It's almost 3 & 1/2 years in and I am still making cultural blunders.
This morning I was the first to arrive at the office, which meant I had to stand at the door waiting for our transportation while everyone else entered. When the first person came in I did it almost right. Here is the correct way to greet a person in Honduras:
Good morning.
- Good morning.
How are you?
- Fine, thanks be to God. And you?
Good, thanks be to God.
I've got most of it down, although the "Gracias a Dios" part still does not come naturally. I messed that up all morning. The place where I hope to work is a Christian organization and the "Gracias a Dios" part is extra important there.
My last day of training was great. This week I made new friends who are kind, smart, happy and outgoing. They all call me by name already. As the day drew to an end they asked which team I will be working with. It seemed like they each hoped I'd be working with them. I feel very welcome!
I told them I still have another interview with the head honcho to get through before I am official. Then the plan is for me to tag along with different teams before I jump into anything. They were encouraging and said the believe I will be working with them soon. I hope so!
I had to leave the training early to go to physical therapy. That was where I made my other blunders.
In Honduras when you enter anywhere - a public bus, or a doctor's office, or a home, it is expected that you will greet everyone. If it is a group of less than 8ish, you great each person individually. If it's a waiting room at a doctor's office you say good afternoon in the direction of each group of people.
Today I walked into the doctor's office, went up to the reception desk, checked in and paid. Then I sat down in the full waiting room, pulled out my book and started to read. (Nobody here reads in waiting rooms! I am always the only one.) The next person came in and greeted everyone. I felt like such an ignorant gringa with bad manners. I know better! But I was a bad example for the people of the US today. I got caught up in my own mind and did not greet the people in the waiting room.
For the second evening in a row it started to rain as soon as I got home. Hurray for rain! More people than ever are starving because we haven't had rain. It rained a few hours for about five consecutive nights in June. We got excited because normally June is really rainy, but then the rain never came. Last year was dry and this year was even dryer. In July it rained one hard rain and two normal rains. In August I can't say it ever rained and it was SO hot, day after day. We got a few drops from the sky several times, but the drops never amounted to much or lasted more than 10 minutes.
So far September has been good. Last night we got a steady rain for an hour and a half. Today it started raining when I got home and 3 hours later it is still coming down. We need this desperately.
Yesterday I saw a water truck selling tanks of water to the people at the bottom of our hill. Usually the lower houses have city water. Fany says the city reservoir is dry. Lucky for us I didn't bathe frequently or for long when I had the cast. Washing dishes or clothes hurts my wrist, so I am accidentally preserving water.
Many public places have a nasty smell inside from the empty water lines. Fany said the hospitals don't have water. I saw Burger King buying a tank of water yesterday. Today we are giving thanks for rain!
