Was just reading over a blog by my friend Julia, who is living in Azerbaijan - near the Caspian Sea. I was thinking about how we are both experiencing similar things in such different circumstances. For example - she is called "English" as her name, while I am called "the gringita".
She talked about people there believing that women exercising is very strange and not acceptable. She is a runner and if she runs in the morning she is told she will have a heart attack because it is not healthy to exercise in the morning - but she now tells people that she purposely runs early in the morning so that no men will see her. This answer makes her strange habit of a morning run acceptable to the Azeri people. I guess it is preferrable that no men see you running even if you are at risk of having a heart attack. My comparable experience was not as drastic. I was so excited when Tony told me that I could bring sundresses on this visit to Honduras. I remember unpacking and showing Karla all of my sundresses. She didn't say much at the time. The first time I wore a sundress one of Karina's friends commented that the dress was cute, but she was surprised I was wearing it. Later Karla told me that she really doesn't wear dresses unless she is with Jose because it attracts too much unwanted attention from men. I explained that in the US we wear sundresses as soon as it gets warm because they are more comfortable in the heat. But I've been careful about when I wear dresses since.
Julia also talked about the freshness and lack of preservatives in the food she eats. I just talked with Karla about how in the US we are freaks about refridgerating foods as soon as we are done eating them. Karla said that the only food she sees a need to refridgerate is chicken because of salmonella. Otherwise shrimp, beef and eggs sit on the counter for days. I haven't gotten sick yet!
For Jose's bday we went to Tony's house and had dinner. Tony made pulled pork, which everyone loved topped with coleslaw. For desert we had a tres leches cake. I ate a HUGE piece. It was yummy. Tony's house is really nice, but he is planning to move to Los Pinos and actually live in the community with the people he is serving.
I have been feeling really down lately. I have been taking a lot of time for myself to reflect and pray. It was interesting, it seems like God has been keeping me from outside distractions. I wanted to see Harry Potter yesterday, but the roads were closed. Today I wanted to use my computer but we had no internet all day at the house, except for when I checked my email and received some bible verses from my Aunt. Reading the bible verses did help. But I was unable to post my blog, or to play on facebook or send emails from home.
Jose, Karla, Karina and Tony have been very supportive. Tony asked how I am doing and I said that I am just really shut down. I guess that's the best way to put it. I thought that I put a smile on my face for Jose's bday, but later Karina told me that I hadn't done a very good job of pretending. Faking happiness has never been a strength.
