Day 3

Today I spent the morning trying to read for my first class, Family Organization. I sat outside because it was such a beautiful day and the weather here so far has been really nice. Santa Rita is a lot cooler than San Pedro Sula. I had lunch with Mildred’s mother and we tried to communicate the best we could :/. She is a little harder for me to understand but I think it will just take some getting used to. She has had four tumors on her neck and behind her ear. In her second operation they cut a nerve and so now half of her face is paralyzed. She can only eat on her good side so she was explaining to me how difficult it is for her to eat. She is so sweet and always is asking me if I am hungry. Today she kept asking me if I wanted more and I have to explain to her, “no estoy bien, I only eat a little bit.” I think that is the main concern here, food. Last night Mildred came up to me and said, “Everybody is asking me what you want for dinner. They are worried that you haven’t eaten anything.” Oh Honduran women. They are always telling me to let them know if I need anything. They are so kind to me. I guess it reminds me of being at home and being a Battaglia!! (Dad *cough cough*)
After lunch Mildred and I went to see the school. She showed me around the old school first and then we picked up the car. They do not have a garage here so Mildred keeps her car locked up at the school. We then went back to the store and picked up her mother and drove down the street and picked up her tia (aunt) and headed up to the construction site, where they are building the new school. The new school is not far, however, it is too steep and long for her mother and tia to walk. On the way we also picked up Gloria. Gloria is 17 years old and very sick and very poor. Mildred is trying to help her out by taking her to the doctors, buying her medicine and food for the family. Mildred has such a good heart. Her and her mother love to help anybody they can. I am in awe of everything Mildred does for her community and country as a whole. She was telling me how it is so different now than when she was growing up. She said, “When I was younger my family was always together and we were very close. Now it is different.” She says that now there are so many parents trying to go to the U.S. to make money to send back to their family and because of this so many children are growing up without parents. She said many of them are being raised by their grandmothers or other family members so if the kids start to do drugs, etc., their guardians try to reprimand them but most kids do not listen and will say, “You’re not my mom, you’re not my dad.” Mildred says every chance she gets to talk to any one of her student’s parents that want to go to the U.S. she tells them, “Stay. Your children need you. They need parents to raise them and teach them what is right and what is wrong.” She also says, “Yes we have to work harder to make money here but we can do it. We need to stay and help our own country.” She has even been having the kids help her plant trees and flowers at the new school. She tries to teach them how to take care of their country, to not litter but to put their trash in the trash can. She tries to tell them that they can do it, that they do not need to conform to what everyone else is doing. She wants them to be better and have values and faith. She is such a good person with an amazing will. It is so cute to see the kids yell out to her when they see her around town. She is famous with those kids and you can see why.
Anyways, after leaving the school and dropping everyone back off, Mildred and I went to Copan to meet the gringitos. The gringitos, are the white people, the missionaries that come from the U.S. to Honduras three times a year to do what they can to help schools here. The missionaries only stay for a week and Mildred helps them translate when they go to some of the schools. We met them at their hotel and sat down for a drink and talked. I am not going to lie it was really refreshing to be able to understand everything that they were saying! It also made me feel a little better because although I am still a beginner, I am a little more advanced than all of them, well except one man who lived in Panama for 23 years, but besides that! Either way, we only stayed for a little bit and then came back to the house. One of the missionaries is staying with us for tonight and she is sleeping in Mildred’s room.
Surprisingly it got a little chilly today! It rained for only a few minutes during the day but right now it is 9pm and from my room it sounds like it is raining a good amount. I love the sound of rain and it is even better when I can fall asleep to it. On the other hand, when it is chilly it is not too fun taking those bucket showers! I like to take my showers at night so of course while I was in the shower tonight I kept thinking, “dang it I wish I would have taken a shower when it was warm outside!” Although it did feel so good when I was finally out and dry! They have a lot of problems with the water and electricity here. Some days we will have running water and some days we will not; same with the electricity. I was on the computer today when all of a sudden it just turned off. Once I figured out that none of the lights were working either, I just had to wait till they came back on. You never seem to realize what you have until it is gone. We take so many things for granted like warm water and electricity. It is weird to think that at home I never have to think about when I will have running water and how I should prepare for the days there is none when so many people do not have that luxury. Even with minor set backs, however, everyone gets along just fine.
This house is full of people! There is Mildred, her mother, her sister, 5 high school students, 3 girls and 2 boys living downstairs, as well as Mildred’s family friend Tona. Tona’s niece is also here all the time because she helps out in the bakery. Mildred says that her mother likes having a lot of people in the house because they are used to a big family and with so many of her kids gone, she misses it. I am excited because I get to help Mildred’s mom in the store but hopefully not too soon because I would be too nervous with the way my Spanish is as of right now. Next week I need to start my Spanish class which I still need to find a “tutor” for. Mildred said one of the teachers at the school, Manuel can help me but he does not speak any English! I think this is going to be harder than I thought!! Hay Dios mio!! Poco a poco I have to keep reminding myself everyday!!
I still have yet to go to the bank and I will not be able to go tomorrow because Mildred and I will be helping the Gringitos all day. Although, I am kind of intimated to go to the bank because it looks more like a jail! It is so heavily guarded and the guards all have those huge guns that they just hold like it is no big deal! I wish I could take a picture for you guys but I do not think that would be such a great idea. Okay well until tomorrow…adios!