Getting caught up and settled in

Ok, so I'm here. It took a while to get the internet working, and then we were all buisy getting settled in, so I appologise for not posting sooner.

The flight was fun. The flight to San Salvadore was uneventful (I slept through most of it), and the flight from there to Honduras was brief to say the least (it took lierally 20 minutes...we went up, and then came back down). I then flew through immigration (not many people fly in at 9:30 am on a thursday), and then spent an hour waiting in the terminal for someone to show up. During this time I tried vainly to find someone to change my US money so that I could FINALLY get somthing to eat. Saddly, my spanish sucks, and I eventually gave up.

At long last Peggy (the Olancho Aid volunteer co-ordinator) and Carlos (the Olancho Aid co-ordinator)showed up and came to my rescue. Gradually the rest of the volunteers flew in and we all pile onto the bus for a three hour ride out to Juticulpa. But first...

...we went to the mall! That's right, the very first thing we did on arriving in Honduras was go to the Tegucigalpa mall food court and eat at subway. Tegus (Tegucigalpa) is a pretty developed city, and there are US stores everywhere you look (including Little Ceasar's, Burger King, and Sherwin Williams).

That being said, the food court did have an amazing view of the mountains. We watched as a late afternoon rainstorm rolled in, the clouds cascating down the mountainside. It was a very strange feeling sitting there eating my meatball sub and watching somthing so beautiful at the same time.

The bus ride was equally jarring. Mostly due to the fact that roads here mostly consist of potholes, and the "rules of the road" are more like guidelines than laws. Still, he view's were amazing. The Olancho province is in central Honduras, which is mostly mountains. Despite the rain which hits most afternoons this time of year (as it is early in the rainy season) it is still fairly clear the rest of the day. You round a bend and all of a sudden you are looking across a mountain vally strewn with small clusters of houses dwarfed by a sea of green. My memory of the ride is a bit patchy, as I fell asleep a couple times, only to be awakened when my head got slammed against the window from hitting a particularly deep pothole.

We arrived in Juticalpa, ate pizza, found our houses, and promptly passed out. I'm sure we did some other stuff, but I really don't remember it.

Friday we got the grand tour. We saw the three schools Escuela Nazareth (the only school for handycapped children in all of Olancho), Santa Clara (the elementary school), and Cardenal (the high school where I will be teaching). We met Padre Ricardo, the founder of the Olancho Aid Foundation, and picked up the boxes we had sent ahead of ourselves...all accept mine. I'm sure it will arrive eventually, but until then I'm going to have to make do with a hand towl and the cloths I packed on the plane.

We got a tour of the city too. Its a lively place. Most of the roads are dirt, save the main boulavade and a few at the center of town. You are perfectly safe during the day and early evening, although I still don't think I'll be going out on my own for a while...many of the roads look the same to me, and I know I'll end up lost. On the bright side, the foundation gave us all cell phones so we can reach each other!

I have to say that the technology here feels very out of place. Almost everyone has cell phones, and yet only a few have constantly running water. I and my roommates still have yet to discover that supposedly magical hour when we get running water to our house.

Which brings me to the living arraingements! I'm sharing a house with two other volunteers, Jeff and Lacey. We each have our own rooms, and share a large common area and a kitchen. There are two bathrooms, which are almost useless to us. We have to use a buckt to flush the loo half the time, and the shower and sinks NEVER work. We have to wash using a bowl out by the pila, which is a large concrete tub in the back which you keep full of water for things like flushing the loo, washing, and doing dishes (we buy large jugs of water to drink, just like everyone else).

As soon as I figure out how, I'll start posting pictures. I found out AFTER I got here that my new laptop's maximum resolution is just 168 pixles short of the minimum requirement for my new digital camers...I hate technology. I'm going to try and get one of my roommates to let me use their laptop for picures.

Next week we have to plan our lessons. I actually get two, since the high school dosnt start classes till september 6th (somthing about testing). I am very glad to here this, as I have to make lesson plans for art class, cooking/life skills (more on that later), and world history. No, I am no longer teaching PE. Its already a joke here how I never seem to know what classes they are going to throw at me.

Anyway, I'm gonna go wash my hair out by the pila. Its raining and I don't want to miss the opportunity. It's actually a really nice temperature (around 70 during the day) and low humidity, but we did walk around alot and it is pretty dusty.

Oh, one last thing! There is a very nice hotel just around the corner. AC and a pool even, so you can all feel free to come down and visit! Once I get my school year schedule, I'll let you all know when my vacations are!