Oh, Ooh." Robin and I quickly realized that, when it comes to saying vowels, we are naturals. However, when it comes to saying B, D and R, we are not quite as gifted.

After class we spent the afternoon in the city, and it was muy calor..106 degree heat index. We went to 2 ATMs (the first was broken) and then tagged along with our driver as he went through a bank drive up window...where we waited for 40 minutes. Muy, muy calor.

P.S. Our driver's name was Don Juan, and he totally lived up to it, as he wooed Robin by pretending to put on the deodorant she had just purchased and then calling her "stinky" (which is one of the only English words he knows). No, seriously, he was a very nice man who thought we were funny and was very kind to take us around the city...which driving in is something akin to a live version of Frogger. We were the frogs.

We came home and took naps, which was very peaceful until Robin awoke to the sound of someone in our living room. Someone committing grape larceny (in order to give them to the big group which just arrived today...which was fine with us because, c'mon, who eats random grapes they find in a refrigerator in Honduras?) Oh...see above.

The group which is now enjoying our grapes is from St. Alban's in Annandale, Virginia, and includes our classmate Denise. Hooray! We are glad she is here...and, as she is sharing a bathroom with 5 other people and we have offered her use of our apartment, we're pretty sure she's glad we are here too. We think Denise has really taken to mission work. This evening she led the girls in Evening Prayer. But before that, she did what every good missionary should do to bring together 2 cultures...

We just watched. And studied. A little bit.

Now we're going to try to say Compline in Spanish. The operative word here being "try."

Buenas Noches!

We're here...

...and we've been busy!


Loren started this FANCY blog!

And Robin...

...used her first Spanish words to ask what time we eat dinner (look how proud she is!)...although, it should be said that, at first, the lady had no idea what she said, because Robin was too shy to ask with authority.

We got here with almost no problemos. When we landed we completely passed by our bus driver, and then sat and waited for about a half an hour, until Loren finally asked him in ridiculously broken Spanish (with a little English mixed in for good measure) if he was from Our Little Roses. He was SO excited to find us that he hugged us both joyously...and then proceeded to say a LOT of stuff in Spanish...we just nodded and smiled and got on the bus.

Our apartment is great...we have a beautiful view of the mountains just outside our door. We've each got a bunk bed and lots of closet and drawer space. There's a big living room (with a TV, DVD player and wireless internet, crazy) and there's a nice big kitchen that we (read: Robin) could cook in if we wanted.

After we unpacked we decided to go exploring...4 minutes later we returned to the apartment because the place is deserted...we have seen exactly 2 other people. Robin has now learned how to say "are there other persons?" just in case.

We may be SLIGHTLY punchy, as we have both been up since 4am, and it's only 5:30pm here (we're 2 hours behind Eastern time because Honduras doesn't observe Daylight Savings Time...a fact which Loren really enjoyed figuring out but which gave Robin a headache...Loren is no longer allowed to talk about the time difference).

So, now we're waiting until siete (7) for la cena (dinner) and then we're going to head to bed (bed).

We start class tomorrow morning!