#hondylife

Here is my running list of typical #hondylife moments and/or things that I have just or will have to get use to...

• Water outages -- I do not know why, who, or what controls this but often our water will be out. Sometimes it is for 10 minutes and other times it can be all night, like I said I don't know. All I do know is I have started to check the water before putting soap on my hands. 
• Power outages -- This too very common to the water outages. This is a little more random then the water outages. Most times the water goes out at night but not so much the electricity. Sometimes the power will be off for 2 minutes at night or 8.5 hours all day. Thank god this town runs of very little electricity to begin with and things just function with or without electricity. 
• Daylight is key -- That saying up at the crack of dawn has never been so true until you have lived in Honduras. These people get up literally at the first ray of sunshine, they don't play around! 
• Dogs barking -- The dogs here bark ALLLLLL THE DANG TIME! I think the dogs around my neighborhood are actually alarm clocks because every single morning at 2:45 they bark, ALL OF THEM! They back for probably a solid 20-30 minutes every morning. I have yet to figure out why they do it or become accustom to it...I am hoping by June, I will not even know they are there. 
• Buying Water -- here the water is not safe to drink. So instead we must buy five gallon jugs of water! Plus side to that, it only cost L20 (1 dollar)! 
• Stores closing early -- The stores here close at a very early hour compared to the States. Like I mentioned before, daylight is key and they do not joke around. 
• Cobble Stone Streets -- About 98.99 percent of the streets in Gracias are cobble stone. Cobble stone is great and all when you are not trying to walk on it. However, I will master walking on these streets one day! 
• Honduran Time -- Hondurans run on their own time and it is usually about double of what they tell you. 
• Special unwelcoming guests -- The bugs here are weird to me. The flies are much larger, the ants are mean and bite you, the creepy crawly bugs...the list goes on. 
• High Speed Internet -- I know this one sounds so first world of me, but lets be real. Last night all some of my friends and I wanted to do was watch a movie on Netflix ( because we do have Wifi) and it took an hour and a half to load 20 minutes of the movie. So, scratch that...we just stuck to hanging out. 
• Sunburns -- I don't think I will go a single day without getting a sunburn. Every day, I get a new shade of pink somewhere on my skin (even on a cloudy day), I know this comes to no surprise to most people. But hey, least I will hopefully next time you see me, I will be tan!  (Fingers crossed)
• Baleadas -- Eating lunch here is so cheap! You can get a soda and a baleada (Honduras' traditional meal) for 30 lempiras, that is about $1.50! Its wonderful, tasty, and filling! 
• Washing my clothes on the Pila -- A pila is the station most houses here have, it consists of a place to fill with water and a metal washboard! And there it is, you scrub your clothes on that! It is a workout let me tell ya! I will have some awesome forearms before long! 

So there it is, my list of #hondylifeproblems! I am by no means complaining about any of them! There are just a few very different aspects to living there then in the States! It's keeps thing interesting and new! So far all I have to report are good things about my time here, I still cannot believe I have now been here for two weeks! School starts soon! AHH! and I need to go wash my clothes (on the pila) 

xoxo,

Carly! 

The calm before the storm..

It's official, I have lived in Honduras for one whole week! It's crazy to think just last week I was literally overwhelmed with so much unfamiliarity and just a complete stranger to 12 other teachers here in Gracias.

This past week, we had the week off to do whatever we pleased. My roommate and I choose to take the first couple days to familiarize ourselves with the town, settle in and try to make our house as cozy as possible, and meet some of the locals. Then the rest of the week the group of new teachers decided on a place to vacation. We were torn between going to Tela (the beach) and a Microbrewery on Lake Yojoa and in the end we all decided that the lake was a better option. So all 12 of us packed our bags and started on our adventure to Lake Yojoa and if anyone has ever traveled before taking buses can always end up as an adventure. However, we had two amazing leaders in our group who was great at coordinating the bus routes and we made each bus (3 total) in about 6 hours and by the end of Wednesday night we all were enjoying ourselves in the beautiful D&D Brewery. Little did I know that the owner of D&D's was a former Students Helping Honduras volunteer back in the prime start up stages of the organization (very small world).

The group eating dinner at D&D's Brewery. 

The next couple days we all relaxed and did whatever we wanted to do. D&D's has so many options from hiking, to tubing down a river that drops you off in the lake, to climbing behind the waterfalls. Our time was limited so I choose to tube down a river and to scale the side of a 140 foot waterfall. Sounds fun right? When in Honduras.... The ride down the river was so relaxing yet an adventure. The float down the river was about 45 minutes long and dumped you right into the lake of Yojoa where you saw one of the most gorgeous views ever. It was mountains and mountains all on this peaceful lake where the water was about 80-85 degrees. 

On Friday, we decided that we would go to the waterfalls and for just 7 dollars we could take a tour behind the waterfalls of Pulhapanzak. So here is where the story gets WILD! I mean I was not about to expect some baby waterfall that we could just walk through, but then again I was not expecting to see this huge amazingly breathtaking waterfall! Also, when I was told that I was going to be walking behind the waterfall, the American I am thought that there would be this well paved path and after 10 minutes I would be behind a waterfall. Boy was I wrong! We literally scaled rocks and climbed behind, over, under, and beside the falling water of Pulhapanzak! It took about an hour to actually get "under the fall". Once we did, it was the coolest and prettiest thing I have ever done. I looked up and all I could see was rocks that went for tens of feet above me as the water rushed down.

Breathtaking right? Yeah we climbed behind that! 

After we made our adventure through the falls we had the chance to jump off a 27 foot cliff at the bottom of the fall. So of course after a few moments of hesitation, I had to jump (see what I did there) at the opportunity and just do it. The jump itself was one of the most terrifying things I've done yet, even more then actually going behind this waterfall. With all that said and done, I survived and made one of the best memories thus far and keep in mind all for 7 bucks! 

Aside from the crazy time spent in the water this weekend was so much fun and well needed. The group of us teachers that went on the trip all got to know each other so much better. We bonded over silly things and we all stayed up late talking about who knows what! After 6 hours traveling home today, I am now back in Gracias. It is good to be back in the small and welcoming town. We also ran into some more of our students and this time they were twin girls who were about to enter the 6th grade. They were so excited to start school! It amazes me how awesome their English already is and cannot wait to see the growth they gain this school year! Seeing students SO excited to come back to school, speak English, and to meet us teachers is the reassurance of why I am here in Honduras!

I believe that's all i have to ramble about tonight! Tomorrow is my last day of "Vacation" because starting Monday we will start decorating our classrooms and begin preparing for school to start on the 29th!!! So goodnight! Miss you all! 

xoxo! 

When in Honduras, do as Hondurans do...

So as promised, here is my attempt to keeping y'all updated on my life.

     After approximately 22 hours in an airport, followed by a long and windy 4 hour bus ride, I finally arrived at my home for the next 10-11 months! My roommate and I were the last to be dropped off and after seeing all the other houses we were so anxious to see what ours would look like! Let's just say going in without any expectations paid off because I am very pleased with my house! I live in a pretty good sized house in town with 2 other roommates. We have a nice sized living room and a full stove, microwave, and a shower with HOT WATER, so no complaints here! Our first couple days, us teachers have been walking the town getting to know all the places and trying to put our house together!
     Yesterday we had our first school meeting and finally got to tour the school I will be spending the majority of my time at for the next 10 months! I was so shocked at how big and beautiful this school was! After volunteering and helping build schools in small villages outside El Progreso, I was expecting it to be similar. The school I will be teaching at teaches from pre-k to the 11th grade! Here is a couple pictures of Minerva:

In the back you can see the classrooms, these are mainly the secondary classes. 

This is the "U" and also know as where I will be teaching!

Yesterday was the first real day that it felt like I wasn't on vacation. It really started to hit me that, this is my life, my school, my house, and my community for the next year! 

     On our walk home from some other teacher's house last night, we encountered one of our future students. He came running up to us, asking if we were teachers for Minerva. He was so excited to see u and practice his english he stumbled to find the right words in english. He was beyond excited to talk to us. He told us he was going to be in the 4th grade and actually met his teacher because she was walking home with us. He proceeded to tell us how excited he was to be starting in just two short weeks and how he could not wait for gym class (because he got to play soccer!) After we talked for five minutes he told us he would see us soon and gave us a big hug! That moment was reassurance that we are about to do great things for these kiddos! 

      Basically, that has been my life for the past few days! Nothing to exciting but definitely change from what I was doing last Tuesday! Tomorrow the new teachers are headed to Lake Yojoa. There we will be staying at a Brewery on the lake! I am looking forward to seeing more of Honduras and relaxing before we start our teacher days Monday! 

xoxo, 

Carly 

P.S. Yes, I have already gotten a sunburn (and it rained most of yesterday, typical Carly Problems) and secondly, my roommate and I got two avocados and a plantain for 25 cents today! Yes you heard me correctly, a quarter!!!! 

....only in Honduras!