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!!
(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
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