Muy
buenas tardes. Les escribo de La Ceiba, Honduras, donde
tengo el placer de ser voluntaria en La Escuela de la Jungla y
también el Hogar de Amor. I’d
like to write my whole blog in Spanish, however, I think for the majority of
you English might be a little more recognizable… That’s not going to stop me
from trying to teach you a thing or two ;)
Perhaps you recognize the underlined words…
A brief recap of our trip so far from my punto de vista
(point of view):
It was one of the EASIEST international travel days I have
had to date. The only hang up was that
it was NOT CLEAR how to go from the airport to the Hedman Alas bus
station. If you ever fly into San Pedro
Sula and want to grab the Hedman Alas bus (very nice coach bus, and you can
make reservations online) after you go through customs and immigration, you
will see a sign for the bus, this is NOT the bus that will take you to your
final destination, but to the actual bus station… had to fork over more money
(only $6USD each more) for this shuttle… glad to not have had to take a taxi,
but this part was slightly confusing and it didn’t help that it was 99 degrees
and each of your bags weighed 50 lbs. Complaining
stops now because the journey was worth the experience we have been granted so
far.
Nuestra casa (Our house) is very nice.
El MegaMall esta cerca (is close) as is el supermercado
(supermarket)
We can walk to la parada de bus (bus stop)
So much about this place reminds me of when I was living in
Costa Rica, before I had a job, paid rent, bought a car, a dog, etc. Its nice to have a change in responsibility
(Soy chaperona y voluntaria y amiga).
I am working hard on memorizing names, not only of the 21
muchachos del Hogar (kids in the orphanage) but of the estudiantes (students)
in the 5th & 6th grade where I have been placed. In the two days that I have been in this room
(the 5th & 6th share a classroom, the maestro
–teacher- instructs one side as the other side practices their lessons and then
they switch back and forth) At times “hay mucha bulla” LOTS of noise. I have gotten to teach fractions. (EWWW, haha
jk) manage instruction of estudios socials (social studies/geography) y ciencia
(science – biodiversidad – biodiversity y preservation del ambiento –
preserving the environment.) On Monday,
Wednesday and Friday they have English class, yesterday they were learning
progressive verbs (I am running, talking, eating, etc.) Right now the 5th
grade is learning the technicalities of the art of writing letters. The teacher
is great, he is chistoso, like me, we make jokes with the kids…
Anyways in effort to get the most out of this experience,
not only are we spending as much time with the kids as possible, but also
trying to get out and experience la cultura de La Ceiba. So let me tell you about the FOOD!
La Comida Tipica (typical food)
Arroz – rice (white sometimes with shredded chicken in it or
onion, or small chopped veggies)
Frijoles – beans
Juevos- eggs (boiled, fritos- fried, etc)
Pupusas- look it up ;) I’ll try to include a picture
Baleadas – Hondura’s own version of something similar to
PB&J EXCEPT its made with a thick tortilla with frijoles and queso (cheese)
but the cheese has a consistency similar to feta, not the taste, taste is
rather bland. Since my favorite food is
the sandwich, this hits the spot. Again
look it up, and if I don’t forget I will try to post a picture.
Other new thing I have tried:
Nance – it’s a small yellow berry
Since Katie is posted our day to day activities I think I
will focus on things I see, what I am enjoying and various facts about the
area.
v
Vendedores (vendors) who walk/bike/ride through
the neighborhoods selling their merchandise.
There is an Afro-Honduran woman who walks through with a basket balanced
on her head selling pan de coco (coconut bread)and pan dulce (sweet bread), and
man does she shriek. There’s a man who petals his cart full of melons (melons)
and bananas, and he yells “May-looooooone.”
The man who I want to hit up is the guy with the refrigerated cooler selling paletas (popcicles).
v
Animales (animals, heck I hope you figured that
one out on your own)
-Vacas – cows
-cerdos – pigs (HUGE PIGS)
-gallinas y gallos y pollitos (chickens, roosters, and chicks)
-patos- (ducks)
-cabras – goats
-Perrros y gatos (cats and dogs) the cats seem Ferrell and the dogs are
pets, more or less
-lagartos – lizards, the little cute gecko ones that run up walls, I
think they are cute, Katie, not so much
-cucarachas – cockroaches. One ran over my foot last night. I don’t even want to talk about this.
v
El agua – you must must drink agua enbotellado
(bottled water that has been purified) even the locals do. In efforts to conserve energy and water,
there are certain times daily that the water turns off. Where we are staying in the volunteer house
is in a neighborhood called El Sauce
(sow-say) sow like a female pig, not sow as in sow your crop. Anyways, the water here turns off from 10pm
to 5am, which is just fine, just no toilet flushing, and I put a container of
water in the shower so I can wash my dirty feet before I crawl into my clean
sheets!
Today we are going to El Hogar
after school on the bus to hang with the kids and maybe do homework, and
tomorrow, the teacher just told me that I get to teach 5th grade all
day by MYSELF!!!
Hasta Pronto (Talk soon) CHAU.
Emily
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