Trucks and triangles

It's dark...I'm in my car with my friend Lorena (Honduran)....driving along the unlit, very dark highway about 7pm....as I slow down to drive over a speed bump my car stops....will not start..hazards won't work cos car is dead....BIG truck heading fast towards me...Lorena standing behind my car waving to stop it...I join her...I am laughing and finding it very funny. Lorena not so much! Truck stops. White girl in woolly hat - cos it's cold - stands and waves an apology at him. Then climbs in the back of her car to look for the triangles to put in the road. Finds them...was excited to finally use the things...still laughing. Now lots of traffic waiting. A random man stops and asks if I have a rope and he'll tow me....still don't have one...must get one at this rate! It's the battery once more....connection clip had come right off battery....maybe something to do with fact that in order to get one of my headlights working I have to hit a pothole to jolt it working....
Finally all is well, man helps me and drives off....we continue to the shops!!

I love my life!

In answer to the questions...no the vet doesn't speak English but does speak clear Spanish so it's not a problem! I can understand him thankfully! Did I also mention I have to give the puppies liquid every 20 minutes this afternoon with a syringe?? It's not so much every 20 minutes to be honest - but they do have their water bowl too so not a major problem. What is becoming of me?

Puppy Update...

This morning I went out to feed the dogs and to my surprise and 'pleasure' as I opened my front door, there right in front of me was a large pile of vomit! Yay!! Not. Yes it's true, now Delilah is sick too - according to the vet it is a different problem to Jezebel! Great. They both had their fill of injections. Jezebel is going to be fine, she's had injections again today and is on 3 different tablets for 2 weeks - I really am learning to be a vet! Delilah - goodness knows! But the vet is treating her sickness and Diorrhea. Obviously the vet is only open in the mornings when I am at work, so I have to leave work early to take them - luckily you dont have appointments, just turn up. So I go back tomorrow with Delilah, Wednesday with Jezebel and then Friday with J too. Who needs kids?! I could do without all this craziness right now!

Puppy Pics

Hannah my niece has finally got me outside taking photos of the pups - well done Hannah! It is by no means an easy task - as soon as you bend down they run and jump on me or try and lick the camera!! I managed to get some from through the window in the end.

So I gave the injection to Jezebel today - so much easier when the vet did it as she had a fever then so was calm. Today she was back to bouncing around! But with Enoc holding her down and Jorge holding Delilah I was able to put it in. She seems more herself so we shall see. She does however look very sad and thin in the photos!

Jezebel has the smooth coat and the red collar (and water and dirt all over her face in the pics).

Delilah has the rough curly coat and the yellow collar (also has a dirty face as they had been digging!)

Delilah

Jezebel

Jezebel and Delilah

Jezebel and Delilah

Hospital anyone?

Well it's 4.30 am and I am awake bright and early -yet again- so figured I'd take this time to blog. Why not eh? I have decided my life has become similar to that on a Soap Opera. It just gets more random and extreme.
Friday saw 2 visits to the hospital. First was with Amanda after school because her neck is so bad, but that involved going with our friend Lidia (trainee dr) to her house to see her mum (a dr). Amanda has been drugged up and will hopefully be ok!

I got home and not long after I got a phone call from another friend Sheri. She and 2 other girls teach in a schooljust outside of town and we have got to know them. 2 of them come to our Bible Study group. Anyway, Sheri called me to say she'd been feeling really ill all week and thought it about time she saw a dr but didn't know how to go about it. So, I went and collected her and took her to the hospital - heh I know my way around so well! We also took her housemate who wasn't feeling great. They had been told by their boss that they might have Walking Pnuemonia - funniest looking pneumonia I've ever seen?! (can't spell it either). It turned out that Sheri had had Dengue all week and was just starting to come out of it!! Poor thing! Heather just had an ear infection!!!

Saturday morning came and I was off to the vet as Delilah needed her hernia checked (excting life eh?) and Jezebel was just really not well, very dosile and not eating. Delilah is fine and he doesn't need to operate. Jezebel however is really sick! She has a fever and he took some blood. I then had to take the blood to the clinic to be tested. It was very strange because the lab was part of a hospital clinic so I queued up with my dog's blood whilst everyone else there was clerly sick and having their own blood done. One place does all. I waited for the results and we went back to the vet. As yet I'm not sure what it is, but has something to do with a tick and getting into the blood stream. It is potentially fatal but we think we have caught it in time. He gave her 2 injections and then gave me an injection to bring home to give it to her myself today! I love this country!!! I have to take her back tomorrow (Monday) for more results and for more medication, then again Wednesday and Friday! Poor little thing!! It's also cheaper to get my car fixed than to fix my dog!!

Fun never ends! And thank you also to my Honduran friends who rang me 15 times last night each time pretending to be someone else to generally confuse me and my Spanish. Did I appreciate it? Not a lot!!

Sunshine on a rainy day..

Was very exciting today - the sun was shining. Obviously now it is back to heavy rain but the sun definitely made an appearance for a bit today! Yay!
(p.s. I have never heard rain as heavy as it was last night. It woke both Amanda and I up - and she wears ear-plugs! Heavy rain+tin roof=no sleep!)

...and it rained for 40 days and 40 nights...

I'm starting to appreciate how Noah felt now! This rain is unbelievable! The president was on the news last night addressing the nation about the rain and the problems it is causing - there are many! Major flooding, roads being washed away, unpassable, houses being destroyed. We have just had a phone call now from our boss Silvia. She is in San Pedro this weekend and has called us to check we are ok with all this rain. Apparently in San Pedro, the rain is so bad and the flooding so high that people are having to move out of their houses, and roads are being washed away. She was concerned for us bless her! Here it is very wet but not that bad - yet! They apparently may turn the electricity off and when the water tanks get too full they turn the city water off too (hence why we had no water yesterday!) I think all the mud banks, shingle and water trenches outside our house are going to be a blessing to us in terms of our house staying dry! My car is in the garage as we speak having the 4WD fixed - thank goodness. So at least we'll be able to get around. Silvia told us that in SP people are rushing out to buy food because delieveries can't be made - she told us to do the same, but we'll see. She said it like a hurricane but people have had no warning so could not prepare their houses.

Here is a link to the National Hurricane Centre, the depression really is right over Honduras!! Please pray for us in our house, for our friends and for Honduras. That this weather system moves on and we all remain safe!

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Better the devil you know...

My car has been quite lovely to drive this week! A whole new experience. I drove to Tegus on Friday night with Amanda and came back Saturday - is good to get away and a chance to meet friends there etc - and the car was wonderful! However, Saturday night my car sounded like it was about to fall apart whenever it moved! It no longer goes into 4-wheel drive which is a semi-disaster around here! I think there is a problem with the 4w drive.

It has rained all day and all night all week. More like monsoon season not rainy season. There is a hurricane somewhere on the north coast that is not moving - or something like that - and so we have a tropical depression hanging over us. Now as the rains started so did next doors workmen leave a huge pile of dirt, mud and cement outside our house which means access to our house is an adventure in itself across the now very wet mud! They also chose this time to dig a trench along the outside of our house for a water system for the new house next door - perfect timing! It means they kindly dug up the cement drive (which crosses another trench) and filled it in with stones and planks of wood. Now in the mud and rain my car slides and slips all over the place on this now my 4w drive doesn't work - and so one of these days I'm expecting my car to fall into the trench whilst putting it in the drive at night! I need to speak to the owners tomorrow I think!

So tomorrow my poor car is going to go back to ' The devil' to be fixed again! It will work one of these days - but in the mean time I am rapidly running out of money!! The joys!

Got to love it!

I really do love living in this house! We had a house full of people watching the Honduras/Jamaica match tonight - Jamaica won sadly (1-0). It's just so wonderful that people want to come round. Am so at home here.

Maybe not so keen on the piles of mud that next doors workmen have left outside my gates or the fact I couldn't get my car out the other day as the man up the road had parked his oxen and cart outside my gate whilst he went to get something! But you know...you can't have everything!
In appreciation of all things wonderful I even had my hair cut and got rid of the vile straw colour that the sun had turned my hair!

Back in action!

Yay my car is fixed - allbeit by the devil! Kike took it to a mechanic by the market whose nick-name is "The devil". Nice touch! Anyway, he fixed 3 problems. To be honest I can't describe them to you as they were told to me in Spanish and I have no idea what the translation is in English - apart from the fact I have new bearings in my gear box (does that sound right?) and I have a whole new clutch and something else. It is soo different to drive - it's great. A whole lot of work for a total of £95. Whilst I am finding that very expensive here - I know it would be a whole lot more back in UK......

Hopefully that's it for now!

Life's just one big adventure

So we went to the Honduras v Canada World Cup Qualifying football match last night in the stadium in San Pedro Sula. It took me a long time to find enough tickets for us all to get there, but it all worked out. Deb, Nicole and Brian went in a car with Lidia and I took my car with Amanda, Kike, Jaime and Zuko. Lidia and the other teachers left early so as to get seats. The game started at 7.30 and Zuko's exam finished at 4pm - journey takes about an hour and a half to get there! We were cutting it fine. So they agreed to save us seats.
Deb and Nicole

Kike drove my car - he is way faster than I am on those roads. The plan was also to drive back after the match (against popular opinion that it's just not safe to drive that road after dark!)

So we set off. Half hour into journey we all start smelling something that is not right with the car...! We stop at a gas station (sorry - petrol station) check the car out, can't work it out...carry on a bit.

45 mins into the journey we pull over onto the side of the road as the car will no longer drive! It is starting to get dark! In this country it's not good to stop at the side of the road, and people don't stop to help you either. Unheard of. The clutch or transmission had gone.

Now here is where we know God was looking after us because we all pile out of the car, everyone relaxed, no-one stressed, when a guy pulls over in his pick up. Unheard of, especially as it was getting dark. Offers to drive back to the gas station, get a tow rope, come back and tow us back to the gas station!! I just had to pay his gas - all £5 of it! So then he offers to take us part of the 45 minute journey we still had to the stadium. So we climb into the back of the truck, as we pull away he notices a bus that would take us all the way...we jump out of the truck and run to the bus...amazing the bus just happened to be there right then.

We made it to the game 15 mins before the start - no queues left, just stroll in. The others had saved us seats - great seats. They'd sat there for about 2 hours. Kike had bought the face paint, we had our Honduras jerseys on so we enjoyed the game. We were in the cheaper seats, which meant all the 'enthusiastic' people around us - i.e. the cheering, jumping crowd! Was hilarious!! The guys looked after us and protected us completely so we were perfectly safe. Honduras won!!

(Behind..)Jaime, Kike (In front) Zuko (wiped his paint off cos was itchy!), Amanda and I


Kike and Jaime

Then they saw a guy from church who had room in the back of his pick up. So we sat in the back for the 2 hours home. Got home at midnight!
Us all in the truck on the way home - windswept and tired but enjoying fact we won (Apart from Amanda maybe - she's Canadian!)

We got to the game safely, saw the game and got home safely. Kike, Jorge, Amanda and I drove back in Kike's truck today to get my car and tow it back - amazingly enough it still had doors, wheels etc. Just as we left it.

Life is definitely not boring here. I wouldn't have it any other way! I LOVE it!!! (though maybe not the large amount I am going to have to pay to mend my car)

Oropendola Pa Cristo....Youth group mission trip to Oropendola....

How times change. A few months ago I was writing on here about how I struggle to go to Youth Group every week, forcing myself to go as I knew it would eventually get easier with the Spanish and being accepted there etc. Well, eventually has happened! Now I sit here and write about the weekend away I have been on with the Youth Group! I never thought I would sit and write so positively about it all!! However...last weekend was one of the best since I've been here!!....

Every year the Youth Group go on a mission trip/project to a village that needs help, work with children, evangelise and build a house in the community. Usually there is a link somewhere down the line with our church. This year was no different and 25 of us went to a village near the lake to build a house and work with the children in the community. Before leaving I was actually looking forward to going..can you believe the change?! It was Thursday night - Sunday evening.....now that is a LOT of Spanish!! We arrived and stayed in an old 'camp'...an old barn that would have been condemned in any other country!! The boys were meant to stay upstairs and the girls down, but all the floor boards upstairs and the roof were rotten and so we all stayed downstairs!! I didn't even freak out by the large numbers of tarrantulas and far-too-big spiders outside. There was also a rat who came to visit us every night, running around the rafters, a friendly visitor!! We cooked outside on an oil barrel...just the one, but I ate better this weekend than I have since I've been here. Chicken, tacos, pancakes,...you name it!! Amazing what can be done! Our group are all university or beyond so 20's +. Friends our age is great. They are all very supportive of our Spanish efforts and help me out!!

To be honest we got on better with the guys than the girls - the girls are VERY girlie! And the guys are a good laugh! It is nice to be able to broaden our circle of friends.

So, we built a house....the guys and Amanda and I that is! The girls went to the kitchen to make lunch - yeah not a chance of that happening with us!
The house when we got there
Tearing it down


The finished house!

The family we built the house for

In the morning the girls had also gone off into the community to invite all the children to the church for dramas, games, songs, puppets, stories etc. About 150 kids came and it was amazing! They just loved it and everyone was so organised so it went smoothly. The joy on the kids faces as they joined in and had fun.
The kids watching the puppet show!

In the evening the adults were invited back for another drama presentation. It is probably the best drama I have EVER sen - makes me want to cry every time and I've seen it enough times now.

After the drama every member of the group (minus the 2 white girls who simply dont hve good enough Spanish) go off and talk to people, explaining the Gospel to them and praying with anyone. They are not shy or embarrassed or wondering what to say. It is very humbling to see.
The next day we were with the kids again, the same kind of thing except this time we gave out a bag with a toy and sweets in to each child. We had collected all the toys from the talent show and what peole had donated. We had clothes to hand out too but I'm not sure what happened to them!!?

I played games with this boy in his wheelchair whilst the others ran around!

We then went on to another village. We went around the community inviting them along - every house!

The final day was a retreat/relaxing day. Swimming in the river. It was great - a real way to unwind after a crazy weekend! Apparently my Spanish isn't toooo bad!
Friends

Our group




I took so many photos! Here are the links for them...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165511&l=973d5&id=876635272

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165954&l=f2830&id=876635272

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165965&l=2e741&id=876635272

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165970&l=7d61e&id=876635272

Correction!

Barbara pointed out she couldn't see all the house photos! Try this link....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=166517&l=0596a&id=876635272

My House!

Ok,
Finally I have sorted the photos of my house! Rather than just putting a few on here, here is the link to all of them....just click on them and it will show you the progress from when I looked around until yesterday!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4465869&l=e1dee&id=876635272

Youth Group...Talent Show

I am trying to get more involved in church and Youth Group, making friends and getting to know people. To raise money for the Mission Project (weekend away) our youth group hosted a Talent Show for all the churches in the area. They went all out and hired the Bible Seminary auditorium, filled it with chairs and spent the day setting up sound etc. I was in charge of drawing (tracing) and cutting out the letters for the big blue sign - look out for it in the photos!! Amanda and I were both very sceptical and thought noone would come - how wrong we were!! It was full and was a great success. People were charged to come in and there was food on sale etc etc. We raised the money we needed and had a great time. These guys have vision and belief!

Here is a link to all the photos!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=163085&l=06768&id=876635272

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=163096&l=04c23&id=876635272

2 months in 2 minutes

OK, so finally I am sitting down to give you a super quick update on the last 2 months! It helps that finally I can sit on the sofa in front of a tv to write this! A lot has happened in the last 8 weeks...

Back at Ken and Sue's house the trap laid for the burglar worked and he was caught in the act by Kike. We haven't been able to get any of the stuff back and the police weren't involved as there is not much they can do. A long story there! Anyway, as the weeks after that then we discovered more and more stuff that he had taken from us - mainly from Amanda and I. Turned out to be about £1000 worth of stuff. But that is life!!

Amanda returned from Canada and so we celebrated our last days in the big house with parties! First a BBQ and the next week a dessert party (my kind of thing!)

BBQ (Roberto and Deb) Dessert Party

We moved into our house pretty much the same time school started which was beyond stressful!! It is a gorgeous house, a brand new build. I had to buy ALL the furniture - including kitchen cabinets! We borrowed beds from the school house, which I appreciated a lot. We have some of Dave and Esthers kitchen stuff for now too - saucepans, plates etc. So, I have bought a dining table and chairs, fridge/freezer, sofas, kitchen cabinet thing, washing machine. You name it! The best thing is the fact I now have tv. We got internet in the house and it turned out that to have tv was only £6 a month! Well worth it, so got a tv. It now means we can relax in the evenings and just veg out - mostly English speaking channels from the states!! I LOVE our house I really do. It feels just like home - more so now the curtains were put up today! It has taken over a month, but we now finally have everything! (though now it is rainy season I may resort to buying a drier!) I will put photos of the house and it's process up tomorrow once I have taken the finished photos - I need to tidy first for that!

Shopping for all the furniture was an experience - which I loved. I got most stuff in Tegucigalpa (the capital) and am very grateful to Jorge for helping me.

School started at the end of August. My Grade 2's are lovely (I had them last year) and they have remembered all their English. Then there are my GRade 1's - not so lovely. 4 weeks in and they are starting to understand me!! They have major discipline issues, came up with a reputation for this...and didn't speak an English! Oh my word!! It has been very very hard with them, but today was delightful and I think we have turned a corner - hurray!! We've had the usual September madness Independence Day marches, parties etc. Very exciting to say that we actually marched this year instead of ambling! Kids did us proud.

Children's Day Party - Grade 1 boys

The float in our Independece Day March

(no idea how it came to be so good!)

My feet are hanging in there! I broke my little toe in town about 4 weeks ago - walked into a rock hidden in the grass on the pavement - if you can call it that! am quite sure nobody's toe should move at that angle! I dind't go to hospital - what can they do for a little toe? It is still swollen and hurts, but not as much. I am hoping it will heal soon. My other foot is getting worse again and my dr says I should wear the cast again for another 3 weeks. I'll get around to doing that soon!

The dogs are growing fast and are very cute! The training thing hasn't gone so well as we aren't around enough, but they are getting there! Enoc and Jorge built us a fence across the bak of the garden (hard to describe) so we can put hem behind it when we go out. They were getting used to sitting by the gate and were too friendly with people - not good when we need them as guard dogs!! So hopefully this will help! Pictures of them to follow!

Our house is not in the safest area apparently! Who knew?? Everyone who visits comments on it's location and how dangerous it is! We are sensible and only use the car when we go out at night. It's behind the cemetary and apparently up until 6 years ago used to be the Red Light District!!!! Not any more. Now it has just kept the reputation for unsavoury people, but is getting better. I don't have a problem with it really - and is cheaper!! Gos is definitely looking after us here. Only twice have I had things thrown at me over the fence by the guys over the road. They've not done it again thankfully.

We have been getting more involved in church- but that is a whole other entry!! But we have made more friends and gotten to know our friends a whole lot better.

Now we have furniture life is definitely calming down again and turning to normality -is there such a thing? My social life is far busier than it was in UK. I think I am busy almost every night and we have to book things in! The best part is that now we have our house people invite themselves over. When we were in the teachers house people didn't like to visit - I guess the stigma and status attached to it, the formality. Now it is just us here people want to come round - it's great!!

Jorge's birthday at Enoc's house

(Back row...Kike, Jorge and Enoc...Front...Amanda, Enoc's parents and me)

My Spanish is improving but I definitely need to use it more. I still hate talking to people! It is so frustrating cos I can do it and to some people can chat for hours no problems. But when I am pressurised my brain goes to pot!! It's coming though...

Here are some links to all my photos of these things!

BBQ - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=147839&l=1f7d6&id=876635272

Dessert Party - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=156113&l=84efe&id=876635272

Independence Day March - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=157647&l=00a31&id=876635272