Things I´ve Found!

Hello!

It´s been exactly 2 months in my site today! I can´t believe it! AND, everyday I continue to learn new things and experience new things. It´s very interesting how initally I had a vision of how my service would be-I would walk around and people would greet me with happy faces and invite me into their homes and we would talk and enjoy a little snack together. I don´t know, something like that. BUT, it´s definitely not so much like that at all. I haven´t gotten invited to many homes and definitely not by strangers, which could actually be a good thing! lol. Also, Honduras is definitely much more American and developed than I expected. For example, I just visited a house this past week that had a computer and a huge scanner-copier-printer in the living room! I was amazed! AND, most the people here know how to use the computer and the people in the cities have Blackberry´s and IPOD´s and stuff...it´s definitely not what I expected. BUT, on the other hand, some people live in houses made of dirt and mud and don´t have electricity. It´s a really interesting contrast. But, despite these surprises, I´m just trying to find a way to make myself useful during these 2 years.

For instance, I have found, from an informant, that most all of the youth here do drugs and the parents don´t know about it or don´t care. SO, I´ll definitely start talking about that to the youth and I hope to start meeting with parents to discuss how to better the situation (know where your kids are and care more about them). I pray for support from God on this...cause I´m just 22 years old informing these old people on how to raise their children. LOL!

Furthermore, I would like to share some random, but I think important things with you-
Cultural differences:
*A female can´t be called a woman until she is married. I got laughed at for calling a 26 year old a woman. Clearly, to me, she is a woman, NOT a girl. But, here she´s still a girl until she is married.
*When it´s your birthday, you will have eggs thrown at you.
*There is always prayer before each meeting.


Funny Stories:
*So, one day I was walking down this dirt and pebble mixture path to the high school and it´s surrounded on one side with lots of trees (it seems like a forest) and on the other side with backyards and houses with cows and dogs. All of a sudden on the forest side, I hear a bird noise that sounds unique and interesting. So, naturally, I think to myself that I´m going to see (for the first time here in Honduras) an exotic bird. So, I curiously look up into the tree from where the sound is coming....and what do I see? ...a CHICKEN! I was quite dissapointed and confused. WHY is a chicken in the tree?


*One day I was walking and it was an especially hot day. As my arms swayed, I noticed that I was shiny and glowing! I thought to myself, ¨Self, you look awfully nice...looking healthy!¨ Then, after awhile, I realized it was my insect repellant...
*I officially introduced my family to roasted marshmallows (besitos-little kisses, I like the name in Spanish) about a month ago and since then we´ve had roasted marshmallows like at least 5-7 times! It´s a lot of fun, but after awhile it´s like WOW more marshmallows…but, for a week now we haven´t had any, so that´s been a nice break.

Well, hope you enjoy the information that I´ve found!
Talk to you later,
Victoria