Hi folks! Sorry, I know it's been a little while. I firmly believe that this should be a place where you can come and enjoy yourself. For a little while I was not in the right mind space to offer you that place. I am not going to sugar coat things here. It is a place where I will be honest. So, I thought it best to take a little break.
In reality, the situation that is troubling me has not been resolved. Know that I do have a lot of support, both here in Honduras and from my friends, family, and church in the US. I am extremely grateful that people seem to see things the same way I do. It is a matter of patience and letting things fall into place, I think.
Another stumbling point for the blog has been that I did not have internet in the church yesterday or today, and have not had internet access in home for a week or two. Maybe this is God's way of keeping be silent while I didn't have much positivity to offer.
In any case I am back and feeling good. I realized that there are several things I can do on a personal level that will not change the situation, but can change how I feel about it. As a result, I joined a gym today! This should help me get my sleep patterns back into shape instead of waking up every night at 2 a.m and fretting away the hours until morning. It will also get all of those good chemicals flowing through my body again.
The gym is a little bit expensive ($42/month). They don't have as many gyms here as in the US, so it costs more but I know that physical exercise will benefit my mental health greatly. I will ask for your support - If you are able to help out with a monthly donation toward a gym membership, I would be really grateful! The link is always at the bottom of the page. I will also pinch pennies a little tighter. I think this is an important and worthwhile investment.
Living in a place where I can't get out and do the physical activities I was accustomed to doing is tough. Imagine if you could not walk outside of your house alone! That is life in Honduras. But this gym is safe and I really enjoyed myself today.
I may not be able to move tomorrow. I swam for 1/2 an hour. I did the elliptical for 25 minutes and then I took my first kickboxing class. I always looked down on kickboxing after so many years of studying karate. But the class was great exercise and I had fun. Tomorrow I am looking forward to a pilates class.
So, step one, physical activity. Step two, more cooking at home.
I tried last week to cook a birthday cake and my oven was broken. No great surprise. It has been failing for a while. For the past week I shopped for ovens and found a store that had great products with really good prices. Finally today I broke down and invested in a stove. If I am going to exercise, I need to eat well. AND my landlords extended family are going to join me in celebrating Thanksgiving!!!!!! I am really psyched for this. Carlos' brother and sister-in-law lived in the US and are looking forward to it too. In fact, she is going to make the pies - the one area where I do not feel confident. I am extremely excited to share a traditional Thanksgiving dinner!
Yesterday Marlin brought her baby to the church for the first time. That was super nice. Marlin was looking and feeling very weak when I last saw her Friday. But yesterday she looked great! That gave me a lot of peace. I was a little worried about her. The baby is still extremely healthy, with a huge appetite, and growing like crazy. I have a bunch of pictures I will download as soon as we have internet at the church.
In the evening yesterday we had the weekly ladies meeting. Last week it was about sexual abuse. This week it was about self esteem. I really enjoy our weekly meetings on 2 levels. I am able to serve the mothers of the kids from Los Pinos because the women who are the leaders of this program always invite me to help them. Also I learn a lot and can share my own knowledge/experience with the other women. The coordinators are an interesting team of psychologists, pastors, teachers... Last night after everyone left as we were cleaning up, they invited me to go out to dinner with them. They made a point to say it would be very cheap (less than $3.00) and they would like me to come. We went to a Chinese Restaurant (Chinese food in Honduras is more popular than McDonalds) and shared a delicious plate of fried rice with wonderful conversation.
The whole night was extremely enjoyable, but my favorite part was the ride home. Jairo had a rule, which I have continued to follow, that I was not allowed to drive in El Centro (downtown). Last night I learned part of the reason why. The streets are old, narrow and twisty... and full of transvestites! Okay. They were not full of transvestites. But I did see some. I told the ladies, "This is quite an education!" I always like an adventure. The part that kept cracked me up was that I was there with Walter's mother and her friends. Walter's mom is very conservative and proper. I got my first taste of Honduran night life with her.
I guess that gives you a good idea of what has been going on. Know that I do think of you often. Every time I see something noteworthy I think, "I need to write about this in my blog!" I hope to be able to be more regular in my posts. Thank you for sticking with me!
