Hot rods...Honduran style!

Now I wasn't overly scared at the earthquake - confused ...yes! But last night I found myself very scared. Amanda has been away at camp all weekend and so I've been by myself again, something that doesn't ever worry or bother me.
But at 4.30am last night I was rudely awakened...I was woken by a car (I think pick-up) that was driving at the speed of light outside my house, noone goes fast outside my house because a) the road is so bad and b) I live in a dead end by a cemetery! The screeching of the brakes and tyres woke me and then I heard boys laughing. Not such a problem thought I and then I heard all the gun shots! I think it must have been drunk guys driving around firing their guns!! I was actually really scared! I didn't get out of bed as didn't want to be seen through the window. I thought of my dogs, but thankfully heard them drinking water outside my window so knew they were ok, which meant I could go back to sleep!
Never a dull moment around here!

The deed is done!

I've done it - I've signed the contract for renting my new apartment!! Am now the proud resident of 2 houses (for these next 2 weeks!). Crazy.

Have also paid this months rent for both places. My poor, poor bank account!!

Gas shortage!

Well, we've not had any more big earthquakes. Apparently there have been a few 4.5's but we can't feel them here. There have been problems and damage in San Pedro and the biggest bridge in the country has collapsed!

This has now caused problems with gas...hmmm....petrol! A friend called me today to go fill up my tank as all the gas stations are running out. There is no diesel left in Sigua and they are fast running out of gas. Possibly going to ration what is left!! I've filled up my tank so should be ok.

There are various theories for this,all due to earthquakes....a) there are problems at the port, b) something to do with the fact the gas storage (no idea of the word in English) was damaged in the earthquake and c) because the bridge is down, the tankers just can't get here to deliver it!!

All good fun! Kind of!

My first Earthquake!!

We've had the insane heat, the tropical rainstorms and last night we had an earthquake! It measured 7.1 on the richter scale!! That makes for a big earthquake!! At 2.25am in the morning I woke up feeling sea-sick as my house was physically swaying. Amanda came into my room and I just stared at her confused as she shouted 'earthquake' at me!! Books and ornaments fell off my bookshelf and my bed moved across the room!! The earthquake came in waves and it was honestly like being on water. We went into the living room where we could see the house physically moving and swaying and could hear the dogs barking outside! I've never known anything like it. When it ended, we just sat there feeling sea-sick from all the swaying.

The epicentre was in the sea off the coast of Honduras, thankfully. Had it been on land we would have had severe damage. As it was, things weren't as bad as they could have been. In Sigua there wasn't much damage - was far worse nearer the coast.

School was open as usual - despite the large cracks that had appeared on the ceilings. Not exactly safe but heh! We had 'Earthquake drills' where the children had to practise getting under the desks and then lining up outside.

Some say we are due to have more earthquakes in the coming days, but only time will tell!

Rain rain go away!

Last Saturday, we had the start of our tropical rainstorms! In 1 hour the roads flooded (Amanda was in town with water up to her knee!) and our house leaked! Not too badly - and not as bad as the houses belonging to some of my friends! I've never seen that much rain in that short a time! Unbelievable. Since last Saturday we've had other tropical rainstorms. When that much rain hits a tin roof you certainly know about it!!

Sheer Bravery!

As my Grade 2's and I were tidying the classroom today I noticed a tarantula creep out from under the bookcase. The kids were all sat down at their desks and if I had pointed it out the girls would have screamed and the boys would have wanted to play with it...not on my agenda!

So I was incredibly brave....yes...I quietly went up to Joel - a sensible 7 year old boy and asked him to remove it for me without a fuss!! He quietly and subtly slipped out to the bathroom to get a broom, killed it and swept it outside, all without a word - noone else found out! Well maybe Itzel saw it and thought I was very mean for killing it....I pointed out I just wanted it gotten rid of!!

Should I feel embarrassed that I had a 7 year old boy remove a taratula for me?! Nah!

Contracts!

Got a phone call at work today from Abner (my soon to be neighbour) asking me to meet my new landlord at his school to give him my passport number etc so he can write up the contract! Nearly blew my head away - I only saw the place yesterday and already he is drawing up a contract! I took Amanda to see the apartment today and meet these people and they are simply wonderful! He read through my current contract for me to see when I can get out of my house and he didn't see a problem - and heh it's Honduras! All a bit of a rush for me - my new contract starts 1st June - although will be here til Mid June. He is not charging me a month's rent in advance which is lucky! It all seems to be happening around me!

He did however say there are only 2 neighbourhoods that are very dangerous in Sigua and that he doesn't go into after 4pm.....when he said which ones they were, I pointed out that one of them is where I live now!!!! Confirmed my need to move me thinks!!!

I'm so sad to leave my house!

All change.....again!!

So, I LOVE my house. I love it to bits. But my friends have all concluded - all separately - that it is simply not safe enough around here for me to live alone. I am so sad by this but know they are right. Which means I have to find somewhere else to live. Having seen Jaime's student house this weekend, it made me realise I don't need anything big or fancy - just a place for me. I've been asking my friends to keep an eye out but with the trauma of buying a new car I haven't given much thought to the house renting/moving!
On Saturday morning I received a phone call from Tim Hagler saying he was standing in an apartment that was clearly built for me and I must see it immediately! I pointed out I was in Tegus and so we arranged to go see it today!

So off I went today to meet Tim. Now, I'd thought I was going to move into another house - not apartment. But, this place is almost the same size as my house and was wonderful. It has just been built - in fact still being finished! Tim is very good friends with the young guy who has moved in upstairs, he has just finished in semenary and is working with the youth at Tim's church. He is getting married next year and this is to be their home. There is one apartment upstairs and one down. 2 bedroom. The owner founded Pablo Weir, a Christian evangelical school in town. He said he built it with 2 options in mind. My flat has a staircase in it which is blocked off at the top - so if a family want to move in he can open it up and it is a big house - or he can have it as 2 flats!! Cunning! Does mean I have a random staircase going no-where!!! The garden is enormous, simply enormous, with well established banana and coconut trees. The owner is very excited I have dogs, he's always wanted them but his wife is allergic and the other guy upstairs - Abner - LOVES dogs and thinks it's great I have them! He doesn't have a car and so the garage space is mine! It really is perfect. It is just one block frm Jaime and Lorena's house too - where I spend a lot of time anyway. The other amazing thing is that Abner suggested we split the cost of internet between us!! We can claim it's a house and share!! Perfect for when I'm living alone - cuts the costs! It's much cheaper than my house here too. So, security wise - much more secure!
I can move in from June and so Tim is reading through my contract for me to find out when I can leave this house! I feel very sad about leaving. The thought of moving again fills me with dread. But, it is so clearly meant to be that I just can't say no! It's def the right thing to do!

(more good news - Hollie and Israel have an extra bed I can have - I have to give my bed back to the school!!)

ALL change!!

Student life revisited!

Having finished my signing of papers (read other blog entry!) Amanda and Karlita went back to Sigua and I stayed to meet up with friends. Lorena was going to Tegus to buy some stuff with Jaime (her brother) and so I stayed up there to meet with her and stay with them both. It meant I had to wait 3 hours Mall. I can't begin to tell you how bored I was, I went up to the cinema thinking I could have a sleep in there but the movies had started an hour before. So I went around the coffee shops drinking coffee and filling in the Sudoku in the newspapers!! I couldn't find a newspaper to buy anywhere but went into a Supermarket where the lady on the glass/china/present wrapping kiosk had a pile of old newspapers she used to wrap stuff with. She gave me one free when I told her how bored I was - so I could then look at cars for sale!!
Lorena arrived at the Mall and we waited for Jaime - to find out he was at another Mall completely - so we jumped in a taxi!!
Anyway, we went back to his house and it was quite wonderful to experience a student house in Honduras!!! We got there about 7pm and they pointed out that if we get killed it would be my fault - walking along with a white girl!! I just suggested we walked faster!!! But it reminded me a lot of Brighton for some reason. The houses were all on little tiny lanes that you walked through. I bought some cornflakes on the way for dinner and breakfast and it traditional student form I ate cornflakes with a fork!! Jaime had his in a cup! Students are the same the world over. It was so wonderful to stay in a normal house - nothing fancy or expensive. Normal! I had a great time with them both and then on Saturday afternoon we caught the bus back to Sigua.

That night, I went to a concert in one of the churches in town and to my surprise it was Very good!

Amanda's family have been down for the week and so Sunday was spent getting to know them and spending time with them. It was lovely. Her dad tried to train our dogs - success with Jezebel and simply no hope for Delilah (who hid around the back of the house every time he went outside!) So brave!

I also looked at another car on Sunday, belonging to the brother of a lady from church. I simply have no idea if it's the right car or not - I feel not!

Quite a wonderful weekend and today it was very hard to go back to work!

I'm official!

It's official, I signed my residency papers on Friday - finally! After nearly 2 years they have finally completed, I just have to go back in 60 days to get my 'carnet' card thing! Obviously the photo on the card is one of my best...she spoke to me as she took the picture so I obviously looked at her...not the camera! Nice one Katharine! I went up to Tegus to the 'Migration' office (in charge of residencies, passports etc) with Amanda and Karlita (adminstrator in charge of all the paperwork from school) and we got it all done.
Perhaps my favourite part was after having done fingerprints of all my fingers, the lady filled my hand with Ajax powdered bleach so I could wash the ink off. So there we were with hands full of powdered bleach walking through a government building! a) we could have thrown that in anyone's eyes or goodness knows what else and b) it looked like we were walking along with a handful of cocaine!!! Hilarious!

Anyway, the paperwork is done and I just have to wait for the last bit.

New car....I wish

Monday morning at 6am I set off to San Pedro with my friends Adony and Enoc to go look for a new car. Here you find a car, buy it and drive it back - just like that!! Buying a used car in Honduras is nothing like it is in England. You can't find them here in Sigua and basically you can only buy them in San Pedro (about 2 hours away) ...the only place with lots of used car lots - Autolotes. I find it strange there is only really one city in the country where you can buy a car!! Cars here are still a luxury not an accessory. They are still a business.

So off we head to San Pedro to go hunting. We met up with a friend of Adony's who lives in SPS and knows the car places. We go to one autolote...none of the cars started...moved on to somewhere else. Adony's friend Andres came and took us to perhaps the most random place ever. We drove to the backstreets and there were roads lined with cars for sale, about 2 blocks worth. Apparently here is where you sell your car if you can't afford to put them in a lot. So we went to a Feretteria (hardware store) and were told to speak to the lady there. She then asks what type of car you are looking for...we tell her a double cabin pick up and she calls a man to come and get us to show us where these cars are. I ask why we can't wait outside....and am told it's because it's not safe enough so we have to wait inside the store?! Hmmm I wasn't desperate to buy a car from here. I was assured it was legal but was not convinced! We looked around but noone wanted to buy my car as part exchange. We then went to EVERY autolote in San Pedro. Another interesting thing about used car lots here is that you pay to put your car there- but they don't buy the car off you. Everyone still owns their own car. So when you find a car you are interested in the owner of the Autolote has to call the owner of the particular car to come and talk to you!! Crazy.

Anyway, I was not able to find a car I could afford. I can't believe just how expensive the cars are here. I was looking for any truck or big car I could afford and came up with nothing! So we went to meet up with adony's sister who lives in SPS and went ot her in-laws house, where her father in-law was trying to call his friends to help us. It was just becoming more random! We left at 6am and got home at 9pm. I managed to get sunburnt too with all the standing around outside.

So...I have no new car. Still have mine. Need to somehow find more money!

To make matters worse...got a puncture today! I drove to school, past the usual men shouting at me. Today they shouted and were waving, I didn't think there was anything different. I got to school with a puncture - guess that is why they were shouting!!

Elias at school was able to change it for me and I spent the afternoon getting my tyre repaired and then my car washed.

So, as I write this the man that was shouting at me this morning was at my gate shouting for me to come out. I went out and he was offering me parts or a new tyre! I told him thank you but I've had it repaired. Slightly worrying to have it re-iterated that everyone here knows the white girls house - he lives right round the corner!!!

Oh joy. Please join me in praying that God can provide a car for me - before mine dies or explodes!!!! Or I explode!

To laugh or cry?!

Sunday morning was Mother's Day here- and it is a HUGE day! Is celebrated in a big way and everyone goes all out, it's great.

So....this Sunday....as I leave the house ready to go to church, dressed in my skirt and nice clothes...I see hoards of people walking to the cemetary with flowers for mother's day. Everyone goes to visit relatives and so the road outside my house is busy with families and groups of people.
I open up the gates to gate my car out.....thinking I had repaired it on Saturday (Jaime came round on Sat and we repaired said fence and tested it to make sure dogs could not escape)....well....my dogs had had all night to find new escape plans and before I know it they have found a new way out and run towards the groups of people in the road. My dogs both hate bicycles and have developed a hatred towards children recently too (I think the kids up the road come by and taunt them). Anyway....they run towards a group of about 10 people....aiming at the dog with them.....suddenly my dogs become super angry and aggresive towards this dog.....who turned out to belong to a drunk man (nice!). I call my dogs....they ignore me...far too aggressive.....they then start growling and barking at the group of people as well as the dogs and run round and around the people....women and children start shouting and screaming.....dogs start frothing at mouth......I don't know whether to laugh or cry.....my landlords in the house in front hear the screaming and come out....then start helping me shoo my dogs away from the people.....then landlord's son who owns the house next door comes out as he also hears the screaming....he also helps.....drunk man helps too.

At one point I just stopped still and looked around at the disaster happening around me and didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. I was SO SO embarrassed! My dogs were growling and barking at everyone and I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. Eventually the dogs were shooed in my direction and I managed to grab them both and appologise profusely to everyone and thank my neighbours.

At least everyone now think my dogs are scary!

I was late for church.

When things become normal...

I was driving back through town to get home after Bible Study tonight and needed to drop Johanna off at her apartment in town. The road was closed off by a big police bus and there were people everywhere.
I stopped a policeman and a random man who were ambling by and asked them what had happened. Almost worrying to think I wasn't in anyway phased to hear that there had been another death. The random man said it was his friend so I didn't like to ask more details like how etc!! But is most likely a shooting. When did that become a normal every day part of life?!

Latest observation....

Even the fattest, largest, most rotund Hondurans have skinny legs here. I know people walk a lot. But really..a mystery! Slightly unjust!

Bible Study

Bible Studies have been very different this year and I love them! Every week (generally) we meet for an English speaking Bible Study (same as last year). The difference this year is that we NEVER talk about school, which is lovely - and normal. I think before, the majority of us were teachers at the school and so it was inevitable.

I sat looking around tonight and realised the teachers from our school were in the minority - so refreshing. There were 12 of us tonight, and that was with a few extras and a few missing. There are us teachers, then a teacher from the Montesory school, the volunteers from camp, a girl who works for an AIDS NGO in town, hospital interns from Germany and Denmark and then some of our English speaking Honduran friends. A real mix!! And so, so refreshing. We are all the same(ish) age and so can discuss away! I think the part I like the most is that everyone is musical it seems and everyone can sing and so the worship (led by Amanda on guitar or Youtube!) always seems to be in harmonies.

With the end of the school year upon us people are now starting to leave gradually and so the group will get smaller until new teachers arrive in August. I just hope we can keep the 'no school talk' rule and find lots of other fun freinds to join us again!

Stupid dogs...or are they?

My lovely fence....useless. Dogs have worked out how to get under the wire fence. Chased them down the road again this morning! Jaime coming back to re-evaluate the whole thing on Saturday. Just need to pin down the bottom of the wire!

Stupid dogs? Maybe not so stupid...! Grrrr

Sublime to the ridiculous (again!)

We decided to go to the cinema tonight. Brittany told us it was 'El Dueno' or 'Fearless'- a Jet Li movie with Spanish subtitles. We go...excited to watch a movie in English...even a Jet Li movie!! Hmmm....didn't stop to think that it may not actually be in English..

Nope...it was Chinese with Spanish subtitles!! Very funny. What else would you expect from a martial arts movie when you stop and think about it?!
I actually was able to understand the whole movie reading the subtitles. My Spanish is definitely improving! Not so much my Chinese...

Baking!

Over the last few weeks I have been teaching my Grade 1's about food and so today we baked Choc Chip Cookies. Now, my G1's are notoriously badly behaved so it could have gone horrendously, but it was great! They were just so excited!

Fence

Thought I should show a photo of the fence I've been raving on about! Not the sunniest day for the photo, but heh!

Here is the gate that is leaning in the space til Jaime comes back on Saturday!

My new favourite place!

I have a new favourite place -Texaco Cruz gas station! They washed my car inside and out for me today. The other place charged me 40L and took 10 mins to wash outside. These guys charged 60L and took about 45 mins cleaning inside and out. Wonderful. The men didn't shout at me either or stare. Love it. At one point there were 4 men cleaning the inside - windows, everything! I am SO excited!! They greased my points too (I have no idea of the word in English but that is the literal translation!) so my car no longer squeaks when I drive!

Far too exciting. I might actually be able to sell the thing now. I've written Adony's number on the back (with correction fluid) so people can call him if they want to buy it - I'm keeping out of it!

Let's see what happens!

I'm even giving you photos of my super clean car! I'm that excited by it. (though rainy season is here again and so the mud will soon ruin it again!)

I don't believe it!

After having struggled with the gate alone, I went round to Jaime/Lorena's house last night! I told Jaime what had happened and he was highly amused by the whole thing! Then.....asked why I didn't call him for help???? When I reminded him that he had told me he was out for the afternoon, he just said he was back by 3pm and would have come to help, but had no money on his phone to call me. Therefore my fault for not having called him!?!! Charming!! He found the whole thing hilarious! So, next week he's coming to "repair my errors!"
3pm....3PM.....it could all have been avoided!! Too funny!

...un desastre!

This afternoon I set about finishing the fence. Jaime didn't have time today to come and help so it was down to me on my own!! It was a bit difficult but I managed to get the wire on the gate successfully. Then it was time to put the hinges on!! I decided it would be quicker with an electric screwdriver/drill so I called everyone I thought would have one and ended up going to Luis Vega (of all people!) to borrow his. As it turns out I didn't use it and was easier by hand! Typical waste of time driving round to get it but heh!!
So, Amanda came out to help me put the hinges on and we somehow managed to get a 3rd hinge by taking it off the old gate (we may have had several disasters along the way!). So we measured and screwed it all together. Amanda decided it would be easier if we measured it and took the pins out of the hinges, screwed it all on and then hooked it together! NOPE- not easier. It now doesn't fit together! So we've leaned the gate in the gap and it will have to do til Jaime comes back next weekend!! At least I'll get to use the screwdriver - to remove all the screws!!!

I tried to get it all done by myself to prove a point. Failed! Lots of blisters. But laughed a lot!!

Fence Day!

I'm glad you all liked my deep and meaningful thoughts and observations in my last blog! There are lots more where that came from!! But not today!

So, this week I've been in the plaza nearly every night enjoying folklore and traditional singing and dancing. I think (but am not certain) we've been celebrating Siguatpeque not just a tree?! But I can't be certain of that..rumours! Thursday night was perhaps the most amusing of them all. I went with Carina and Douglas and there was a lovely, quiet ballet dance and then an awful school orchestra...and then a reggaeton concert! Hilarious. Sigua is a fairly conservative, quiet town and here in the plaza was a reggaeton concert. It's hard to explain reggaeton, it's latino, kind of rap, with turn table squeaking. I have no idea what to compare it too - but it is not liked by all. Now, it will be hard to imagine this without knowing the music but every young guy in Sigua filled the plaza pretty quickly when the women started dancing on the stage with men from the audience. Almost pornagaphic dancing. I have never laughed so hard!! And in Sigua. Just comical. I then went home, pulled my car up in front of my gates...and it died! Wouldn't start. So at 10.30pm I had to call Adony to come and help me. Bless him.

Friday, we had the day off school for Workers Day (May day really) and so I went to the garage with Adony in my car - which had started working thankfully. He then dropped me off at Hollie and Israel's and I spent the entire day chatting with them! Was lovely. Anyway, my car wasn't fixed before the garage closed (I think it closed early!) so was stuck without a car. Again. Obviously managed to find a lift to get me to the plaza in the evening with my friends - Amanda, Carina, Lorena, the twins, Douglas, Walter etc - a whole new group of friends form church!!

Today, was fence day. I have been looking forward to today all week. Jaime came round early and we set about making the fence. Zuko couldn't help and so it was just the 2 of us building it. It was my job to prove women could do it as well as men! I was in charge of cutting the wood with the electric wood saw and he dug all the holes. Just as we were starting, a helicopter randomly came and landed in the field next to our house. Things just get more random around here daily!! There was a march, carnival in town at lunch time and I think it was connected to that somehow!

The helicopter landed and all the neighbours came out!

One of my neighbours houses (I made the most of being out with my camera!)


Here you can see the lovely sewage ditch they are digging and cementing - smells lovely when they do it in the mid-day Tropical heat!! Mmmm

After, we'd been out to see what was going on we carried on working and then for the first time in about 3 or 4 months it rained in the day. And I mean RAINED, heavy rain. No way we could carry on working. At this point, Adony also turned up with my car. Apparently the battery I bought 3 weeks ago was bad battery - just my luck!! The mechanic had lent me a battery from another car so Adony could come and get me (and the guarantee for the battery) so we could go and exchange it. Adony had to get to a meeting and so I went with him and Jaime to exchange the battery, the man was none too pleased and said the car wasn't charging it properly, wasn't the battery, he still changed it though. Adony went off to his meeting and Jaime and I went back to the mechanic to return the battery and get him to look at it. By this point, in the rain with a partially built fence, a car with someone else battery in my stress levels were through the roof and I just wanted to cry!! A lot. The boys were having none of that though and did a good job calming me down. Everything got changed and I could take my car home - it has to go back Monday! Adony tells me he thinks there is a much bigger problem with my car and so pretty much I have to sell it in the next 2 weeks before it dies entirely and costs me a fortune to repair!! Agghh!

Working together, Jaime and I

We went home for lunch and eventually the rain passed and we could carry on working. We managed to get the whole fence finished and the gate was built but not put on! In the middle of all this was a military air display, I'm not sure what the planes were, but there were 2 planes flying low over my house and the town centre, spinning and putting on a display. Provided some entertainment if nothing else! A good days work. Tomorrow I am going to finish the gate myself so it's all done. We then spent the evenign relaxing and chatting. As I sit here now there is torrential rain outside, I love listening to it on the tin roof, although it does mean it's impossible to hear the tv as the noise is so loud!!

I think cutting wood wearing flip-flops is a good thing! (not the most flattering of pics!!)

So, a productive day. I hate my car even more. I am going to go to San Pedro either this week or next (depending when the boys can make it) to buy the new one, I can't wait any longer.

Tonight, there is a huge carnival in town. I am glad it's raining as I am not allowed to go. Apparently a) it is too dangerous for us and b) Christians should not go/be seen at it! Apparently everyone gets drunk, the men start 'touching' all the women etc. Jaime refused to go with us if we went. Said he never goes with women 'cos he has to protect us and if a man touched us he'd punch them! Safer not to go! At least with rain I have no desire to leave my house!!

So there you go, another fun day! More deep and profound thoughts to follow shortly I'm sure!