Hello from Honduras! Okay, so this is me and Dave and Catherine, outside the embassy in Tegucigalpa. For those of you who don´t already know, we´ve had an interesting couple of days! We were supposed to arrive in a city on the North Coast called San Pedro Sula, on Monday, and Rory, the guy from CAUSE was supposed to pick us up in the truck and drive us out to Ciriboya, where we´ll be living. So we get to the airport, and guess what? Rory is not there! We get a message from an airport worker that says that we have to take a bus to Tegucigalpa, the capital city, and meet Rory there. Tegucigalpa (Teguc for short) is a four and a half hour busride away, and it´s a huge detour from Ciriboya.

But oh well! so here we are in Teguc, and we are supposed to be leaving today at some point. We have just been hanging out and running errands with Rory for the past two days, and this morning we went to this little village in the mountains because Rory had to pick up something, and the top picture is the view from up there. It was absolutely incredible. It´s hot here, but everyone says this is nothing compared to Ciriboya! So I can hardly wait!

It is a 12 hour drive from Teguc to Ciriboya, and we are supposed to drive half way today, but the truck is getting fixed and we´re waiting to hear from Rory as to what our options are! So many adventures already, and we´ve only been here four days. We´ve already been in a car accident, our taxi driver the other day hit another taxi, and just kept on going! Anyway, I´ve gotta run. Keep in touch everyone.

The Water Tastes Like Mold!

Ok, so I'm in Houston Texas, on the first leg of my journey to Honduras! Me and my two Honduras roommates, Dave and Catherine, and our fellow Guatemala intern Matt, arrived in Houston tonight. We are staying at a hotel until tomorrow morning, when we fly to San Pedro Sula, and get picked up for a truck ride that could take anywhere from 6-12 hours, depending on the roads. (and when I say roads, I really mean like little dirt paths that goes up the coast for a good chunk of the trip!)

The water here tasted like mold. I was seriously scared to drink it...I pictured us all getting food and water poisoning before we even get to Honduras. Is it normal to taste like that in Texas? Who knows?! Anyway, I can hardly wait to take pictures of Honduras to put on this blog for you all to see. I can't say it's been easy though. Saying goodbye sucks. Big time. I hate it. It is always like a dual thing, of excitement for adventure on one hand, but the absolute sadness of saying goodbye to friends and family on the other hand.

Anyway, to all my family and friends at home, know that you are missed by me. A LOT. And keep in touch with me. Okay, I love you all.
Karyn

Culture Shock?!

So another week has gone. I got my typhoid shot (my arm hurt), got my Dukoral, and got my anti-malarial pills (which apparently do NOT stop you from getting malaria anyway, they just make it less bad if you actually do get it...hmmm...the name is a little bit misleading..."ANTI-malaria"...). And I started my orientation for Honduras this week! Actually, the CAUSE interns (me!) and the interns from Samaritan's Purse spent the last two days together, getting trained by the government Centre for Intercultural Learning (CIL). It was actually fairly interesting!

Significant learning for me:
- Culture shock WILL happen. And it WILL suck!
- I deal with stress by talking/venting to someone I trust
- I am much more scared about giant (or tiny) tarantulas than I thought I'd be
- I need to do a shareholder analysis for the job that I still have NO CLUE how to do!!
- My cocoon from Honduran culture will be the internet, and keeping in touch with home
- My faith is going to be tested and tried in the next six months
- I have three weeks off at Christmas, and need to find something to do (we're not supposed to come home, but can travel around Central America...not sure I want to do that alone)

I am actually fairly scared of myself. Scared of how I will react in certain situations. Scared that I will not be a good ambassador for Christ in the place I am living. Scared that I don't know how to do successful development projects.

My roommates are awesome. They bought me a bunch of stuff that I need for my trip, including a dry bag from MEC, and a bodum thing that fits into your nalgene bottle, so I'll always have coffee! (although I am going to have to learn how to drink it black) and other cool stuff. AND, I got to talk to Sarah on Skype tonight, so I spent like an hour on the phone to Indo for free. Man, skype is awesome! I am a mixture of excited and nervous, up and down about my trip, all at the same time! I'll keep you posted.

I was in Ontario, sitting in a field, playing with clovers, and pretending that I was seven years old again, and had no cares in the world except to make myself a clover ring. So that is what I did! And then I took a picture of it. And you get to see it because you are my guinea pigs to make sure that I knew how to upload photos off my camera onto my blogspot. (i'm new with the technology!)

Goodbye Ontario, Hello Hondu!

So, I have arrived back in Calgary, after being in Ontario for two weeks. I am here for a couple of weeks tops, and then I am off to Honduras! I'm not sure of my exact departure date, but I'm assuming that I'll find out on Wednesday, my first day of orientation for Honduras! Just a few thoughts about best and worst of the last couple of weeks:

Best:
- Spending time with Sarah and helping her get ready for Indo
- Spending quality time with my Grandpa in Owen Sound
- Going to Niagara Falls for two days (ice wine tour in Niagara-on-the-Lake!)
- The scrapbook that Sarah gave me~!
- Reconnecting with friends in Newmarket
- Coming back to Calgary and seeing my sister and nephew again
- Getting a whole bunch of emails from people who have been to Honduras, and getting more and more excited about it!

Worst:
- Saying goodbye to Sarah. I HATE goodbyes. I HATE change (yet crave it)
- I HATE leaving people
- Wanting to help my grandpa and make things better, and not being able to

So there you have it! I'm sure I'll have lots more stuff after my first day of orientation for Honduras on Wednesday. But I have to make a confession...I'm going shopping tomorrow for last minute things, and I think I am about to join the world of those who wear CROCS. I think I'm going to buy a pair. Even though I think they're ugly.

Honduras, here I come!

Ok, so I'm off to Honduras. Not really yet, but it is coming up fairly quickly, and I am starting to get more excited / nervous! I feel like there's a lot of stuff that I don't know, and a lot of questions that I don't yet have answered. What kind of things am I supposed to pack? What is the weather like? What is it like where I will be staying? Where will I be living? And the list goes on.

I am also off to Ontario on Saturday for a couple of weeks, to visit friends and family (my grandpa). So in between getting ready for Honduras, working full time, and getting ready for Ontario, I am keeping myself busy! I really need to get a passport; that is definitely the most stressful thing so far, because if I don't get one soon, I'm not going anywhere!

Anyway, just wanted to start the ball rolling in this blogspot. I'm sure that not all of my entries will be quite this boring. Later everyone.

Heads up!!

Just to let everyone know (even though no one I know has blogspot except for Merissa) that I now have a blogspot! Later.
Karyn