is this real life?!

I find myself asking the question "is this real life?" at least once a day here. Sometimes it's hard to decide if something is really happening or if I'm just having a hilarious dream. Here are some of my "is this real life?" moments...

- So they built this new school for 4th grade thru high school and we finally moved into it this week. Monday we didn't have classes because there was the inauguration for the new school. Saying Hondurans go all out for events is an understatement… they LOVE decorating, most of the time with tacky taste. So we first had to set up 100 folding chairs, we had to put chair covers on and tie a bow on them.. no this was not a wedding but it sure seemed like it. Oh but we only had enough chair covers for about 75% of the chairs… so some were covered and some were just plain old folding chairs (it looked awesome needless to say). It was supposed to start at 9am… most people showed up at about 10.. go figure. So it finally starts and they are yapping in spanish, the band plays the national anthem, more yapping… then someone comes up to me and says I need to go stand by my door. I'm so confused but I didn't argue and headed to my door. I then notice the priest who had been speaking, coming towards the classes. He first goes to 4th grade then to my class so I just mimicked what the 4th grade teacher did and opened my door for him and let him in not knowing what he was about to do. Dude starts splashing "holy water" around my classroom to bless the room. I would totally be down for the holy water and everything, but he starts splashing my posters on the wall! These posters were just made with markers the day before and are now dripping with bleeding markers. I was livid and couldn't believe what had just happened. "holy water just ruined my decorations.. is this real life?!"

-Waking up to a wild horse naying outside my door over and over.. this can't be real life… especially at 4 in the morning.

- So moving to Honduras made me realize how uneducated I am about dogs and their mating rituals. Yes you read it right, I'm talking about dogs doing the dirty. Okay, back home I have seen dogs humping each other and I guess I just assumed they were mating… Oh no… there is SO much more to it. I wont get into the details (wikipedia it for some good information.. you know you want to) but apparently the dogs get "stuck" together for like 20 minutes. Everywhere you walk in Honduras there are dogs attached. If you have never seen this, just imagine two dogs that are butt to butt stuck together. Sometimes the girl dogs are wailing out in pain.. saddest thing ever. I have seen so many dogs mating here its unreal.

- Every Honduran wants to know if you're married or in a relationship. Totally a cultural thing for people to get married very young here. It seems to be on every persons mind in this country. The guys are on a hunt for their wife and the girls (who live with their parents until marriage) are hunting for their husbands. So even when the plumber is at your house working on your toilet… don't worry, they too will ask you and when your response is 'no' he will have no problem asking you for your number. this can't be real life.

- When I'm awoken by loud banging noises in the middle of night… I shout "whats happening!?" My housemate shouts back"I'M KILLING MOSQUITOS" and then laying back down not giving it a second thought and falling back asleep as if nothing happened. Totally the norm. Real life.. yep.

-At school every time I go to the bathroom I have to carry my own toilet paper with me because they don't supply it at the school… same goes for the kids.

- Another cultural thing is puckering lips. Not in a kissy way. But they pucker their lips and nod their head at the same time towards a direction to tell you where something is. OR if they are agreeing with you. Its the creepiest thing ever. It kind of grosses me out. And I actually caught myself doing it the other day and immediately realized what I was doing and got on to myself for doing it. Not okay.

-As I've said before, they love their cell phones here. So much that they don't know how to turn their phones to silent. So when we are having a teacher meeting, the director's phone, who is talking to everyone, goes off about every 5 minutes. Most annoying thing ever. But it's no big deal to them.. she just silences it and carries on yapping in spanish. Unbelievable.

This is real life for me. daily.