can we talk about culture shock?!

I knew Honduras was going to be completely different than home, but woah. I'm finally getting the hang of things around here like walking uphill to town, where they sell the best fruits and vegetables, and how to live off tortillas, beans, cheese, and eggs. I bought a cellphone which looks like a nokia from back in the day. But its really cheap here to text and doesn't cost me anything if people text me. So I'll be able to text the other teachers here and text people back home. And it has a flashlight which comes in handy! I've also figured out how to borrow the neighbors internet since I still don't have our internet password until the girls return. The first night when I had my freak out, the nice guy with the computer handed me his internet password so when I finally found his network on my computer a day later I figured he wouldn't mind if I used it since he gave me the password, right? So it has been nice to get online and talk to people back home.

So here are some interesting things I've discovered about Honduras in the first few days..

1. Driving… on the 6 hour long drive from the airport to Gracias I learned a lot about driving in Honduras. I'm pretty sure there is no speed limit because we were driving about 70mph on a super winding road that looked similar to the road going to Eureka Springs. If you come up to a car that is going too slow, oh no big deal, just pass them real quick even if there is oncoming traffic in the other lane… saw my life flash before my eyes more than once.
2. Mud shacks next to mansions… this seems to be very normal. the drive into Gracias was awesome with tons of mountains and trees but there were so many mud houses on the hills and then out of no where you'd come across a huge, colorful house.
3. Texting while driving… Americans aren't the only irresponsible people in the world. Hondurans LOVE their phones. Apparently its a newer luxury for people in this country so they are obsessed. And they sure aren't afraid to text and drive. Oprah would not be happy.
4. Animals=everywhere! holy moly. cows, horses, goats, cats, dogs, chickens.. everywhere. The first night I woke up at 5am to a rooster cock-a-doodle doing. shoot me in the face. Then I go outside and there is a HUGE cow standing in the street just chillin. Speaking of animals, Esperanza, our dog, is pretty awesome but very dirty. She rolls around in the street all day and plays with all her amigos in the dirt. I wish she was clean so i could cuddle with her. She kind of does whatever she wants and will follow you anywhere you go in town. But overall, she is pretty awesome. But I don't think I'll be kidnapping her at the end of the school year and bringing her home because she is definitely a Honduras street dog.
5. People traffic… so many people walk everywhere. on the drive here, we would be in the middle of no where and there would be so many people walking holding a huge bundle of limbs.. no telling how far they would be walking… oh and cars do not get over a little like in the states while passing a walker.. I'm pretty sure I could have touched them as we passed. In town here we walk everywhere, mostly everything is up a hill so I'm going to be in good shape when I get back. But there are still a lot of cars, taxis and motor bikes in town and they will run your butt over if you are in street. the streets are so dang small too and the sidewalks are made for one person which are very high off the ground and not easy to jump on to. There is no such thing as pedestrians have the right away here!
6. Cobblestone streets… when I hear the word "cobblestone" I think of pretty streets made with big stones placed nicely in the pavement… oh no. cobblestone here means huge rocks in the road that are not flush at all with the cement. When its rainy, they are huge slippery rocks which are not easy to walk on. I know now why there are so many car maintenance shops here because I'm sure it destroys cars.
7. High heels… females love their heels here. we are talking 13 year olds wearing huge stilettos walking on the crappy uneven streets. kudos to them.
8. Loud noises… there are people yelling outside the house at all hours of the day and very late at night. I'm pretty sure my walls are thin as paper because I can hear every conversation on the streets. And dogs barking all night long is something I will have to get used to.
9. English speaking men… the only english words men know here are "hey baby how are you" and "bye bye"… you can be walking by a man and he'll just say "bye bye" who knows if they even know what they are saying. silly.
10. Toilet paper… you don't flush toilet paper which just grosses me out.
11. Electricity… apparently the power goes out all the time. It has happened 3 times since I've been here and its always been at night when its pitch black outside, go figure. Our water also went out yesterday morning and came back on this morning… but they said that only happens every now and then.

That is all I can think of for meow.
Toots