Life Back in Honduras

Ahhh...the kids. This photo was taken a few weeks ago. Shortly before Brother and I left for Honduras.

Brother and I made it to Honduras with no trouble. I did book a flight with only a 40 minute layover between the two flights. That, I will probably not do again. It was a mad dash once off the first flight across the huge Atlanta airport with all gear I was carting. A toddler, carry-ons, stroller, car-seat and add in the fact that I am pregnant.

The first few days I missed Sister so much and maybe I was overwhelmed being back in Honduras too that I cried a lot. Off and on mostly. We went to eat at Wendy's for lunch and while Brother was playing I started to cry because I thought about how Sister should be with and playing with Brother. I just cried over every thing.

Sister has been so happy staying in MN with grandma and grandpa. She says she wants to stay the whole school year. It's very difficult for me because the more time goes by, the more I feel like I should stay here in Honduras. It is where my husband is and even though it's not easy, I need to learn to accept things more. The time apart was helpful for me and Papa. It was a wonderful time in MN but I don't have things in MN now that make me feel like I have a life there.

Sister has also been taking advantage of so many things available through her school and community. She is taking a volleyball clinic that runs for six Saturdays at the local high school and is run by the high school girls volleyball team and coach. She is attending a weekly youth group at her grandparents' church, she wants to sign up for baby-sitting certification classes offered through the school and she also is trying out for the school play of Alice in Wonderland. Of course she wants to be Alice. She rides her bike to school each morning and the school monitors if she wears her helmet. Her teacher is wonderful and has been teaching for 25 years and is greatly respected in the school. The school she is attending runs through the 5th grade so she is the oldest in the school and that means that the 5th graders get to take an overnight trip at a lake. They also are taking a skiing field trip this winter. There is so many things that she is doing and able to take part in that I understand why she wants to stay there. Who wouldn't?

Speaking of school, I may be starting 1/2 day Spanish classes five days a week. There is a group of missionaries that I was connected with through the church I attend here. There is 5 or 6 of us that are needing to take some intense Spanish classes. The first month we will meet 4 hours per day and then after a month we may take it back in hours. During my class time Brother will go to a pre-school or "pre-kinder" program at the school also owned by the same organization where I'll be taking the language classes. It's going to be a squeeze financially, but I think it's necessary. The school also runs an orphanage here in SPS. They usually accommodate to travelers for a week or two of classes, but they also offer an immersion program, which I believe means that we will be taught Spanish in Spanish. This actually is probably the best way to learn a second language, having experienced myself teaching English to Spanish speakers in English. Does this mean that I'm staying? Well...the classes start Oct 6. It's looking more and more like I am doing things to stay.

Today I called a new Ob doctor here in SPS. I heard he spoke English and a friend recommended him. I am going to go in to meet him next week. Hopefully I like him. The first doctor I saw in Honduras when I first got pregnant was okay. His English was so-so, but I didn't feel that comfort with him in general. I don't really need to be seen since I was just seen a few weeks ago, but I feel I need to at least do a short meet and greet to see if I feel comfortable. It is going to be really hard to leave my midwives I had in MN. They are so wonderful and I felt I got such great care and support from them with my first two. I did go to see them a few times while in MN with this pregnancy too.

We have been to church once and I was able to get together with some women from church for lunch. We had lunch last Sunday with some other friends too. My American friend who is also married to a Honduran and trying out life here. She is from Louisiana and she cooked up some jambalaya. Mmm mmm. I hadn't had that in a while. They have a toddler and him and Brother play together. I'm meeting up with another friend tomorrow too. It's nice to have some friends!

The house we are living in now is smaller, but the space is okay. It's got more of an open floor plan with high ceilings which gives the illusion of more space. There is zero storage space - and I mean ZERO. No closets, no cupboards. We needed to put up some shelves in the kitchen, which has worked out pretty good, but I still need another few things, including a work surface. The outside of the house is pretty ugly. It's pink and the concrete already looks to be a bit worn and crumbling. The roof is unpainted aluminum. There is a wall around three sides of the house which help block direct sun, but also restricts airflow and makes clothes drying on the line not so great. We have AC now and this has helped me tremendously and another benefit of that is the windows are closed which keeps out a lot of dust blowing in. That was a huge pet peeve of mine. Things were always covered in a film of dust and dirt from one day to the next. I couldn't keep up.

A real bummer for me recently has been that my allergies are back with a vengeance. I had a cold when I first came it, but then it became apparent that it was no longer the cold when I felt like scratching off my nose, eyes and throat. I had Papa run out and get me some allergy meds. I wouldn't care so much about taking them except I'm pregnant.

There you have my short/long update of my return to Honduras so far. I'm trying to just take one thing, one day at a time. Spending some time being quiet and/or reading positive things and also taking time to reflect on what is good in my life and counting the blessings I have everyday. I know a lot of happiness comes by choice and attitude. It's easy to focus on the bad and let it bring you down, but so far - I'm good.

Below are some photos of the house. We are getting ready to pick out paint for the inside. Every room needs paint. We definitely need some color around here.

Photo taken standing at the front door

Looking from back of house towards front door. The computer is now in the main living space and the AC is above the window on the left. It really does cool off the whole house. I blow the fan during the hottest part of the day when the AC needs a little help. There are a lot of cracks around the windows that we'll have to look at fixing to make the AC more efficient. Our furniture is small enough to fit the space, but it's not very comfortable for lounging.

The door on the right with the fan is the master bedroom. There are no closets in any of the three bedrooms in the house. There are some open shelves on the wall in the master. The master bath has a big bathtub, but no warm water and it's a pain to try and fill it to make it warm. So there it sits unused taking up a lot of space. You can see we still have our TV propped up on boxes and right now our tv is in the repair shop waiting for a part from the states. The little TV is being borrowed.

Here is the kitchen. It has a small counter. I like these counters, but they do end up being a clutter collection spot, especially for Papa's unending supply of little pieces of papers with little scribbles on them. We don't have cupboards so Papa picked up a large shelf from the market side of town for about $15 bucks. You can see the back door that leads to the back laundry area with the big huge pila.
That door that you see on the right is one of the other two small bedrooms and there is also another unfinished bathroom. The toilet works so it does get used, but the shower area is storage.

Papa put up the wall shelves on the left. They work pretty good. We bought some shelf liner and laid that down so it's easy to clean up. There is just a single sink with a dish drying area next to it. Again no storage for chemicals, etc. That is going to have to be addressed especially once Baby is mobile. Brother is old enough to know not to touch. I still need to figure out some more storage/shelf space for kitchen things, but for now it works.