Dear Blog Followers,

Tonight's entry is copying and pasting various personal emails I sent. I figured, "Why rewrite the same things?" So here goes. Please forgive the choppy nature of tonight's blog. : )


Well, today is a big day. So far, so good. Until today, as you know, I have been chumming around with Marty and Christina. I even got to go with Christina into town again yesterday because her work at the farm was finished and I am really viewed as a "visitor" here, but I am expected to pitch in, which I prefer to do. Today, however, we walked around a park which was actually somewhat maintained. It was beautiful! We also visited an elderly friend of hers that is middle-lower class and then I walked down the street to a neighbors' home where I gestured for an hour with five young women and their children. They love to see their digital images on a camera so it kind of turned into a photo shoot. I am fortunate to have these opportunities outside the ranch is "real life" Honduras, thanks to Christina who invites me along! Muchos Gracias Chris!

This AM I put myself on a new schedule. 8:00 tortilla house (pictures coming-so cool), and then English classes down at the school. THAT will be a niche for me here for sure. The young volunteer, Karen, from NJ is not a teacher and was despairing by her lack of behavior management skills. She asked me to "do anything." I was assertive and yet reinforcing of appropriate behavior choices. The kids responded very well.
We played some games and I even had some little balloons to use as prizes stuffed in my pocket.

1/3 of my trip is already over, so I think it's going to go fast. I am energized by the LA (Latin American) personalities. . . "they" (those here) really do tend to be "out there," open and affectionate, just where I feel most comfortable. The teens can be smart alecs, which bothers me as it does back home. I hate that cynical stand-offish phase. Lord have mercy.

Tonight there was a "rosary gathering" around a huge rosary (10 feet long) and most of the kids and tias and tios were into it, but there were 5-10 girls who were being brats. Everyone ignored them. I wanted to tell them to be quiet or leave. Grrr. We got rained out, but it was pretty cool, I thought. My Treisy was saying every single word. I was glad that she was able to find meaning in this ritual. She will need to.

After a lot of rain today, there are BIG HUGE bugs landing everywhere, including on me. They make me shudder, but not freak as the wormy snaky critters DO! Inasmuch as love it here, I will love being back in my sterile surroundings! OH MAN!

I am so glad that I sleep well here- under my mosquito net. I should take a pic of my bed.

I saw a 2 foot lizard today. I was freaking until I saw that it wasn't a snake. A bunch of caterpillars fell off of trees on me today and they were black. THAT was awful. EWWWWWWW.
Let's see. What else grossed me out today? Oh! The garbage here was full of maggots today when I opened it, so I bribed a young man to take care of it for me and gave him two pieces of banana bread that I got in town yesterday. It didn't bother him in the slightest. Sure he's seen worse. Okay and right now there is a 3 inch cockroach crawling towards me. Stuff like that is slightly stressful, but it doesn't wreck it for me, for which I am grateful. I hope I don't encounter any of those red and black snakes I heard about.

My Treisy was glum tonight. I wonder when her mom died. Must find out.