Getting into the swing of things....

Well it´s a lovely Saturday here in Honduras. I´m sure some of you would kill for the weather we´ve been having. While it's pretty cool at night, during the day it gets in the 70s with a beautiful blue sky, usually behind beautiful green moutains. The sun is really strong here. It doesn't feel hot but several people have gotten sunburned while on breaks between classes and during the short walk home. It sort of sneaks up on you!

Today I walked to an internet cafe in downtown Siguatepeque with my friend Kattrina, who lives in my barrio of San Francisco. In a few minutes I am meeting my hermana Lizeth to meet my abuela at a family lunch. Then at 2:30 I´m meeting a bunch of other volunteers at a movie theater to hopefully catch a matinee, either Ocean's 12 or the Incredibles I think. It's a beautiful day and I like walking around here! The only annoying thing is the lip smacking and hissing you get when you walk by guys here. They say you get used to it and it is harmless.

I had hoped to try again and post some pictures up here, but the connections seem to be so slow here and makes loading pictures on a website or email agonizingly slow. So I think I might send the CD with my first 60 pictures to my mom or sister with instructions how to put them up for you all to see. I want you to see my pictures of Honduras from the air, the beautiful training center in Siguatepeque, my host family and their casa, and some of the nights out with my fellow trainees.

Last night a bunch of us met at a place called Iguana Mia after dinner for a few beers. It is cute, like a college bar, with an ourdoor patio with lights strung up and an outdoor bar. Since most of our curfews are at 9 pm (because of the fact taxis stop running at that time) I returned early, but it was still fun to chat with everyone. Since we are a smaller group than usual, only 34 people, we are all pretty close already and I can tell I will have some great friends when all is said and done.

Training is picking up the pace a bit and getting tougher. We have spanish classes with about 4 people in each, according to our level (I am intermediate middle) from 7:30 - 11:30 each morning, an hour to eat the lunch our families pack for us and to hang out in the sunshine, and then have either CORE (general lectures about safety, culture, Honduran history, ect) or split off into our separate projects, either Health like me or Water and Sanitation from 12:30-4:30. Then I walk to back to my house with some friends. We all usually have a good amount of homeowork every night for spanish class and reading for our projects. Yesterday we were all happy to have the weekend start, believe me!

The other day for spanish class we had to go out into a nearby neighborhood and knock on a door and go in and ask some questions of a family. Intimidating believe me! I didn´t understand a good bit of what the poor lady was saying to me, so it was a bit of a reality check for me. My family and spanish teacher must speak clearer to me so I have been feeling pretty comfortable with my spanish progress, but now I know I have a lot of work to do.

Well I miss everyone believe me! I hope all is well. Time is so precious on the computer and usually only have an hour once or twice a week to read 30 emails, attempt to put pictures up, write something back, and anything else I need to do. Pretty difficult, especially when the connection is slow. Maybe I can come back tomorrow, Sunday. My hermana loves going to the internet cafes to write her friends, so she's usually up for going with me.

I haven't gotten any letters yet, but no one has. They are going to start bringing mail to the training center from the capital once a week. Date the letters you send so that I know how long it took, k? Mom will be starting to call my Tias house 2 times a week at 8 pm so that will be nice to look forward to. Call her for the number if you'd like to call, and she'll tell you the system we've worked out.

Lots of love to everyone! Lots of hugs and kisses :)