ho-hum!

No water.....again!!!

Photos

Here are some photos of my dogs...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=210675&l=9e875&id=876635272


and random photos of my beloved sugar cane!!!....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=210671&l=a5cea&id=876635272

Football!

I really am becoming somewhat of a sports fan! Whilst Amanda was away at Christmas I got into going and watching my friends play football and volleyball etc so I had company. And it has just continued! Amanda has been away travelling this whole week as she doesn't have any classes (High Sch exam week and they only have to go in to give exams) and so I have had another week home alone! I've had SO much fun. I've had friends over for dinner and movies and also the Central American cup (football) started last weekend and so I've been having football parties!! I hook up the TV to the projector and then we have a huge screen and so everyone comes round and we watch the match together. All the guys from church come round and at the match this week I looked around and realised that none of them spoke English at one point! I'm so glad they feel relaxed enough to feel they can come round and just hang out afterwards too. Fredi brings his boys and so I just set up my computer for them so they sit and play on it. A family affair!

Tomorrow I go and watch them play footie and then another Football party at my house on Monday! Sadly, a lot of them go back to uni next week or the following and so I may have to face the fact that the holidays are coming to an end! Nah - may the fun continue!!

From the sublime...to the ridiculous...again!

Now this story is better told in person and writing it down just doesn't do it justice...but I will try. First I need to explain the layout of my house/garden. I have a big iron fence at the front of my house with big iron gates for me to drive my car in at night. At the side of my house is the wooden fence the boys made for me to put the dogs behind when the main gates are open so I can get the car in/out without them running away or getting in the way.

So...yesterday morning I was in a hurry to get to work, I put the dogs behind the wooden gate and opened the big iron gates to get my car out. As I turn my back on the dogs to go to the car there is the man who looked at my water tank standing in my drive asking me if I have water in the house. I stand talking to him when I hear Delilah jumping over the fence (again), only this time the whole wooden gate fell off and both dogs ran past me...out of the main gate and down the road. I managed to grab hold of Delilah but Jezebel ran off to the cemetery - where upon I asked the random man (it wasn't Armando) to help and run after to get her! After far too long he managedto grab her. So I had both dogs. But my car was in the drive and I had no way of holdin onto the dogs whilst getting it out so I asked this poor unsuspecting man to hold onto my 2 over excited strong labradors whilst I got the car out!! Poor man was doing well until Delilah got out of her collar and he just looed at me and helpd up her collar! So, the car was out and we had the worst behaved dog and so I closed the iron gates with her behind them and made a dash into the campo (field) to catch her. She's pretty well behaved and was easy to get and put the collar back on. Then...she heard Jezbel and tried to make a run for it...I held onto her and she managed to pull me into the ditch!!! So there is the white girl in the neighbourhood lying in the ditch but still holding onto her badly behaved dog!! I get up and manage to get both dogs behind the gate and lock them in. I only had 5 minutes to get to work. I looked to try and find random man and thought I saw him running off towards the finca (farm land) but wasn't sure. So off I drive but half way there I get an attack of conscience and wonder if in fact that wasn't the man running away and I had in fact locked him in my garden! So I drive back home and check....no he wasn't there!

What a way to start the day. Luckily my friend Jaime was able to come in the afternoon to put my gate back up again!

The evening was far more relaxing with friends coming round to hang out at my house!

Water!

I finally have water as of this week!! It turned out we had a full 3 weeks without. On Monday I was talking to my boss Prof Edith saying how we still had no water and I couldn't understand why my lanlords weren't going to the water company to complain and that as much as they were helping noone was helping actually FIX the problem! Bless her, she then turned round and said she had a friend who was in chare of the complaints at the water company and that she'd come with me to the office the next day! Which she did and the next morning the men turned up to investigate! Now the general outcome I am a bit vague about because there were lots of people all talking at once and so I got a bit lost. But .... typically...the day they came my tankw as full and I had water in my house! Armando the wonderful site manager of the house next door came over as well and just thought I was slightly mad as I had water! He went around and tried all the taps - yup definitely water! I was soooo frustrated! They all went off again and I went in the house. I turned on my tap in the kitchen - no water! I was ready to scream! They had all left and I had a tank full of water and none in my house! So I ran to get Armando back again and proved to him there was no water anywhere in the house. All I know was that he didn't understand why and that I left him here to fix it whilst I went to work. I have no idea what he did to fix it but I now have water!! Hurray!

VBS

I've just realised I haven't updated this for a couple of weeks - sorry! So, after baking all those cookies on the Monday I went along to help with the VBS at the church on Tuesday afternoon - was great, about 120 kids came along I guess - good for my Spanish! Then on Wednesdaya fternoon I went out to the village to join in with VBS there - where all my friends were helping. It was in Las Lagunas and perhaps one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to - the view was simply stunning up in the mountains! 150 kids came along and was just plain good fun. The leaders (all my friends) and a team from the US who had come down to help all travelled on a hired bus to get there and so the hour and a half journey each way was a riot!! I definitely feel included with everyone now! On the Thursday night there was a big dinner a local hotel for everyone who had helped. As I sat there with my non English speaking friends I looked around and realised I really was part of everything now and felt very at home. There were about 100 people at the dinner. It was good fun - and good food. There had been 5 VBS's every day in different villages and in total about 550 kids turned up every day - good going eh? So all in all, fun times!

All a bit cookie!

Yesterday afternoon was spent baking! It's exam week this week so my kids all leave at lunchtime so I get afternoons free. There is also VBS at church this week (Vacation Bible School -we'd call it a holiday club!) and Holly and I offered to make cookies for them. So we baked 320 cookies.....I never want to see another cookie in my life!! It took a long time - I was aided by Hollie's 3 small children and poor Hollie was in her wheelchair as she has broken her leg.

It was never going to be straight forward was it?!

I survived!

Well, I survived the first week back at school -possibly because it was a 4 day week! But I survived and even enjoyed! Strange! It's good to be back with the little people. I've decided to make the most of the fact we finish at 2.15pm and use the time after school to see my friends - continue building the relationships I made over the holidays - well at least til everyone goes back to work/uni anyway! So far so good!
Well, must go...friends coming round to fix my fence (again!)

Thank you thank you!

I received a whole pile of mail today - soo exciting! Thank you so much for all the cards and packages I received ...and I did receive them! Seems post seems to be sorted again now. Most things took a month ...some a few weeks longer. It was so lovely to receive mail after a year of nothing! So......now we know it gets through....all Galaxy chocolate and Minstrels gratefully received!!!

Hard life!

Today Nicole won a 42" Plasma TV from the local Cellphone company!!

Of all the people in Sigua who could win - it's the white girl!! Lucky girl!!

Sweet tooth!

So it seems it's Sugar cane season - everyone wants sugar cane! I am loving how much it has grown in my garden and that friends can come round and we just go cut down a cane and divide it up between us! It was hilarious watching my friends drive off on their motorbike last night with a sugar cane in each hand (not the guy that was driving!) Perhaps the most unlady like food to eat - but when has that ever stopped me?!

Operation Water!!

Day 6...still no water!


Today was first day back at school after Christmas and surprisingly enough I enjoyed it! I am however still very much in holiday mode and in denial that I am back working!

We still have no water in our house and so after school I went over to our neighbours/landlords to see if they know of anything new. Obviously not...but she asked me about my pila/peeler (no idea how to spell it!) and I explained it was very dirty so we couldn't use the water. She offered for her helper (a young girl no more than 16 who seems to be a family member!) to come and help me clean it sometime! 10 minutes later, this girl and 2 of the young daughters and their friend come over with a bucket of water to start cleaning it! The pila is like an outdoor water storage sink - people use it to wash their clothes...wash anything in fact. We'd not covered ours and so it had become an insect breeding ground instead.


So these very sweet girls came over and had a great time. Some played with the dogs and then cleaned -they loved it! At one point I had 3 of them all standing IN the pila looking for the plug and just having fun I think! Then....Dona Irma's brother comes over with a hose pipe and climbs up to our water tank to see what is going on.



Obviously there is no water but it's very dirty so he then climbs IN the water tank and cleans it for us and then uses this enormous hose (they have from the farm) and fills it back up - which takes about an hour or so.



At the same time they refill my pila and clean all around - I was so ashamed at how dirty it was!!

The girls are still playing with my dogs and then 2 boys turn up - probably related too and cut my grass for me! Talk about being looked after. Ironically I payed the last 2 months water bill today - not that I've had water for a week but heh!
At one point there were 11 of us in my garden dealing with either dogs, water or grass!! How to get to know the neighbours!


So, I now have storage water to get me through a few days.



Hopefully this will be all it needs for the city to sort out the water system so we can be back to normal! Craziness!






(a few more photos..nothing exciting... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=201829&l=a3c26&id=876635272 )

So near....yet so far!

I woke up this morning and there was water! Lots of it and good pressure too. I was able to have a shower and then I checked all the taps in the house - all working fine! So I went off to church and was able to tell everyone the good news. After church went back home to finally wash the dishes, my clothes and the floor....and it had gone again!! Typical! It may have something to do with a back valve - dont quote me on that. It has to be some form of dodgy pipework as I'm pretty sure the tank has water in it.

Thankfully, Armando the site manage next door should be back working and so will be able to help - my neighbours/Landlords are still not back!

Football today was fun - we actually won!! We were playing the reigning champions and so they were less than impressed and a fight ensued! Our players, their players and their supporters! My friends calmed down pretty quickly thankfully - but not so much the others. Adds a bit of excitement to a Sunday!!?

Amanda is back today too and so that signals that it's nearly time for school again. We start on Tuesday and nothing in me wants to go back....I'm having far too much fun getting to know my friends!!!

Welcome 2009!

I still have no water and my Landlords who live opposite are away til tonight!! Joy! So, I'm still without water. I did however take my car to be fixed today...my friend Chele Loco recommended a friend of his.....a garage that was in fact a small hut! However, this man seemed to know what he was doing and it only cost me £5 so can't be too bad! I was very grateful my friend Jaime was with me, I wouldn't have liked to have been there on my own!!
When looking under my car at my radiator I noticed 2 wires hanging down precariously....and recognised them as the same ones my dogs had been chewing in the garden! There are workmen nextdoor and so we always have random wires and glass in our garden - I'd presumed this was the same. Apparently not - they had chewed the wires off my car!!! I actually want to shoot them! I went to the electrical mechanic but he was closed.
It is all costing too much money right now. I need to seriously think about buying a new car at this rate as mine is old - '90 - and although the engine is amazing - the rest of it needs constant repair. However, cars cost a lot here especially as I need 4x4 because of where I live. If anyone wants to donate any money towards my car maintainance please feel free!!
And pray I get water soon!

Who needs water anyway?!

As I said earlier, I woke up today to no water and I had no gas either! The gas was easy to fix, I called the gasman at Tropigas and he brought me round a new tank for my cooker. The water however is a harder one. With no water in the tank it's a nightmare - although I do have a bottle of drinking water! So I'm thankful to Holly and Israel for helping me! I turned up tonight for a shower and to fill jugs and bottles with water!! My problem being that my radiator in my car is leaking so I need water to keep filling that up too - I think getting that repaired is tomorrow's job! So at least I'm now clean, my car has enough water to get to the garage..and well..the dishes can wait!!
I have absolutely no idea how to sort this so I hope my neigbours are back home tomorrow to bale me out!!

Oh the joys!

Happy New Year!

Well I went to Toya's party (I found out her name!) and was hilarious. It was indeed the whole extended family in a field! Fredi owns some land and so they took all the plastic chairs, the grill etc and we set up for the night. We lit the bonfire, got the food out - and it started raining! So we put everything back, piled into the cars and headed back to Fredi and Belki's house! I had 12 people in my car - including children...not bad eh? Obviously in the panic to get in my car key snapped in the lock of the back door...luckily had a spare key in the car. Have since had several keys cut and have handed them around to friends in case I have another accident like that! Anyway, back at Fredi and Belki's they just did lots of family photos and I got some of my fireworks out of the car. I am actually firework obssessed! So I managed to have 2 of the aunts adopt me too and if I ever need anything I can go around to their house as they live near me - hilarious!!

On Tuesday there was a sale at Diunsa - huge electrical/homeware store....50% off everything. Now I have been using Dave and Esthers plates/pans etc and they are returning in June and so I had to buy all my kitchen stuff. I decided it was better to buy it all now in the half price sale. So at 5.30am I set off for Tegus (2 hours away) with Carina, Lorena and Becky. A girlie shopping trip. I was a bit apprehensive about how much money I was about to spend in front of my Honduran friends but they completely understood (I think) and we had fun. I saved a lot of money in this sale. We got there just before the store opened at 8. All these girls speak English, but we swapped between English and Spanish all day. A whole lot of fun and a good chance to get to know them better. Nothing goes completely normally with me though. As I was looking at saucepan packages, I opened up one of them and the glass lid went flying across the floor and smashed into tiny pieces. The whole store stopped and stared at me and every worked ran up telling me I'd have to pay for the whole thing. I just stood saying how sorry I was and actually I didn't want these pans. They weren't moving and the pans weren't cheap! They sent for the onduty manager who turned out to speak perfect English. He asked me what happened and what had broken, when he saw it was just a lid he said I could get away with just paying for the lid and asked if 20L was ok (50p!). I heartily agreed and got taken out to some back office somewhere where I payed my fine feeling v relieved I didn't have to pay the full price. Apparently, this never happens and people have to pay the full price...who am I to argue!? My friends were all greatly amused!

Wednesday was New Years Eve. During the day I successfully did very little. Just went and visted friends and chatted the day away - in Spanish. A 4 hour Spanish conversation can't be too bad! Although...we were sat chatting in my car, with the radio on and so it completely drained my battery!! I then had to have them push my car down the road to a garage for them to recharge the battery for me!! I also discovered a whole in my battery - again - but as of now I cna't afford a new one sadly!? Then in the evening we had church. Now I appeared to have missed the memo that everyone dresses up really smart for this service and I turned up in jeans! I managed to put a smart top on but heh! Was a really lovely service and afterwards we all had hot punch - quite lovely! Everyone goes around wishing everyone else Happy New Year and much laughter all round. My Honduran family invited me back to their house to join their party - why not? I'd spent Christmas Eve and their mum's birthday with them! However, I had a few places to visit first! I went up to the Haglers house to go wish the Vissers and other families H.N.Year and play games and eat with them. It was a riot and then at 11.15pm I left for Zuko's house to join ther midnight celebrations. I really wish I'd had my camera with me. Everyone in town had fires burning outside their house and EVERYONE makes a guy - like we do for GuyFawkes. At midnight they burn him and it symbolises the old year...so you burn the old year and welcome the new one. Is quite a sight! I then got my fireworks out of my car - the last ones - and again EVERYONE in town sets of fireworks at midnight...is amazing! After much more greeting and wishing Happy New Year we went in for some dancing!! I learnt the Honduran/latino dances and there I was at the start of 2009 dancing! V amusing - for me and everyone else. This family have definitely welcomed me as one of them!

On the 1st, yesterday, I went with all the guys to a volleyball match, somewhere about 45 minutes away, in an obscure village the other side of Comayagua. Was a long afternoon - we lost obviously - but was fun to be out and about with my friends. As I was driving along, I looked back in my car and realised that noone I was with spoke any English. A real change to this time last year! Aniel and his wife Patty joined us too and at the end of the afternoon I discovered she's an English teacher?! Who knew!? She refuses to speak to me in English as it's good for my Spanish - not a bad idea! They are part of my family too! It has all been an amazing holiday, I've got to know people so much better and have been accepted in a new way by many - not just people my own age!

Today, I woke up to no water. My water tank hasn't refilled - not actually sure what to do about this, so I'm going to call my friends and see who can help me!!! Oh the helpless female!

I hope you all had an excellent Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.