12 things that I've learned so far

Instead of writing about what I have been doing the past couple of days, I thought it would be interesting to write about what I've seen here in Honduras compared to how things are in the States.

1) There are these huge locust/grasshopper type bugs that are gross. They jump and fly on you and are everywhere.

2) Typical Honduran food usually includes refried beans, a slice of avocado, a slice of cheese (which I obviously don't get), and one or two other ingredients I can't remember. There are other common foods too, such as baleadas and rollitos, which are pretty similar to enchiladas. 

3) They have amazing juice drinks! Some flavors that are my favorite are Passion Fruit and blackberry. 

4) You can't drink the water here, which has been interesting to adjust to. You have to cook and brush your teeth with purified water, as well as drink. I've recently decided to be more adventurous and brush my teeth with the tap water. I can already hear one of my best friends Sam cringing at this..so...sorry Sam, but I don't swallow the water and I haven't gotten sick yet so it's all good :)

5) EVERYTHING HERE IS 10X CHEAPER!! The currency here is the Lempira, so to help you all out...100 Lempira is equivalent to about 5 US dollars. With that in mind...I went to the market yesterday in La Union to buy veggies and fruits and I only spent a little less than $10 for tomatoes, green beans, onions, carrots and broccoli. If I bought all this back in the states it would have cost me $20-30. 
     - A glass bottle of Coke is 15 Lempira (about 70 cents)
     - There is a Cafe here in La Union that sells homemade ice cream for 30 Lempira (about $1.50)

I think you get the gist...everything is very inexpensive.

6) There is not a bank or post office in La Union. If I wanted to send mail (or receive it) I would have to send it a month in advance and go all the way to Gracias to send it (about a 2 hour bus ride). Now if you wanted to send me something...haha good luck. That process would take about 3 weeks to a month. You would have to send it to Gracias, which then the post office (if they even remember) would put it on a bus to bring it to La Union. Now for the bank. There is a ATM in La Union, so I can withdraw cash but I would have to take the trip to Gracias to deposit any money into my Honduran bank account. 

7) Everyone here is small. Yes, I do fit in quite nicely. I have been in a store with a couple of older women who have been smaller than me haha. 

8) We went to church this morning down the street that is supported by Abundant Life (the school I'm working at). The songs and sermon were in Spanish, so I only caught onto a couple of words, but my friend Sam translated some parts for me. It was amazing to see the Honduran people in La Union worship in such a simple but powerful way. There was this little boy who sat a couple rows in front of us who I saw during a worship song raise his hands, which was probably the most powerful part of the morning for me. 

9) La Union is a very small town, so like small towns in the States, word travels fast. When we arrived in La Union on Friday, the whole town knew we were here within a couple of hours. Everybody now knows who were are haha. 

10) When it rains it POURS. The days are usually scorching hot (there isn't a lot of shade here so the people of La Union walk around with umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun. Although this would be considered really weird if someone did that in the states, it is very common to see that here). It will usually POUR for about 15-30 min in the late afternoon/early evening, which then will cause the temperature to drastically cool off!

11) Time. Everyone starts their day around 4:30-5 am ( I can hear people going about outside my window around this time in the morning) and they end their day around 9 pm. The sun goes down around 7 pm, which I am still not used too. 

12) The most common ways of transportation are by foot, motor taxis (3 wheeled buggies), and by motorcycle. These motorcycles are a step above a moped and step below a Harley. THEY ARE SO MUCH FUN TO RIDE ON!

That is all I can think of right now. Tomorrow we head up to the school and start decorating our classrooms and planning out our classes! As of tomorrow I will have been here in Honduras a whole week. It's seems so crazy, I feel like I've been here a month!